JOE RETREAT LAST DAY

Friday morning.

Today is a very short day.  We need to pack up all of our stuff, clear out our room, stripping the bedding, and load up to leave.

We had our last breakfast together where speeches were made and good-byes were said.  It was very emotional.

Patricia had arranged for us all to bring some mustard as a thank you gift for Joe.  He was very surprised and I think, very pleased.

I jammed everything back into my car and headed out for the Southworth Ferry.  I was home by lunch time.  [They sent us home with a sack lunch again.]

JOE RETREAT DAY FOUR

Today will be our last day of all day sewing.  Joe gave us a pep talk, reminding us to just "Cut, Sew, Repeat."  He gave us all stillettos that his friend had made for us with the instructions to focus our attention where the pointy end is pointing.  Patricia was videoing the talk, which Joe has since turned into his Quilt Report #40.

It was a day to try to finish up our projects.

I'm way behind and somewhat frustrated.

I'm not really happy with the way it's looking.  Joe says this is normal at this stage and to push through.  I realize that if I was at home doing this, I'd probably give up.  Being here, with nothing else to do, I feel like I might as well keep working on it.

All week, while all of us are working away, Joe entertained us with his guitar.  It's one of the great things about being at a Joe Retreat.

My new friend Patti loved picking through the garbage looking for usable chunks of fabrics that others have cast away.  I'll admit to grabbing a few of these myself.

Another participant, David, was really good at taking portraits.  He wanted to take advantage of the natural light coming through the window, next to my sewing station, to take a portrait of Joe and Patricia.

Here are some closeups of things I've been working on.

Here's what my project looked like at the end of the day.

JOE RETREAT DAY THREE

Here's what our workroom  looked like after a few days of hard work:

Joe gave us some instructions:

It was a beautiful day, but we couldn't do more than look - it was sew, sew and more sewing.  All day.

I'm making a little progress - I needed to start sewing things together, even though I don't have enough parts made.  Thus, another problem arose - how to sew them together without straight lines.  It took some figuring and head scratching.  Sometimes my head would be swimming and I'd just have to stop and relax and breathe.

At one point I took the top left section down to work on it, and I realized the whole thing looked better without it.  So, I turned it upside down and put it on the bottom.  I remade the top section.  I'm a lot happier about the whole composition now.

Here's how it looked at the end of the day:

JOE RETREAT DAY TWO

The day started with a talk by Joe outling our project for the day.  I made a blind contour drawing of Joe.  That was fun.

Along with a great amount of fabric, the supply list said to bring a picture of a piece of art that we love.  I picked this painting by Kim VanderHoek, "4th Avenue Span."  I do love it.

Joe wanted us to write down 2 or 3 words to describe what we love about it.

I said, 'muted colors' and 'lost edges'.  I had to explain what I meant by lost edges to Joe.

Then, we were given our assignment, which was to make a 48" by 48" composition focusing on the word or words from our work of art.  I wanted to figure out how to make 'lost edges' from fabric.

I started by sewing three pieces of fabric together, then cutting them into strips and sewing them back together and staggering them to get uneven lines.

I made a bunch of them and just put them up on the wall.  Everyone else was already sewing things together and I was still making parts.

Here's the palette I choose: 

Included are a few beautiful hand-dyeds by Judy Robertson, some I dyed and/or printed and one of the fat quarters I bought on Sunday.  Oh, and a Kona solid.

Here's all I had done by the end of the day:

It was a little stressful - I had to take a break or two to stretch my legs and enjoy our beautiful view of the canal.

JOE RETREAT DAY ONE

Of course, I got up early.  I took my sketching bag downstairs to the main room and sketched the fireplace while somewhat in the dark.

One of the best things about this retreat is the great food we receive here at St. Andrew's Retreat house.  The chef, Tracy, believes in eating local, organic, wholesome foods.  He makes a great effort to supply gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan and now keto for those with dietary needs.  Yum, yum.

Our first assignment was to make a 24" by 24" composition, using only three fabrics, showing a transition from one color to another.

We started by just randomly cutting the fabric into pieces and then sewing them together.

I enjoyed this immensely.  I just grabbed one of the fat quarters blindly from the bag, then added some of the fabrics I had brought along to go with it.  

Our workroom.

This is mine.  That blue is the random print - I think a bigger print would have worked better.

 Here are some pictures of what some of the others did:

OFF WE GO

I'm all packed up and headed to Union, Washington for the last Joe Retreat with Joe Cunningham and Patricia Belyea.

The easiest way for me is to take the Southworth ferry across the water, but instead I headed out early from Seattle to Bainbridge and went north to Port Gamble.  Quilted Strait is having a sale and I have a credit that's burning a hole in my pocket.

Leaving Seattle on the way to Bainbridge.

I bought a dozen fat quarters, then headed back south to Union.

Once at St. Andrews Retreat, I unpacked and made my bed, set up my machine and changed out of my heavy shirt - it is too hot inside!

We had a nice dinner and introductions.  There was some changing of rooms, it's a long story, but I was happy to change and ended up without a roommate. 

STARBUCKS SLEEVE

Everytime I grab a cardboard sleeve to put around my hot coffee when I pick it up at Starbucks I feel a little guilty.  So, I made a sleeve today.  I used up some more of those scraps from Seasons and sewed them onto a foundation of Insulbright.  

Neato.

I also got the vacuum out and dusted the studio and my Bernina.  I'm getting ready for the Joe Retreat.  I'm leaving tomorrow.

ARTEMISIA

We went to the current exhibit at Seattle Art Museum:  Flesh and Blood. 

I really wanted to see Artemisia Gentileschi's "Judith and Holofernes".

I was really pleased - it's fantastic.

There were a lot of other treasures there, too.  I particularly liked Titian's Danae and the story behind it.

QUILTING

I've started quilting the Seasons quilt on my longarm, Eduard.

I'm going to need more thread colors!

LABEL

I inked in the label for 'Seasons'.  The back is now ready.

The dogs were good dogs for a few minutes again today.

The colors this autumn are spectacular.

SEASONS BACK

I made the backing for the Seasons quilt today.

I've now used up almost all of the scraps from the quilt top.  

This color is Kona Alegria.

I still need to ink in the label though.

FIRST SUNDAY

We started the first Sunday of November with our regular grocery shopping at PCC at the new West Seattle store.

Then it was a long walk in Lincoln Park with the dogs.

Afterward, I spent the remainder of the day upstairs in my studio working on these strips.  I started with a large pile of scraps from Seasons (formerly called Helter Skelter) and ended with a much smaller pile.

They were great fun to make (they took several days).

FIRST SATURDAY

We started this first Saturday of November by having breakfast in Burien at Grand Central and left as the sun was rising.

Then, we had a great walk in the park with the dogs.

Then, lunch from the El Camion food truck - sooo gooood!

We cleaned the leaves off from and out of the pond and cleaned up the yard.

It was a great day.

FRIDAY ACRYLIC

I did another still life in Acrylics Class today.