Rock Island, Rock On

Last week was my annual retreat at Rock Island State Park.  This is the 11th year of my hosting this little get-together for four of my closest friends.

RISP Cabin 9 - 2010

Even though the photo was taken in 2010, the view was very similar this year with a little dusting of snow a couple of mornings.

We began by clearing all the furniture out of the living room, set up five Sew-Ezi tables, hung utility lights from the rafters, and settled in for three and a half days of sewing and eating, eating and sewing .... you get the idea.   Cutting station on the high counter, snacks/coffee/liquid essentials on the low counter, ironing station in the Queen's bedroom -- what more could we want?  Unfortunately, this year was too cold and wet for us to walk off all the eating!

I always go with grand plans to accomplish a lot, but also come home with unopened project boxes, too.  My approach is, as long as there's room in the van, why not?  You know how it is -- something you planned to work on is not working out, or you forgot a major component, or you're just plain tired of working on it.  That's when it's time to break out something else!

My first order of business was to finish "Exploding Pineapple," a sample I'm using in a proposal for Quilt Camp 2015 (due this week, BTW).  The blocks were finished and all I needed was a bed to lay them out on.  I fussy cut the sashings on Monday and had the flimsy finished by lunch on Tuesday.

Exploding Pineapple

This is a project from Karin Hellaby's Sew Simple Pineapple booklet.  The blocks are sew easy and so much fun to make.  I used the same black and tan checked fabric for the centers of all the blocks; only had enough for 49 blocks, hence the square format.
4.75 yards out.


I have started a second one with 40s reproduction fabrics using a larger center starting point to demonstrate variety in the basic technique.  But there is not enough contrast for the pineapple to show up.

I purchased three solid FQs at Jo-Ann on the way to Rock Island, hoping I could salvage some of the pieces I have cut but not yet sewn.  Tired of dealing with pineapples, however, I never got around to this project.
.75 yard in.



I was ready to start something entirely new -- something that's been in my TODO stack for a long time.  "Athena's Puzzle" by Janine Burke for Blue Underground Studios.  You can see it's a Greek key assembled in a courthouse steps method.  I have finished over half of the blocks.  My plan is to either make more low-contrast blocks or eliminate the one that stands out (or should I say disappears?) in the photo.

Athena's Puzzle

I have to say that the cutting instructions were confusing, at best, and downright ridiculous at one point.  The pattern calls for FQs to get variety.  No way could I get 21.5" of cuts out of most of my half-widths!  Fortunately I included some yardage and can probably eak out more blocks from what I have already cut.

Not in a mood to figure out the Puzzle dilemma, I put it away and pulled out I project I had cut around 2008 -- "Happy Talk" by Debbie Caffrey from her book, Another Can of Worms.

What was I thinking??  One of my least favorite units to sew is Peaky and Spike (Tri-Recs) star points! On opening the box, I was pleased to note that, not only were all of my yellow and pink star points constructed, I had sorted them into block sets with their matching centers and background corners!  Easy-peasy to sew them together like 9-patch units.

The green star points, however, sit in the box, unsewn, laughing at me.  I've already set them next to my home machine to use as leaders and enders.  I will not be deterred; I WILL FINISH!!  (remind me of that in a couple of weeks!)

Look at me -- two weeks into the new year and I've used more than I purchased!!

Stash Report - Jan 18, 2015
     In last week:                    .75 yards
     Out last week:                4.75 yards
     In year to Date:                .75 yards
     Out Year-to-Date:           4.75 yards
     Net Used 2014                4.00 yards

Linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times.

Keep Warm

and

Quilt On