back on track

photo courtesy of Patty Illingworth

My frequency in posting has been shameful and I apologize. I've been pretty busy lately but luckily that hasn't totally killed my crafting progress. SO to catch things up I'll tell yous about the Spring quilt retreat! What a success! I didn't get to spend as much time at this retreat as I did in the Fall but I felt like I was able to accomplish so much more! I was able to make HUGE progress on the Double Irish Chain for my mom and step-dad; even after messing up an entire row. It felt so good to really see my progress and have it start looking like an actual quilt, instead of a few rows sewn together. And what's even more exciting was that the momentum from the retreat allowed me go home and finish the entire top the week afterwards. My mom adores it! Now I just need to make the back and have it quilted. yay!

finally some REAL progress!

At each retreat one of the ladies will teach anyone who's interested, a quilt pattern. The Spring quilt just happened to be a T SHIRT QUILT!!!! Now, some history: Throughout high school I ran in track and attended an invitational every weekend. At each invitational the school sponsoring it usually sold t-shirts. Of course I had to have one from all the meets! {duh} SO needless to say, between the meets I went to and the team shirts we got each year, Sarah had quite to collection! Towards my sophomore year in college I decided that it was time to start packing these tees away to save for a quilt someday. Over the years I kept my eyes open, in search of a t-shirt quilt pattern that I liked, with little luck. So between not having a pattern and not really having the time, my shirts sat in boxes, awaiting their time to shine. Fast Forward to the Spring retreat and you can only imagine my excitement when I saw the pattern for the quilt being taught this year! It was perfect! Mix and Match sized shirts surrounded by 2 inch squares of whatever fabrics I chose. I dug out all my tees and chose the ones that would be put into the quilt. (What a walk down memory lane) My high school's colors are blue and gold so before the retreat I bought a bunch of fun blue and yellow fat quarters to surround the shirts with. After being taught the process to make the quilt it was all I could do to NOT work on only it for the rest of the weekend. Luckily I didn't take ALL my shirts with me. But I'm super excited about the fabrics I chose and I can't wait to work on it more regularly.

my strips of fabric and some t-shirts

It felt so good to have the time and space to get some real work done for once. And of course seeing the ladies that attend. They are all so sweet and supportive and I can't help but feel good after being with them. I'm so looking forward to the fall retreat and my sister and I have been considering doing the early bird so we can get up there sooner and have more time to work.

CLEARLY we are related...

And not to worry, this WILL NOT be my only post to catch up! I promise! :)