Yesterday, I dropped off Boomer, changed out of my R.E.A.D. gear, loaded up the SUV and headed north about an hour to our designated retreat location. One of our members lives in a large planned community with a sprawling clubhouse complex. We rented one of the meeting rooms for the day. For $30/person, it was a huge room with plenty of space for the two dozen or so attendees.
I came in half-way through the day, so I missed the first round of the Left-Center-Right game and apparently a fabulous bag-making class. I arrived around 3 p.m. and immediately got to work on the chili pepper table runner kit I’d brought with me. I chuckled as I saw the mounds of things my fellow quilters had brought with them. We have some serious overachievers in our midsts. I managed to get all of the pieces cut and the 60 half-square triangles made for my table runner, plus assemble almost an entire block. I sewed something in backwards that necessitates removing about half of the stitching. I’ll correct it and set the table runner aside to work on at our sew-in on Thursday night @ Tiny Stitches.
I daresay everyone enjoyed the chance to work on projects uninterrupted and be surrounded by like-minded fabric enthusiasts. I returned home very tired, but with my creative batteries recharged. I broke through the creative block I’d been suffering from for the past two weeks. You see, my Kona challenge quilt top is complete except for the four trumpet tulip applique blocks I’d planned to use in the corners. Foundation paper piecing didn’t look right, but I knew those blocks would really add some oomph to my overall quilt design. I simplified the design and proceeded to satin stitch those flower parts down. Fortunately, I had coordinating shades of Sulky thread in the stash. Tomorrow, I will attach the borders and pin baste the top.
It’s obvious from the pictures taken at the Library Island event and our quilt retreat that yours truly needs to seriously lose some weight. I’m not real happy with the latest reading on the scale or my BMI either. So, it’s work in the sewing room for an hour a day during my peak craving time (4:30-5:30 p.m.) to keep me out of the kitchen. A win-win. I don’t munch mindlessly and my sewing projects get finished.
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