Whew..this has been a whirlwind of a month..
Went to my annual Retreat in Arizona again this year. This year I flew because the lady that I used to drive over with from So Cal moved to Arizona! She picked me and another Retreater up from the airport - we coordinated our flights so we would get there and leave within half an hour of each other..I stayed in her guest room the first night and then we moved to the hotel where the Retreat is held.
The hotel just changed hands..and all the staff changed from last year. We have been going to this location since (I think) 2006 or 2007...The conference room holds 32 retreaters - so far, they have only been ladies, but we wouldn't exclude a guy or two! (Some of the husbands occasionally come..one year they went target shooting, another they went to visit the airplane boneyard in Tuscon..)
This year the 'big event' was making a bargello quilt. One of the hostesses volunteered to lead the project and we jumped right in on Thursday, making our strata. In deciding to even do the class, I looked at bargello pictures on the internet and found one that I really, really liked its look:
I used 17 of the fat quarters that we got on the last Quilter's Run:
Here is my strata:
What I ended up with is the first nine pieces followed the pattern, the next 8 were the first pattern going backwards...I still had some my two strata left, so I cut that into random sized pieces until I couldn't cut any more and added them to one of the sides...so..its kinda unique!
Like that sample, I will be doing the borders similarly - though I haven't decided if I am going to use leaves or something else for the applique. The picture shows a bias scarf I made at retreat as well..just a wee quickie project!
I finished a bag that was on the donation table - the body of the bag was prepared with lovely hand quilting, it had one handle turned, the other handle was not sewn at all and the lining was already made. I think I know why it was never finished - that remaining handle was a bear to turn! When I got it home, I decided that the handles needed to be thinner than the original, so I folded them and stitched them down..then it needed a button closure so I stitched two buttons on - one with a loop of elastic that can loop over the other button...it has all of my little projects that I brought with me to retreat but didn't get time to work on in and its hanging in my sewing room. I like it!
One of the other activities was making a potholder - first they were posted on a board and we voted on our favorites..then they were used in the Left-Right game - one of the ladies wrote a humorous story that you pass the potholder from left or right depending on the directions in the story..Very funny!
This is my contribution:
And this is the one I ended up with --a pretty pink design:
The potholder display:
And this was all the buzz around the potholder display:
No...those ain't palm trees on the back...after all..it is a POT holder..the front features munchy foods...
Not surprisingly, it won first place in the competition!
