August Finishes - OPAM & Sew Its Finished

One would think that having been off work for almost 2 weeks and being on retreat for 5 days I would have a gazillion finishes...but no!...I do have things more "progressed" than before but I did manage a few finishes.

   And sorry - you may have seen most of them before....

A very quick one
My first finish at retreat was a small ironing mat - 12" square.  It sits on top of a piece of very thick felt which used to sit under a manual typewriter.  The last one was made 2 years ago I think.

Then I made the Retreat Challenge - a pin & needle holder based on a pattern from Marg Low

The I turned my table topper that I won at Nundle this year into a zippy pouch.

AND - Donna's Dreaming
I finished this off when I came back from retreat...
I am not sure when I made this...I do recall I worked on it at a retreat - before I started going to Boystown retreats and the first one of them was in 2004.  So I guess it was 2003.
I do recall I was working on it and realized I had cut a lot of pieces too small, so I packed it away (quietly) and had to get more fabric and "fudge" it.
This was designed by Donna Elkington  (who used to own a Quilt Shop in Brisbane.)
I do love the border on this one.

Not too long til my next retreat....better  start planning!!!

Retreat Day 5

It's all over for another year . . .

Tuesday's finishes...well "finish" - 
After a very late night - Maureen was able to finish piecing her aqua and coral version of Lori Holt's Quilty Fun Christmas quilt from last year.

 My list that I prepared....not too bad

and the final Tally Board - a few projects to carry over...hopefully we will all get them finished before next retreat...

Our Star Performer joined us on the last day.
She is converting a gazebo cover that has "breathable" panels but only loops to join each side into a gazebo cover that retains the breathable sides but has zipped joins - to stop the flies getting in - for a non sewer she is doing a very good job.   I don't think we have converted her - she would rather be gardening - but she was very impressed with her Thread Catcher that she made - even woke her teenage son to show him last night - not too sure he was impressed with that.

I am lucky enough to still be on leave from work so I have been able to get through some of the other things that I had hoped to do...though I certainly do get a lot more done when I am away than when I am at home.  But I was able to put the binding on a quilt...more on that very soon.

Retreat Day 4

Still heads down and sewing madly...only 4 left by the end of the day

Today's work:

Maureen's Red Home mini quilt

 Inca's Quilt As You Go quilt for her grandson

 My French Collection - finally a flimsy...started this in 2008

and our Star Performer...(Wendy)
I gave her a pile of pre cut squares to join together....

then we cut a Thread Catcher for her and she made that up....

The Tally Board....

 Sadly only half a day to go....

Retreat Day 3

Sunday...still sewing away...when we are here there are no local "must go to" cafes or shops, so once we are here its head down and sew...of course we chat and tell jokes and have lovely food...but generally its all about the work.

As I've mentioned - this is our 10th year, so Wendy R has made us a special cake and put our candles on it.  Unfortunately, one of our group had already left, but we enjoyed the cake!

So here is Sundays work:

Louise has made several bibs

Erica has made fabric  letters for her grand-daughter who plays an alphabet game with her mum.  Erica arranged a group of her letters and hung them up!

Erica has also made a tee-pee - again for her grand-daughter

A bit of a group effort by Maureen - it's Fay's quilt but Maureen did the sewing...

I did some secret sewing . . . and I have done the applique-ing on the corner blocks for the Bridesmaids quilts

And a block for Quilts of Hope...they send you two pieces of fabric and you make a 91/2"
block and send it off to be made into quilts.  (Of course you could make a whole quilt...)

Our triumph this year....we have always had a bit of a joke with Wendy B who runs this place...she is NOT a sewer but we always try to suck her in...nothing has happened in the past.  This year a bit of the same, but she mentioned that she thought the tension was wrong on her machine...  I said "Bring it in and we will have a look"  so we gave it a mini service - removed the incorrect metal bobbin, changed the needle, re threaded and it was all OK.  

Sunday night and here she is sewing with us....she has made a king size coverlet into a double size and re bound it.....

I tried to get her sewing some scrap squares...no success on that score.  You might see her "Star Performer" section on the Tally Board.

Retreat Day 2

Progress so far:

I have the centres finished for the three bridesmaid quilts.  

Last year for our Retreat Challenge we made Thread Catchers.  At the time I bought additional fabric..the intention being that we could male another item to match later on.  So this year the Challenge was a Pin & Needle Keep...Its a Marg Low pattern and has a magnet inside - so you can throw your pins & needles at it and they will stick.

Here are the 8 made yesterday & today.

Other things people have been working on:
This is Maureen with her finished quilt top.

Louise with a repaired bracelet...apparently it's been broken a few years . . . 

This is Jan's gorgeous applique quilt - only 4 blocks to go...

 This is Maureen's House Quilt...a Quilt Mania pattern

 Inca's bag - she makes at least one bag every year.

 A baby singlet from Louise

 

Erica has made this lovely pillow for her new grand-daughter 

 And I have made a zippy pouch - I used the table topper that I won at Nundle last year as the back.  Thanks Marilyn for your excellent tutorial.

 The Tally Board:

FNSI & Retreat Day1

It's Retreat time...we unpacked and off to lunch

This is the 10th time we have been here...

This is us back in the room - almost set up and starting to sew...

Dinner was...as always...lovely and I found an interesting bottle of wine for this year.

By the end of day 1 - I have made a small ironing mat....I like to have a quick finish!

Our Retreat Challenge this year was a Pin & Needle Keep  - this is mine - a quick and easy fun project.

The Tally Board at the end of the night...slow progress but it will change...

It's been fun sewing along with real friends as well as all the cyber buddies.

Thanks Wendy...probably didn't really need the motivation this month but it's still great to know everyone else is sewing along.

It's that time of the year!

I love August - it's a lovely time of the year weather-wise and it's RETREAT time.

I have been doing the usual Countdown - in case anyone could forget ...lol...and as you read this it's ONE sleep until we are off.

I have my list of "To Dos" - 

I have deferred one of them as I wasn't able to get all the cutting done beforehand, but my main priority is to progress the Bridesmaids Quilts - the plan was to flimsy stage but that may not happen as not all the blocks are finished, but they will all be 90% complete by the end of Tuesday night.

My sewing is all packed....I may have a few things in there that are not on the list...

Thursday is set aside for hair & beauty (nails & feet) stuff.

Then Friday - off we go!!!

We will be sewing almost non stop from Friday 2pm (ish) til Tuesday 2pm (ish).

Wonderful times. Lots of chat, laughter & fun.

 

FNWF - August

I love the month of August - it means Retreat time - so I am busy getting ready - I am making three quilts in tandem so to speak - so not a lot to show at any one time but hopefully very soon - 3 quilt tops!!!

Here are the "Love" blocks for the quilts and the cut out shapes for the other corner blocks.

Thanks as always to Cheryll for hosting and motivating us.  It might take me a while to visit the others as we are having "internet" issues...but hopefully will get to some.