I'm back!!!

I am back from my retreat that was held in St. Louis, MO at the Mercy Center; and I had such a good time and was pretty productive while there, too.  

Here is a picture of most of the ladies that were in attendance.

 

My goal this year was to get another UFO done and that was my fermenting 9-patches that I have had since the early 2000s.  They were from a swap with a bunch of gals and the theme for them  was Robyn Pandolph.  I found at least 10 yards of four different gold fabrics in my stash (meant for this project originally)  that I cut up to be the alternating blocks and now this quilt is a top.  I have to order a backing (hoping to find a 108" wide back in Robyn's fabrics, also).

Then there was the baby quilt that I cut out prior to attending the retreat.  I got it all done.  I have the backing here at home, so it will probably be the first one on the long arm so that I can say it is done.  I even made the binding at retreat.

 

Did make a little shopping trip to Jackman's ( a great shop for all kinds of sewing things and it is huge!!!) and Janie Lou ( this is a mostly modern fabric shop...I love it!)  where I bought this adorable pink giraffe minky.  I threw it together as a little baby throw and will be gifting it this weekend at a baby shower.  (so that makes three projects done)

 

Also, picked up some fabric (and a book for the pattern) to make another baby quilt.  They didn't have all the fabrics in stock, but I did find them on-line and will be ordering them tonight so I can throw it together soon.  I am missing the panel and the piglets. 

Then there was this lovely gray and white stripe (diagonal) that I just couldn't resist for a binding.  I have yardage of a gray with tiny white dots that I plan on using someday for a background and I thought this would make a great binding for that quilt.

I, also, took a bag of prepared Hearts and Hands paper piece blocks, but they take a long time to complete; but I did get three done.....from sewing them, pulling the paper off and appliqueing the center circles....like I said, very time consuming,  So I am three closer to being finished.  I think there are now 37 more to go. 

While at Jackman's, I picked up the roll of batt that I had pre-ordered from them a month ago, so I was driving home with a 30-yard roll of batting in the backseat.  They did a pretty good job of vacuum packing this thing.  I am afraid that once I break into that shrink wrap, it is going to explode like the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man.  We will see.  

I am going to try and post my pictures of everyone's show and tell AND the projects that they were working on at retreat.  Hopefully this works.  We have a lot of very talented ladies in this group.  So, please take a look at what all was accomplished and I hope you enjoy the show.  I know I did.

 https://www.flickr.com/photos/qltnbe/sets/72157654194379278