Retreat – noun

1. the forced or strategic withdrawal of an army or an armed force before an enemy, or the withdrawing of a naval force from action.Antonyms: advance
2. the act of withdrawing, as into safety or privacy; retirement; seclusion.Synonyms: withdrawal, departure
3. a place of refuge, seclusion, or privacy.The library was his retreat.Synonyms: shelter
4. an asylum, as for the insane.
5. a retirement or a period of retirement for religious exercises and meditation.
6. Military.
   1. a flag-lowering ceremony held at sunset on a military post.
   2. the bugle call or drumbeat played at this ceremony.
7. the recession of a surface, as a wall or panel, from another surface beside it.

I guess numbers two and three are most appropriate, not number four, yet. I’m on day five of my at home retreat, and have about a week more. Things I have gotten done so far:

• Ahoy appliqué top
• Blooming Beauty BOM blocks
• Pumpkin Patch top
• Witching hour top
• Peter Rabbit top – waiting on outer border fabric
• Tilda Quilt finish
• Lotus leaves and Vase MiaB block
• Floral Frolic Quilting

I would like to start quilting the Pumpkin patch (older version) and the Witching hour, using one backing. That backing should be here, ordered on the 14th. I have another piece of the same, but it is only three yards wide. I need to piece the backing for the newer, bright colored Pumpkin Patch too. I could do that one first and then the other two, while still in Halloween mode.

The three kits for custom quilts arrived. One Pacific Rim appliqué wall hanging, a Christmas wall hanging and a cute bed size Halloween themed one called Candy Corn. The Candy Corn one has a million or so pinwheels. I think I have a Accuquilt die to cut those though.

Be Kind.

Last night I finished the appliqué in the lower section of the Tilda Anniversary quilt. I was so happy to have it done. I went into the studio, and got the other two pieces out to put on the design wall and admire. I was thinking that I could sew it all together in the morning and have it ready to quilt next week ( I need to piece the backing). I noticed the big red flower in the center, it was only basted, sigh, one more flower to do. When I looked over the pattern, I also noted that there are two leaves that span the center and top piece that need to be added too. I am inspired to finish the appliqué on the Message in a Bottle BOM now. I have been needle turning at night instead of cross stitching this past week. I think another week of this routine will finish up that bunch of blocks too. I am afraid to look though, as I may find more than one more to do.

The land of appliqué has been well visited this past week. I finished the sixth block of the Ahoy quilt, now I have to decide on the sashings. I have this bright blue print that I want to use, but I don’t want to do a checkered sash. I am leaning towards plain strips, maybe corner stones, red might be a nice pop.

I was able to finish the I spy quilt, binding and all. It came out really cute, I used some quilting designs that were included in my initial package that came with the machine. Funny thing is, I have always seen these letter blocks as useless. They are ten inches square, and boring, not really suited for an ABC kids quilt. Too big for monograms, so they just sat. The American Jane pattern calls for appliquéd letters in the top five blank blocks. I sort of forgot about them until I got the top on the frame. I had an idea, and tried it out on the sideline of the mounted quilt. I reduced the size of the quilted letter block to 4 inches. I thought it would be too dense, but no, the computer was able to rescale it to a good size and density. I stitched them ( I,S,P,Y) out and realized that there was supposed to be a blank space in between the I and the S. Darn! (insert colorful language) I stitched the last one with the recipients initial. I then went on to block/mask those squares out of the ABC panto graph I had picked. It was a bit tedious, all the stops and starts, worth it in the end.

I found two more cute forest-y animal pantos for the last two Woodland friends tops. Got the first one done (bound too) and the second one is on the frame now. I got all the pieces cut for the next halloween quilt, a Pumpkin patch pattern from Cluck Cluck Sew. I have made three of these, sold two last year, and have one to quilt in the TBQ pile. I like this fabric line, its was on sale for less than 5.00 a yard and it has cats and cute halloween themed prints. Pink and orange, not my favorite color combo, but it works for this. I also got the fabric I ordered for the other Halloween quilt, the Witching hour, I want to make.

I’m going to have a Homeside retreat, starting in two days, for ten days. I’m planning on doing a few things that have been on my to-do list for a while, and catching up on Etsy things. I want to be in good shape for the fall/winter seasons of shopping. I think will be a nice way to end August and cruise into September and the fourth quarter.

Be Kind.

I got a lot done this weekend, but last week ended on an exasperating note. There should be a saying in quilting, like “check the back twice, sew once”. I was working on the last two (of four) Sunshine Bunnies quilts, I had gotten three rows sewn when I saw the backing. The dreaded railroading of the bobbin thread, ugh. Thankfully the butterfly design I was stitching doesn’t have a lot of back tracking. It took me a few hours to pick it all out. I changed out the thread choice, and everything sewed out well. I finished Saturday afternoon and got all four quilts bound and finished by 4pm. It was pedal to the metal, I really wanted to get two of them in the mail Monday morning. Goal met. Looking at these photos, I see that I also should get the I spy quilt top together. I just need to sew the diagonal rows together. Add it to the list.

As a reward for being so speedy, I worked on another block for the Ahoy quilt, the whale and sea star. I think I am going to explore the fancy stitches on my 790pro for some pre-quilting embellishment. I thought about doing some with the quilting, but the shapes are irregular and it would a pita to block them out for the panto stitching. I am not going to free hand the background on this either.

The top section of the Tilda quilt is finished and I basted the bottom sections pieces onto the background. It’s all ready for appliqué, when I have a free moment. I probably will free hand quilt this background, it’s got so many little pieces and parts. It will probably end up as a wall hanging anyway.

I got a package in the mail, of fabric. I had to really think as to what I bought it for, and I figured it out to be a pumpkin patch quilt – like the one pictured below from earlier this year. The fabric was on sale and then if you bought 5 yards you got one free. I ended up getting 2 free yards that will work for something else. I also bought yardage yesterday, to make this (center) cute Halloween themed quilt. I have the panel of center motifs already, the pattern was free and the fabric was not, but it’s a cute design and print. The third orange and black quilt is one I have had my eye on, possibly scrappy, but I don’t have a panel to cut up for the centers. Three quilts to join the to-do queue, after all five left it.

I finally installed EQ8 on this laptop. I have it on my older one, but it is very slow these days. The battery doesn’t hold a charge on it either. I have been seeing ideas on the web and then working out my own versions to try. This week I would really like to get the rest of the Sunshine bunnies fabric used up and into tops, and the rest of the woodland friends into something too. Maybe I’ll just do two Yellow brick road tops. Then I’ll work on the (new) Pumpkin patch, and by then the fabric for the other halloween quilt will be here. I would also like to get the Quandary quilt on the frame, but now that I am thinking about it, that is too big of a project to finish before the Ahoy quilt needs quilting. That one needs to be finished soon. I can put the Pumpkin patch I made last year on, that’ll be a quick finish. Then I will have four quilts to do a photo session with. Hmm, this sounds like a two week plan.

Be Kind.

This week I finished a few things and started a new thing and worked on an older thing. The Sparrow bed size quilt is finished, I just need to get it photographed and up on the site. The custom Creepy quilt is out the door on an its way. Plus I sold the Laundry Basket quilt “Winter Village” to someone in Florida, YAY! The top section of the Tilda Anniversary quilt is now appliquéd, and I need to prep the bottom section. The bottom is the same as the top, only it has the year instead of the name. I am not looking forward to appliquéing the 2s.

The new start is a baby quilt. The patterns cover picture looks very cute, the written instructions need some work. This could be a hot mess if someone with less quilting experience tried to make this. The seam allowances for the main background pieces are not included nor for the checker borders. Every piece is finished size. Although, to be fair, there are notes that the appliqué templates need to have 1/4 inch added to them. This pattern could easily have another two pages of instruction added, like how/where to place the pieces on the backgrounds. There are sizes of additional pieces noted on the template pages, as a side note. Let’s just say there is a lot of room for interpretation. I purchased it from a designer on Etsy, and received a request for a review. I thought about privately sending one, but I don’t think it would help this person become a better writer of sewing/quilting patterns. Is this their best version? Maybe, I’ll make it work, the idea is cute and the theme, but I feel sorry for someone trying to make this without sewing experiences. I am using a bunch of prints gifted to me from a kit, they fit the blue and red nautical seaside theme.

I really want to finish the appliqué for the Tilda quilt. I have moved it over to the cross stitch station. The light there is good, a comfy chair, and my appliqué tackle box fits neatly on top of my rolling cart of Stitch supplies. I am stitching on Tilda rather than the Lillies for now.

A little quick project to break up the big ones. I recently got a fabric book panel and decided to “whip it up”. It was supposed to take about an hour or so. Sat down and read the instructions, and started to cut out the pieces. Okay first step, interfacing, specifically fusible fleece for the cover/back page. I didn’t have a big enough piece, so had to order more. Too bad Joanns is gone, I could have gotten it there. Sadly that is happening more and more, I need a notion quickly, and I have to order it and wait. Last week I was repairing a handbag for a friend and I didn’t have the right size strapping or rings. I had to wait five days to do a fifteen minute job. Thread too, I just needed a spool of purple thread to finish something, nope, gotta wait to get it shipped. Sigh.

Anyway back to the quick book project. I decided to sew what I could while I was waiting for the interfacing to get here. I also had to order the crinkle plastic sheeting for the flip up parts of the book. I spent about two hours doing the pieces and parts. There is no way this is an hour long project, I found a video about making it from Marie’s Scrappy Creations . The video is over 40 minutes, and edited so you don’t have to sit through the sewing. It is a cute book though and I hope that I’ll be able to finish it today. I started another baby quilt last night too. It’s an I Spy type quilt from American Jane, Called “I Spy Quilt” using the panel I got a few weeks ago. The pattern calls for a charm pack and a few yards of fabric from the Picture Perfect line. I was able to get those goods in about 48 hours as they are shipped from a town that is an hour away from mine. I got a head start on the blocks, I need to cut the setting triangles and this should go together fairly quickly. Famous last words. The funny thing is while cutting the blocks I noticed that some of the things pictured aren’t relevant anymore. I know what they are and were, but your average millennial will be scratching their head.

The Creepy quilt is off the frame and the “You are My Sunshine” quilts are on now. I finished the fourth top a few days ago, still have enough fabric left to make two more. But I am not going to get any more panels. I have an idea for a scrappy sort of block that will use the border print scraps. I am able to put all four on the same batting and backing. This makes me happy, along with being able to quilt two across in one pass of the machine.

I finally did the Starry Signs July block and not a minute too soon as the first of the month brought the Leo block to my inbox.

I have been knitting a bit a night, making a few washcloths out of some cotton yarn I have. Mindless knitting, where it doesn’t matter if I nod off while knitting. These are supposed to be dish cloths, but I really like them a shower cloths. They are sort of rough, but not like those plastic scrubby ones. They hold the soap and dry fairly quickly if you hang them up after rinsing them. There are so many versions out in the inter webs. This is the pattern I follow:

Not much visible stitching progress on the Lillies this week. I have been really concentrating on quilt tops. Here’s my progress photo.

I got my new Oliso Iron and have been using it daily. I got the project sized one. Plenty of heat and it even has a little LED head lamp on it. I am still getting used to leaving it in the “down” position on its silicon tray. I see it out of the corner of my eye and get a start thinking it is going to burn the pressing mat. It’s a little heavier than the travel Rowenta I had been using. but this Oliso has auto-shut-off. I had a few times where I left the Rowenta plugged in over night. Thankfully in the upright position.

Be Kind.