Earlier this year I was invited to tour a new retreat house in Janesville, Wisconsin. After my tour I knew I wanted to spend some time there. A short retreat in the beginning of December sounded like the perfect way to get some things done before the holiday season got busy. A few friends agreed, and last week we had a lovely time at the Bradford House.
All the rooms were spacious, from the dining room:
to the four bedrooms (each with colorful quilts on the beds):
and the sewing areas too (this is just one of the two adjoining rooms):
We enjoyed talking, laughing, eating,
and we got a lot of projects done too!
I acomplished hours of satin stitching on a challenge quilt that’s due after the first of the year. I’m not ready to share it yet, but I’m pleased with the progress I made. My second project used a fabric I bought while on our trip to England and Wales. A friend told me to buy a piece of Christmas fabric at Liberty because whatever I made from it would bring back wonderful memories of the trip each year when I put out my holiday decorations. I decided a simple 9-patch and snowball quilt would be a good way to show off this special tree fabric. Susan suggested adding some blues, and this is the snowball block that resulted:
I made as many 9″ blocks as the fabric would yield with a fun “slap back triangle” technique. I sewed an extra seam while attaching the squares that made the triangles so I’d have some bonus half square triangle blocks. I’m sure many of you have enjoyed this process, but if you want to know how it’s done, please click here for a post I did on it a few years back.
Next I made the 9 patch blocks. During this process I stitched two strips together incorrectly, and I was very happy to try the “new” ripping technique Marie showed me. Many of you probably have used this one for years, but it was new to me, and I got very excited about how quickly it ripped long strips of mis-stitching. You simply take out a few of the first stitches, place the long prong of the ripper inside the seam, with the small ball prong along the outside, hold the strips together with your left hand and push the ripper through the stitches!
It makes a lovely “popping” noise as it slides along quickly unsewing. Sometimes the little things can bring us joy 😊.
As I put the blocks up on the design wall my friends noticed that I unintentionally dressed to match my quilt – and took a quick photo:
The bonus half-square triangle blocks from the snowball corners ended up creating a delightful pieced border.
By the time the retreat was over, my borders were on. I’m looking forward to getting it quilted and hung in time for our Christmas celebrations.
Quilting with good friends is such a blessing. Thanks to Marie, Susan, Cathy and Mary for a wonderful time! And if you’d like to learn more about the Bradford House, please click here to visit their facebook page.