I tend to over pack for retreats.  As a result, I put a limit on myself. My Tutto Rolling Case, matching serger bag and the case with the Sew Steady table and seat cushion. Well this year, with the much smaller sewing machine, instead of the serger bag, I’m taking a bag which holds two project boxes.

The rolling bag of course has my sewing machine in it, along with things like spray starch, thread holder, light, notions box, leader/ender project (plastic bag on left) and the yardage for the DP9 quilts. There’s still a bit of room in this bag, but I’m confident the machine won’t shift in the case.

One project box is already packed.  It has the squares for the 3 DP9 quilts I cut out before Memorial Day.  But because I like variety when I go to retreats and this is a Kansas Troubles Quilters retreat I’m doing my best to prep the KTQ quilt that I’m working on that is on several of my UFO lists.

It’s Sew Scrappy from Evelyn Sloppy’s 40 Fabulous Quilt-Cut Quilts. Naturally, I’m tweaking the pattern, making more blocks and skipping the border. All of the not-quite flying geese blocks are made.  Twenty of the 9-patches are made. I think I need 139. I also need 40 25-patch blocks none of which are made.  So, between now and Thursday morning I want to at least get the strip sets done for the 9-patches & 25 patches as the KTQ fabric box won’t fit in my bag.  Especially if Butterscotch is in the box.

Whenever I go to a retreat, I always take more than I can possibly accomplish in the allotted time.  This retreat was no different.  In my bag were the following projects: a twin size red, white & blue mystery quilt – pre-cut ; the letters for the crossword puzzle quilt; Fun with Bricks – partially sewn; my mom’s 4-Patch Stacked Posies- partially sewn; mini Ohio Stars; the red, white & blue shop hop blocks; fabric to make sleeves for the quilt show quilts and a stack of 1 1/2″ squares for leader/enders.

I decided early on, the mini Ohio Stars wasn’t going to work.  I need to be able to concentrate without distraction.  At one point I pulled out the letters.  I got as far as sticking a few letters to the squares, but decided that between the monotony of zig-zagging around all the letters and the height of the sewing machine , I’d be better off doing these at home.  Not a whole lot of progress was made on the quilt Mom started either.  I got the blocks pressed and sewed a couple of 2-patched into 4-patches, but then realized I was going to have to decide on what size to trim the blocks to.  Since this was Sunday afternoon and I was tired, I put them away.  The shop hop quilt blocks never made it out of my bag.

So what did I make a dent in?  I have sleeves on 3 of the 4 quilts I took with me.  The twin size mystery quilt blocks are made and all but one row sewn together.  That’s when I realized that I pressed the mirror top/bottom button instead of mirror left/right and instead of a scant 1/4″ seam, I was sewing the blocks into rows with a generous 1/4″ seam.  I had 4 seam rippers with me (3 were in goodie bags), but decided to fold up the pieces and work on something else.  That was Fun with Bricks.  This quilt needed 2-patches sewn into 4-patches and I finished the blocks with the beige squares.  I about 10 of the double brick 2-patches sewn into 4-patches and then it was time to pack up.

That white tray (it’s a recycled plastic box with a snap on lid) contains the 1 1/2″ squares I’m sewing into 2-patches.  Eventually I want to make a postage stamp quilt.  I think I need 4520 pieces so, I have a along way to go since I’ve only sewn about 176 square into 2-patches.

Now that I’m home, I’ve got to get working on the mini-Ohio Stars.  I’d like to have it completed by the Guild meeting on Monday, but may just have to settle on getting it done in time for the Quilt Show at the end of the month.  The cutting board is cleared, the sewing machine plugged in, so all I need to do now is find the ironing board.

This past weekend I attended a quilt retreat just outside of Conway, Missouri. Thirty-four quilters, most of whom met on a Yahoo! quilting group. This was my 6th time attending and the 9th for the group. My local quilting buddies S & T traveled with me.

We stopped in at Merrily We Quilt Along in Springfield, MO for a bit of shopping and lunch in the Tea Room. Once at the retreat it was fun seeing old friends and meeting quilters new to the retreat.

Thursday night there was a bit of show-n-tell. I wish I had thought to get my camera out as there were some great quilts. That night I finished quilting my Scrappy 4-Patch and attached the binding. When I realized I made the seam too wide, I decided to head to bed. Even though the quilt wasn’t bound, I slept under it anyway.

Friday morning, we were back up and at our sewing machines. While some quilters worked on the mystery quilt, I worked on the quilt binding for a bit. Getting bored with that, I started attaching the hanging sleeve to Mom’s quilt (finally finished it this evening). Since my wrists begin to hurt if I do to much hand work, I alternated stitching it with working on my Carolina Christmas. After lunch, S, T, V and I took a road trip to Cabool, Missouri to visit Ozarks Patchwork Peddler. It is a cute store.

Once back at the retreat, we had dinner and then for S, T and I a change of plans. Instead of quilting all weekend, we rushed back home to bring T to her doctors. She’s fine now, but we had a bit of a scare. Would you believe we were completely packed – sewing stuff, bedding and clothes and the car loaded in 20 minutes or less? Once the others realized what was happening half of the ladies helped pack up our sewing stuff and the other half packed up the bedding. All weekend we sent text messages back to the retreat to keep them updated when we heard from T and her family.

While T and her family were dealing with her health issues, S and I spent the weekend quilting together while waiting for information. During this time I finished up the Poinsettia Star blocks for Carolina Christmas, worked on the hanging sleeve and started putting the second block together.

The plan is for more quilting Monday, but since we are back in town, we may end up working.