I spent most of the retreat working on my Storm at Sea quilt. The blocks will fly together once I get all the fiddly bits done, but before starting to assemble the parts in assembly line fashion, I completed one beautiful block. The colors are exactly what I was hoping for, and the blocks together will make beautiful stormy waves. I plan to finish this one as soon as I possibly can, because I want to hang it over my sofa!
Mom started and finished her quilt top while we were there:
And Aunt Barb completed her quilt top, too:
We were set up in stations, two to a table. My neighbor, Jeanie, was a very lovely and very helpful lady- she gave me lots of tips and tricks for working on my aunt's gorgeous Bernina. It's going to be hard to go back to my (perfectly adequate) machines. First, my station:
And the rest of the working area:
One afternoon we worked on a challenge to complete a Sudoku puzzle, and then piece fabric squares in order based on the puzzle to make a completed little quilt top. My family all rose to the challenge, but none of us completed it first to win the prize! This is one of the ladies showing off her work in progress, with the completed sample quilt in front:
Another fun part of the trip was that every person was paired with a Secret Pal. My Secret Pal treated me well- I received some great quilting supplies (needles and little cutting mats and things), an adorable flowerpot pincushion, and a good bit of chocolate. Mom loved her little gifts, too!
I also cast on for my Mystery Stole 4 again- this time with white pearl beads. It looks so much better than it did with clear beads, so I hope to get caught up with clues 1, 2, and 3 this weekend before I go back to work.
The only unfortunate part of this trip was entirely my fault- I took Autumn Rose to work on, and as my mom and aunt and I are looking at it on a kitchen table, we all realized that it is just too darn small. So I finally had the gumption to check my gauge. Despite having done a gauge swatch, my fair isle was significantly smaller than when I did that little bit of test knitting, and I was off by at least 4-6 stitches from gauge. Across a sweater, that was enough to take it from my size to WAY too small. I'm suitably upset with myself, but so be it- I ripped out the whole thing, back to the corrugated ribbing (which was plenty big for my hips, at least). I didn't even tear up, but it will be some time before I attempt that one again! For the record, I apparently need to go up at least two needle sizes- it calls for a 2, and the 3 was too tiny. I'll try a four next time, and check my gauge a lot sooner!
In closing, I am so glad that we were invited to go on the retreat. The food was amazing (catered, delicious, plentiful, and we only had to cook breakfast!). The women were informative and welcoming. The campground where we were staying and crafting was well maintained, and the staff treated us very well. I hope to be able to attend next year! In the meantime, I have found a local guild that meets on Monday evenings, and I might just join them. I am not an accomplished quilter, but I have a lot of interest, and I feel like I have so much to learn. I don't feel daunted by anything in knitting, really- I figure with a pattern and time I can do just about anything I desire to knit. I can teach it, I can fix my own and others' mistakes, and generally I feel perfectly comfortable with it. I'm finding the challenge of sewing to be very suited to me at this moment in my life- I'm ready for something a bit harder, a bit foreign. I don't know all the terms, or how to do a lot of it. I don't know the tips and tricks like I do with knitting, my more native craft. It's exciting- and unlike sewing apparel (or knitting sweaters off-gauge), I don't have to worry about whether or not it will fit. What a delight!
