Retreat Weekend

This is my quilting Retreat Weekend where I plan to make the Kaleidoscope quilt for my younger Son. I dropped off my quilting machine, cutting mat and clear rulers at the store, and have the material and other tools, along with my camera packed in a tote ready to take with me to the class.

I bought the book with the instructions in it and tried to read more about the "Stack n Whack" process, and remembered that while I want to make this quilt, I NEED the class instructions to get it done. I might try and make a second quilt with this pattern so that I 'get' it. The instructions were like trying to read Albert Einstein's mathematical equations or calculations as someone still in 1st grade. Its not a new idea, but is new for me, & one that has intrigued me.

The group will gather at the store in town after business hours and quilt until we are exhausted, then go home, sleep in our own beds and come back on Sunday morning to do it all again. Each person will get done what she can and go home knowing how to finish her top. We work with our own fabrics using the same pattern, which is why I am bringing the camera to share the different perspectives.

This gave me an opportunity to deep clean two areas of my home and set up the studio-office workstation. Its time to move from one room to another so I can work in the evenings. My front rooms, like many houses, face the street, and because I've chosen not to hang curtains in my home, I use a lot of plants as a 'breaker' in front of my very long windows. As the nights get longer, it means turning on lights to see as I work, and I would rather not show me working to the world outside whose darkness hides people going by from me.

While I live in a gated community, that doesn't make for an entirely safe environment. I'd rather not set myself up for feeling vulnerable.

Mail brought more of the 6" Wonky blocks from my swap group. I've requested that style in both groups and every one of them is outstanding. Quilters always comment that they are more difficult than they realized and yet that they have been soooo satisfying to make. They say that its not easy going against the rules one has learned and practiced. I have also asked for wild colors in the blocks. Many refer to Gwen Marston books as guides for liberated quilting in the way that the StacknWhack are for my retreat.

The other thing that came in the mail was an ATC card in a frame with a matching envelope my friend Rex made that actually glows in the dark. What a treasure! 

She found buttons for me somewhere on her journeys through Madison or the neighboring outskirts. I was excited to get them because I am working on a few things right now that use them more for decoration than function. I bought a small pack for $8 here in town, but got nothing like this variety. I am most pleased.

I've cut out more easy-breezy Hallows stockings when I realized there were 3 more Great-Nephews in my family. They are all teens, & the filling needs to be things like sports/energy bars. There are still enough scraps to work for these.