WIP Update and Quilt Retreat

I had a great week! I finished my Underground Railroad Quilt Code quilt just in the nick of time to take to quilt guild meeting Thursday evening. During show and tell I showed 6 quilts this month. I got a few jokes about "do you sleep?" I got a little carried away as I needed a break from working on the Dear Jane quilt. I hope to finish the last triangle and kite this week, and then add the final border. The best part of the weekend was that I attended a quilt retreat organized through my quilt guild. This was our first visit to Mercy Center in Clayton, MO. It was wonderful. The sewing area was very large to accommodate the 36 quilters. Some quilters had their own tables and we were able to have a few tables set up for cutting. Even the 4 ironing areas were accommodated in the room. We had 3 projects for this retreat: The Dump Bag was completed Friday night. This will make a great grocery bag. I pulled fabrics from my stash as I didn't want to purchase new fabrics for this project. The Jitterbuzz quilt was very challenging. The instructor had some problems with the EQ directions and a few sections had inappropriate cutting instructions, templates and quantities. I persevered and finally got the top pieced as I was determined the process would not beat me. I decided to wait to add borders. :0) I was also supposed to make the Magic Trip Around the World quilt but didn't get a chance to cut it while working on the Jitterbuzz quilt. Yesterday I cut it out and sewed this much of it together. I plan to finish the top tonight then audition border fabrics. Another new activity at retreat was that we had a Secret Quilter where each participant bought 4 gifts under $5 and a final gift of around $10. Prior to retreat, the participants completed a small profile like favorite colors, quilt magazine currently subscribed to, hobbies other than quilting, favorite quilt shop, etc. to give the Secret Quilter an idea of things to buy/not to buy. Then, we provided anonymous gifts for 4 meals in brown paper bags that we gave the coordinator when we arrived. The fifth gift we delivered personally, revealing our identities. Here is my loot. It was good fun and I hope you try it at your next guild retreat. We had one over achiever quilter that brought goodies for all 36 quilters. She started making things last April for the big day. Every year Connie makes wonderful gifts for the attendees that she donates. She is very kindhearted and talented. This year's retreat was themed "Valley Girls Buzz" and the committee provided the machine embroidered bee name tag. It is very pretty. Also, they made charms on shrink plastic. The committee was very creative. I hope I haven't bored you this week and that you'll come back soon. -------------------------- Type-u-later, Tea in MO http://www.teaquilts.com