Quilt Retreat and Weather

The first quilt retreat of the year was this past Thursday - Sunday. I had doctor appointments scheduled on Thursday and Friday so I didn't get to spend the entire time at retreat, but I was still productive. I made, start to finish, a Mondo Bag. One of the ladies had made one for herself and one for her sister this fall and the both have just raved about how great the bag is. One of the other ladies made four at the October retreat for her daughters and DILs. She made another at this retreat for herself. A third quilter made herself a bag at this retreat also. So I had to make on for myself. I got the gridded fusible interfacing at my favorite quilt shop. I ordered the fusible batting on-line. You don't have to use the fusible. It's purpose is just to hold the lining and batting together. Here is a tutorial, although I found I didn't need it. The pattern directions were easy to follow. The bag can be made with 4 inch squares or 2 1/2 inch squares. I was gifted a lovely jellyroll that I used. I had 5 strips left over.

It holds a lot! I haven't unpacked it from retreat yet.

I finished my block for the quilt exchange at the retreat. I THOUGHT I took a picture of my block, but can't find it on my phone. This is a picture of the other blocks completed so far. Pretty color palette. She calls it her Neapolitan quilt, after the ice cream.

I also worked on this Charming Beauty kit.

Husband ordered it a few years ago. He loves roses.

I had all the pieces cut before retreat and got it pieced as far as the triangle border. The very center of the medallion, the green and most of the pink in the medallion are hand appliqued so that took a fair amount of time. I do enjoy handwork, though.

The last two borders will be this lovely stripe and the pink butterfly print. 

We do not have school today because of the weather so maybe I can get those borders sewn on.

Speaking of the weather, it has not been great here the last few days. We got snow Friday and Saturday, making the trip home both nights rather stressful. I drove about 30 miles an hour both nights. The major roads weren't too bad, but I was the only one on the rural road to my house. No tracks to follow, blowing snow with ice underneath made the trip slow. And, I felt a little guilty messing up that pristine snow. It was so pretty. Yesterday was better, but we got snow during the night. Now it is blowing and snowing. The temperature is rising and freezing rain is predicted before the temperature plummets again. Icy roads and poor visibility caused the school closure. I am pretty sure we will be closed on some other days this week if we get the dangerous temperatures predicted. I don't mind staying home in this dangerous weather, but I do not look forward to making those days up in June.