It's Quilt Retreat Season

 There is a big advantage to summer ending...quilting retreats start up again. 

I had two retreats in September.

At the first retreat I kept on track with my last retreat focus, the Alaska Shop Hop quilt from 2010. It was time to make the borders. I created all the clipped corners and stitched the strips together. At home I went through the process of measuring to get accurate inner and outer borders in the background color and attached all the borders...that took several days and a few sessions with Jack the Ripper.

The Shop Hop quilt measures 77 x 89-inches.

Three retreats dedicated to the 2010 Shop Hop patterns was enough! Yes...there is one more Shop Hop quilt still in progress. It needs borders.

Since the next retreat followed National Jelly Roll Day, I decided to start a new Jelly Roll project. I shared my prepped kit in last month's posting. It was a great set of blocks to work on while visiting with everyone. We had a full house at the retreat so not much room to spread out...working on simple blocks was perfect. 

I finished all the blocks at the retreat and put it together at home. The pattern is, "Harvest Junction," by Scott Flanagan in the Quilter's World Autumn 2025 magazine.

Oh...and I almost forgot to mention...I added two more rows of blocks to make this quilt bigger. I know I will use this as a throw quilt on our bed it needed to be sized up a bit. 

The finished size is 70 x 72-inches.

The last day of retreat I had time to tackle two Halloween projects.

 The, "BOO," runner was a little kit one of our retreat attendees made for everyone. I had to add a background fabric which only required a fat quarter. Very Fun

The witch is part of a kit called, "Oops," that features batiks designed by Scott Flanagan. It is a pattern designed by Sandy Gervais. I was surprised how quickly this came together. It just needs borders to finish this fun wall quilt which are ready but I thought about adding something to it...more fun Halloween blocks or some words on the cauldron?

We had fun projects to make at the second retreat. One day we made these awesome snap bags. The tops have metal strips from tape measures that make a cool snapping sound when you open them. They were a big hit and several ladies made many more the next day to get a great start on Christmas presents.

We also made a Christmas ornament...a halibut ornament. Absolutely perfect for most of my family and friends as all are enthusiastic fishermen and halibut is the primo catch to get every summer. 

The only critter picture I have to share today is a rare sighting of my kitty. He's so funny...he doesn't know we have all figured out he is hiding behind the quilt hanging on the stairway railing. 

Pretty hard for a 26-pound Maine Coon to hide anywhere. 

Eli is named after the second tallest mountain in the United States and Canada, Mount Saint Elias. He gets a monthly shot for his joints which has greatly improved his mobility and mood. The vet techs love to see Eli every month. Everyone makes sure to get a photo holding him. Maine Coons are known as gentle giants and he fits that description perfectly. He has the tiniest meow...he sounds like a tiny kitten.