July Brown Bag Quilt Retreat

I just returned from attending another Brown Bag Quilt Retreat in Buellton, our third retreat this year. (We are hoping to go to the November retreat, but we are only on the wait list right now).

We had so much fun as we always do, sewing pretty much non-stop from 8:30 am on Friday till 3 pm on Sunday. Ok, we did go back to our RV's or homes for some sleep--but not much. We sewed until 12:30 am Friday night and returned by 8:45 am. Saturday we sewed till 1:15 am and returned on Sunday morning by 8:30 am. Our husbands (Lynn's and mine) still think we are crazy, and they can't understand how we can stay inside sewing or quilting for that much time. We've told them it's not near enough time--we'd love a week long retreat!!

Here's a look at my Quilting BFF's from the retreat:

Nancy (also the Retreat Hostess with the Mostest!)

working on her Floral Block of the Month, preparing the blocks to be hand appliqued using the freezer paper method. She does beautiful applique work!! Here's her first two blocks:Lynn,

working on her Mystery Block of the month (her husband and mine hang out at the RV park, play darts and cards, and miss us while we are at the retreat!).

And, Dolores, another local,

sewing her blocks together on this very pretty quilt!

For this retreat I decided would work on finishing a few WISP's rather than starting a new project (another thing about sewing and quilting our husbands don't understand--starting a new project before finishing one!) So I pulled this project out of my closet, Love Ya Oodles, by Quilt Soup. I think I started it 4 years ago. I had gotten all the squares done but needed to put them all together. It took me a while to figure out where I was. (Note to self: make notes as to where I left off, should I leave a project to finish for years!!!)

Although the pattern calls for doing the applique prior to sewing the whole top together, I plan to use paperback fusible for my applique, so I chose to sew the top together first.It is still a WISP but I am much closer to finishing this quilt. I'm now in the process of choosing the fabrics for all the appliqued flowers and hope to get them sewn on in the next two weeks.

I also made two pillowcases and three more Batik Strippy Totes for friends. I just love making these bags for gifts!! Each one turns out so cute and I'm tempted to keep it.

With these 3 I have now made 19 of these pretty totes!!

I designed this quilt for a friend's first grandson. Her daughter's theme is turtles, so I made these happy turtles to applique on the quilt and I am so pleased with the way it turned out.
I just need to quilt and bind it, (again hopefully in the next two weeks!) and it will no longer be a WISP!

I felt very accomplished at the end of this retreat because I finished what I had planned to finish, a first for me! I usually try to finish way too many projects. (I did take a couple of additional projects just in case I had extra time! Wouldn't want to run of projects!) I'm sure I'm not alone when I say it's a great feeling when a quilter gets closer to completing a project, especially one that has been lingering in her "stash" closet!