More from Sew Me St. Louis

Sew Me St. Louis (STLMQG's retreat) was so much fun! Since I've been home I've been able to unpack and regroup, sort out my fabric haul, and take stock of where I'm at with my projects.

Swap fabrics:
We had a secret brown bag swap. Each participant brought a coordinating half yard, fat quarter, and fat eighth in a generic, anonymous brown paper bag. Bring a swap bag, take a swap bag, participation was optional. I participated but didn't think to take photos of the fabrics I gave. My friends got a kick out of my very enthusiastic reaction when I peeked into the bag I received. Oh, yeah, these are so me. Thanks again, Kristy! I don't know who got the bag I gave, but I hope she likes it.

The highlight was the scrap scramble. We all brought baggies of usable scraps, dumped them in a pile, and dove in to take what we wanted.

From the pile I took the magenta print in the photo below and the strips and scraps on the right. The green FQs here were from our prez Kristy who was destashing and brought unwanted fabrics to share.

Also from the scrap scramble, I scored this batik. Yes, really! Someone didn't want it and brought it to give away. No one else wanted it either - STLMQG quilters aren't into batiks - but I love it. There's 4-1/2 yards here. Pale batiks are hard to find and there's enough here for background for a whole quilt top, or I could use it for backing for a batik flimsy in my to-be-quilted pile.

I was able to get all the projects that I brought with me accomplished. Whoo-hoo!

First, this QOV flimsy. All the 6" blocks were already made; I just had to lay them out and assemble the top. The hallway floor worked great for laying out. This top is shown sideways on my design wall for the photo. It's actually 60 x 84". Super easy and a great scrap buster. I'll post a quick tutorial soon.

I also got the sashing strips made for my Solstice Challenge blocks, and joined the blocks into rows. Still need to make the cornerstones before I can join the rows together, but this is good progress.

I also got a bunch of HSTs sewn. They're just HSTs so they're pretty boring at this stage. I ran out of lights to combine with the darks that are already cut, so I'll have to cut more. Then I'll figure out a layout for them all later. It'll be a donation project and all the fabrics came from stash.

All in all, it was a fun and productive weekend!


Linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts and My Quilt Infatuation