I've lost track of how many retreats I've attended here, I do know I missed one when I broke a bone in my foot in 2010 and also went to the test retreat before it became sanctioned by our guild.
This year again we got two ballrooms where we had tables around the perimeter, cutting and basting tables at the end. Dining area at the end where I was along with the buffet and serving tables.
Let me tell you those round tables served double duty at times. This was very early on the Friday after Canadian Thanksgiving and not too many of us had arrived yet.
Typically we have dinner the first night Friday and the breakfast and dinner on the Saturday. Breakfast on the Sunday. Almost half stay for the Sunday night and we either go our, dine in the cocktail bar or order pizza in that evening. The Monday morning we get a coffee service and are out by 2.
I decided to bring my wonky stars from my Instagram swap and put them together. I literally opened an envelop and put the contents on the wall. I was in a double swap group and also added some of the extra blocks I couldn't part with into the mix.
I moved a few things around and decided on this setting...which of course got changed a bit when I started sewing it together.
I took a bit of a break and went out for a walk. Clouds with just a bit of blue in the sky.
It is so pretty, we had some major forest fires in this area last year but you can't see where they were.
Some pops of colour between the evergreens.
Love the colour of this vine's leaves.
A bit of sun hitting the hillside.
Some lovely yellow.
I love this bright pink that faded into a pink white petal.
I love wonky funky flowers and this one definitely hits the mark.
Maple leaves turning.
That night a friend showed a gorgeous crescent moon on her Instagram account. It was cloudy here so I went for the twinkling lights on the tree trunks.
Love the look they give the leaves.
Back at it and I got my first row pretty much done and you can see I'm starting to build other units together. This is rather like building a jigsaw puzzle. Progress at about 7 p.m.
After dinner sewing view from my workstation.
We had a few drop out but ironing stations around the room were busy.
End of day one progress is coming along nicely.
A walk after lunch show some blue skies and a bit of snow on them thar mountains.
A peaceful but deadly lake, sadly there have been lives lost due to weeds just off shore several times.
By 3 p.m the top is done. I was going to trim down on the far right but now have decided to add a thin strip on the lower half so I don't loose those star point. I intentionally make a couple of star points on the bottom row one orange and the other yellow which is a bit harder to see.
Here are some close ups of some of my favourite stars I received.
Love the bird.
Several bunny prints were gifted.
Love this mini yellow star.
Hard to see but there is a cute mouse and bike background fabric that I got from several people.
Clothes pegs!
I'm a sucker for fabrics with words.
This is Shimmer by Cynthia.
Spools of thread by Nancy.
Candy Canes by Sandi B.
Beautiful machine quilting on a domestic machine by Lynne.
My stars on my bed for the weekend.
It doesn't hang over on the left side but does a bit on the right.
I'm doing another BOM this one is designed by
Chris Jurd of Patchwork Fundamentals. She has an Etsy shop for her pattern, this was month one.
Rita's tinner made into a preemie top.
Another walking break with lovely sunshine.
Some interesting gourds seen on the walk.
Love this one.
Sasquatch will pose with you. There are several around the town.
A couple of boats out.
Clear skies.
Better picture of the snow.
A bit more colour amongst the evergreens.
I managed to make a test alternating block for my Simple Folk. I think I'll have use the dark turquoise only in the nine patches as when it's in the X they muddy out with the green background. Fortunately I didn't cut a lot of the kite shape.
Block two of the Jigsaw Mystery quilt. A bit of a challenge, the small square in a square measurements were off so I adapted the triangles to sew on.
Block two and block one. Block three consists of three different units, which I still have to cut. I'm liking the look of them.
I can't believe that Hallowe'en is just two days away. Where has the month gone?
