Friday, October 11, 2019

Another Retreat, Please / Beauties Pageant 52


Last weekend, I traveled to Cape Cod with my guild for our annual fall retreat. It was so darn good. I didn’t have tons of time to prep new projects, so I grabbed what I had in the works already, figuring I’d get done what I could get done.

I completed an as-yet-unrevealed project and pieced its back, I sewed two tops for baby quilts, I made good headway on a QuiltCon submission, and I finished up some bee blocks for a charity quilt. Honestly, I was so productive that I thought I might run out of things to do, and if I had gone for three nights instead of two, I think I would have!

A highlight of the weekend was when we presented Ahoy Sailor to the retreat coordinator at the inn where we stay and sew. I pieced the quilt for this project, and guild mates contributed to the quilting, binding, and labeling. The recipient was very touched. Watching people accept handmade quilts I have contributed to will never get old. : )

I have already written about the fabric pull for this project, as well as piecing it. But here she is in all of her quilted and bound glory, against the backdrop of the Cape Cod shoreline ...


Beautiful, right?

I have very few scraps from this project because I used the big chunks I had on the pieced back ...


I am often at a loss about how to quilt a project. When I was asking my guild mates to consider quilting this particular one, however, I knew the quilting design had to complement the subject matter, and I knew it could be done successfully with a walking foot, a darning foot, or a longarm. Anything that created a sense of waves across the width of the quilt would work. A longarmer volunteered to quilt this, and she chose a zigzag with a little personality. Perfect!

Do you attend quilt retreats? If so, what are your favorite parts of weekends away with quilty friends?

Linking up to Needle and Thread Thursday and Favorite Finish ...

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11 comments:

  1. This is such a cute quilt! I love the zig zag quilting.

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  2. I have done knitting retreats, but next year will be my first quilting one! So excited and it's a year away. LOL

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  3. Hi Michelle! I am so happy that you had a productive time at the retreat! I have never gone to one (yet) but fear I would spend a lot of time chatting and little time sewing. I just love the quilt that you and others made for the hostess. The wavy quilting is perfect and I can just imagine her wrapped in all of those good wishes and love. I'll bet you had a few people at home miss you, and perhaps even one cute dog! ~smile~ Roseanne

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  4. You know how much I love this!!! Makes me want to sail away...

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  5. I love how this quilt turned out and the quilting is awesome. I haven't been on a big retreat for a long time I just go on little ones with two friends. Yours sounds very productive

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  6. I am glad you enjoyed your retreat! And the quilt looks awesome. Perfect pictures of the sail boats at the beach. And the quilting fits nicely. xo Melanie

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  7. Your retreat sounds amazing and so productive! I love you sailing quilt and what a perfect location for some great pics!

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  8. Gorgeous quilt! I love the water and watching sailboats float by.

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  9. I love sailing boat quilts and this is sure a beauty. Take care.

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  10. Great fabrics and design, I love how it turned out.

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