Autumn Retreat

I know -- I haven't blogged for a long time! With our house under renovation, I've had my sewing stuff packed up for weeks and weeks, trying to protect my fabrics from drywall dust!

But, finally, the time came to escape from real life and attend a quilting retreat! I just love getting away with the ladies to sew and quilt and eat for a few days.  It's such a great way to recharge! And sometimes I get more sewing done in those few days than I do the whole rest of the year -- well, there's no kids to interrupt, to laundry to do, etc. It's just sewing -- or knitting -- as much as we like, mixed with a little swimming or hot tub time (the B&B we stay at has a small indoor pool), and going to bed when we're tired.

This time, I was lucky enough to get a private room: it wasn't fancy or big, but it was quiet and included a small electric fireplace! This is what I got to enjoy in the evening while I sat in bed reading. Nice!

Although we always go in the off-season, there are still great views of the lake to enjoy; if it's not too windy, we might walk on the beach. Here's a picture of the sun setting over the lake -- a view we could easily enjoy from the dining room at dinner.

And yes, I did actually get some sewing done! It was a bit of a panic the night before we left -- I couldn't figure out which boxes I'd stashed fabrics and notions and tools in! I was beginning to worry that I wouldn't find enough pieces of anything to create a project to work on! But at last I dug out the orange and turquoise batiks I'd bought with which to make a summery drunkard's path quilt. I even found the templates! Here are a few of my blocks, made on the first evening. I was able to make most of the blocks during the retreat, although I was careful not to push myself too hard: I'm in physiotherapy for my rotator cuff, and as soon as my shoulder started aching even a little, I immediately took a break.

Not only that -- I was introduced to a new hobby this weekend! My friend Wendy mentioned that she was going to take a break from quilting to go geocaching. As she described it, I became very intrigued. I liked the idea of following a compass to some coordinates, and then trying to locate the hidden "treasure", even if it was just a log book to sign and date. I asked whether I could go with her -- and half an hour later, we were tramping through the nearby trails. Here I am, finding our second cache that day. We found 10 caches altogether, and stopped for lunch along the way. A really fun change of pace for a quilting weekend!

Mouse's I-Spy Quilt

Back in January, the Mouse and I pieced some I-Spy quilts for charity, at my friend Renske's farm. Here we are, the four charity quilters, posing with what we were able to complete that first day.

Mouse brought hers home and finished piecing the rows to make a crib-sized quilt, and I added the green border for her. It was then handquilted by an acquaintance of Renske's and donated to a charity Quilt Auction this spring.

A couple of weeks before the Auction, Mouse's quilt was on display, along with others destined for the same auction,  at a local museum. Here she is pictured standing in front of it.

It was auctioned for $350, and the full amount will go to charitable relief efforts! Yay Mouse! Way to go! What a great accomplishment for such a young lady. I'm very proud of her!

Update on cottage quilt

I said I would post a better picture of my Thousand Pyramids quilt, made for our bed at the cottage, so here it is!

I'm still happy with the scrappy look, and I used a number of fabrics with a cottagey theme, like cabins, bears and wood grain, etc. I let Barry pick the backing fabric, and he chose a gold flannel, so it's nice and snuggly.

With this quilt, I've finally fulfilled my goal to "Sleep under a quilt I've made myself", since my other finished pieces were twin-size or smaller.

I liked the triangle pattern, and would like to make another some time. I saw a great quilt in a quilt store, where the upright triangles were all a dark brown batik and all the down-pointing triangles were bright batiks. It looked like a wonderful jewel box of colour! I've also seen a pyramid quilt done in blue and white only, which was quite striking. So much inspiration, so little time...!!!