Zigzag Crabs & Madrona Road go on vacation

Last month I went on a quilting retreat at Purity Springs in NH, USA.  I think it is about time I blog about it, because I worked on a couple of very exciting {to me, anyway} WIPs that I want to share with you.

First up, Madrona Road became a completed quilt top while on retreat - Whoo Hoo!



I sewed squares into four patches, then joined them together.  I kept the four patches random so they would disappear into the overall quilt top. 

Madrona Road is some of my favorite fabric, so I wanted to keep the piecing simple to show it off.  To add a little interest, I sewed triangles in the corners of some squares, and placed them randomly throughout the top.  They are not as noticeable as I expected them to be, and to be honest I haven't decided if I like the more subtle effect or not.



At the retreat, a clothesline is hung in one of the hallways so people can display quilt tops as they are completed.  I love taking breaks from sewing to go see what other people have finished.  The black and white quilt at the end of this row was sewn by one of my Aunts, I probably should have gotten a better picture of it.

At the end of this hallway there is a table that is kept stocked with coffee and tea, and trays of pastries and fruit are often brought down between meals.  They keep everyone ridiculously well fed :)

Through the doorway that you can see in the picture above is one of the rooms for people to sew in.  A quilt shop is set up in there also, and fortunately they had one of the larger scale Madrona Road prints so I grabbed some to use for backing.

My Mom, Aunts, and I set up in another room at the opposite end of this hallway.



I worked on my zigzag crabs, too!  This is a WIP that I started last year at the same retreat, and I didn't touch it at all until this year's retreat.  I misplaced the notebook that had all the plans worked out in it and I didn't want to spend the time trying to figure it all out again.  Then, just before this year's retreat I found it again {while looking for something else, of course}



Many people recognized this top from last year, so I got a lot of teasing about it.  I've been told that I have to bring it back next year completed :)



The fabrics are entirely Going Coastal, some of my all time favorite fabric.  As I'm writing this post, I find it amusing that both quilts I worked on are made completely from a single collection of fabric.  It definitely simplifies the fabric selection process, and lately I am all about simplicity when it comes to sewing.

I need to add a bit more to the bottom of this quilt, but it is looking like the top may be wider than it is long.  I'm not very happy about that, but the dimensions may change a bit as the rows are sewn together.  In these photos, the rows are pieced diagonally, but the rows have not been joined together.  When they are, the quilt will shrink up some width-wise.

It rained for most of the retreat, so I didn't take any pictures outdoors, but you can check out this post & this post about last year's retreat if you would like to see some, as well as more pictures of my zigzag crabs.