Ready for Retreat

I've been working on planning and cutting for projects to take on retreat. The two new projects are not design wall ready yet - blocks or parts have to be assembled first. But I always take along an extra project in case I finish everything else and still have time. This project has been cut for a while with the layout partially planned in EQ8. It just needed the layout tweaked and finalized, so here it is. 

Do you recognize those colors? Scroll up to my blog header and check out the quilt with the white background, and the fat quarters. Those colored squares are left over from that quilt, which was made in 2012. 12 years is long enough for extra squares to sit in a drawer. With the recent donation to PCQ of several black and white prints, I was able to supplement my own B+W prints and find a use for the colored squares. 

It's hard to tell in this photo, but there are actually two turquoise shades. In the blog header they look different enough, but in this photo they look the same. So I swapped out the lighter one for a paler one for more differentiation. Now I still have a handful of leftover turquoise squares from 2012, back in the spare parts drawer. 

The rows and columns have been numbered and kitted up for retreat. I also packed a black-on-white print for the inner border and a white-on-black print for the outer border. We'll see if I actually get to this project on retreat, or if I'll bring it home untouched. This will be a throw size donation quilt when it's done, so there's no rush.

My other projects for retreat are kitted up and packed in project boxes, ready to leave bright and early Thursday morning. My friend Cherie is flying in from PA to go with us. Bonus - the retreat ranch where we go is at a higher elevation and about 20 degrees cooler there, so it will be nice to get out of the Phoenix heat for a few days. I'm so looking forward to this getaway!