9th ANNUAL PTA RETREAT

10 members of 15 PTA - Professional Textile Artists have survived their 9th annual retreat.  Like they say about Vegas.....some things must remain private....but here are some highlights I can share.

Let's start with the quilts.....

 Leigh Ann comes all the way from FL to attend.....she planned to stitch this cheerful quilt at retreat, but since she arrived early to stay with one of our members.....she got a jump start which turned into a finished top!

 This is the same Debbie Bowles pattern as above, Janice made it with smaller blocks.....

 Marene, our newest member who fits into our group like she was always there....started with a donation quilt kit offered by the Asheville Quilt guild. 

 Judy and Kate had spent one of our Fiber Junkies meetings using the Accuquilt die cut machine to cut half-hexes.  Judy wisely arranged and pinned all her pieces to flannel ahead of time at home to make it easier to keep track of the arrangment while she sewed. Stitching was a long process....made more challening given it's super difficult to concentrate with all the goofiness that goes on in (and out) of the sewing room.

 Kate started to arrange her pieces in a landscape orientation once she was set up in our sewing room, but soon realized she'd be happier if she had a wider range of fabric choices. She's basing her design on a photo she took along the Blue Ridge Parkway and will work on her wall quilt at a later time.

 Here's another version of the Debbie Bowles pattern that Janice and Leigh Anne worked on.  It's such a great choice for big print fabrics.

 Kate is the most efficient, fastest sewer I know.  Mistakes are rare....but she found herself ripping several times.  We were happy to know she's human!  But, honestly....how many times have you sewed blocks, right side to wrong side too??

 She'd cut up a bunch of scraps to make this little quilt......her planning allowed for 4 blocks wide but after laying it out.....we all agreed she needed another vertical row.  Using the meager amount of leftovers in her plastic kit bag......she only had enough for 4 blocks.  I convinced her to use the remaining scraps by altering the block pattern.  This created two surprise blocks for the final layout.  (Upper right and lower left corners.)

 Leigh Anne has a knack of working with fabrics that (for me) are always surprising....but they WORK! 

 This is my piece....I arrived with 48 - 4 patch blocks.....I cut each into 1" strips on each side of the center seam.  The pieces were rearranged and sewed back together.  I came home with 4 more horizontal seams left to complete sewing the rows together.

 Barbara was doing some improv designing.....I just love her color combination and with the weaving patterns she created.

This is another one Kate made.....yes, I told you she was fast, yet very accurate.  The fabrics are my leftover plaids created by the cutting I did for my 6.5" squares.

More in my next post......check back....