My sister and I are signed up to attend another 2-day, “sleep in your own bed” quilting retreat at the end of September. We attended our FIRST one back in March, and had a blast!

The same local quilt shop is offering the Fall retreat, so we’ve begun to plan our retreat projects. We’re planning to make Halloween or Fall wall hangings, and we will likely each make a couple different ones. I am planning a 9-patch as one of mine, and decided that because it had been a while since I made a more traditional quilt block, I should do a test run before the retreat.

I rummaged in my stash and found 2 pieces of fabric that would work. I pieced them in 3’s and then stitched the 3 rows together. I think it turned out pretty nice for my first attempt in some time. I will also practice making and attaching a border, and finishing the piece, including loops to hang it.

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I was rummaging in my stash after completing the one above and came across 2 other scraps in brighter colors. I decided to make another square, which I featured at the top of this post. For that one I used the method where you iron the squares onto interfacing in the orientation they will be when finished, then fold right sides together and stitch. I really liked that approach and will use it again. It is also one that would be good to use with lighter weight fabrics.

In preparation for the retreat, we shopped this past weekend for some Halloween fabric at a different local fabric shop: Sewing Original Stitches, in Beaver County, PA. We found so many wonderful fabrics for our quilt retreat projects that we may have to go back and get some more.

To make things even MORE interesting, Friday’s session at the quilt retreat features a 70’s theme so in between my practice quilt blocks, I am making crocheted granny vests a la 1970 for us to wear with our bell bottom jeans. I think we may also need a couple of bandanas for headbands.

Life not only gets busy with boring things like work and paying bills, but our time on this planet flies by at a fast pace. To make the most of our journeys, it’s important to take time to do things that we enjoy, with people who are important to us – or even by ourselves so we can make NEW friends.

I’m so grateful that we have a generous supply of local fabric and yarn shops in this area, as well as opportunities to gather with like-minded fiber artists in goodwill and fun. I can think of no better way to enter into the Fall season than being immersed in fiber arts activities with fellow fiber artists, and surrounded by all the goodies that accompany these events!

Here’s to saying goodbye to Summer and kicking off the pumpkin spice season in style – with fabric and/or yarn !

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