Positively, PROGRESS!

Last weekend, I took a workshop from Jean Wells. Jean is from Sisters, Oregon and owns the Stitchin Post quilt shop there. She is a fabulous teacher. Perhaps, in a week or so, I'll post about how much fun I had.

She shared with us how she makes her curved piecing and her skinny inserts among lots of other tidbits! I've been slowly working on a past book club quilt; but, was stuck on what to do next. Well, I pulled some fabric and now I'm letting it talk to me about where it might want to live in the quilt! 

As I pulled the fabric, I noticed that it was time to get ready for fall retreat which begins at the end of the month.

So, I stitched the retreat block. Everyone is supposed to stitch a block. At the end of the retreat, a winner is drawn from the names of all who participated. This year, the theme is Autumn Brilliance. I enjoyed making the maple leaf block. It will be fun to see every one's creations! 

I cut my 7" squares that we exchange. In the past, I just collected the squares. The last two years, I made a quilt and made blocks from the squares of the last two retreats I attended. It is nice to have a memento of the activity. As I cut the squares for this year, I realized that I had done NOTHING with the squares from last year. 

Now, I have plenty of projects to FINISH; but, I really did want to make something to show when we share projects that we worked on at a past retreat. So, I pulled the bag of squares out of the darkness and into the light. 

Yes, I began something new!!!!

My challenge is to use ALL of the 36 squares of different fabric. Last year's theme was stars. Each fabric is printed with stars! I started with a Plus design. I liked it because it is a one block kind of design. Next, I cut one of the seven inch squares. Of course, as soon as I cut it, I decided that I could take out one seam, make the block a little bigger and be happier with the outcome! 

At the end of yesterday, I had pieces on the design wall:

This morning, I moved pieces around. The two red blocks came from my stash as the piece needed some sparkle! Then I started stitching.  
When I completed the blocks, the piece measured 33"x24". 





It looked boring. So I auditioned some green for a border. I liked the green border. Plus I was able to use some of the too small pieces as corner stones. Then, I decided I liked the portrait view over the landscape view!!

 Next, what to do with the scraps? I had a 2 1/2" x 3" piece and a 2" x 7" piece left of each fabric. These were "about" measurements as some of the squares were a little larger than seven inches and some were a little smaller!

I pieced the smaller scraps into coins and stopped for the day. You will have to check back next week to see where the coins are positioned! 

Oh, I also didn't pick a project for the seven inch squares I'll be receiving at the end of the month!!! Have you made a project from charms or layer cakes or seven inch squares? What was your inspiration? Please share! :) Happy Stitching!