Let Us Sew, Let Us Sew, Let Us Sew - Part 2

What did I do at the retreat? I slept! We, Lucie and I, got there on Friday around 5p.m. We said hello to everyone, had a quick bite, unpack our personal things in our respective bedrooms and set up our machines. Then came Saturday morning, it was sewing time. By 7p.m. on Saturday, I was a walking zombie. So, I went and laid down for a short nap. I woke up at 5a.m. Sunday morning. Still fully dressed. Slept for 10 hours straight. I needed this so much. But, sew, I did.


Blue RSC block named Flying Home. 

Do you like the white geese all going in the same direction? 

Or as in this picture where the blue blocks have the smallest geese touching? The girls had very different reasons for picking one or the other. Now I would like to know yours, please. 

Blue RSC blocks named April Fool.

One more blue block is required for this quilt. The orange one is the fabric I bought. I like how this layout forms a "wave" with the white "V". Like a zig zag or chevron. 

I brought Spinner along to sew it into a top. It didn't happen because one block still has the stains. I was sure these were all fixed. I took the time to layout the blocks and sew them two by two. Some un-sewing will happen this weekend. 

Remember this little block I did due to a SHIB? 

Well, it isn't alone anymore. Five more blocks needed for a little baby quilt. I didn't have enough of the medium blue polka-dot so the centre is a dark blue polka-dot. It happens. 

Blue crumb blocks were assembled 

some are not completed or trimmed. 

More crumb blocks were made with white fabric for the Stained Glass quilt. 

I have enough to finish 6 blocks with these not-trimmed triangles. 

Here's the new project I've been cutting, cutting and cutting for 2 weeks prior to the retreat. 

It's Plaid-ish. I need to pay attention to the values as some are not quite as "medium" as they need to be. It will be interesting to sew all these blocks together with the skinny strip matching up with the next one. Oh boy! 😳

I want to share this with you. I don't remember seeing this before. I got this strip of fabric from someone. It was sewn together to make it longer. I wanted to use it for the binding of the pink scrap basket. When I turned the strip over to cut it . . . 

I had a surprise. Haha! Same print, different company. Now, we know. If you go back up, you might notice that the white swirls on the right strip are thicker than the left one. You didn't notice it the first time did you? Me either. 

Scrap shelves. 😁

Now drum roll, please. How did I do with the blue scraps in February? 

The before pictures: 

The end of the month pictures: 

I am surprised by the result. I did refold the fabric in the basket on the right but I thought I had added much more to the darker basket. Of course, I used a lot too. The plastic bags were emptied into a bigger bag to bring to the retreat and I came back with some more but still . . . I'm happy! 

Raven is sticking to me like a flea to a dog. His back is much better. He can finally jump on the couch by himself. Depending on the day/weather, climbing the stairs can be tricky for him still. Too many steps I guess, as the couch, it's only one jump. Here, he's pretending to be asleep on my red chair in the sewing room. 

Angela called Yellow for March. I'll gather the bags up and show you what I have to work with next weekend. 

Have a great one. 

;^)

I will visit these talented ladies over the weekend. Hope to catch you there. 

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts

Cynthia for Oh Scrap

Alycia for Finished or NOT Finished Friday

Nina Marie at Creations - Quilts, Art, Whatever 

♫ ♪ Let Us Sew, Let Us Sew, Let Us Sew ♪ ♫

I'm back from the retreat and what a fun one it was. As always!

Saturday morning photo. How can I get tired of looking at this? I can't. 

This cute little mat is made by Claire. She doesn't come to this retreat but she participates in a different group. She did one for all the girls in her group and two of them are in my group, so I got the chance to see this cutie. 

Josee brought Izzy along. He's also an artist of the paint and brush kind. 

His brush, palette and canvas are stored in his bag. So small. Check the ruler on my machine for scale. 

Then he walked away. My table is too much of a mess for this fancy feline artistic taste. (FYI, Josee doesn't knit. She did a quilt or repair a quilt for someone and this was a thank you gift. He has his name on a little tag on his back. Josee wants to change it but haven't settled on one yet. Yes, you can remove his shoes too! ) I love him. 

Lucie got a panel that says: What happens at a quilt retreat … stays at a quilt retreat. Well, not if I come along with my camera, lol. Sylvie cut the squares and added the sashing, and before the retreat was over it was all done. Quilted and all! So we started to sign in the white squares. We are 10 and there's only 8 squares. We wrote more than just our names. If you look on the right side, the green square (because I am not a flower girl, lol) you can see mine. It says: Let us sew, let us sew, let us sew. 🧵🧵🧵 The banner will go up every time we are here. 

Lucie finished the top of the snowman she worked on at our last retreat. I love this one with the chickadees. She went back to the store to get me one but they were all gone. What a sweetheart to think of me this way. 

She also worked on a bunch of rectangle she received in a bag. The lady added the pattern to do the Mason Jar Quilt. Lucie doesn't care about that one and did a Shadow Box instead. She was not in love with it but kept sewing. Then she placed the blocks on the design wall and … magic! 

She was warming up to it. She said she will give it to me to add to the box of donations for the Quilt for Survivors. I told her to keep it until I'm ready to send the box. I know she loves bugs so, maybe she will change her mind and keep this one for herself. 

Mary also brought back a quilt she was working on at our last retreat. She got it all pinned on the big tables. It's so much easier at the retreat. Many hands make light work. 

Helene brought this beauty for her bed. It is hand-pieced and hand-quilted. Isn't it gorgeous? (Helene is on the left in pink and Lucie is holding the other end.)

Bravo, Helene! I love it! 

Helene did a lot of cleaning in her home and sewing room since she has retired. She brought 3 big boxes of things to give. Patterns, fabric, yarn, abandoned projects, you name it, it was there. 

I took these home. 

Flannelette galore! 

The pink and green is a baby top. The red pile on the left side are all receiving blankets ready to be donate. They will be donate next Tuesday at the Artisanat's meeting. On top of the red pile are diamond shaped pieces. On the left, there are more flannelette with some cotton under the hockey print. The bag holds long strings. 

This pattern also came home with me. I've never done anything like this but I drooled over it when it was in Connecting Thread's catalog. Now, it is mine. Yay! 

The girls did many, many other things but I didn't take pictures. (kicking myself). 

We had a new player to replace one that moved away. Sonia is her name and she worked with NEON fabric and did this. 

(Yes, Joy, I thought of your February NEON challenge, lol.) She is very sweet and fit right in with the group. Someone told her that I accept scraps because the first day we met, she handed me a bag of scraps. 

Sonia, you are definitively in. Hahaha. 

Needless to say that I come back with more than when I had left. 

Now every frozen lake in Canada has a hockey rink. Here's the proof. Haha. 

This morning, March 1st, the plow came down my street. 

I guess they are running out of trucks. Let me know if the video doesn't work. Thanks. 

Okay, so this is my third cup of coffee, the laundry isn't done, well, nothing got done as I've been sitting here for the last 3 hours. I need to move and get some solid food. I'll show you in another post what I worked on. Catch you in a bit. ;^)

I will visit these talented ladies over the weekend. Hope to catch you there. 

Angela at So Scrappy

Frédérique at Patchwork and Quilts

Cynthia for Oh Scrap

Alycia for Finished or NOT Finished Friday

Nina Marie at Creations - Quilts, Art, Whatever