Friday, April 17, 2015

Preparing for Retreat!

The quilters here in my remote corner of the planet are buzzing like bees ... our guild's annual spring retreat begins tonight!  Girlfriend DillyDally has been especially busy as she is also on the retreat's planning committee!  She has been busy making two door prizes ... cannot share those until after the event ... and all kinds of other preparatory work!  I love how she just dives in and gets involved ... yep, she's a DillyDally!
Speaking of "diving in" ... she has also chosen her second quilt project!  After finishing her Popsicle quilt, she began looking through my patterns and books.  After a lot of thought and consideration, she chose an alternate block pattern from Terry Atkinson's Confetti in the Corner book!  This girl doesn't bother taking baby steps when it comes to sewing skills ... she prefers to take giant leaps!
Because this block involved several new piecing skills for her, we thought it would be a good idea to practice the techniques before the event.  It gave her a chance to focus and develop each skill without the distractions and excitement of a retreat atmosphere.  As you can see, Mr. Brown Bunny was assisting that day!
Girlfriend is a quick study ... right triangles and flying geese truly are a huge leap from strip piecing!
Each time GF would get up from the machine ... Flicka would steal her chair.  Such a goofball kitty!
After successfully completing six blocks, she felt like she had the cutting and piecing techniques mastered!  Such a joy to watch this girl grow her quilting wings ... she is fearless and likes to soar!  Makes my heart so happy!
For my retreat project, I dug into the "DillyDally vault" and pulled out something I've wanted to make since 2011!  Yep, another Terry Atkinson design, Shadow Song.  It's not nearly as complicated as Girlfriend's ... quick and easy is just perfect for my retreat experience as I usually spend most of the time socializing.  ;-)  I bought this fat quarter pack, Ruby, by Bonnie & Camille for this specific pattern ... four years later and I still like it!
The guild's Accuquilter made light work of cutting out all the strips ... am sew happy we have a 3.5 inch dye!  Win/win!
Both of us DillyDally women are prepared and packed for the weekend!  I've been busy making snacks to share all afternoon.  Mother Nature is cooperating by bringing on rain, sleet and snow!  Perfect for a retreat weekend!  Hope your weekend plans are filled with fun as well!

Do what you love.  Do dillydally!
Mrs. DillyDally

2 comments:

  1. Girlfriend's work is beautiful.
    I think you have great quilting partner!
    Flicka at the retreat!
    Marilyn

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  2. Don't know what happened to my message.
    I meant to say........Flicka has to make sure everything is right, after all.
    Have fun at the retreat.
    Marlyn

    ReplyDelete