Trip for "2" to Boston (the Scenic Route)...

I'm back from a lovely week of quilting in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  Eight of us from our quilt bee were able to make it for our fall retreat and as usual there was a lot of laughter, too much food and, in my case, not enough sewing!  The weather even warmed up enough to make walking on the beach quite pleasant.

The Atlantic Ocean from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

I had a hard time trying to figure out what to bring to this retreat.  Most of what I'm doing right now is machine quilting and that doesn't travel well.  I packed up several new projects, but at the last minute I remembered an old UFO and threw that in my bag as well.

Although I managed to get one quilt cut out and make a few blocks on another, the only real progress I made was on this UFO.  Looking back, the last time I worked on it was in March of 2010!  The name of the quilt is "Trip for '2' to Boston" by Prairie Pieces.  It's an interesting pattern because you make it with a friend.  The packet contains 2 copies of the pattern - one for each of you.  You pick 15 fabrics in 2 color families gradating from light to dark.  Working together, you sew (and unsew) strip sets.  I had all my strip sets going to retreat and managed to put the center of the quilt together.

My next step was to cut off the tips of all the triangles along the outside giving me straight edges to add my borders; however, this leaves you with all bias edges so I waited until I got home to do this step.

Even though it was years ago, I can still remember how much work it was for Jan and I to pick out the 15 fabrics that make up the center of this quilt.  But now that it's put together, it was so worth it.  I love this quilt and wish I hadn't waited so long to finish it,

I have a pretty good idea how I want to quilt it and would like to jump right on it, but I have several other quilts I need to finish first.  I really hope this one doesn't sit around for another year waiting it's turn, but I'm not the fastest machine quilter so we'll see.  By the way, my quilt is 67" x 72", but the pattern includes directions from Lap size through Queen.

I've been extremely remiss in posting pictures of my furry babies lately so here's a snapshot of David.  You can tell he wasn't being very cooperative though.  He really wanted me to stop what I was doing and pet him.

Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 

Philippians 4:6 (NLT)