Whew! What a great weekend at the SMQG retreat! Being as bold as I was to post a totally unreasonable number of projects to take with me, I'll confess right up front that I didn't touch half of them. I'll report on the ones I did work on throughout the week, but the biggest and most satisfying progress was on my project for The Great Pillow Fight swap. I started with the block below, an HST block from Blossom Heart Quilts.
It's a great block, and I like it well enough, but it didn't really ring true for my swap partner, so I took another tack. I knew this one would be really challenging for me, but I did it anyway.
The pattern is the 24" Ice/Fire block from Sew What Sherlock? It allowed me to use a larger variety of fabrics, and really show off the "Dear Santa" text print I found for the background. No lie, I used my seam ripper plenty, but lived to tell about it, and am really pleased with the results. So now to decide on a quilting plan and get started on that this week.
Anyway, the retreat itself was great fun, and besides sewing incessantly, it was terrific to get to know some of my guild-mates better, plus meet some new ones. Inspiration was everywhere, of course. And I thoroughly enjoyed my sewing table group - my roommate, Louise/I'm Feelin' Crafty (@imfeelincrafty on Ig), Sue (@suesewcrafty) and Noel (@bellaandjake). Good times indeed.
Linking up with W.i.P. Wednesday.
aren't you a sweet lady to redo your item for your swap?! I agree that the second one is absolutely stunning, and i love the text print that does the surround.
ReplyDeletei hate to say this, but on the first one, it almost seems that if the center piece were changed out, it might make the piece sing a bit more. Of course that would involve way more destruction than would be worth it. Easy for me to say since I just look at blogs and hardly make anything myself, so I apologize for offering such a comment. It's not meant as a criticism, just an observation. It's a lovely block anyway!
well I think both blocks are lovely! so glad you had a great weekend
ReplyDeleteSo glad to hear you had a good time! What a fun weekend I am sure you all had!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you had fun, that is the whole reason for a retreat. I love the blocks, especially the second. I love those skinny stripes and you so carefully oriented them.
ReplyDeleteThe blocks look great! I especially like the second one. Sounds like fun! Our guild retreat is this weekend and I can't wait!
ReplyDeleteI guess its bit like packing for holidays- you take stuff 'just in case!" What you did achieve is wonderful! Both blocks are great!
ReplyDeleteA guild retreat sounds like so much fun! You brought a lot of options with you to work on - super cool. :)
ReplyDeleteWow, that Fire/Ice block is stunning!
ReplyDeleteThat paper piecing is fantastic! It does look great!!! Had a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteI like what you ended up with.
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