Retreat at Toccoa

What's better than getting to quilt all weekend? Quilting with 38 of your closest friends!
I was at a Quilts of Valor retreat the first weekend in October. We stayed at the Baptist Conference Center right on Lake Louise! This view of the lake is from our window where our sewing machines were set up - beautiful!

Once we had everything setup, the sewing machines were humming away. Here is part of the room with a few dedicated quilters, working away on many of the quilts that finished.

We were in the purple room and I made friends with everyone - we are calling ourselves the Purple Peeps!

Here we are - all 9 of us. We laughed so much I think some of the others (not in our room) thought we crazy. HA! They were right!

What retreat isn't complete without the driving force of chocolate? There was plenty of that along with ton's of other stuff. Someone brought apples from their orchard, very cool.

I had decided to take along the Bear Paw I told you I was going to make for the upcoming presentation. Well...here is a sampling of the half square triangles I worked on.

 

and worked on...

and worked on...

So after many hours of cutting, pressing and squaring I needed to see some real progress, so I put one block together.

Ain't it purdy?

On the upside, I was able to get some blocks together - 6 total. On the down side I need 35 to make the top. I decided to group the 1/2 squares together and trim as I make the block, that way I will reward myself, after all the tedious trimming with a block. Smart huh? I brought home a project box full of stacks. I have been putting off the trimming on those 1/2 squares, but then something really cool happened. I went to the Quilt Expo in Duluth this past weekend and one of the vendor there was Bloc Loc. If you have never seen or heard of these ruler, you MUST check them out. They have a groove in the center that fits over your seam, making the trimming super easy. I timed myself tonight, and I could do 1 a minute. Here is the link to their website http://www.blocloc.com.

Check them out. I am super happy I bought them and now don't fear the 1/2 squares anymore!

There is so much more to fill you in on, but I will make that in another post. 

For now, just a reminder that we are meeting this Saturday, October 27th at Cottontail Quilts - 9:30. I will bring some stuff to work on, so I hope you can make it.

Remember - freedom is never free

~Renee