At My Sewing (Snowing) Retreat

Every winter I go to a Quilting Retreat in the Berkshire Mountains with about 30 other women from my quilt guild.  It is a beautiful place in upstate NY where we spend 4 days sewing, chatting, eating and being inspired together.  We all look forward to going each year!

Here is a pic of the beautiful landscape when we arrived on Friday morning.  No snow, per say on the ground.  However, as the weekend progressed, we got 14+" of snow that was blowing around in some bitter cold temperatures. 

Look how the mountains have "disappeared" in this photo!  This pic doesn't even do it justice because I was taking the photo under a pavilion.  But even getting snowed in, we had a great time.

I brought a lot of old, unfinished quilts (UFO's) with me to work on.  Seriously, it's time to move these quilts on so I can start some pretty new things!  This is my year.  :)

Here is one that I started about 3-4 years ago for my sister.  It's got some cute doggie fabric that I cut up into 5" squares, but never finished it.  When I took it out, the squares looked very boring, so I made some colorful pinwheel blocks from my fabric stash to match some of the colors in the quilt.  Now it has some movement to it and doesn't look so boring.  I showed her a pic and she said, Yes, go ahead and finish it for her.  She loves it. 

I also working on this cute kitty quilt that will be for my daughter.  It was supposed to be her Christmas present (LOL) but now it will be for her graduation this spring from Nursing School.  It's almost done and I'll be a step ahead, not behind.  :)  The pattern is called Pins and Paws Cat Quilt from the Missouri Star Quilt Company.  It's such a fun and easy quilt to piece together.  Once I finish this, I'd like to make another one in some bright colors.  The link to make this pattern is here. 

Here is another quilt that I worked on during my retreat.  It's a fabric line called Flora and Fauna by Riley Blake.  I just love the colors in it.  It's from a jelly roll that I purchased last year.  It still needs some borders but the piecing is all done.  The pattern is from the Missouri Star Quilt Company called Cutting Corners Quilt.  You can make it, too- here is the link. 

Finally, here is a quilt that I started 4 years ago for my niece when she finished high school.  She wanted an "outdoor" quilt.  I wasn't sure what that exactly meant, so I purchased a jelly roll in the Alpine fabric line.  It has topographical maps on it, foxes, birch trees and other outdoor images. She'll be graduating from college this spring, so I thought that it's time that I should complete it!  I have it on my Handi Quilter and the quilting should be done soon! 

How about you, do you have quilts or other projects that you need to take out and complete?  I'll post them when I get them all done.  There are 7 quilts in my pile that are ready to be quilted and moved on. I'd better get back to work!  :)

Heart Quilt

Ah, the holidays are over and I'm so glad to begin a new year!  This year my goal is to sew, sew, sew!  I have a lot of quilts and other sewing projects that have been lying around and it's time to finish them up and move them along.  For real. :)

I made this cute little wall hanging for my daughter for Christmas.  Her favorite colors are teal and coral, so I used a fabric line called, Nest, for my project.  It has the sweetest little images in it!

Look at the birds and nests - so sweet!  I definitely want to use this fabric collection again. 

I found the layout on Pinterest from Robert Kaufman fabrics (link is here) and started cutting 2 1/2" squares from my jelly roll.  It took some time to cut the squares and arrange the colors, but once I was done with that, I numbered them and took them into my sewing room to sew them all together. 

The sewing took longer than I thought that it would - although it's a relatively small quilt, there are over 100 little squares to sew together!

Then I put on a white border and finished it off with a teal binding.  And yes, it was actually done before Christmas!  (Christmas Eve, but who's counting)

It's about 26" square- just the perfect size to hang on the wall or use as table topper - my kind of project (the kind that you can finish - LOL!).