S'mores Retreat Roundup

First, in case you are new here, let me explain why we call our group The S'mores.  The founding members met at a guild retreat in 2002.  We enjoyed it and each other so much that we wanted to see some more of each other.  We all shared the same desires to sew some more, laugh some more, eat some more, and shop for some more fabric.  Get it?  Anyway, the membership has morphed over the years, but the basic concept remains our mantra.

By the time I finished sewing each day at retreat I was too tired to write a review.  So grab a cuppa because you'll want time to study these beautiful finishes.

My roommate and tablemate Sena spent her first day adding borders to the Woven Log Cabin she made at Cindy Williams' Life's a Bear Getaway.

Then Sena tackled the borders on her Patricia Kaleidoscope she started while we were in Jonesborough in June.  (Yes, apparently S'mores want to retreat some more, too!)

The borders were supposed to be single and mitered.  But Sena needed to make the quilt big enough to hang over a high bed.  I think her solution looks like an arbor.

The last day Sena worked out the math for a quadruple mitered border on this gorgeous feathered star from several years back.

It took both of us to figure out where she went wrong, but at least the error was too big rather than too small.  Turns out she assumed she had 40 inches WOF on the light blue batik so she added 6 more inches, when in reality the WOF was already 46!

Our other tablemate Shirley made some pretty octangular Christmas placemats, but I failed to get a photo.  She whipped up a few other small projects, then tackled a gorgeous BQ-2 (that I also failed to photograph 😞)

If you are not familiar with BQ quilts by Maple Island Quilts, check them out.  Debbie Bowles has expanded from the original Big Quilt (BQ) to five variations on the theme.  These patterns use large-scale prints that are hard to cut up, but I have found them useful for unifying disparate blocks (like those from a block swap).

At the next group of tables Ruth was also working on Woven Log Cabin.  She had made 99 blocks back in September, then decided she didn't really want to make a queen so she divided the blocks into three smaller quilts.  This is the first top she finished.

Lynn works so fast I don't even remember her first project.  But take a look at this fun Christmas tree she made from a jelly roll.

She basically worked from a picture, making each row a bit longer than the one above.  Then she used her leftover strip pieces to slab together the border.  Makes me want to go out and buy a Christmas jelly roll!

Also at the same table, Donna put the binding on her Weaver Fever (again, no photo) then she threw together a little table-topper made from a collection of my orphan blocks she had grabbed from a free table several months/years back.

Then she continued working on the Bonnie Hunter mystery Unity.

 I think Donna has unsewn this as much as she has sewn!  Determined, she is.

The girls in the back of the room were busy, too.  Sharon finished a top similar to Masala Box, only made with solid strips of framing rather than pieced.  Then she set about making this huge Stretched Stars Sampler for a young relative who loves orange.

The pattern is in the Spring 2021 edition of Quilter's World magazine.

Kim completed this BQ-5 top before moving on to another project:

See what I mean about using large-scale prints?  If she cut that bird fabric up she would have lots of dismembered birds -- heads and tails!

There was a lot more going on, little finishes here and there.  Becky, Ari, and Charlie kept their noses to the needle, with lots of blocks made but no tops to show.  Tune in tomorrow for an update on my progress.