Monday May 15th was Day One of the 5 day long Scrap Happy Quilt Retreat I had at my house with two quilting friends (D and K) that I mentioned in the posts ScrapHappy May: Scrap Happy Retreat! and What’s on the Design Wall: Scrappy Log Cabin.
Mike the Miniature Schnauzer had to go to pick up quilting friends from the airport as he does better when he goes to pick up visitors from “Human Storage”, see blog post “Human Storage” and Airport Lore, instead of them just suddenly arriving to the house through the garage while he has been home alone!
Mike sitting between the house guests (for the next 5 days) on the way back from the airport.
We decided not to try out the scrap piecing using adding tape that I discussed in the post ScrapHappy May: Scrap Happy Retreat! and just focusing on making scrappy improvisational log cabin blocks (“log jamming”) like the the 35 blocks I recently completed as the “class sample”:
After John and I provided our guest with a tasty late lunch (fried chicken strips, orzo pasta salad, and chocolate chip cookies), the retreat started out with the three of us pouring through my scrap collection and scraps that D and K brought with them to map out colorways/themes for our improvisational log cabin blocks.
I did a demo of how to piece the log jam blocks, well at least how I like to do it as there are several different methods and strategies. Then everyone got to work:
At one point John came by the studio to visit and to bring us our late afternoon cocktails (lemon drops) as our reward for all that hard work selecting scraps and beginning to work on our blocks!
Only one cocktail per person so we did not end up sewing our fingers into the blocks or something disastrous like that!
After everyone made a couple of sample blocks with the fabric scrap groupings we selected, we decided we wanted to set the blocks in a solid color fabric. I pulled out my collection of Peppered Cottons, and we tested out blocks on the different color options (photo below is D’s blocks).
(I used to sell Peppered Cottons in my Etsy shop so I still have a bit of yardage left over.)
That was the end of the first day in the studio.
We did end Day 1 of the Scrap Happy Quilt Retreat with homemade popcorn and movie night in the basement where we have the largest TV in the house.
tierneycreates 
Your retreat sounds like so much fun! Can’t wait to read more.
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Thanks so much Monique!
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Logjams and Lemon Drops! 🍋 Oh My!!
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It will happen for you in August before you know it 🙂
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Isn’t it nice to have friends that share your passion for quilting? That’s one of the things that keeps me engaged when I am gaming. There are so many people that love it too. It looks like your retreat was a success!
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It is! So wonderful hanging out with other crafters!
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I bet. Comradery is always a great thing when you have something in common with other folks and share the same interests.
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Oh yes I so enjoy hanging out with other crafters especially when they are good friends too! 🙂
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What fun!
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It was, thanks!
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Sounds like a delightful day!
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It was, thanks!
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Hmmm… cocktails and scraps. Sounds like a perfect combination. I must remember that next time I’m sewing with friends!
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It is a great combination, thanks for stopping by and feel free to steal that idea, ha! 😉
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What a wonderful start to your retreat. Love the projects.
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Thanks so much we had a lot of fun! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
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Oh what fun!
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It was, thanks for stopping by 🙂
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Looks like a fun day. And I have some peppered cottons “saved” too! Mine are saved with a note to press them on wool rather than cotton setting–I no longer recall why!
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I wonder why to press them on wool setting. I am curious as I’ve been doing a lot of ironing of Peppered Cottons as I work on framing my blocks (in the next post) and I’ve been using the Cotton setting. It was fun and thanks for stopping by 🙂
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You are definitely the hostess with the mostest! What a fun retreat for your friends and you guys 🙂
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Aww – thanks so much I appreciate that 🙂
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