What I did on my retreat!

I was on my semi-annual retreat last week! It was fabulous! The weather turned more Spring-like and addition to the food and fun, there was lots of sewing!

I started this quilt. The pattern is from Fat Quarter Style. I modified the blocks a bit (big surprise!) to make them square and plan on setting them together like this.

I also finished the top of my "Scattered Blossoms Quilt" from the book Playful Petals. Ten of the blocks were made by some Bee friends, so I just had a few more to make.

Also on my retreat agenda was this tote bag. It's the small Art Student Tote by Anna Maria Horner. It was a breeze to make! All her patterns are so well written. I'd really like to make the bigger version now.

Three of my retreat-mates finished  (or almost finished) a Garden lattice quilt from my book, Simply Modern Christmas. I never tire of seeing this pattern done in different fabrics.

And this week I've started to machine quilt "Fletching", "Broken Arrows", "Jarts" quilt. You girls came up with such great names - now I can't decide which I like best :)

It's a lot of turning with the Zigzag lines, but totally worth it. The perfect quilting design for this one!

Thanks for stopping by!!

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Cracker Quilt

Sweet and simple today! I have a finished quilt to share! 

I started with a fabric line called "Wildwood" by Elizabeth Olwen. I added some fabrics from her earlier line, along with some coordinating fabrics from the stash. It's backed with one of her designs for JoAnn's.

The block is an old traditional one called "Cracker". You can find a free tutorial at Simple Girl, Simple Life.

The quilt is finished with simple straight line quilting in a grid.

I just love how it turned out!

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Goings on in the Sewing Room

Sorry - it's been over a week since I dropped in here! But it doesn't mean I haven't been busy stitching away!

I went to Quiltcon last week! It was my first and so inspiring! I took a class on Friday with Elizabeth Hartman and made 3 blocks from her newest book Patchwork City. Most of you know that I've been quilting for a long time, but I love this art because it seems there's always something to learn or a new perspective on this old craft. She talked a lot about fabric selection and showed her awesome method of using freezer paper templates. And to keep my pledge of not having any UFO's, I came home and finished the blocks into a mini quilt. I definitely want to think about some new fabric choices to make one of the larger quilts from the book!

Just before I left, I started cutting out a Glam Clam quilt using mostly Cotton+Steel. It's been on my list for this year and a couple of Instagrammers got me all fired up. It's a lot of curves and I sewed a few together before cutting out the whole quilt just to be sure I was ready for it. It really goes together easily. I'm doing the 8" size and the pattern is free on Craftsy.

I've got a backing ready for my latest quilt. I made 3 giant blocks (they're 19 1/2" x 18") to stretch out a piece of yardage that I wanted to use on the back. Hope to start quilting this week. And thank you for all the name ideas! You guys are so much better than me at coming up with names! I'm leaning toward "Fletching". It always has looked like a part of an arrow to me and I had to look up the term, but I think it may be perfect!

And finally, I've been getting prepared for a retreat next week. As always, I'm looking forward to it and hoping for a touch of Spring in the air! The blocks are from Fat Quarter Style and the fabric is Joel Dewberry's newest line Flora.

And that's what I've been up to! How about you?

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