SALMON FOR DINNER

 The food at the Saint Andrew's Retreat Center is one of the main reasons for going to the Joe Retreat.  Tonight we had Salmon.  What a treat!

Always a dessert after dinner.

CUT, SEW, REPEAT

The first day of the Joe Retreat, and his instruction for the day is to think of a theme.  Then cut some fabrics, sew them together and repeat.

So we were off and running.

 

I picked some fabrics and started sewing.

Joe provided the music.

My project at the end of the day.

GREAT BREAKFASTS

 Staying at Saint Andrew's starts every morning with a great breakfast.  They usually serve up eggs and bacon, and oatmeal with the fixings, and Greek Yogurt with berries.  There is toast and juices, and sometimes muffins.  It's always good.

GOING TO UNION

 I'm all packed and set out for my week at the Joe Retreat in Union Washington on Hood Canal.  We'll be staying at the Saint Andrew's House Retreat Center.

It's just 2 miles from home to the Fauntleroy Ferry Dock where I boarded the ferry to Southworth on the Olympic Peninsula.  It was a nice day for a ferry ride.

It was a plus that when I arrived at Saint Andrews it wasn't raining.  I unloaded my stuff and started setting everything up.

Just arriving at St Andrews

The windows in the workroom looking out at Hood Canal and the Olympic Mountains.

The view from the workroom.

My little room - we make our own beds.

Getting everything set up.

IMPROV BLOCK 47

 I wasn't able to finish the improv block of the week for Quilters Playcation 2024 with Cheryl Arkison on Tuesday.

But, I got it done today.  Two bowls.

THIS WEEK IN THE ART CAVE

 I've been enjoying making some art with Andrea Chebeleu's Watch.Learn.Play.

They meet every Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning.

Every month is a different palette and a different technique.

December is Vermillion, Hansa Yellow Deep and Phthalo Blue (GS) with a focus on drawing.

I've been enjoying it completely.

INSET CIRCLES

 I put the Dalek back up on the wall.

I'm going to start making the inset circles for it.

These first few are 3-1/2" with a little dark border.  These are true circles.  The rest of them won't be.  That's why I'm starting with these.  I think they might be the easiest.

I'm using the freezer paper method.

First I put in the black circle for the border.

Then I cut down the black and inset the yellow circle.

I got three done, that leaves just 21 to do.

HOLIDAY DECORATIONS

 I put some of the Little Houses I made last year and the new Little Trees on the server by the front door.

We are ready for the Holidays.

SEAMQGBOM2024 IS A TOP

 I sewed together all of the blocks and extra blocks made for the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild's Block of the Month for 2024.  It is now a quilt top.  It took me most of today.

It is 64" by 80".  I made extra blocks to make it rectangular and bigger.

FIXED BLOCK 46

 I messed up Block 46 of the Playcation2024 Improv block on Tuesday.

I fixed it today.

LITTLE TREES

 I got the Little Trees made.  They are from a pattern by Ann Wood Handmades.

ART TUESDAY

 I joined Andrea Chebeleu of Watch.Learn.Play today to make some art for a while.  I'm not sure if I just made a mess or what!  There are parts I really love, so maybe I'll just cut it up and use it somewhere else.

So much fun!  And that's the point.

And, since it's Tuesday, I joined Cheryl Arkison for one of the last Quilters Playcation 2024 improv blocks.  I was doing so well, actually following her instructions and making a block that would look almost like hers and then I trimmed it and no!  I trimmed it a quarter inch too short.  I give up!

MAKING LITTLE TREES

 I saw a free pattern from Ann Wood for Little Trees.  I cut the fabric and made the tree parts yesterday.  Today I'm making the trucks and bases.

Using Darrell's shop I used his disc sander to make the sticks for the trunks pointy at both ends.

And his drill press to make holes in the bases for the trunks.

I'm fortunate to have his expertise and shop at my disposal.  If left to my own methods it would have taken much longer and been more difficult to do this.  And I probably would have hurt myself trying to sharpen the ends with an exacto knife.

ROOMBA WITH INDIGESTION

When I came up the stairs to the studio this morning I heard talking.  Was there someone up there?  Did I leave the computer on with a video going?

No, it was the Roomba, complaining that it needed to be recharged.

When I leave the studio at the end of my day, I sometimes set the Roomba to vacuuming the room, as I did last night.

Unfortunately, some of the blocks on my design wall fell off and the Roomba sucked one up causing it to cease operating, unable to continue and call for help.

I flipped it over and there was the block, wound around one of the brushes.

I gently removed the brush and unwrapped the block.  I think it will be okay.  It's a bit dusty and wrinkled.  And that can be remedied.

SWATCHING PAINT

 I set about swatching all of my Acrylic paints.  I wanted to know what I have and what I don't have for some upcoming projects.  I've always swatched my watercolors, but not the acrylics until now.

In the process I saw these chips setting out waiting to dry and thought they would make a great palette - for a quilt maybe?  Yes.

I don't know why it's sideways, I've changed it but it likes to be this way.

I've been joining Watch.Learn.Play and painting with them lately.  Today I painted some flowers. I had gathered some ferns on the morning walk and used them to transfer paint to the background to make the fern image.

We are using a palette of Cobalt Blue, Naples Yellow and Burnt Sienna.  That's what I used for this painting. It's a bit on the dark, muted side.  Which I like, but, I wanted a bit more of a brighter green and added a touch of Lemon Yellow to get it.

Oh, if you noticed the bottom of the painting didn't conform to that palette - I started with a canvas that had been primed with a light blue.  Then I over painted it with some Quinacridone Gold (my fav).  For some reason it decided to separate and not cover completely.  Which turned out pretty cool - so I left it.

TUESDAY BLOCK 45

 Cheryl was back today to lead us in making the 45th block of her Quilters Playcation 2024.

It's a ladder - and mine looks like a ladder.

And, I got another month of blocks made for the SeaMQGBOM2024.

NOVEMBER EIGHTEENTH

 It's Darrell's birthday today.  I took him out to lunch at Easy Street Records in West Seattle.  We've never eaten there before today.  So, I took my sketchbook to record the event.

I spent the rest of the day in my studio catching up on some sewing.  I got another month's blocks of the SeaMQGBOM2024 made.

CATCHING UP ON BOM

 I haven't been doing the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild's Block of the month lately.  

I made the blocks that were released a few months ago today.

I needed practice making inset circles, so here they are:

They turned out so well, it made me think I should get back to work on the Dalek.

JOE PROJECT

 I tuned into Joe Cunningham's Quilt Freedom Workshop.  His special guest was Pat Pauly.  I just love her work.

In the last part he showed us how to make this little block. 

Well, mine's a little different from his.  But I did use two fabrics that don't 'go together' like he asked.

LITTLE MAT

 I finished the little scrappy mat I made the other day.

I hand-quilted it in straight lines in the big-stitch style.

MAKING ART

 I've joined an online community, Watch.Learn.Play, organized by Andrea Chebeleu.  We meet regularly on zoom and paint, draw, collage and play.

Today, we painted big and made marks.

MAKING BEAN SOUP

I was watching the latest issue of Quiltfolk's BOM Break the Rules and making bean soup.

 

SCRAP PLAY

 I did some cleaning and putting away of stuff in the studio this morning.  I even managed to cull some things out, which can go to the Goodwill. 

When it got to what to do with the scraps that are in my 'project bowls' (bowls where I keep the scraps of quilts I'm working on) I slowed down and got distracted.  

The bowl that contained the little scraps from the Trinkets quilt, which are from Alison Glass' Kaleidoscope Collection and are a little more loosely woven, I decided to just start sewing them together.  I contined sewing on them when Brave Patch Monday Sewcial started.  I sewed and fitted and sewed and fitted them all together, eventually, with only 6 little pieces left over.

It's about 13" by 11-3/4" - I think I'll make a little table mat out of it.  So cute.

NASTURTIUMS TAKE OVER

 The Nasturtiums I planted last summer grew and flowered and made seeds, then died back a bit, as they usually do.  But when summer was over and the rains started they came back to life - with a vengence. 

They flowered again and when those fell off the plant decided to just take over the world.

It's beautiful.

BACKING FOR LOG CABIN AROUND

 I got the backing for the Log Cabin Around made today.  I used some Log Cabin blocks I had made from that same scrap bucket that the front was made from.  And the rest of the fabrics are some old ones from my stash.

BLOCK 44

 It's Tuesday!  And it's time for Cheryl Arkison's Quilters Playcation.

Today we made block number 44.

I'm sorry Cheryl.  My block isn't anything like what she was teaching.

LOG CABIN AROUND TOP

 I've spent most of my free time sewing on this Log Cabin Around for the last week or so.  And today I got the top finished.  It finishes at 68" by 83".  Perfect.  And, happily, it's reduced two scrap buckets by quite a bit.

SEWING STRIPS TOGETHER

 I working on the Log Cabin Around, sewing scrap strips together, then sewing them Log Cabin style around and around and around.  Today I took time out to finish sewing all of the same sized strips together into long, long rolls.

The only thing left in the container are really narrow strips.