PTA 2014 Retreat

This past week was our 6th annual Professional Textile Artist (PTA) Retreat. It was 3 days with lots of laughs, fun and some projects.  I had 2 projects to work on there. The first was a Trip Around the World project I did with Georgia. She has lots of wonderful ideas for organization.

This is the fabric I selected.

Here are swatches lined up in the order they will be used.

Layering the strips of fabric in order in a magazine was suggested by Georgia. It is a very convenient way to prevent myself from getting mixed up.

See how organized she is?

 Sometimes we eat healthy snacks as we work, like Gen.

 Sometimes we have extra large queen sized projects, like Mary.

Sometimes we bring 3 projects to work on which all use the same fabrics, like Judy.

 Some of us spend most of our time pressing blocks for other people, like Linda.

Some of us did a little knitting also.

But we like to work away all day.

 We like to show off our sparkly jean pockets.

 And we like to have fun and play games all evening, maybe with a little bubbly to sip on.

Some of us bring presents to share (Thanks Leigh Anne). 

I managed to get pictures on the last day of some of the projects we worked on.

 This is my Trip Around the World.

 This is Lynne's latest quilt that she finished at retreat.

This is a really fun "stack" project Leigh Anne made with her Charlie Harper fabric as a memento of her 2 month stay in the Asheville area.  Barbara worked on a similar project but I missed getting a picture.

 Gen almost finished this stunning red and white quilt top.

 Judy worked on 3 tops. This one is lovely and soft colored.

This is my second project, the same design as Gen.  I like to see how different they look with our different choices of fabric.

Handy Tools- Bloc Loc and Scissors

My friends have some tools I really like.

 Mary Kay makes a lot of half square triangles. She cuts the fabric pieces larger than necessary, requiring trimming after the pieces are sewn and pressed (I adopted this practice from her).  This is a good way to ensure precision of the completed squares.

 This is her handy travel box of items to trim.

This is a wonderful new tool she uses which makes trimming much easier. It is called a Bloc-Loc and quite ingenious as it has a groove on the underside to allow space for the seam allowance. This way there is no rocking of the template over the block while cutting. Naturally, I needed this great tool and found it while in Houston for Festival.

Georgia brought these scissors, sold by Karen Kay Buckley, to PTA last week. They are extra nice for handwork and trimming. They are very sharp and the handles have nice large, rubber-like grips.