Pick a Case Retreat Report..........

Once again the days have got "away" from me. Do you think that is a recurring theme lately?? 

As it is Tuesday evening already, I better get this post done before any more days go by. 

Last weekend's Mystery retreat was due to start late afternoon on Friday, and my list of "to do" items was getting crossed off, with a few left for Friday morning. My checking lady had taken quite a few of those cases home to check, and I had finished another 2 for her to check Friday after lunch when she was due to arrive. 

The "right over the other side of Melbourne" girls were due Friday afternoon, and I was breathing easy. It was about 4pm on Thursday afternoon, and my phone rang. The "other side of Melbourne" girls had decided to drive part way on Thursday and stay the night somewhere to break up their trip, as it is an 8 hour drive to Bordertown! (I do love and appreciate their dedication to drive all that way, and they do it 2 or 3 times each year!!) They had made good time on their drive and were 4 hours away, so wondered if they might arrive that evening?? Of course, not a problem, the beds were all made, so come on over!! I will say that I then did some more cleaning to finish some of those jobs I had left for Friday morning, and made some phone calls to the other girls to see if they could come earlier on Friday to start the retreat. It was all good.

I will just add a little comment here that Gayle and Lyn said to me........ They had unpacked the car, and settled into their room, and we put the kettle on for a cuppa, and Lyn said that it felt like they were at home and Gayle agreed. I felt very humbled that they thought this. My home is certainly not 5 star, and I just hope that guests feel comfortable and as though they are at home. I would like for it to be somewhere for people to come and leave any worries behind, and relax as they enter through the door.

Soon after lunch on Friday they were all here ready to start. Usually I have some sort of "allocation" process for them to choose a case, but as this was the last one for this year, I decided to let them choose from all the cases, and they did this in the order that they arrived.

This pic shows Erica and Yazmin checking out the quilts in the cases.

Mystery retreats are usually much quieter than other weekends, as they are all on a mission to get as much sewing done as possible, and most hope to leave with a completed top. 

Robyn was off to a flying start, with strip piecing for her 9 patch units. Her chosen quilt, was called Dramatic Effects, and was named after the fabric range used in the quilt.

She was very happy to get the top finished, and has chosen backing fabric and left it with the quilter!!

Cathie chose the quilt called Siena, which is also the name of the fabric used. (I do love it when I can use the fabrics to name the quilt, as this is something I struggle with.)

Cathie still needed to get the last border on, but time was against her, so will wait for a finished photo soon.

This is the border fabric that still is to be added.

Erica worked steadily all weekend, and was limited with time as she only came for days, and missed the night time sewing. Her quilt (called Cornflowers Blue), also involved a lot more complex piecing in each block, and she was meticulous in lining up her triangles).

Her quilt blocks were all sewn, and here is one row together. The fabrics in this quilt are fresh and crisp with the blues and soft grey background. 

This is how it will look with the borders.

Sherrel's quilt was called Ink Blossom, and was also named after the range of fabrics used.

The weather turned very cold and windy again for the weekend, and night temperatures were down to 3 deg early one morning, so the fire was burning. It is very unusual to have the fire going in November, but it was a good spot to wait while you queued for the iron. ( I did have 2 ironing stations, but they all seemed to prefer to wait for this one!!)

I think we all prefer to use this iron, and one of the girls referred to it as the "up/down" iron!

         And here is Sherrel's finished top, that also has the backing chosen and waiting for the quilter.

Lyn chose the quilt called Graceful Moments, which was a repeat of previous retreat quilts, and has been very popular. I am sad to say that I have used up all the fabric now and there won't be anymore.

Not long after she started to sew, her machine was not sewing well, so one of my spare machines came out to be used, and here Pat is helping wind some bobbins. (In fact all the machines at this table were from my collection, and it is good to see them get used.)

There were lots of flying geese units in this quilt, so Lyn was very proficient by the time she had finished them all. (I know she was very pleased to have some 9 patch units to make then.)

                 The last 2 borders were mitred, which gives it a nice finish.

It was about 10pm on Sunday evening when Lyn proudly had her Ta Daa moment, and she was so pleased to be finished, after her machine problems, and ALL those flying geese, and then the mitred borders, which all took her out of her comfort zone. There might have been a few little drinks to celebrate after that?? And then we sat and talked and laughed until almost midnight. Such great stories, but as what happens at retreat, stays at retreat, I am sorry I can't tell you anything!

When Gayle was choosing, she didn't really look in the cases at the quilt, as she saw one called Cat-I-Tude, so immediately picked it. This is also a range of fabrics with that name.)  This is a rework of a previous Mystery case quilt, that I substituted different fabrics in. (Will post the other quilt at the bottom.)

 The blocks are laid out on the bed, and decisions are made as to whether to make it wider or not. Most of the quilts are square, but this is not due to the number of the panel blocks used. Gayle finally decided to make it as a rectangle.

Her she is getting some TLC from Yazmin.

And another finished top, on Sunday evening, just before our late night session.

This is the other quilt, using the same pattern, but different fabrics, that Dot made in a previous retreat.

I introduced this young lady a few weeks ago when she joined us for one of the weekend's back in August. Yazmin is Pat's grand daughter and is keenly learning all she can. She wasn't down for this retreat, but called in to see Pat on Friday morning. And thus ended up coming each day to sew a quilt for herself. She does not have her own machine yet, so one of my collection came out for her.

She was worried that this quilt, called Cabin Fever would be too hard for her, but we said to just follow the directions one at a time and not think too far ahead. This is a simple log cabin quilt, with a half square triangle unit in the centre.

 There were lots of smiles, and Ta Daaa moments over the next few days...........

 ..................and here she is happily showing me that she is up to bag number 13!!

Time to lay out the blocks, and here is where she made some decisions herself. Instead of making one large quilt, she is doing 3 smaller ones, that will fit her 3 lounge seats. 

There is no finished picture yet, and here is her pile of blocks, with the border fabrics all ready for the next session.

And last, but not least we have Pat, who chose the quilt called Lenton Rose. (Another one named after the fabric range.)

                          Strip piecing at the machine...................

................and then at the ironing board. (I call these units Pointy blocks, but they probably have another name, can you help me with it???)

And the first block is sewn!!!

Now we are finally onto the second block in the quilt!!

Here you can see the clock that says 3.30pm on Monday afternoon! Pat was the last to leave, and wanted to get her borders on before she went home. (Well, I wanted her to!) We are very happy with this design, and it will appear again, but with different fabrics. It appears that she is the slow sewer, but a lot of Pat's time is taken up with helping others with their quilts, and especially her granddaughter.

Just a few comments about the quilt above, and how the design came about......................

I had come up with the following design after changing the colours around until I was happy, and Pat had been with me throughout this process. We love being able to change out the colours and design in EQ8, and often bounce ideas off each other. 

This was what we had decided on, and when I was doing the maths and writing the instructions last week, time was running short, and I had worked out the star block, of which there were 9 and then the square block of which there are 4. Now I needed to do the maths and workings for the setting triangles as all the blocks are on point. ........................

........and I had this idea of just taking those half triangle blocks out altogether so deleted them with the eraser on EQ and just coloured them with the background fabric, and presto!! What a difference this made, it saved me working out the blocks and didn't it look more interesting??

Of course, then Pat came along and had some more input. Just leave out some of those 4 patches she said....... and this is how it ended up in her quilt. Not a lot more difference, but a subtle improvement. (We could spend hours playing with this programme.)

I did get a little sewing time in between meal preparation time over the weekend, and have a quilt that I am making for a friend. The request was for a bright quilt, and it needed to be about 86" square. I cut the pieces out ages ago, and they had been in the plastic tub, just waiting, so it was time to get them out.

This is where I was up to, having made some of the units and then pieced those blocks at the top, just to see how they would look together.

I finished sewing the 4 patch blocks, and then proceeded with the half square triangles. I just loved that cutting these HST on the Go cutter, and sewing an accurate 1/4" seam means that the blocks are a perfect size and need no trimming at all!!

And now I have all the HST units stitched and still needing to be pressed. That's a job for another day, as I really need to get this finished soon??

Gayle and I took some time out on Sunday morning to attend church, which is always a special time. Sunday lunch is usually something quick to prepare after that. We had a few local visitors popping in during the weekend to say hello, which is always good. 

I have a few roses in my garden, and Pat decided that they needed to come inside for us to enjoy.

I just love this rose, which is darker than I remember it being.(I think it's Mr Lincoln??)

 And of course here is the group photo, with everyone looking pretty happy with there tops.

This is where I was about 5pm on Monday afternoon, when the washing had all been done, the kitchen cleaned, and the house was all quiet. (I might have had a bit of shut eye). It was then an early night for a catch up sleep.

Some floors and bathroom have been cleaned today, and another quilt loaded ready for the next few days. The girls were here for Bible Study today, and tomorrow Max might get turned on.

Once again it has been an amazing weekend of sewing, sharing, laughter and friendship. This was the last scheduled retreat for this year and there are plans being made for 2020. If you are interested in joining us for a Mystery weekend, or just one to work on your own projects, I look forward to hearing from you.  Perhaps you would like to get a few friends together and choose your own dates??

I have been sitting at this computer for about 3 hours now, since the KYB girls left, so perhaps it's time I stopped and hit the publish key.

Blessings, From Jude