GreenStitch Episode 29 -Report from the retreat

Three days of nonstop sewing with friends - what could be better? Here's the link to this week's episode. (Above is the baby quilt I made - pieced on Day 1, quilted on Day 2, and bound on Day 3.)

But first, here's the skinny on the Spring Repurpose-Along that we're doing in collaboration with Shilo at the absolutely awesome Spin Control podcast.

• The challenge will be easy - find something in your closet and around your house and do your repurposing/upcycling/transformational magic.
• By Earth Day (April 22), post before-and-after photos on my Flickr page (yes, there's not much there yet...let's change that!) If you don't have "before" photos, post the afters and tell us about the befores.
• You can also post on Shilo's Ravelry thread (she posts as aJoyfulGirl - if you're a Ravelry user, follow the link on her blog.)
• Multiple entries per person are welcome!

Any photos posted by the end of the day Earth Day will qualify for some awesome prizes from Shilo and me. Hope you'll join us!

Now, a glimpse of the spring quilters retreat at Watson Homestead.

I made plenty of Morsbags at retreat. The ones above are from some old tablecloths and a piece of fabric fellow quilter Amanda had in her basement.

In the foreground are two of the three pet beds we made for the animal shelter. Actually "made" is an overstated term -- we just used our fabric trimmings for the stuffing. Below, you can see just how easy it was.


The collections started out small, but in no time, it seemed, each pillowcase was filled with fluffy stuffing - ready to stitch shut and pop into a fleece outer bag.

I'm mad at myself that I didn't snap a photo of Sandy's adorable pillowcase dresses, because they were so cute with all the embellishments she added. In case you haven't made any yet, here's a good basic tutorial.

Pat and Sandy mentioned an all-green quilt batting - here's a link. Click the "purchasing" tab for information on retailers carrying the product.

Here's the "interesting" panel print that someone gave schoolteacher Barb who-knows-when. Not wanting to throw it out (but not about to make a jumper out of it!), Barb simply cut it into squares for future foundation piecing. The muslin is of good quality, and nobody ever need see the print again!

This was another fun little project we did - keychain fobs. Easy to adhere a patchwork strip of scraps to a piece of webbing and add keychain hardware.

This photo came out awfully dark, but this was the first project I made at retreat on Friday afternoon. The pincushion up top is filled with crushed walnut shells, and the attached lined bag is made entirely of scraps - perfect for tossing in little clippings and threads (which later made it into the mega-pouch). A little scrap of non-slip shelf liner stitched to the bottom of the pincushion kept the whole thing in place, even during hour after hour of vibrations from the sewing machine.

The Corning Quilters Guild is terrific! Here is our blog (wonderfully done by Amanda.)