Summer sewing/quilting retreats cancelled due to the pandemic or other reasons?

No worries – create your own quilt-retreat-at-home!  Here are some ideas:

Retreat Environment

• Tidy up your sewing room.
• Light a favorite candle.
• Add a vase of fresh flowers (cut from your garden or a $4 bunch from grocery store).
• Stock up on your preferred beverage and retreat snacks. 🙂
• Cue up your favorite music.

Project Ideas

• Have a project or technique you’ve been dying to try?  Now’s the time!
• Join one of the many Quilt A Longs either online or through your LQS.
• Set a timer for 30 minutes and peruse Pinterest.
• Challenge yourself to make a quilt or other small project using only what you have on hand. These are often referred to as stash quilts, stash buster projects, and scrappy quilts. Just Wanna Quilt calls these challenges Inventory Quilts.

Field Trips

• Many quilt shops are starting to reopen, but with limited hours. Check with the shop before you leave. Also remember to bring a mask and hand sanitizer.
• Learn about any Quilt Block/Barn Block Trails in your area. This provides an opportunity to learn more about your local town/state, plus get outside while maintaining the recommended social distancing. FYI: The latest edition of Quilt Folk Magazine features an article about the quilt block trails in South Carolina.
• Sew outside! Take a hand sewing project, cold beverage and go visit your favorite park. Even 30 minutes spent stitching will do wonders for your mood.  If you can stay longer, take a favorite magazine and pack a lunch.  Try to meet up with a friend.
• If your budget allows, take your DIY retreat to a hotel for 1-2 nights. If you precut your projects, you’ll be amazed at how much sewing actually gets done.

Keeping It Social

• Meet up with your quilty peeps in person whenever you can. Be sure to keep in touch with them via phone, text or email. Personal connections are so import right now!
• Follow your favorite quilt shops, shows and designers on Instagram & Facebook.  If you participate in a QAL, be sure to post pictures of your project and use the designated hashtags.
• Listen to sewing/quilting related podcasts using your favorite podcast app.

My retreat?
QAL in real time: Bee Patriotic Sew Along with Lori Holt – posting weekly on Instagram (this is also my sew from the stash challenge project)
Ongoing: Granny’s Flower Garden Quilt (previous applique QAL w/ Lori Holt)
Social: Catch up with FB Live videos from The Featherweight Shop, JK Quilts & Missouri Star.
Field Trip: Visit 1-2 local shops per week to check-in and support local businesses. Explore Powder Springs Quilt Block Trail.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to get-in a couple of overnight getaways before summer ends.

Don’t know about you, but I am fatigued by the endless stream of mostly negative stories about EVERYTHING. You think you can turn off the rhetoric about the 2020 Presidential Election, only to hear some story about a shopper in NY being harassed because she didn’t wear a mask in the store and now the firestorm surrounding the white police officer who killed a black suspect who was handcuffed, lying on the ground.  In my opinion, the latter deserves all the coverage it can get because that was just plain wrong, regardless of the circumstances that led up to the arrest. That said, it does not give permission for the protestors to set fire to buildings and loot stores. Those types of actions kind of turn want-to-be supporters away.

Can we please be civil with one another?  It matters not one iota to me for whom you plan to vote, whether you mask or not or the race of your partner/children.  What matters is how you treat people, because we’re all PEOPLE.

Social distancing is a misnomer.  It should be physical distancing instead. Humans need social interaction and to feel like they belong (one of Maslow’s 4 needs).  The shelter-in-place has been really hard on me mentally. I’m accustomed to dozens of interactions with kids and adults all day long.  For several weeks, it ‘s been mostly the dog and a computer screen. Hubby is holed up in the home office all day working.  I relished any opportunity to get out to the grocery store.

Now, things are slowly starting return some semblance of normal. We’ll find out 6/1 what the guidelines are for re-opening schools. I sincerely hope there’s a bit of a delay and the first few weeks are done remotely, with kids coming back the 2nd quarter (after fall break). As I’ve said before, I’ll be ready when I can find hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes and disinfectant spray stocked on the shelves at my local grocery store.

Meanwhile, be considerate, wash your hands and try to keep a 6’ physical distance if you can. But be sure to maintain a social connection with those around you.

For now, I’ll be on my lower patio piecing quilt blocks while I listen to books and podcasts.

I made over 100 masks to donate to those who needed them. This was a great way to use up various bits of novelty fabrics that had been in the stash for a while! I used the basic 6”x9” mask with 2 pleats. Missouri Star Quilt Company has an excellent video tutorial if you need instructions.

Helpful hints:

• Set up 2 machines, preferably one with a scissors/auto thread cutting feature for assembling masks.
• 1/8” braided flat elastic works well. Similar size elastic cording will work, but you have to knot the ends prior to stitching so it won’t come out. Knots can also be an issue when topstitching later.
• Mini Wonder clips are helpful, as is a wooden skewer for helping move pleats under the needle.
• Use your machine’s straight stitch with auto lock feature for topstitching. I discovered that holding threads at the beginning of my stitching meant no big knot of thread underneath.
• Allow 10 to 15 minutes of time for each mask you plan to make.
• Make a pleater board/jig. It was a game changer for me.  Here’s mine: