Come Stitch With Me

This morning, a friend attending the JK Quilts spring retreat in Boise, Idaho texted pictures of the daily projects and swag she’d received so far. I’d opted not to attend this year, largely due to travel costs and the purchase of my Elna 782. Besides, family, therapy dog and quilt show commitments meant my travel wings were already clipped through mid-June (possibly longer).

Last night, I left our monthly book club meeting a tad envious after hearing the exciting travel plans shared by several members in the group. My husband reminded me that once our current season passes, we’ll be able to travel again. After his visit to MD Anderson in two weeks, we’ll know what’s ahead and can plan accordingly.

I knew I’d have the weekend to myself as my husband will be at a TR conference in Jacksonville. Once I saw the daily project pictures and found the supplies for one already in my stash, I decided to host my own mini quilt retreat.

Mini-Retreat Project:
Little Flag mini-quilt from Ten Sisters Handicraft

I actually have a package of the grid panels in the correct size in my stash! Carmen Geddes taught a class at Mountain QuiltFest a couple of years ago that was a lot of fun. My fall-themed wall hanging turned out absolutely adorable! The flag pattern is a free download from their website.

Projects to complete:
(1) Add borders to M50 Luau quilt.
(2) Spray baste Gingham quilt for grid design with walking foot.

“Potential” excursions for Sunday afternoon:
Sew Senoia or Stitched to buy backing fabric for M50 Luau quilt.

Happy retreating!

Project? Check!
The kids finally agreed on a project. To make the pattern more kid-friendly, we’ll go with a 5×6 layout instead of the 6×7 layout shown in the pattern. Students have the option to provide their own layer cake bundle or shop my stash. One student began pulling fabric from my stash Sunday afternoon while another one ordered hers online.

Dates and Times? Check!
Parents were surveyed. We now have an official week for quilt camp (last week before public school start date) as well as, the schedule (Monday – Thursday 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.).

Logistics:
Students will bring their own sewing machines and leave them set up for the week. Yes, I have a back-up plan for possessed machines and potential student(s) without a sewing machine.

Everything will be precut so students can start sewing. A completed quilt in the smaller size by the end of camp is a reasonable expectation – especially from the girls who went to SQTM summer camps with me. It all depends on on their level of focus and the amount of socializing. My goal is for each camper to go home with a finished quilt top at a minimum.

Sewing space configuration will be finalized once I know the exact number of participants. I may need to get a little creative if more than 3 kids reach the machine quilting stage during camp, but we’ll make it work!

My inspiration was the shop quilt from Hometown Quilt Shop in Hogansville, GA. Patterns and fabrics to make ten of the blocks were purchased during the shop hop. The additional two blocks, designed by Sunday Best Quiltworks, were only available if you purchased a finishing kit from the shops. No, thank you.

Why? I wasn’t sure if I was going to keep this quilt or donate it to charity like I did the ones from previous years. The instructions for about half of the blocks contained errors (some significant). I also didn’t want a totally batik quilt.

So I got busy figuring things out…

The class I took at the Myrtle Beach Quilt Retreat taught me how to make similar sashing and cornerstones. The only difference here is that the center stripe is slightly smaller. In my version, the sashing and cornerstones finish at 2.5 inches. this means, you need to cut the outside strips at 1.5 inches and the center strip at 1 inch.

Figuring out the two additional blocks required some math and a deep dive in my stash to find fabrics that would coordinate with the existing blocks. I found similar blocks in EQ8 to use as a base and edited them until they matched the photo of the inspo quilt. I passed my notes, corrections and redrafted blocks on to a quilter friend.

I’m really, really pleased with how this flimsy turned out. My husband declared it a keeper. I concur. Sadie has blessed it and went shopping with me yesterday to purchase backing fabric at Hobby Lobby.

It will be quilted this week.