Quilt Retreat! (part two)

Most of us worked on our own projects all weekend, but the committee did provide a project for Friday night...coloring with crayons on fabric. They provided each person with a piece of pre-washed plain cotton, a piece of freezer paper to iron on the back for stability, some photocopied patterns from a copyright free design book, and a box of crayons. I wasn't too excited with the designs i had, but in hindsight the one i colored came out pretty interesting (i don't know if i'll ever finish it or do anything else with it, but it was fun.)

The two projects i worked on were 1) completing a tote bag that i started some months ago and never had time to finish. It went together quite well. Interestingly, the designer, Penny Sturges, seems to be very popular...at retreat i learned that this month's McCall's Quilting has a bigger version of the tote bag that she designed, and several of the people in my quilt group have made or are planning on making it. My bag is made with a charm pack of Amy Butler fabrics...every square on the outside, plus two inside pockets inside made from 4 squares each, is different. The bag has very attractive long handles which didn't stand up for this picture (i'll have to take another picture later of the bag laying down, so the handles can show).

The other project was the chuppah i began more than a year ago for Rose, my congregation's lay leader. Last year at retreat i finished piecing the top and basted it to the batting and backing. I've been working on the machine quilting off and on all year. At retreat, i finished the machine quilting, made the binding and hanging sleeve, applied them by machine, and got about 2/3 of the binding sewed down by hand. It's a bit bigger than the top of a double bed. (I'm surprised no cats leaped into the middle of it when i laid it on the bed to photograph it!)

The cats were certainly glad to see me when i got home....and vice versa! Here's a lovely little furball i found under my desk when i sat down at the computer.