Clayton's Retreat Day 4

I did get some sewing time today and was able to put all the string blocks together.

And a bit more cross stitching....only 123 stitches.

The girls will be leaving earlyish in the morning, so I guess "normal routine" can start again.

Thanks for following along on my crazy Clayton's Journey.

Claytons Retreat Continues

Normally, I can get a lot of sewing done when I am having a Claydon's Retreat....not so much this time....however, I am sewing whenever I can.

By the end of Monday, I had finished off the 16 blocks I needed and laid them out ready to join on Tuesday...fingers crossed....

Monday Night I cross stitched

I have had several chats with the girls at retreat so am keeping up with their progress too.
They had their Chinese last night, so tonight I might do the same.

Stupid/Silly things...keeps us going . . .LOL

And...I still haven't resolved the issue of my blog comments not getting to my emails, so if I don't reply to you....sorry . . . .nothing personal intended....and my replies look a bit weird.

When is a Retreat NOT a Retreat???

When it's a Claytons Retreat!

This is my second Claytons Retreat this year...one for Scrub Stritchin' and now - one for Glenrose Cottages with the SS group.

Life has thrown a curve ball and it has made a big splash and actually, it's not fun.   But this is my happy place, so I will put it all aside.

I had planned the following projects:

* String block top - make 19 more blocks and assemble top

* DV quilt top from some embroidered blocks we have

* Placemats for Meals on Wheels
* Village Green centre

* Scrap blocks for DV 

Sunday - while everyone was packing cars and travelling, I started on the string blocks.  I think I am a bit over halfway through making the blocks that I need.   

I will miss the company of the other ladies a lot.  And there is always a Chinese Take Away night, which I was really looking forward to....There are not a lot of Chinese eating places near me - lots of other Asian food....not much Chinese and Chinese is always best eaten when there is a group, so you can have a little bit of a few different things - like pizza and pastas!

DV Donation Quilt

Another quilt made using a panel - I purchased a number of these panels and also the stripey fabric that works so well with it.

To make it a bit bigger I added a border of white fabric and stitched a number of decorative stitches on my machine.

And rather than a plain stitch along each image I used another stitch from the machine.

 

DV Donation quilts (2)

#1 - Pink & Brown
At one of the groups I go to - a Machine Embroidery Social Group - the leading lady brought in some things that had belonged to a previous member who has since passed.  I don't know if I ever met the lady, but amongst the "stash" was a bag of 8" cut squares of a nursery print and some coordinating smoky pink fabric.   No one else seemed interested, so I took them home to make into a baby quilt for donation to the DV group that a few people at Sunday Stitchers support.

I had to add another fabric and found a reasonable match - a smoky brown.  I devised a layout - never the correct number of squares is there?   and cut the brown squares to enable me to complete the top.  I took it to the retreat at Warwick in March and finished the top.

The Machine Embroidery group meet on the second Thursday of the month, so I decided it needed to be quilted and bound before then, so I could have it for Show & Tell.

The KISS principle for the quilting!  Serpentine (Width 6.0, Length 2.7) across the diagonals.

Joining Binding

I will share this with you.....I know you all have your preferred method of joining binding...I have been using a method called "Liz's Lumpless Binding for so long . . . . .BUT . . . .I saw this method on Instagram a while back....have a look - you might like it too.

#2 - Blue & Green panel

I have also finished this quilt for DV.

It's a very pretty panel and I found the perfect apple green fabric to go with it.   
I may have bought the rest of the bolt at the time as that meant I saved money (by spending more???  female logic)

Both these quilts had been folded for a few days, so they are a little crumpled...
I have a few more DV quilts to pin and/or quilt...hopefully soon.

Needle Girls March Retreat - Glenrose House

My first retreat for the year!!!

I keep a "Retreat Book" - I head each page with the venue and dates and list what I plan to work on (tick it off when done), and include other notes, such as who went and for one retreat - who was in which cabin.
The book was nearly full - not enough pages for the planned retreats for 2027 - so I selected this Journal that Deb had made and gifted to us at Sunday Stitchers last Christmas.

It is very pretty and will keep me going for a few years....

My plan included:

• DV Baby Quilt
• Baby Quilt for Alana
• 28 Square in a Square blocks for Flower Pop
• Squares for the centre panel for Village Green
• Placemats - if I got to them

I am happy to say I got it all done except the placemats, so I spent some of my free time making large scrappy blocks for a DV quilt - it takes me a while to get my head around the "randomness" and the "just hack it" as De suggests.
Anyway - I got 4 done and brought home a fair stash of fabric pieces to make some more...

My projects:

28 Square in a Square blocks

Baby Quilt for Alana

DV Baby Quilt

Village Green centre

These all need to be trimmed and joined.   There are two I might replace before that happens.

As always, a fun time was had, much chatting, some snacking and a glass or two!!!

Not too long til the next retreat!

I Spy Quilt for DV.

Our Sunday Stitchers group make quilts to give to a Domestic Violence organisation.  The organisation then lets their clients pick the one/s they would like.   A bit more personal than just handing them out.

I had made this I Spy quilt at a retreat and after a pinning day a while back, I finally finished the quilting and binding.

I also quilted and bound this one.

Some DV Quilt Finishes

I had a big pinning day with Helen a few weeks back to help get some of the DV quilts moving along.  Pinning is much more fun with company ...and of course quicker. 
On the day we pinned 6 quilts - none of them were really big...so that of course gave me the incentive made me feel a little obliged to get on with the quilting.
It only took a few days to finish them - it is all walking foot quilting using a decorative stitch or two and straight stitch.   And then a bit more time to bind them.
An added incentive is to have them finished for the next Sunday Stitchers meeting, so I can hand them back to Helen to pass to the DV (Domestic Violence) organisation.

such a neat little pile

Boonah Outlook Retreat

Yes, you read that right—another retreat!!!!! I came home on Sunday, the 23rd March, and I went on another retreat from Friday, the 28th! I had just enough time to unpack clothes, wash them, and repack them.
Sewing projects were pretty much organised before the first retreat, so a bit of fine tuning on the supplies list...and off I went.

We met for morning tea at a local Bakery/Cafe, then shopped at the local drapery store (Maynards).  It is full of "stuff" - clothing, shoes etc - and - patchwork fabrics.   I resisted a lot of it and settled on a 30cm cut of fabric - just because.

After unloading the car, setting up tables and chairs, etc., I was looking for a simple sewing exercise, so I spent a couple of hours making pieces for Crumb Blocks for De, who will complete them in due course. I sorted her "Crumb Bag," removing all the odds and ends.

Then I thought I better get stuck into the sewing...

Firstly, I made a couple of blocks for Raewyn to make into a quilt at the upcoming Scrub Stitchin' retreat. The quilt will be donated to Macquarie Home Stay for the room that Chooky and her family raised funds for.

Then I worked on making some kid's quilt tops for our DV Charity.

These are all similar - Two with orange stitching and fabric and one with green.  Again, I have used the decorative stitches on the machine to add a touch of interest.  Theu finish at about 40" so only one width of normal fabric is needed to back them.

There wasn't much stripey fabric left by the time I got to this one.

Then I made up another tree skirt - this time in red & green and a lot larger.

I also joined my FPP Nature blocks - I don't think I posted all the blocks when I did them - I started them in April 2024 - when Scrub Stitchin' 2024 was on.

There were 9 in the pattern from Quiet Play - then I added more to make 20.  This will be the centre of a Kids Quilt for DV.

I also snuck in a bit of sashiko stitching and some crochet.

Overall, I was happy with what I got done - I had one more project that I could have worked on, but (1) I had neglected to cut enough fabric - and - (2) I spent time with De preparing some rose blocks for her to make another quilt similar to this.

 We had a lot of fun...we were all reasonably productive.  We had "group lunches" of ham cheese & tomatoes toasted sandwiches and Take-Away Chinese one night.  There were loads of sweets & treats, plenty of tea & coffee and a comfy bed.  What more could we ask for???
(well, maybe a cute porter to unload and load up our cars...LOL)

Next retreat???  Not til June . . .

Retreat at Glenrose (in the House)

Last year I went to Glenrose (House) with a group of people - some of whom I had sewed with before, some not.
The booking for 2025 had been retained but none of the other ladies were able to go this year, so I took it over and roped in the usual sewing buddies.

The booking is from Thursday at 4PM to Sunday at 2PM, so it's shorter than a "week" booking, but we're always up for a retreat.

I was able to finish the I Spy top for Montana's 2nd Birthday coming up in July.

I joined the wedges for a Christmas tree skirt.  I have a red & green one cut ready to go too - but realise I will need to make the hole in the centre bigger...so can fix that before I sew the other one.

For DV projects, I put this Coin Quilt together (the strips of "coins" had been made & hanging around for a long while).

And I put the borders on this top - which had also been hanging around for a while.

 I had been saving this for a retreat with Helen as she had a nifty way of making the mitered corners....it was quite easy!

Some of the other things that the girls worked on
Maureen made several Crowns for the border of her Chuck Nohara quilt...these are just a few..

Maureen also put together this quilt top for the DV project

Helen made a bag - the fabric is so lovely

and added the borders to this DV quilt top

Sandi made and bound 22 strip-pieced placemats, which I will give to the local Meals on Wheels group. She also experimented with finishing the binding by machine—we decided that using the Ditch foot was the most successful method.

De made another giraffe quilt top - so cute!!!

Lynda put a quilt top together - but I missed getting a photo! 

Both Helen & De made up this Quilters Retreat Panel - all the Needle Girls have one to make up by November.

Here is Helens - no picture of De's 😖

The girls are well-trained and know to save the Teabags so I can collect the strings for Jo.

No retreat would be complete without some retail therapy and there is a new shop in Warwick - so off we went.   I found a new "must have" project, as did most of us....and we spied this cute wall hanging - well, we all like the machine part...maybe not the dingle dangles.
It's a machine embroidery design so I have - of course - purchased it...(Designs by Juju..)

The booking is in place for next year.   But I have a few more retreats this year - one next weekend!!!!!, then June, August & November...I am quite the expert in planning & prepping!

DV Quilts

I haven't contributed much to our DV quilting efforts recently - Christmas may have interrupted it a bit and then there were a few distractions with projects that I was tempted with . . .

But here are two that I have finished off recently - both made by splitting a panel, adding fabric and an embroidered strip in the middle.   My machine has a good variety of decorative stitches, so I might as well use them!
Both tops were made at retreat last November

Here is a close up of the stitched middle panel:

FNSI - July

Winter has hit Queensland.
It is not often that I am thinking it is cold where I live...Winter is generally quite mild - by 10:00 AM it is often warm enough for a light top...and I rarely turn the air conditioning onto "Heating".
But its on this year - it has been cold - single digits overnight and very windy.

Nevermind, I can mostly stay in my Sewing Space and while away some time.

Tonight, as I joined cyber friends, I planned to sew some French Rose blocks.  

BUT any new project is hugely exciting and the first part of the Winter Shops Cross stitch pattern has been released,  I just had to make a start....

I have enough started, 

so that I can sew it without too much counting & checking 

on Sunday when I go to Sunday Stitchers.

Then - as it was footy time - I escaped and worked on the French Roses.

I had already prepped them so it was just a matter of stitching...
They are sewn by free motion stitching - with the wadding & backing attached.  De, from the Sunday Stitchers group asked us to make some - she will make a quilt for our DV Charity.

I had made 2 previously but will have 11 in total to hand over.
Here are a couple:

That is about it - thanks Wendy for gathering us together and a big "hi" to everyone who joined in.

FNWF - May

When you have the luxury of being able to sew all day . . when do you officially start FNWF??

I figure that is up to me  . ..so my day's efforts included:

Counting & some extra cutting of Novelty 5" blocks and the necessary number of half blocks.

Cutting and cutting 5" French General and FG-like blocks and the necessary number of half blocks.

Darn - there are only 170 good ones and 10 "sort of OK" ones.  I need 200 . . . hunting....hunting...


These are in preparation for an upcoming retreat...getting some charity work organsied  . . .hopefully a few will do some charity sewing....


Then it was some "me" time....I am sitting & waiting for this week's FPP block, so in the meantime I thought I'd whip up this Kiwi block.  This is actually my Chookshed Challenge #5 project, so I will do a separate post later....but he turned out kinda cute.

Now, I better get myself organised for  . . .yes...another sewing day tomorrow!

Thanks, Cheryll for hosting us again.
I hope everyone had some "me" time and was able to craft a bit.