Quilt retreat with friends

Written by Diane Harris on March 31, 2022. Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Inspiration, Quilt Lifestyle

My local quilt guild and a shop owner are hosting a retreat!

I signed up last-minute when I saw that my schedule was wide open for the next few days. I’ve never been to this venue near Schuyler, Nebraska. Most of my best buddies are going, and some time away will be good!

The problem for me is always what projects to take along. I have a zillion UFOs. I want to start a zillion more new quilts. And I have things in progress that I really want and need to finish.

I found a bunch of blocks when I was reorganizing fabric recently. One group was Even Steven blocks with white grounds, above. The design is by Erica Jackman of Kitchen Table Quilting—so easy and very satisfying as it lends itself beautifully to a scrappy vibe.

A few hours later, I found more Even Steven blocks but these have colored grounds. I don’t remember exactly but I think I loved the block so much and I had so many parts cut that I decided to make two quilts. Now that seems overzealous, so what if…

What if I used the blocks together by alternating them in one large quilt? I think this will be just the ticket! I hope to have these set into a quilt top before retreat ends.

Sewing for retreat needs to be simple—if it’s absolutely mindless, even better.

Because I’m always conversing with the friends around me. I hop up and check out what others are making. I grab some M&Ms. And if the sewing isn’t simple, I mess it up!

I’m ready to sew these slabs of pink bricks into a quilt top, too. I’m very excited about this quilt. It’s the simplest piecing with a really nice effect. Not sure yet if I’ll send it to a publisher or create a pattern myself.

I’m taking the nine scrappy pixel blocks I made recently. I needed to make these as soon as I saw the tutorial on Instagram, but when I got to nine, I felt finished.

So I’ll sew them together and call it good.

This idea came from Susan P @sushi.farmer on Instagram, where she tells exactly how she selects fabrics for a pixelated look. It is brilliant.

I have a few other things up my sleeve and I’ll post again soon with updates. Thanks for visiting Stash Bandit today!

Quilt on,

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Tags: quilt retreat, retreat, scrap quilts, UFOs