Saturday General Retreat

My sewing mentor and her sister, the fabulous Ms. G. (who is a wonderful long-arm quilter) invited me to a sewing retreat on Saturday. We met at my mentor’s lovely home — the site of my first quilting lessons– and convened in a newly renovated sewing room. It was truly pieceful peaceful there! The forecast called for sunshine and warm temperatures, but it stayed cloudy and rainy — a perfect day for sewing!

Although I took several projects to work on, I spent all my time with my handsome French General –the fabric kind! (Doesn’t that sounds like a good title for a romance novel “The Handsome French General”? Dibs on the name!!!)

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I bought this quilt kit in January with an event just like Saturday in mind!

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This is the first quilt I cut using the Dritz handle for my ruler. It made a big difference in my cutting skills — no more wrestling unintentionally wonky squares into place <hopefully>.

This kit is made up of a lot of 2.5″ squares! It is the first time I have worked a quilt on-point and all those little triangles sounded intimidating, but it is much easier than I had anticipated.

The quilt will finish at 57″x57″. I’m about a third of the way through after day 2 of quilt kit sewing on Sunday back in my lonely little sewing room <sniff>.

Speaking of creative retreats, have you seen this September event from French General? Fall soccer will probably interfere with my plans, but a girl has got to dream, oui?

Besides the inspiration, conversation, Donny Osmond tunes (don’t judge — LOL– you would be smitten too if you grew up in the 60s-70s), and beautiful locales, another great thing about sewing with my long-time friends is that we always have yummy food. I was introduced to Banana Bars (truly addicting) and I practiced some more with my scone recipe with good results.

Earlier in the week I checked on my garden and the corn is up! Hoping for “knee high by the 4th of July” — going to need some serious heat and sunshine to make that happen.

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And we have just received the best news: local strawberries are ready!

8 thoughts on “Saturday General Retreat

  1. piecefulwendy says:

    Handsome French General? Donny Osmund? You had quite the retreat!! Will be fun to see the quilt as it progresses. Of course, I’ll be humming Puppy Love for the rest of the day . . .

    • sandradny says:

      My friend was playing a CD with Donny as an adult singing Al Green’s “let’s stay together”. The adult Donny’s still got it 🙂

  2. rl2b2017 says:

    Good Afternoon! Woot woot on the local strawberries! Yeah, that knee high by 4th of July is going to be a challenge here, too. It’s been so cold in June but in the mid-90s in May with lots of rain – the farmers were really challenged to get the crops in. I have not made anything on point yet – so you’ll have to share any tips you’ve learned trying this for the first time!
    Happy Monday! ~smile~ Roseanne

  3. Gray Barn Designs says:

    So I am officially inviting myself to the next retreat! I promise to bring something yummy AND I will bring my 70’s collection of music so we can sing and sew! Mssr. French General is looking mighty fine…glad the Dritz handle working…maybe I will try it one of these days. Midwest corn is on the move and getting taller every day!

  4. tierneycreates says:

    How fun to go on a sewing retreat! I am not too such about the Donny Osmond but the banana bars sound yummy! How about “The Dastardly French General” for your romance novel title – you there need to be romantic tension anticipated in the book…

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