I was not alone

I thought you might like to see what the others accomplished at retreat.

Sharon finished Flapjacks, a FQ Shop pattern ...

... then she finished assembling Stretched Star Sampler, her grand-daughter's graduation quilt that she began in November.  (Note:  she fixed the bottom corners before calling it "done")

Susan's RSC Buckeye Beauty blocks above Doughnuts ...

Ari's sampler (I forgot to get the pattern name) ...

Becky's Ombre Ripple ...

Kim made a sweet I Spy baby quilt ...

Donna was determined to finish Rhododendron Trail and came one border short of a finish.

There were lots of other little accomplishments here and there.  All-in-all, a most enjoyable retreat!

Another Day, Another Finish

And Two "Almosts" 

Yesterday morning I pulled out what I thought would be an easy finish -- the oversized table runner that's now a throw needed some stabilizing borders on the sides.

I had cut the borders at home from what I thought was the same Grunge I used in the Chandelier Beads on the sides, but it was too white to make me happy so I put that project away.  Fortunately, I will be driving by Whittle's on the way home from retreat!  They have an amazing selection of Grunge to choose from.

In between raindrops I ran out to the car to retrieve a couple more project boxes.  Scarlet and Grey (Irish Grandmother) needed its borders.  (If you sense a theme here, it's because I can use the large tables at this retreat center to lay out and properly measure.)

After a lot of measuring, and even more pinning, I had this finished. 

 I have passed it on to one of the gals here who is distributing quilts to Waverly flood victims. Here's a closeup of the fabrics; they're not as solid as they appear in the above photo.

Positivity, a quilt from The Colorful Fabriholic's book, was up next.  A nice stop border then whoops!

My last two outer border pieces are not long enough!  I'm thinking maybe I planned to use the brown for binding; I really should leave myself some notes 😒  If I don't have more fabric at home, I can easily add cornerstones.

I have one more border project that I'm just not excited about so I think today I'll make some double 4-patches to mix in with some 4-patch posies.  I might even get around to the border on that one ... we'll see.

Simplicity

I often comment on other blogs that Simple is best.  I took that statement to heart recently with a quilt I'm calling Grey Goose.

Faithful readers may remember that in October I misplaced the cream dot background I was using in the Meadow Mist Macaron Mystery so I opted to use a similar shade of Grunge to make the 60 flying geese required in that month's clue.

Not only was I not happy with the replacement fabric, I found the original cream background on the shelf right next to the project tray when I put the geese away!  I stewed a couple of months and decided I really wanted the geese to blend in rather than stand out and I remade the geese with the cream dot.

So what to do with 60 flying geese?  While at Rosie's Calico Cupboard in San Diego earlier this month I specifically looked for a fabric that would coordinate with the geese and found this on the sale table. 

I sewed the geese into twosies and alternated them with a square of the new fabric.  Simple borders were added today.

Simple and sweet.  I so love this!

Retreatin' with my Gal Pals this week in Kentucky.  Hoping to get a lot of border finishes so stay tuned!

Little Blessings

This lovely bouquet was a gift from my Devo/Sew pals, thanking me for teaching Easy 3-D Hexagons last week.  Several of them brought their projects to Tuesday's gathering to show their progress.

Elaine is making a larger quilt so she spent the day assembling blocks and columns.

Della is ready to quilt hers.

For the life of me, I can't remember who made this one, but she's just a few stitches short of a finish!

I have renamed this project "Our Little Secret" because it is SEW easy!

Lots of Little Things

I try to attack the Meadow Mist Mystery as soon as the clue is announced on the first Thursday of the month.  This month, being the last clue, included the final construction details.  I won't go into the details of my dilemma; suffice it to say my notes to myself left a lot to interpretation.  I managed to get it all laid out and about half of it together.

I'm really further along than that photo shows.  All the components are done and we have another month to finish before the final linkup.  This one will go with me to a retreat later this month.

I also like to wrap up my Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects early in the month but found myself scrounging for aqua/teal scraps.  I have muddled together two Chaser blocks ...

... and two Square Dance blocks.

That just leaves a Scrap Magnet block for this month's challenge.

As I mentioned, there is another retreat on the schedule this month so I've been looking for projects that can benefit from the large tables we'll have at our disposal --mostly borders -- so I wrapped up the last two blocks for Positivity today.

I think I have five project boxes in the stack now so it should prove to be a productive retreat.  I would like to take something new, too, and I always pack handwork in case I have machine issues.  

RSC - Aqua/Teal

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge color for February is Aqua/Teal.  I pulled out my scrap bin yesterday, and there is very little in it compared to my other bins.  My yardage is pretty slim, as well.  Fortunately, I am ahead of the game with two of my block projects since I used aqua to test Labor Day Madness and Pinwheel Madness.  I think I am all set for Square Dance and today I cut some squares for Chaser

I have designated some easy-to-complete UFOs as OMGs; this Liberty Star has teal in it so it will move high on my projects for the month.

I found another UFO, Positivity by Jan/Colorful Fabriholic.  

I just need to make two more pink blocks and then make some decisions about borders.  Should make a nice encouragement quilt.

And I plan to return to Hunter's Star which is loaded with the RSC color.

It should be a productive month in the Rainbow Scrap world here; we'll see how that goes ...

It Wasn't All Golf!

... or art ...

... or animals ...

... or dining al fresco ...

... or history.

Yes, we spent two days at the golf tournament at Torrey Pines, saw the Van Gogh Experience at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, went to the famous San Diego zoo, had lunch at the Hotel del Coronado, and visited the Cabrillo National Monument.  But no trip to San Diego would be complete for a quilter without a visit to Rosie's Calico Cupboard in El Cajon -- a large shop with loads of discounted quality current-line fabrics!  Best of all, it's organized by collection, not color, so it's easy to find something specific.

Want batiks?  There's a whole aisle for you with flannels on the other side.

Need another shade of white?  Surely you could find something here!

Last time I was there (about 15 years ago) I had to buy a new carry-on to hold all my purchases.  This time I was more restrained.  A fabric to go with 60 rose/white flying geese that should have been rose/cream ...

... some fun RSC backgrounds ...

... a couple yards of interesting textures ...

... and an assortment of grey FQs.

The RSC backgrounds are already in the laundry.

We had a fabulous time and are so relieved to be back home ahead of the potential icing, though it looks like it will miss the Plateau.  It was 37 when we left Nashville this morning, and 53 when we got to the Plateau 100 miles east.  Talk about weather microcosms!