Lots of prep has been going on here.  Saturday I leave for the mountains for the Fall Quilt & Sew-In! Even though I’ve been doing retreats for thirteen years, I still get a little antsy and anxious a few days before it begins.

Blocks have been prepped for the charity quilts from the bin of precut scraps above. There are a couple of layout possibilities for one:

And here is the layout for another quilt:

A bucket of blocks with instructions are available for anyone who chooses to complete one or more blocks. They then put their name in for a drawing and on Show & Tell night names are drawn for prizes. I and another quilter put the blocks together for a quilt –  it certainly helps to get more Hospice quilts completed!

My projects – I always bring more than I could possibly complete. When you are the facilitator, time sewing is reduced. I love it though, and wouldn’t have it any other way! First and foremost, I plan to work on my Tula strips.  I already have several blocks complete and all is very organized (completed block above).

A nine patch I worked on at a recent sew-in is also in the queue.  The plan is to do a disappearing nine patch, but I just haven’t decided which pattern I will be using.

For when I don’t want to actually sew, there is this bin of half-square triangles that need to be trimmed to size.  There’s a bunch, so trimming a little at a time will make the task less daunting.

And finally, a bin of 3 1/2″ squares for a leader-ender.  I recently spent two (exhausting) days sorting my batiks by color.  There is now a bin full of scraps, and six bins of larger pieces.  The batik squares will be paired with black and white squares.  I think this will be quite stunning. I love to have a leader-ender project going – makes me feel so productive!

A fun and productive week is ahead! I can’t wait to share all that is Quilt & Sew-In!