Today the traditional guild that I belong to had an all day retreat.  The guild covered the rental of the facility.  The cost to each member to attend was a Toonie!  We had the use of the facility from 9:30  in the morning until 7:30 at night.  Each member brought their own lunch and something to share for the potluck at supper time.  The facility is well lit and we definitely had lots of room to spread out.

This was the view from my sewing machine.  Charlotte was thrilled to be at the retreat and happily hummed away without putting up any fuss as I worked on my projects. The light is one of two that were gifted to me at Christmas from my husband.

The light is called Jansjo and can be purchased from IKEA for just $12.99.  I would recommend you get one…or two.  I have one in black that travels with Charlotte, my Featherweight and I have a second one in white that lives at home with Heidi, my Bernina.  The LED light is bright enough to illuminate your work area and the bendable neck of the lamp is totally adjustable.  The lamp also comes in these cool colours!The day was very productive for me.  I was able to finish Clue Number Two in Gyleen Fitzgerald’s Bricks, Cobblestones, and Pebbles mystery that she has called, Odds, Ends and Leftovers.

I was also able to finish piecing the other 20 cobblestone blocks.  Gyleen suggested that although the extra 20 cobblestones were not required for this step, we should go ahead and piece them now.  Apparently Clue Number Four is a “bear” and we will be glad we listened to her and paced out the work as she suggested.  Gyleen suggested we use the EZ Angle ruler to cut the triangles.  I don’t have that ruler so I used one of my regular straight rulers.  I didn’t have any issues with my triangles fitting onto the sites of my piece.  I am ready for Clue Number Three which is supposed to be posted on Facebook on Monday.  Gyleen has said there will be a total of five clues.

I was also able to get three blocks put together for my Strips Stacks project.  Strip Stacks is a pattern from GE Designs.  I had started this project the prior Saturday at the Modern guild’s sew-in.  I got all of the cutting completed at that sew in but I didn’t really have much time left to sew anything together.  This quilt is made from a jelly roll of Batiks that I purchased from Desert Stitchin at the Tucson Quilt Show last year.
This quilt will have a definite Southwest feel with this colour palette.