Quilt Bliss and an EPP Finish

At the end of February, I went to Quilt Bliss! This was the second time I've been to this fabulous retreat at the Timber Moose Lodge in the Heber/Midway area.

 I didn't take as many pictures as last year, but I did take this one of the awesome view from the Crow's Nest...

And a couple pictures of the food to send my husband (who was at home eating corn dogs and Fruit Loops with the kids. Their menu plan, fyi.)

This is the Saltwater block I made in Camille Roskelley's class… I love the way the center came together. It looks so cool. 

 I won two FQ bundles of the DaySail line, plus they gave us each a charm pack from the same line! I haven't decided yet how to use it, but I'm sure it won't go to waste! 

 I loved this idea to have a couple of Polaroid cameras out for each of the ladies to take a photo of Quilt Bliss through their eyes. You can't see it from this view… but my photo was of the bookcase in the Crow's Nest. It's a cosy little room at the top of the lodge with a couple of small leather couches and a bookcase, with panoramic views of the area. It represented the warmth I feel at Quilt Bliss.

I took several classes there, including the Saltwater class I mentioned above. I also took a class on Big Stitch quilting (I don't have anything to show from that class yet) and an English Paper Piecing (EPP) class. The EPP class project was a Mug Rug, which I finished at home:

I put it on my kids' red table for good photo contrast. ;)

I used a FQ from the FQ exchange at QB as the backing. I loved the quick straight-line quilting, but the binding on a project this small is kind of tough. I sewed a little hoop on for hanging, because I'm not about to spill hot chocolate on this Mug Rug. FYI, this is Finish #12 since my daughter left on her mission in August.

I hung it on the door to my sewing room, because… why not?

The EPP class and the finish of the Mug Rug inspired me to get out this WIP that I've had for several years and start working on it again. I have just a few more to finish before I have enough for a throw size quilt for our guest room.

I've also been working on this large quilt for someone special:

I took this picture a few days ago… I actually have the whole left column sewn together, as well as the top
three rows in the right section.

And I helped my daughter finish up this quilt she is making for her new daughter (who is expected to join the family in June):

She took the Beginning Quilting class at AQ and made all the blocks, sewed them together, and put on the first border. I put on the second border for her and pieced the back so we could get it to the quilter when we said we would.

I could not believe what happened when I was trimming the batting and backing in preparation to get it to the quilter. Ugh...

I had trimmed the other sides no problem… then all of the sudden I realized that I had trimmed this side RIGHT AT THE EDGE OF THE TOP.

I was sick! I texted my quilter in a panic, and she was so sweet and reassuring. She said she would whip stitch it together to get it on her frames and it should be okay. Holy cow! I couldn't believe I did that. I know what went wrong, though…

1) My mind was on other things.

2) I always do this part of a quilt on the floor. Then when I get it back from the quilter, I trim the sides on the ping-pong table. This time, I used the ping-pong table for trimming the back/batting, but my mind must have thought "Ping-pong table = trim to the edge."

In any case, it just goes to show I can't get too comfortable with the quilting process. I'm just so grateful my quilter is so willing to work with me and this epic mistake. Waaaaahhhhh...