This past week I snuck out of the home and ran away…with my sewing machine of course.
Well- I did let the family know and packed the fridge with a few things and the pantry with a few goodies just in case they got hungry.
I headed out on a 3 hour drive with Angie and met up with another wonderful stitcher- Janice to hide in her cabin far, far away from everyone.
This is only one pile of the goods I brought. We might have weighed down the car just a bit with all our needed supplies. I hauled mine around in a laundry basket and large bags. The laundry basket worked the best!
We had running water, warm beds, great food, wonderful conversations- laughs, more laughs and possibly a few teary laughs. Nothing could stop the peddles from being pushed to the limit of speed and the fabric from being transformed into a new finished project.
I was a bit nervous going as Quilt Market is this weekend and I will be again gone from the family for four days- walking the floor, meeting up with friends from online and hooking up some awesomeness for the blog and the quilt group. Even with that — I still went and so glad I did!
It almost didn’t happen for me though- I showed up and after pulling the sewing machine out and setting in on the table, I noticed that the cords weren’t in the bag. Nor were they in any bag. Blah. A quick call to the honey to find out that -yes, they were still plugged into the wall….at home. 3 hours away.
After letting out a not so happy gasp, the others found a solution. This little work horse Singer in a red cabinet. It was her moms and stitches like a dream. I was so happy to have used it!
Janice leaves this machine at the cabin full time. But, because we were sewing a ton, she brought her home machine because she needed it for a few special stitches. So, instead of me crying and pouting in the corner, I dug out the fabric and sewed away. What a relief.
So- what did I work on? Well….a bunch of stuff!
Before leaving I put together a list of what I wanted to get done and the supplies needed for each project. I made sure everything was taken with me so I could get it done.
I ran out of time to pre cut and kit out the projects, but the list kept me on track and it was so fun to see what I had gotten done at the end of the three days. Not all the projects finished are shown below. There was a lot!
All the projects I worked on are for the Quilt Group. This is my online quilt guild that meets online. We have a community on facebook only for us. You can find out more info here: www.quilt-group.com.
Just to give you a heads up on it- it’s a once a year payment of $35.00 (price will be rising in January!) You have access to EVERYTHING for one full year. Meaning if you join us now (you totally should) you’ll have all of this years patterns in 2015 as well as all of next years until October when you’ll need to pay again for another year.
Here’s a quick rundown of what was finished and what will be showing up in the quilt group next year:
pin cushion- there are 3 of them! – one is the wrist one shown above.
mini quilt- Block of the Month. The blocks are 4″ unfinished so not too mini.
BOM- 12 1/2″ unfinished blocks — I haven’t decided if it’s 9 or 12 blocks…. still finishing that one up!
Bags- there are 3 of them! one using clear plastic, another with lots of zipper pockets and one a fun grocery style bag
Bricks & Pearls Quilt- great quilt for beginners
Table Runners- they are fun shapes with diamonds for one and hexagon for the other!
Tea Towel Club- every month there will be a cute flower to applique or stitch if you prefer on a tea towel
And of course we will continue with the Guest Designers and a Mystery Quilt.
I am sooo excited about these projects. These are ALL NEW!! They aren’t on the blog or in the shop. They are only for the group.
So- if you’d like to join us, clickety click here. I want to be a member of the quilt group! (everything is based in Facebook- so please make sure you belong)
What have you forgotten at a sewing retreat before?
Becky Jorgensen is the creative quilter behind Patchwork Posse, the Patchwork Planner and her online quilt group Patchworkers Plus. You can find her patterns in books, magazines, and her quilt membership. Gather your quilting supplies, organize your sewing space, explore the process of disappearing quilt blocks, or finish a free quilt pattern. I'll help you use what you have, finish what you start and make your quilting journey fun!
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Hi Becky!
Your post caught my attention … the same thing happened to me a few years ago when I packed too quickly for a quilt retreat. I was also more than 100 miles from home, and my heart sank when I realized I’d left my machine power cord at home !! I had the foot pedal, but a lot of good that was going to do with no power ! LOL … There were no spare machines at the retreat, but a dear friend offered to drive me halfway, where we met my sweet hubby with my cord. My retreat weekend was saved with a quick road trip to the rescue !
So glad there was a spare machine uou could use ! My hubby always asks before every retreat or trip now, “Got all your cords and parts??” LOL I haven’t forgotten a thing since !
This same problem has happened to people in my group when we go for a quilting weekend. I now have a spare power cord that stays in my sewing machine case. A fairly inexpensive purchase (around $10-15) to make the weekend go smoother. I now manage to forget other things from thread, spare bobbins, rotary cutters, rulers, etc, but that has never stopped me from enjoying my weekends. I always bring a hand project with me to spend some slow sewing which brings a special bit of relaxation to the weekend.