Whew! I'm back!

Yes, I survived 5 days of quilting retreat with 24 of the most fabulous, funny and farcical women I know!  It was a ball, and I actually got some sewing done in between laughing, snacking, and chatting.  As usual, my photography-challenged self neglected to take many pictures but I'll share what I have.

At this retreat, I decided to simply work on making doll clothes for the country store the guild is having as part of the Quilt Tour on Nov 12.  I also knew I'd be assembling blocks made by my fellow retreaters to make up two Quilts of Valor to be presented on Veterans Day, Nov 11.  First I'll share what I have about this project.  I have no pictures of the quilts--they were passed on to the longarm quilter who generously offered to do them at a significantly reduced fee, thus freeing me up to make more items for the store.  The quilts are simple and scrappy red-white-blue blocks that will be quilted with variegated thread in an allover star design.  When I got home last night, I had to quickly prepare the backings (thank goodness, I'd purchased backing fabric over the summer!) and take them and my roll of batting to the longarmer.  I'm sure she'll have them ready in a few days.

It took me all day Saturday to put together those two quilt tops. But on Thursday and Friday, I'd already made these doll outfits:

2 pj bottoms made from flannel scraps

2 sets of flannel pajamas

And after I'd finished the QOV quilt tops, I managed to make two dresses:

One holiday dress

Back of holiday dress

The holiday dresses aren't finished since I didn't have the right color thread to stitch the hem and to sew on the velcro closures.  I also want to add a brass button of some sort to dress up the front of the dress.

The second holiday dress with lots of lace!

I worked on one other doll garment that took most of Friday-- a fleece parka.  I had some leftover fleece that I used to experiment with the pattern I'd gotten off the internet. I had to make quite a few adjustments and now I'm not sure it'll fit the doll, so I'll try it on one of the dolls today and see. But I learned how to make the parka  and am ready to try again. JoAnne's is having a big fleece sale right now so I stopped off and picked up some to make into jackets for the dolls. I also have a pattern for a doll coat and I found some fleece that looks like white fur, so guess what I'm going to be playing with!  My friend mentioned that her granddaughter wants some new clothes for her doll, especially a white fur coat.  I think she's going to get her wish!

Before I left for retreat, I'd made a couple batches of soap and cut them into bars.  They should be well cured by now and ready for packaging.

This is "Pomander" glycerin soap--orange and clove scent with bits of cinnamon stick mixed in 

Coconut and olive oil soap

I made this soap in a crock pot in a couple of hours and have used the scraps in the shower--it has virtually no fragrance, but it lathers up beautifully and is very moisturizing.  I used a muffin tin for the mold.  I'll probably bundle two smaller bars together and keep the really wonky ones for myself!

So, I guess I have a full day ahead of me with these projects.  Fortunately, my husband did all the housecleaning--and laundry!--while I was gone so that's not on my mind.  I do have to make a grocery run before I can get going on taking care of these tasks and moving on to new ones.  Busy day again--and I love it!