Retreat Sewing and a Comfort Quilt

I love going on quilting retreats!  Lots of uninterrupted time to sew, no meals to make and no dishes to do!    Christine and I had a wonderful time and both of us got lots of sewing done.  I made this cute little wall hanging--I called it "Gnome for the Holidays!".  The gnome block was designed by cottonandjoy.com.   I quilted it with my walking foot--inspired by a class I took with Jacqui Gering a few years ago.  I even added a hanging sleeve and have cut the dowel!  I will find a spot to hang my Gnome tomorrow. 

I assembled these bird blocks, made by members of the Elgin Piecemakers, into a quilt top.  This will be quilted and bound and given to our local women's shelter. The bird blocks are a lot of fun!

I spent quite a bit of time assembling my lupin quilt.  I had access to a large table where I could layout four columns of blocks at a time.  

Pretty soon, I had half of the quilt put together.  You can see my blocks all numbered off to the left.  I had a system to keep all of the pieces and blocks organized!

3/4 done--the last four columns are each together but not sewn to each other yet.  I will work on getting the top finished as soon as my Christmas gifts are made and wrapped.  I had hoped to work on my modern sampler quilt at the retreat too, but ran out of time.  

I made a disappearing 9 patch quilt this week using some of my batik stash as a comfort quilt for someone with cancer this week.  I had a wide variety of fabrics in browns, beiges, and greens which all seem to go together. 

Here is the top, waiting to be pin basted.  

I used some leftover squares and larger hunks and chunks of batiks in the same colours for the pieced backing. 

I do my pin basting on the kitchen floor.  It is hard on the knees but it's easy to spread everything out then and tape the backing to the floor. 

The wavy line quilting was done with my walking foot--it is one of stitches on my machine. 

Tonight, I made the binding and got it sewn on by machine.  I will continue to hand stitch it tomorrow for my Slow Sunday Stitching project. I will link up with Kathy in the morning. 

Finn enjoyed a walk in the snow this week.  He does not like to wear the booties though and it is quite a production for my daughter to get them onto his feet before they go out. 

I made a Christmas pillowcase for someone special this week.  She does not read my blog. 

This black squirrel was enjoying a peanut when I walked by him at the park earlier this week.  

Secret sewing and knitting continue around here as well.  Take care and have a good week.  Stay safe.