Sewing at Sorrento.

Our first retreat for the year was last weekend,

and we certainly enjoyed some uninterrupted sewing time.

Margaret continued on with sewing these yummy red T blocks,

And by the end of the weekend, had made a start on putting the top together.

This quilt is going to be simply stunning!

Sandra made a start on her 9patch-snowball quilt,

And made it this far before running out of the red fabric.

Just waiting on the postie now for this quilt to become larger.

Chris brought these blocks along,

And before the weekend was over, had the top completed.

Hmm!! l think this would look great in red and white!!

She also completed this top, among other things not photographed.

She won the award for high achiever of the weekend.

Bev was hand piecing these Lemoyne stars. 

And made good progress over the weekend.

Jill was also hand piecing blocks.

This quilt is looking stunning.

Remember  l was sewing these back in January?

Over the weekend, l concentrated on this quilt,

Some of the girls took a walk uptown,

 and l had completed the top by the time they returned.

This is what greeted them as they walked in the door.

This was their response.

All camera's loaded and firing!!

Of course, they could see it still needed improvements,

So l set to work and added a final outer border.

l first saw this quilt over on this blog and fell in love with it.

l had a block left over from my cross quilt, so just added a border.

There were a few flying geese left over from my daughters birthday quilt,

so we had a little play, and came up with this.

l love using leftovers!!

No pictures of food this time, we were too hungry!!

We watched movies, laughed and sewed, shopped and shared wonderful friendship.

All in all a GREAT weekend.

Can't wait to do it again girlfriends!!

Thanks for visiting.

Linda.

P.S. l know l promised a giveaway. Its coming on the next post. Stay tuned.

Not much sewing, but some finishing off.

Not a lot of sewing happening around here.

l did manage to finish off this quilt.

Remember back here, our Xmas exchange quilts?

l loved the one l made to swap so much,

 l had to make myself one, so it's binding went on last week. 

And l had a few blocks left over, so they became coffee mats.

These are great as gifts.

Most of my friends have them in their homes, but these ones are staying here.

This quilt has been finished for a while,

just waiting it's binding, so that went on last week as well.

Its so good to have some finishes.

l know there has been lots of talk on lots of blogs about leaving comments,

and the changes google have made to the word verification.

l love getting your comments, and while l don't always leave comments

when l have visited your blog, due to time restrictions on the computer,

 l always love reading your comments when you do,

 and truly appreciate that you take the time to continue to leave comments,

even if l don't on your blog.

So, having said that, l have turned off the word verification on my blog,

which should make it easier and less time consuming to leave comments,

because l know l am not the only person who is time short.

And l am hoping that it will also encourage me to take a minute

 and leave more comments as l make my way round

 all the blogs thatl love to visit and find inspiring.

Thanks for visiting.

Linda.

P.S. Watch out for a give away coming soon!!

Does this ever happen to you?

So l had some free time to sew over the weekend and today, and decided the best use

of my time would be to clear out some more scraps. l find its hard

 to get inspired for a large project when there is lots of clutter in my sewing room.

 Does this  ever  happen to you?

l had a smallish pile of these hanging around, and not having a definite

idea of what to do, l went hunting on the web. l used google images

and looked for 4 patch quilts, hoping to find some inspiration.

Well, l did. About 3 different quilts.

That's fine, l should have enough to make 3 small quilts.

This one came together quite quickly, and after some advice from a trusted friend,

 this is just going to get quilted and bound. Finished!!

Then a second photo that l had found inspiring, led me to make this block.

But something was not right. It was too heavy.

The reds were not making any kind of statement.

And when l placed a few blocks with the counterpane fabric,

l just knew l was on the wrong track.

Does this ever happen to you?

So, l went back to the start and made a block with the

 opposite colorway, still using the 4 patch's.

That's better!!

But l knew that l didn't have enough of the shirting to make the 9 blocks l needed,

so l swapped the shirting for another.

Made a few more blocks, laid them out on the floor with the counterpane fabric,

 stood back and said, Yes!!

Does that ever happen to  you?

So, l finished making all the blocks l needed, and because the fabrics in

the 4 patches were all scrappy, l didn't play with them much,

 just started sewing the quilt together.

l even considered putting a block the wrong way round. Usually l am happy

to have a humility block in there, but decided not to.

 

When l had counted the blocks to see l had enough, l forgot to remove the

 one made with the different shirting, so it ended up in the quilt.

 And l didn't even realise till the quilt top was pressed, back on the floor for a photo.

Funnily enough, it ended up in the middle.

 So l guess l did put in my humility block, and didn't even realise.

Does that ever happen to you?

This is what l am moving onto next. And yes, l know what l am doing.

An image on Google Images inspired me.

l have to say, even with all the red and white l have been sewing lately,

 l am still madly in love with it. l guess the Infinite Variety Exhibit in New York last year,

 made more of an impact than even l realised.

Thanks for visiting.

Linda.

Time Out Sewing at Sorrento.

Some of my sewing pals joined me at Sorrento in January

 for some well deserved Time Out Sewing.

There was a bit of this from Deb.

Some of this from Jill.

A few of these from Sandra.

A lot of this from Deb.

More of these from Sandra.

Some of this from Anne.

And a lot of these also from Anne.

We also do a fair bit of this!!

And a lot of this from all of us!!

You can't see it, but we are discussing something on the design wall.

It wasn't all sewing.

l had taken a refresher course in pasta making, so decided there was

 no time like the present to show the girls how it's done.

Here we are all intent on getting that sheet of pasta perfect!!

And then turning it into fettuccine.

Which we hung on the clothes horse to dry till dinner time.

Here it is cooking.

Oh, boy!! Was it DELICIOUS!!

A simple sauce of home grown cherry tomato's, roasted with garlic, onions and basil.

A bunch of happy quilters!!

Thanks for a great week girls.

Remember these?

They became these blocks.

Then all these.

And finally this quilt.

Now l am not sure if l should do this!!

What do you think?

Thanks for visiting.

Linda.