Summer Virtual Retreat

At the end of September, our guild held a virtual retreat. It started on Thursday and ended on Sunday. Because my family was in town until late Friday afternoon, I didn't really check in until after my daughter and granddaughter departed for London.

Toilet paper roll challenge

In our retreat bag, we were gifted an empty toilet paper roll. We were challenged to make something useful from it. There were some awesome entries. I had help. My little four year old carefully covered it and we made a cord holder out of it. She had fun. I had fun watching her carefully select just the "right" piece of fabric and glue it in place. 

Cord holder

The cup contains the Elmer's glue school glue container. The plastic zip lock bag contains a wet paper towel to wide fingers when there is glue build up. The newspaper grocery ads protect the surface from errant drop action.

There was a mini-precision workshop. We were gifted a small wool pressing bar and a bottle of a pressing spray that our retreat leader had made out of vodka and water. It really gets out the wrinkles from the fabric. We were gifted some fabric that was in the color of our team. My team was the red team. The pieces were cut on an Accu-Quilt machine. 

After hearing that the blocks were coming out small, I compared the Accu-Quilt piece to the piece I had cut. My piece was slightly larger which would make a difference. When I sewed my blocks, I was careful to sew a generous scant 1/4 inch. 

Comparing my cut with the Accu-Quilt cut

When I pressed, that red fabric wanted to shrink. It wasn't a hundred percent cotton so that could also have been a reason why people had trouble getting their blocks to size.

The blocks were called Jarts after the lawn game from the 70s. That is my era; but, I wasn't that familiar with the game. The block looked like Bonnie Hunter's current leader/ender, Tulip Swirl. 

We were to make four blocks. There are many ways to put these blocks together. The quilts made with the Jarts will be fun and will provide comfort to someone. By the way, my blocks were right on at four and half inches! Whew! As for the size issue of the red fabric, I learned 

Label and four Jart blocks

that it is important to place the fabrics carefully on the die to avoid shifting. Shifting could have happened with the cuts that I received.

We sewed. There were guest lectures. One was about Accu-Quilt dies. The lecturer rents space and the dies so people can cut out their projects much quicker than at home. One lecturer talked about how to prepare your projects to take to the longarmer and a little about the longarmer process. Another lecturer talked about the importance of keeping your machine clean and oiled.

Rail Fence variation charity blocks

We played BINGO. I won a game and a twenty-five dollar gift certificate to a great quilt shop that is in my friend Nancy's garage. I'll be going to visit after I recover from knee revision surgery. My surgery is tomorrow!

We were given a white square of fabric to make a label. Since our quilt show is around the corner, it was an opportunity for people to make a label. Some people were creative. I missed some of the directions so mine is plain. These will be trimmed to three and a half inches and used to label the quilts made with the dart blocks. 

Yellow string Rainbow Scrap Challenge block

We also made a second charity block using two colors. One color had to be a neutral and the other fabric could be of your choosing. The directions were from a four minute Sewing Parts On Line FaceBook video. 

These blocks will be used to make quilts for a kid's camp. If I were to make these, I'd heavily starch the fabrics as all the edges on are on the bias. 

Green string Rainbow Scrap Challenge block

While I like participating in the retreat activities, I really like making progress on my own project. This retreat had so many activities and so many people that needed a lot of help that I wasn't able to work on my own projects as much as I had anticipated. I did piece the yellow and green string blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. 

In November, one of my small groups will be the hosts of a virtual retreat. I like attending a virtual retreat because I can eat my own food, sleep in my bed and not have to pack, cart, unpack, cart and repeat my supplies. I also won't forget an item. I like to listen to people chat. I get inspired and pick up a gem of a tip too! 

Sharing what I did on this retreat was goal number four on my September goal list.

I haven't been commenting on your posts because Blogger hasn't updated my blog roll in at least six days. Chantal, At the Corner of Scrap and Quilts, had a similar issue which resolved itself after several weeks. I'm hoping for the the same. Linking to Oh Scrap and Sew & Tell.