January Retreat at the Essenhaus

I pieced several small quilts while at the new to me retreat which was held at the Essenhaus Inn in Middlebury, Indiana. This motel is very nice, the sewing space was spacious and the complimentary breakfast was delicious!

The first blocks I pieced were the corner and inset triangles for the Garden Party quilt. Those are done and sometime I'll start sewing all the blocks together. I don't have a picture of the blocks I sewed, you'll see them in the quilt.

It was time to sew a 3 yard quilt. I didn't want to buy a book, I'm not going to make that many 3 yard quilts and I'm tired of buying books that don't get used. I googled free 3 yard quilts and several patterns pulled up, I decided on the Awareness pattern designed by Donna Robertson.

This quilt sewed together very fast since I had cut all the pieces at home. This little quilt measures 46" by 52". 

I had bought these fabrics in a kit that was intended for a 3 yard quilt. I hadn't looked closely at the fine print on the label of the package before, it said the yardage was 3 & a quarter yards each. I could have added another row and used more of the fabrics! 

Several years ago I purchased this cute butterfly fabric on the spur of the moment at Calico Point. For a background fabric, I used a gray pinstripe fabric.

I designed my own pattern and came up with a little quilt that I call Butterfly Beauty, she will also be a compassion quilt.

The mottled looking blue fabric on the left corner is actually a lovely purple fabric from the stash. I didn't have a large enough piece of the butterfly fabric to use. This little quilt finishes at 44" by 52" and will be quilted and donated in the spring.

I had prepped blocks to possibly piece two Wiggly Whimsy crib quilts. I started the first one but I didn't think the squares blended well. So I stuck those pieces back into it's bag then pulled the second one and made a good start. It's pieced and hanging in the to be quilted closet, I forgot to take a picture! Here is a link to a crib quilt I pieced several years ago. It's a free pattern somewhere on the Moda Bake Shop site but I can't find it now.

The last project was to strip piece for a teal patchwork quilt.

I sewed strips together but wasn't able to subcut them. That I did at home. I pieced the subcuts into 8" finished blocks. This flimsy now measures 55" by 71".

A backing has been pieced and the binding is also sewn. This will probably be the first quilt to be machine quilted in the spring quilting binge. 

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Wednesday Wait Loss, Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down, Free Motion Mavericks, TGIFF!, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts