Making Progress

I've been a little lax in my quilting lately, not doing a lot, just kind of lazing my way through a few steps in various projects, but not making a lot of progress on any of them.  It's discouraging and leads to a continuous loop of dissociation from the craft.   I've been trying to step out of the loop, so I took a class a couple of weeks ago, and I signed up for a 3-day retreat put on by one of my guilds.

The retreat was held at Poinsettia Pavilion in Ventura this last week. I was too tired at the end of each day to record or journal my progress... but it was a good kind of tired.

This is what I finished at the retreat: two blocks for the Harry Potter quilt...  that's the sorting hat and Voldemort... but the sorting hat kinda looks like a giant turd, to me at least.

I fused all the elements of the last six blocks of Enchanted Garden, not pictured (just have to sew them all down now with a blanket stitch - did a little of that at retreat, but far from done), sewed the first six blocks of Enchanted Garden together (these were already fused and blanket-stitched before the retreat, just needed to be put together).  

I also sewed the current block of Dear Daughter, (it's the one at the bottom right in the picture, which shows all my progress on the quilt to date)...

 I had a chance to cut strips for and put the border on my 2-fabric bargello.

The past few days I've been making friendship stars for a quilt... Made 80 blocks, and they are up on my design wall now.  For these, I used a Tula Pink layer cake and some grey's out of my stash.

I managed also to get two quilts partially bound (binding and labels are on, just need some hand-sewing on the back to secure the binding).  One is my bear paw quilt, the other is my Good Fortune quilt, which will be ready for gifting once that binding is on.

Bucket List progress and Vertigo

I've always wanted to make a bargello quilt, but the opportunity never presented itself... somehow, every time I got close, either the timing wasn't right, or the guidance wasn't available.   I even bought a pattern, and signed up for a class at a local shop, but had to cancel at the last minute due to another sudden commitment.  The teacher was supposed to hold another class, but I wasn't available for that one either.  That was over a year ago.

Yesterday at guild,  I found out our speaker was going to be teaching the same pattern I had to cancel on at the local shop so long ago.  I signed up for the class - well, why not, I had the pattern, all the fabric for the quilt, and how serendipitous can things get?    

Despite a sudden and extreme case of vertigo 2 days in a row, I went to the class... With a little judicious placing of ironing and cutting areas, I managed to sew and not have to get up and down too much, which seems to make the vertigo worse.  I finished the top of the bargello quilt in class.  Loads of fun, and I feel empowered to make another if I decide to do so... Hope that by the time I do, IF I do, that I remember all learned.

Here is the top I made:

The pattern is called 2-Fabric Bargello, and that is all that it's made from... I used a graffiti print and an ombre with some rather abrupt color changes instead of gradual ones.  I like it, it's like a double lightning bolt instead of a single one... I'm happy with it... just need to trim, add borders and quilt it!

Tomorrow I see the doctor about this darn vertigo...

Progress and Finishes

Fun and productive retreat at the beach house at Faria Beach this weekend.  19 fun and friendly ladies shared the house with me and we all sewed, laughed and shopped together for four days.  It's good to be home again, but I could have used a few more days at the beach just because I love it there.  Anyway, while there:  I gave lots of advice, tips and teaching moments, and learned a few things myself in the process. Somehow, I managed to finished several blocks, 2 quilt tops and a binding on an old mystery quilt.  Here is thye mystery quilt, sans quilting and binding... but trust me, they are there now.  Just don't have a current picture to show.  Lots of fun to make.. This was one of the Thimblecreek mystery quilts (last one before they became pay-to-play).  It was lots of fun to make, but as I recall, I couldn't bring myself to make another quarter-square-triangle for a very long time.

I made Pat Sloan's Out of This World block at the retreat as well... (another mystery quilt, being offered online for free this year... Check it out at https://blog.patsloan.com/2019-out-of-this-world/ - lots of fun, and I love how it's coming out...

I've been working on a couple of flannel applique quilts for a year now....  They are called 'You Lucky Dog', designed by the very talented Bonnie Sullivan.  I wanted to make one for me, and ended up making two, the second one is for Sunny Saints St. Bernard Rescue (which is the organization my husband and I get our dogs from)... I hope they raise lots of money auctioning it off.  I finished both of the tops this weekend by appliqueing the paw prints in the sashing and made backs for them... Just have to cut some batting and get them quilted.  They look like this:

Last, but most definitely not least, I made two blocks for the Harry Potter quilt-a-long that I'm participating in.  We are on week 11 right now, but I hadn't done week 10 yet when I left for retreat.  I rectified that, on Friday, then sewed block 11 on Saturday right after it was released.  Here are pictures of the first 11 blocks, placed how they will appear in the quilt:

You can learn more about this quilt-a-long at https://www.kellifanninquilts.com/p/harry-potter-sewalong.html

Now, I am curled up on the couch with my dear husband, watching a recorded episode of Dr. Who and just enjoying each other's company.

I think I'll sleep well tonight.