Prepping Handwork

 In a few days I will be teaching a two-day class with the Needle Chasers of Iuka, Mississippi, at their annual retreat. These are a great group of women and  I look forward to being with them again, for at least the third time. We will be working on Western Sun. Here is my "wild" version:

Wild Western Sun

And the more traditional fabric selection:

I still have a lot to do to get their substantial kits ready. But what I did first was prep some handwork for me to have for the evenings. This is an important quilt for me and it is taking some time. The circles will be prepped with Karen K Buckley Perfect Circle templates, then machine appliqued in place. I did try Sarah Fielke's aluminum foil technique for circles--I believe I will be faster with Perfect Circles.

First, I marked the circles on the background with a chalk pencil. Then I traced either the cutting line or the finished size line, depending on the size of the circles onto a variety of fabrics. I will decide which fabrics I want for each background and prepare them:

If time permits, I will do some simple embroidery stitches, as I did here on the first section of this "block" I made: 

There are lots of 1/4" bias stems already made--they are machine appliqued first to the background, then the circles will be machine appliqued. I used light green thread, except for the darkest stems. Blanket stitch, #1329 on my Bernina, W 1.0 L 3.0.  Here are two backgrounds ready to get circles: 

I am really tempted to use a decorative thread and some of the many decorative stitches I have on my Bernina 765 SE machine for appliqueing the circles. These great machines come with so many stitches and I only use 2-3. Machine stitching would be so much faster than hand embroidery.

The other project I had to get done was my top for "Aether", which I have named "Sunrise, Sunset". This will be a class offered locally February 4 and 25, 2023, at Southern Charm Quilting. The pattern is by Patty Murphy and is available at the store. I have some good ideas for quilting designs but that will have to wait until later this year:

LOCALS: There is a last minute OPENING for my 4th Joyful Journey Retreat at Red Rooster Retreat Center in Crane Hill, AL. It is March 1-5, 2023. We have a wonderful time and have become a close group. If you are interested, please contact me right away so I can send you all the particulars.

Here are photos from prior years to tempt you. Spend 5 days sewing, laughing, eating, loving time for yourself. Spend NO time cooking, cleaning, or working for someone else. It's all about YOU:

I have written about these events here:

First Retreat 2020

Second Retreat 2021

Third Retreat 2022

Let's quilt.

Barbara