Virtual Retreat Fun

Yummy orange ricotta cookies

Last weekend, I attended a virtual retreat. The schedule was similar to an in person retreat. I made Jeanna's orange ricotta cookies as a sweet treat. I usually make hummus and slice up vegetables for my treat. The cookies were delicious. Jeanna's blog is Slammin the Screen Door. She posted the link to the recipe. I had the right amount of ricotta on hand. It seems the stars had aligned so I baked a batch a couple days before the retreat. Please visit Jeanna and leave her a comment. She shares her quilting, cross stitching and life happenings in her posts.

First retreat block

We had four days to sew. We were encouraged to make two blocks "retreat" blocks. These blocks will become a Quilt of Valor (QoV). A shop owner donated fabric for the center square of the star and the pattern. The corner squares are four inches, the star points are three inch blocks, the star center is five and half inches and the background for the goose is four inches by five and half inches. I love that the star floats.

It didn't take long to stitch two blocks which measured 12 1/2 inches. I mailed mine to the retreat chair as I don't plan to attend the February guild meeting in person. I used a quarter yard of fabric for these blocks. That makes a 1 1/4 yard net loss from my stash this year. These would be fun to make in different sizes. . .Gertie, my inner squirrel, was ready to play. Instead, we lived through those that actually made different sized blocks. Gertie decided we could make ours when the math was charted so she could focus on the fabric choices!

Second retreat block

My plan was to make progress quilting my 2022-2023 Temperature quilt and making blocks for the 2025 temperature quilts. For a diversion, I planned to start sewing rows together for the Lupine and Laughter mystery. What actually happened was that I spent all my time quilting the temperature quilt. . . .I did have a number of diversions. .  .

Retreat bag and contents

    For example, there was a tissue paper holder kit, which I stitched. These seem to be popular to make; but, do people actually use them? The mystery gift I received was a kit to make a jar opener. It is two layers of cotton fabric, two layers of fusible interfacing and one layer of shelf liner. It is an eight inch circle. I also stitched it.

I did participate in the Altoid container challenge. The tin that received the most "Ahhs" was the one that contained a dental pick, dental floss, breath mints and ibuprofen! I put some mini HSTs in my tin.

Progress at the end of the retreat

At the end of the retreat, I had quilted at total of 19 rows of the blocks. I was a little past half way. Gosh, this quilting is taking forever! Making progress on quilting this project was goal number eight on my January list.