What a Week!

I worked furiously the week before last on my Twistie quilt hoping to get the top finished by this past Monday and show it off in all the Linky Parties. Then reality set in ... I could make myself crazy (are you perhaps thinking crazier?) or I could just relax and finish it up all in good time. Which is exactly what I did. You see, I had to get ready for a Tuesday through Friday retreat!

For my I Like Thurs #81 post, I'll start with I like quilt retreats. I only see the majority of this group twice a year. Most of them come down from the Springfield IL area. I live about two hours south of them. One of the ladies went all through school with one of my guild friends and that is how I squeezed my way into this group! Ha! They are amazing quilters too and some of them brought in friends from elsewhere -- one from Chicago and another from Indiana! I really enjoy this group and am already looking forward to our next meeting in February 2023.

While there I worked on my snowman embroidery blocks. These were free blocks from Melisa @ Pinker n Punker Quilting & Stitching. I've shared the link with you. Please let her know if you are using her designs. They were so FUN! Anyway, it was time to finish up . this project... and I will get there with a little more stitching time!

From this ....

To this so far!

I also made a baby quilt top. I think I'll save it for a donation after I get it quilted, of course. The pattern is a freebie from Fat Quarter Shop called Jolly Bar Meringue Quilt. I won the Jolly Bar off of A Quilting Life blog a very long time ago. I'd never heard of a Jolly Bar, have you? It is basically a double-charm pack. Forty pieces of 5" x 10" fabric from one fabric line. The one I won was from the Creekside fabric line by Shari & Chelsi. The background fabric is the gray paisley that I'm using in Twistie. I did have to buy a Creative Grids 9-1/2" Perfect Rectangle Ruler. Didn't this turn out pretty!!??!! I got the whole idea from Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts blog post dated December 2018. You can definitely tell I've been percolating this idea for quite some time. Ha!

Want to see what some of the others worked on at retreat? Like a mini quilt show? I like it when I can see other people's quilts and will assume you do too. Always inspirational!

On the book front: I finished "Hello, Summer" by Mary Kay Andrews. It was definitely a fun read and I really needed it after reading the mind-bending "Shatter" by Michael Rebotham which I also could not put down. Up next is "The Night Tiger" by Yangsze Choo. I thought I'd try another "different for me" book. So far, so good! You can read what it's about here on Goodreads.

I think that's all the time I'll take up for today. Have a great weekend!