Retreat Prep

I'm going on a quilt retreat with Central Florida MQG at Luther Springs in Hawthorne, Florida. Our chapter goes there at least once a year, and it's become a much-anticipated sewing get-away. I have several projects prepped. 

After taking a virtual "Improv Paper Piecing" workshop with Amy Friend, this improv foundation paper-pieced design is what I came up with in EQ8 . I've printed a stack of freezer paper templates and have cut fabrics - Painter's Palette Clementine, Sangria, and Hot Pink - in anticipating of piecing it. 

As soon as I saw this design in the latest MQG Journal, I added it to my list of "to-make on retreat" projects. Tilted Tiles is called "semi-improv" because a couple of the blocks are sub-cut at an improv-y angle. I thought it looked fun!

From my stash, I chose these colors to make Tilted Tiles. As you can tell, I love my Painter's Palette solids, but I couldn't find any PP close to that Kona Mac 'n Cheese (though I since have, in a new PP solid Butterscotch), so there's a lone Kona among the PP solids. You can also see that I had two options for the darkest color/value, with one of them being the new PP color Redwood. I thought I'd like it, but an Instagram poll had me choosing the darker Claret for more depth of color. Even the designer, Charles @feltlikesweets; and Paintbrush Studio Fabrics @pbsfabrics preferred Claret.  

Now I've got all the quilt top cut out, but I'll have a piece of Redwood at hand, just in case.

If you're an MQG member, you can get the free Tilted Tiles pattern here. 

I mentioned in my last blog post that KC Maker Studio (Mission, KS) had a Labor Day sale on Painter's Palette solids. The order I placed on Friday arrived Tuesday! I'm impressed. These are some of the new PP colors I added to my stash (including Redwood), though Topaz is actually a re-stash because I used up most of my first piece of Topaz in my #30daysofimprovqal quilt. 

By the way, I have already washed these new pieces with our laundry. I included a Color Catcher in each of two loads, and both times the catcher came out WHITE! I know that doesn't happened with other brands of quilting solids. 

I don't often take my "big machine" on retreat, but this time my Bernina 770QE is going. That's because I want to continue quilting my #30daysofimprovqal quilt. I plan to do some ruler quilting too.

But before going anywhere, this week I had to do some garment sewing. That's because next Tuesday evening our Peace, Love, and Ukulele Club will be performing! All 19 of us are to wear a tie-dyed or brightly colored shirt, and long pants. I've had this piece of tie-dye-looking knit for some time. 

With my old (1985) Bernina serger, I can sew and overlock quickly, especially compared to how long it takes to make a quilt. I made this top in an evening.

Tah-dah! Six of us will be at own mic to sing and play, and I'm one of them! For an hour, I'll be playing and harmonizing and lookin' groovy! I just need some love beads, right? 

Book Recommendation

A Sparkle of Silver by Liz Johnson is set on St. Simon's Island, Georgia where a grand oceanside chateau was, in the 1920's, a scene of leisure and wealth. Present day employees of the chateau: Ben, the head of security; and Millie, a period actor for visitors touring the chateau, are on a quest for treasure. Millie's Grandma Joy claims that her mother Ruth, spent the summer of 1929 at the chateau, fell in love, and that Joy's real father was never identified. Grandma Joy also claims that everything that's been kept secret, including the whereabouts of missing jewelry, is written about in Ruth's diary. Desperate for money to pay for Grandma Joy's nursing home care, Millie sets out to find the treasure, inadvertently getting Ben in on the search too.

Mental conversations and verbal conversations in this book were way too elaborate and irrelevant to the story. Too often the author spent an inordinate amount of time rehashing the theme: "I'm not falling for him/her - I'm falling for him/her." It was so overdone, I could barely plow my way through the book. If I missed paying attention to a few sentences during the listening, I didn't miss a bit of the plot. This book was trite and unengaging. I knew what characters would say before it was said. If pressed to state one good thing about the book, it's that Millie, Ben, and Grandma Joy are believers who know Scripture and attend church.  

This book is #1 in the Georgia Coast Romance series. I won't be reading the rest. 

Linda's score: 2.8/5.0

Dan's been doing his famous cooking again, and put together this delicious 8" taco pizza just for me.

It's made with a soft-shell tortilla covered with homemade refried beans (one bag of pinto beans soaked, slow-cooked, and skillet-fried with butter and cheese) and pepper jack and Monterey jack grated cheese. Once pan-crisped and melted, it's topped with grilled chicken breast; salsa; chopped red leaf lettuce (Did you know, red leaf lettuce contains more iron than iceberg?), tomatoes, black olives, green pepper; and taco chip crumbles. Sour cream was on the side. It was so good!

Over the next four days, the forecast for Central Florida is rain, rain and more rain. I can't think of a better thing to do than be on a quilt retreat. Oh boy! Linda