Retreat....

Going to Quilt Retreat is always fun.  The weather will give us all the crazy it can think of, yet we go.  The time we get to spend together and sew, sew and then some more sewing, without any interruptions, priceless.

Kate, has been creating bags, she Quilts as well and creates many works of art.  They have a challenge to them, she will play a bit, then figure out the solution.  

 Tablet covers, the one above have pink velcro and the one below  blue velcro, neat.

We all want one of her creations. She inspired me to try knitting again.  Needless to say, she has got me to do it and to get it right.

Some projects only come to Retreat, it may take a while to finish them, over time they are done.  Lynn has been bringing this project for a few years, this time she finished it, it looks awesome.

Anita has been working on this beauty and a baby quilt.

Stitching at Retreat, a work of art in the making.

Abi is steadily whittling away at this one, working on a dark background is not so easy. It is looking amazing.

Lise was assembling this French General, pieced and embroidered top.

Margaret adding the border fabric to her hexie quilt.

Diane making a quilt for her friend, what a lucky lady.

Joanne's Omigosh getting some more love, every scrap is used.

 Judy made these two tops.

This floral fabric was very striking.

Fabric bowls, with Judy's help a number of these, were made.

I did finish one Christmas present, so it will not be appearing on the blog. The gremlin sneaked in, a number of photos has found a spot somewhere on the computer, not where they were sent to, so apologies to the ladies who I am not showing all your amazing projects, it is missing in action.

Fabrics which followed me home, they are all part of projects which is on going.

 Joanne worked on this Jen Kingwell pattern.

An Irish Chain in the making.

 Taking a moment outside,  it was a beautiful day on saturday.

A Wedding was scheduled for later in the day...

Pumpkins and art,,,

The colour orange is very dominant at the moment, the kids have fun carving pumkins in very creative ways.

 Anything from a smiley face, ghost to a scared out of your skin.

 Funny faces and twirly whirly eyes..

 Bat crossed with something else...

Makes you wonder what they were thinking when they carved their pumpkins.

Bargello, with the first border.

Finished top, these were made by two newbies to Bargello Quilts.

 Knitting, the booties are done, with the leftover wool knitting until the yarn is all used in a triangle.

The self stripe yarn, this is how far it is.  One ball of yarn is not even done yet, there are three 100g balls of yarn. Started another beanie hat and prepped some more logcabin blocks. The weather is now decidedly cooler and double digits in the plus range will not be back anytime soon.

Pumpkin Season has arrived.

It is that time of year again.  Pumkins in every shape and size is appearing on the porches and front door steps.  Halloween is almost here.  With the warm weather, one could be forgiven for thinking it is still summer.

 This Monarch butterfly had the cat glued to this patch of lavender.

This is part of a Christmas gift a friend has made for one of her family members.  She cleverly used a panel and embroidered by hand around the flowers and butterflies. It is beautiful!

Fabric followed me home from the Quilt show last week. These are all for gifts.  Some need to be fussy cut, as they have to become part of Retreat bags...

 Love the Witches with their Quilts, Show and Tell?

 Each picture tells a story of its own....

 A few quilters walked away with this one.

 The hats had personallities of their own.

 Not too mention, all the lotions and potions.

last but not least..

The leaves are falling....

There is a nip in the air and the leaves are falling off the trees, amazing how fast this can happen.
With the cooler weather, other crafts comes to mind: Knitting.

Some people can do it and they pick up how to knit fairly quickly, while others take much longer.  With acrylic wool, for those who cannot touch wool, this is the only way.  YouTube is great for learning how to do it.  So a wonderful new journey, with learning a new craft, is just a click away with a mouse.

Knitting is coming along, with the help of my friend Kate, this is the result, a blanket in the making.

The pattern required a few things , so practice makes perfect, busy with number four.

Another few Beanies got finished, found some more colours...

Dress making, one of my practice pieces.

Bargello.

Step 1: Joining the two halves, if you made the top in two parts.

Step 2:

Step 3.  Sewing on the side border strips.

 This is the skinny border (border no one).

Join the side border strips first.

Step 4. Next sew on the top and bottom skinny border.

Step 5.  Sew on the second border strips, doing the sides first and then the top and bottom strips.

Step 6. Sew on the final border strips.

This is what the border strips sewn on to the center should look like.

Now the top is ready for quilting and binding.