Sweet Retreat: Part I

I know, I haven't posted in a while! We are currently living through a renovation, and the chaos has pushed off all but the most essential tasks. Which means that I barely spent any time sewing in late January and through February.
But happily, March brought me to my quilt guild's annual retreat, on the shores of Lake Huron. Luxurious days of sewing in my pajamas, stopping only to eat, sleep, or soak in the hot tub. Truly, it's the life!
Vowing that I would use the opportunity to catch up on my incomplete projects, I packed a suitcase full of UFO's. First on the list were a couple of I-Spy quilts, destined for charity. This first one was pieced by my daughter Margaret back in January, at my friend Renske's house. She did a pretty good job for a 9 year old; all it needed was a border, and so I added the wide band of green.
As an update, after I gave the completed top to Renske, she had it handquilted by another acquaintance of hers, and the quilt will be auction this May at the Mennonite Relief Sale & Quilt Auction in New Hamburg. I'm quite excited about this, and hope that Margaret will be proud of her accomplishment (at the moment, she's a bit shy, and only reluctantly agreed to have her name on the quilt label).

That same day at Renske's, I had partially pieced an I-Spy using a sneaky method Renske showed me. I had to finish the horizontal sashing, off-setting alternate rows of blocks, and then apply a border. I thought it turned out surprisingly well. I really like the staggered effect of the offset squares.
My completed top is going to Joseph Schneider Haus, a local museum, where it will be the back-up quilt for the annual Quilting Bee (i.e., if they finish the first top before the end of the designated Quilting Bee days, they will move on to quilting my quilt). I imagine my quilt going on to the Relief Sale in 2014, although it could also be donated to the local hospital (our guild supplies "Smile Quilts" for children in hospital with serious or chronic medical conditions).
It felt great to have uninterrupted time to get these quilts finished! And then, it was on to the next!