Burke Quilters Unlimited Spring Retreat

In March Sue was fortunate to attend her local guild's spring retreat. (Burke chapter of Quilters Unlimited)  It was held in Winchester, VA at a Hampton Inn - we take over the ballroom to set up for approximately 50 quilters to come and sew for 3-5 days, depending on schedules.  It's a great way to make progress on multiple projects without having to stop for housework and other tasks.  (of course, those who are still gainfully employed get to take a few days off from work.)

Sue worked on several projects - one finish, one make progress and a new start.  The "finish" was a Hunter Star quilt, approximately 30" square.  This was started in an online class with David Sirota in February in which he teaches his method of foundation piecing and also his trick for matching points.

It is quilted with concentric circles.  These are 1/2" apart, using the machine's seam guide to keep the circles even.  Maybe next time she will space the circles further apart?  Not difficult, but a bit tedious.

Another project was a quilt top called the Harrisonburg Quilt, so named because the pattern is based on an historic quilt owned by the Virginia Quilt Museum in Harrisonburg, VA.   The Virginia Consortium of Quilters sponsored an online sew-in over the winter holidays on making this quilt, and Sue has been working on it ever since.  Of course, she decided to make the queen size version which is why it is still a work on progress.  But, all the rows and sashing are now joined, and the next step is making and adding the border.  Then find a long-armer to quilt it!

The fabrics used are almost all batiks, with a few commercial prints mixed in as well.  The background is mostly Moda Grunge.  

A third project that she got started on is in response to a challenge from the Virginia Quilt Museum.  The project is called Stitching together History and commemorates the 250th anniversary of the state of Virginia in 2026.   The museum wants to select 250 quilts from all submissions and feature them in an exhibit as well as a book to commemorate this anniversary.  Quilts should fit into one of four categories - Unfinished Revolutions, Power of Place, We the People, and Virginia Experiments.  Sue chose as her topic Loving v. Virginia, the Supremes Court decision that made interracial marriage legal in Virginia.  A portion of her original design includes foundation pieced Virginia Reel blocks, and that is what she worked on at the retreat.   More on this project in another post.

Here are a few more pics of the group with quilters hard at work.

Next retreat will be in fall.  Does your guild do something similar?

Quilt Retreat

Sue recently enjoyed a quilt retreat with her local guild in Winchester, Virginia.  Approximately 50 quilters spent 4 + days sewing on their individual projects in the conference room of the Hampton Inn.  This is the first retreat Sue has attended in over a year, so it was quite a job to gather projects, supplies, travel sewing machine, and other miscellaneous paraphernalia!  But once arrived and unpacked, it was nice to be able to sew, leave the sewing space, and go upstairs to the room whenever desired. 

The photo above is courtesy Jim Watson, the "official" photographer for the group.  Though she only worked on 2 projects, a good bit was accomplished.

First on the agenda was adding a decorative blanket stitch to the edges of the orange peel shapes on this quilt top.  Now that that task is complete, it is ready to be layered and quilted.

The other project she worked on is making more blocks for the Harrisonburg quilt.  Ten mew blocks were completed to add to the 12 done previously.  That leaves 8 more to go, for a total of 30.  The plan is to make a queen size quilt.

In addition to the 12-inch blocks, she also made 9 cornerstone blocks - the small nine-patch blocks you see in the photo above.  They will be placed where the sashing strips between blocks meet.  The center square-in-a-square portion of the block doesn't take long to stitch, but the outside section with half-square triangles is what takes the most time.

At each retreat we also make charity blocks - each participant made 2 - to be used in making quilts to donate to charity.  Another activity is making lottery blocks.  Everyone who participates receives a ticket for each block contributed.  The blocks are divided into groups and winners are drawn from the tickets.  Sue was lucky this time and won a set of 19 pumpkin blocks!

The top photo shows some of the blocks she won.  The second photo is a sample quilt made from the pattern.  Sue's plan is to make a table runner and maybe a small quilt with the blocks. 

Above is Sue's friend/roommate Kathy and one of the projects she worked on.  Again, thanks to Jim Watson for the photo.  It was good to be at retreat and see all the wonderful projects everyone worked on.

Fall Guild Retreat

Sue spent last Thursday to Sunday at her local guild's fall retreat.  It was great to get away for some dedicated sewing time, though it was touch and go whether or not she would be able to go.  The week before she scratched the cornea of her left eye and it was questionable whether her vision would clear in time.  Fortunately it did, though bright sunlight was (and still is) hard to tolerate.  That meant staying inside and sewing!

Each retreat has some sort of charity project.  This time we made blocks for quilts that will be donated to Facets, a Fairfax County non-profit that works to provide emergency shelter and secure safe and affordable housing for families in need.  These are the 3 blocks Sue made; she is curious to see what the layout will look like.

The next project was actually garment sewing - not typical for a quilt retreat but it was one of those projects sitting around for over a year, so it was time to tackle it.  It really is a simple t-shirt pattern, both front and back in one large piece, so it was pretty quick to sew.

Here's the pattern, "Simple, Elegant Tee" by CNT Pattern Company.  And the finished shirt below.

The fabric is a hand-dyed rayon purchased from a vendor called Fabrilish at the Quilters Unlimited quilt show.  I couldn't find a website but there is a Facebook page at the link above.

Then, it was on to a wallet pattern (again, a non-quilt item).  Sue seems to be on a mission to try out various wallet designs to determine which might be most functional and/or meet her needs.  This is the Mini Diva wallet by Sew Many Creations.  There is also a Diva Frame Wallet which is longer (Sue has that pattern as well!).

The picture below shows the open view of both the outside and inside of the wallet.  Sue added the strip of cork on the outside.

Now it was time for work on some quilt projects. This is a block for a quilt that has 20 blocks, that seems to only get worked on at retreats.  At least she is finally over half way, with 12 blocks completed.  Progress!

Another charity project that the guild works on is making preemie quilts for the NICU at Children's National Medical Center in DC.  This top was sewn together at home, so it just needed to be quilted and bound.  All the fabrics are animal prints.

Then it was time to start the final project of the weekend.  While in New Hampshire in August, Sue and Elizabeth went to the World Quilt Show in Manchester.  There she bought the pattern and materials to make a jelly roll rug by RJ Designs.  For those not familiar with the term "jelly roll", it is a set of forty 2.5" width of fabric strips.  The jelly roll rug is currently an internet sensation; there are 2 versions - oval and rectangular.  Sue chose the rectangular version and a Moda jelly roll of black, white and grey prints.  If you search "jelly roll rug", you will also find the original oval pattern and lots of tutorials. The other thing needed for this project is strips of batting.  A company called Bosal makes rolls of precut batting (2.5") that match the width of the fabric strips. It is available from a number of sources on the Internet. The fabric and batting are layered together, long edges folded to the center, and then folded in half and stitched.  Sue raced the clock to get all the strips stitched, but ran out of bobbin thread on the next to last one.  Sigh.  At that point it was time to pack up and go home, so the final 2 strips still await.

Here are a couple pics of the retreat sewing room; we had about 75 members in attendance.  It's always fun to see the projects everyone is working on.

We have been holding these retreats at a Hampton Inn in Winchester for several years, but the hotel is closing for renovation so next spring we will be traveling to Martinsburg, WV to try out a new venue.