Quilt Retreat Accomplishments

Creative Passions Retreat Center in Chesaning, Michigan offers crafters solace from the everyday and adequate space to work on their craft. They cater to crop and quilt retreaters. I traveled to Chesaning for a solo retreat in early December, but spent the days with a group of four quilters from Toledo, Ohio. Another group of crop crafters, that’s craft speak for scrapbookers, worked in an adjoining room and I quickly made friendships with many of them, especially since four were from my hometown.

My mission for this retreat was to finish two baby quilts, including preparing their backing. I am pleased to say I not only met this goal, but also added borders to another WIP I worked on at last year’s retreat.

Wall display above my pressing station at Creative Passions Retreat Center.

I prepared my Dresden Plate baby quilt blocks in advance and began sewing them to the background squares with a blanket stitch. I stitched all the blocks together, then set to work stitching the blocks into rows. Then, I stitched the blocks into two, 9X9 block quilt tops. Since I finished making one of these quilts recently, the process moved along quickly.

I finished the earlier baby quilt and sent it off to the long-armer the previous week-end. My quilter left a message the quilt was finished while on the retreat. I was determined to finish these two additional baby quilts and was able to finish them by the second day.

Dresden Zoo number 1 with green centers.

Dresden Zoo quilt number 2 with yellow centers.

As you can see, I used all my scraps to piece borders. I also used the remaining fat quarters, and the remaining background, border, and backing fabrics from the first quilt to design and stitch two backings for these baby quilts.

Backing for quilt number 2 with the yellow centers.

Backing for quilt number 1 with green centers.

Between making the quilt tops and quilt backs, I added borders to another quilt top I started piecing at a Creative Passions retreat last December. I’ll save the story behind this quilt for another time.

My long-armer was able to quilt the additional two baby quilts before Christmas. I am currently adding binding to all three baby quilts. I am also cutting up the trimmed scraps into Scraptherapy size pieces to use in a future project.

The best part of this year’s retreat was meeting a group of crafting ladies from my local community. I am excited to join them next December for their group’s annual retreat. Quilters, scrapbookers, and other crafters are so welcoming and encouraging.

Enjoy!