QUILT RETREAT! FEBRUARY 19 - 23, 2025

 

FEBRUARY 2025 QUILT RETREAT

3 or 4 nights!! Your Choice

Gravatt Conference Center, Aiken, S. C. 

Wednesday, February 19 – Sunday, February 23, 2025

This retreat is open to ALL QUILTERS!!

We will have a mystery quilt available for all that want to participate.

 This is a UFO event. You work on your own projects and just have a relaxing good time. Quilters of all levels from beginner to professional.
All meals are provided by the fantastic Gravatt kitchen!  No dishes to wash!!! 
Walking paths all over the camp so that you can get your daily exercise. Walk by the lake and just lose yourself in your surroundings.
Nothing is structured except meal times.
Your fee includes
Neat and clean lodging in either Cole Lodge or Our quaint cottages.
The rooms in Cole Lodge sleep 2 and have their own bathrooms.
The cottage rooms have adjoining rooms, each sleeping 2, with a shared bathroom.
Meals begin with dinner the day of your arrival and end with lunch/brunch the day of your departure.

A 6-foot table all to yourself as your work area
Raised ironing and cutting surfaces furnished by One Loose Thread
Snack Area

Massage available

Lots of Laughter
Of course, a few surprises will be thrown into the mix. 
Any Questions should be directed to:

One Loose Thread Quilting

https://oneloosethread.blogspot.com/

oneloosethreadsc@gmail.com

Questions? Call 803-776-5801---the Studio

Quilt Retreat Day 4

 This was our last full day of retreat and we really made the most of it.

Breakfast was: eggs, bacon, REAL oatmeal, fruit, yogurt, avocado toast points, and juice.

Brandi was here for massage today for those that wanted it. Her schedule was packed from 9:00 until 5:30. She has been doing massage for One Loose Thread for over 10 years. Don't think we could get through retreat without her.

Lots of sewing was done today. Several 'Frayed Knots' have actually completed everything they brought to work on and are now just hanging around and talking.

The last night of retreat we always have a very special dinner provided by the Gravatt kitchen staff. Tonight was Short Ribs, creamed potatoes, asparagus, tossed salad, and for dessert Churros Cheese Cake. I don't know which part was my favorite. 😋

Tomorrow we will all pack up and head for home. First is Brunch, which is always outstanding. The imaginary banner will be signed and packed away. My truck will be loaded with all of the retreat equipment and all of my sewing stuff and we will, again, say good-bye to our friends and Gravatt Camp and Conference Center UNTIL February of 2025. When once again, we will gather for Fun, Fellowship, Fabric, Food, and Frolic!!

For tonight, we make the most of our left over time together.

Joyce One Loose Thread

REGISTRATION IS OPEN FOR FEBRUARY 2025 RETREAT WITH ONE LOOSE THREAD

 REGISTRATION INFORMATION: CLICK THE LINK AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE THAT SAYS RETREAT REGISTRATION

                     FEBRUARY 2025 QUILT RETREAT

3 or 4 nights!! Your Choice

Gravatt Conference Center, Aiken, S. C. 

Wednesday, February 19 – Sunday, February 23, 2025

YES, THERE WILL BE A MYSTERY!!!

Everyone gets the clues whether they sew along or not.

This retreat is open to ALL QUILTERS!!

 This is a UFO event. You work on your own projects and just have a relaxing good time. Quilters of all levels from beginner to professional.
All meals are provided by the fantastic Gravatt kitchen!  No dishes to wash!!! 
Walking paths all over the camp so that you can get your daily exercise. Walk by the lake and just lose yourself in your surroundings.
Nothing is structured except meal times.
Your fee includes
Neat and clean lodging in either Cole Lodge or Our quaint cottages.
The rooms in Cole Lodge sleep 2 and have their own bathrooms.
The cottage rooms have adjoining rooms, each sleeping 2, with a shared bathroom.
Meals begin with dinner the day of your arrival and end with lunch/brunch the day of your departure.

A 6-foot table all to yourself as your work area
Raised ironing and cutting surfaces furnished by One Loose Thread
Snack Area

Massage available

Lots of Laughter
Of course, a few surprises will be thrown into the mix. 
Any Questions should be directed to:

One Loose Thread Quilting

https://oneloosethread.blogspot.com/

oneloosethreadsc@gmail.com

Questions? Call 803-776-5801---the Studio

Quilt Retreat- Day 3

 This day dawned bright and with the promise of more rain this afternoon. Sounds like a great reason to settle in and stitch all day with a chance of a nap. 

Breakfast was delicious! Eggs, Bacon, pan fried potatoes, REAL oatmeal, sliced avocado, and a coffee cake, with juice and coffee.

I'm working on 'Ring Cycle'/ 'Jacks Chain' for today. I started this quilt in a class with Cindy Page at Myrtle Beach Quilt Party in 2022. I have taken a class on this quilt TWICE, so it's time to really concentrate on getting this top together. I only have 7 rings pieced, so I have a long, long way to go. With the exception of making a ton of 9 patch blocks, everything has set in seams. I should get really good at that technique by the end of this quilt. 

As I sit in this room stitching, I am surrounded by seasoned quilters. I don't have any beginners in this group this trip. However, I am constantly amazed at the sharing aspect of my retreats. They share ideas, techniques, fabric suggestions and totally constructive criticism with each other. They are all in 'teacher' mode, even though most have never taught a class. There are no 'newbies' with me this trip, so there is  more  teasing/harassment going on between a few of us. We try to keep that to a minimum when there are new 'Frayed Knots' in the group until they get to know everyone and realize that it's all in fun and not malicious.

Lunch today was Ruben Sandwiches, potato salad, sweet potato fries, Chips and red velvet cookies for dessert. 

Now back to sewing!!!

I did spend my afternoon working on some side rings. Once I finished all of them for the left side of the quilt I had to stop and do more cutting and marking of the background fabric. That's what I'll do all evening too. 

The rain has really arrived!! but now we are off for supper.

On the menu tonight was chicken pot pie with puff pastry, a beautiful salad and Mango sorbet for dessert. FABULOUS!!

Now we are back in the Ireland Room with the music on and the machines humming for the evening. Looks like the rain will hang around for a while. 

I have decided to just cut and mark for the rest of the evening. Then I'll take down my machine and my sew-ezy table and work only on my project with English Paper Piecing (Tumbling Cosmos) tomorrow.

That's it for tonight from Retreat with One Loose Thread. Tomorrow will be our last full day of sewing and I'm sure that we will make the most of it. 

Joyce--One Loose Thread

Quilt Retreat Day 2

It has been a fun filled day here at the One Loose Thread November retreat. We are all sewing in the Ireland Room of Cole Lodge. There has been lots of laughter. Many, many topics have been discussed and none having to do with politics. 

It was Taco Tuesday for lunch. (I ate too much) Dinner tonight was roast beef with gravy, potato wedges, fresh corn on the cob, tossed salad, and dessert. I did much better with portion control. 😉 

Show and tell was wonderful. All of the quilts can be viewed on the One Loose Thread Group facebook page. Stories were told and quilts were shown. That is always a highlight of retreat.

We did have rain today that was a surprise to all of us, but, we just kept sewing. 

That's it for tonight. 

Joyce--- One Loose Thread

Quilt Retreat with One Loose Thread

 It's November 4, 2024 and I am currently hosting a retreat at Gravatt Camp and Conference Center outside of Aiken, S. C. Yes, we are in the woods. The weather is beautiful!! We can actually wear shorts and be comfortable. The trees still have a little of the yellows and oranges of fall. 

Dinner tonight was wonderful. Chicken Parm, spinach ravioli, marinara sauce, broccolini, artisan bread and tossed salad with pumpkin pie for dessert. It was enjoyed by all. Top it off with not having to cook or wash dishes for the win!

I have a small group this trip since this is a 'during the week' retreat. Monday to Friday isn't so great for those that are still working outside of the home. That said, we are all sewing in the Ireland Room of Cole Lodge. Gravatt has been doing some renovations to this room with new flooring and paint. It's not done yet but they have some other things they will be doing in this room that I am excited about. 

I'm going to add pictures of the sewing space we all have. Everyone has a full 6 foot table to themselves. Many of us have Sew-Ezy tables for our machines and and extra ironing surface. I have furnished 2 large ironing tables with nice 'hot' irons along with 2, 6 foot cutting stations for everyone to use. Also in the room is an 8 foot table for sharable snacks and 2, 6 foot tables side by side for measuring/pinning borders or just for laying out blocks. 

It's a great set up for us and everyone is just working away. 

I do love being here at Gravatt and away from the world for 5 days. We have great internet connections and good cell service if we want to contact 'the outside world'. 

I did get the border on my Esher Christmas this morning. I have spent the rest of the day just stitching away on a 2015 project of 'Wild and Goosey' blocks. Tomorrow my project will be to work on an 2019 Bonnie Hunter mystery, Frolic'.

Well, let's see if I can get these photos to load.

That's it for tonight. Hope to have more for you tomorrow when we start 'Show and Tell'. 

Joyce-One Loose Thread

Queen of Diamonds and Penelope Statler

 Well, today is Saturday, September 7, 2024. This project came into the studio April 8, 2024. This was loaded on August 18, 2024. I did have rotator cuff surgery between these times and could not touch my machine. Today is delivery day for this beautiful girl!!!

This quilt is hand pieced using the English Paper Piecing method of construction for the center diamonds. The client applied the small diamond borders and the sashings and larger border by machine. The quilt was designed by Pink Door Fabrics in conjunction with Tula Pink and Free Spirit Fabrics. They did a fabulous job with this Block of the Month series. I can say that because I have also stitched the diamonds for this quilt, just haven't gotten it together yet. 

The digital quilting designs are from 'A Bit of Orange'. The designs on that site seem to primarily be for embroidery machines so they are entirely in 'node' form for my Creative Studio software from Gammill. I had been told that I would have significant problems with placement and adjustment of the designs in Creative Studio. I want EVERYONE to know that was not the case. CS handled these designs like the fabulous software that it was designed to be. The only problems that I had were user error.

 For instance, I really had not noticed how the sashing had to go in a certain direction to form a new design around the corner stones. So, needed to rework a couple of those at the beginning. I had to rework more of them when I didn't pay attention to my top tension and had to take out 2 rows of sashing. (Watched 'Yellowstone' to make that an easier process) There again, user error, not a software problem. I keep talking about my software because someone had told me it was antiquated........... I find it absolutely amazing!!!! Very easy to use and super educational in that I learn more and more every time I do use it. I do love my Statler and Creative Studio.

I am so please at how this project turned out. Thankfully, my client has been very patient with me getting this to the end. 

We double batted this piece. There is Quilters Dream Cotton Select on the bottom and Quilters Dream Wool on the top. This gives excellent definition to the quilting along with the stability to hang the quilt for show. 

The back of the quilt is just as pretty as the front. I was very pleased that my Gammill allowed me to use a cream thread in the bobbin all the way through, even though I used a gray/silver thread on the top in all of the black areas. Yes, it took some 'tweaking' but it was manageable.

I am very happy that this quilt was entrusted to me for this type of quilting. Many of you have commissioned me for heirloom quilting of your beautiful quilt tops and I really appreciate your trust. I say trust because, you hand them to me and tell me to do what I think is best for the piece. That says alot about the faith you have in me as a quilter. Not only that, but you understand my process and that is is not fast. Thank you.

So, with all of this said I present to you 'Queen of Diamonds':

I am so sorry that I cannot show you a full on picture of this beautiful quilt, but, it is raining outside so I can't hang it anywhere to get one. Maybe my client will send me one from a 'show'. 

Have a great day!!! Remember to register for the November quilt retreat with One Loose Thread.