Saturday, May 9, 2015

Pgh MQG Spring Sewing Retreat Wrap Up



Thank you to everybody who came out to the retreat last weekend! It was great to reconnect with old friends and lay the foundation for new friendships with some fresh faces. We would like to extend a big welcome to Ana, our newest member!  

Those who attended the retreat last Saturday ate well; laughed a lot; sewed an amazing variety of blocks and projects; learned new skills; shared ideas; gained inspiration and just had a great old time. The hall at St John's Lutheran Church gave the 22 attendees ample room to spread out with their sewing machines, fabric and tools. Be sure to check out the guild flickr page to see all the photos from the retreat.

Michelle showing off the hexie sewing machine cover she is working on!

Sally's beautiful block!

Cheralee brought a basement sized donation of fabric from a very generous local woman to the retreat. Like vultures we quickly culled the pieces that we liked from this large pile of fabric! While the fabric reflected past tastes there were a lot of great finds to be had.  A big “THANK YOU” to Cheralee for picking up the stash.   

As with any group of women there was plenty of food being shared and sampled! After lunch Gerry Benton gave wonderful suggestions and tools to help us add circles and curves to our repertoires. Gerry discussed the different types of circles that you may want to use and also gave many alternatives for tools and techniques for each one. Gerry’s circles are awesome and hopefully one day we will be able to do as well. Gerry’s advice is to take the extra time to prepare and the results should follow.   
 
Gerry displaying what you too can achieve when you master the curvy techniques!
Eight people participated in the block raffle- Amanda, Dia, Gerry, Sally, Mona, Cheralee, Sandy, and Gretchen. These names were entered into a drawing, and Gerry won all six blocks.  We can’t wait to see what Gerry does with them!  

The blocks entered into the block raffle

Door prize winners were: Michelle won a bag for mats and rulers, Amanda received the book "Shape Workshop for Quilters", Gerry and Elmira were the lucky winners of gift certificates to Quilter’s Corner, and Karen nabbed a small fabric bucket. Most people stayed till dinner time, and six of us sewed on till 9 PM.The next retreat is planned for September. Hopefully you can join us!

In the meantime you can work on a block for our next charity quilt. Sarah is collecting 12” x 18” blocks that are blue, green and gray. If you attended the retreat don’t forget to make a 9" or 12" “crazy block” using the donated fabric by the next meeting. Drop the guild an email if you need to mail these blocks to somebody. 

The next meeting is June 7th. We will be doing improv piecing with Lauren. More details will be posted soon!  Remember we are the group that never stops quilting, and we continue to meet during the summer!

No comments:

Post a Comment