I mentioned yesterday that I have just gotten home from my annual quilt retreat with Gwen Marston. It was great fun. I visited with friends I have gotten to know over the years. We caught up on families and sewed together.
This year's theme was solid colors. I packed all the solid color fabric I had including the fabrics I had recently ordered. I never know what I will work on while at retreat, so, I also try to take an open mind. I am always amazed at the variety and number of quilts Gwen makes to show each year. She is prolific! I usually try to do several small projects so that I can try working in different techiniques and fabrics. Sometimes it is challenging to work in limited fabrics. I know that if I will continue to work much with solids I will need to have lots of colors and lots of shades even colors that are almost the same to give the quilts more richness and depth. A lot of my fabrics are old and have a gray tone to them, not clear colors.
These pictures were taken yesterday when it was very cloudy and the colors don't look just right to me but here goes.
Day 1.
A baby quilt. I think I'll put another border around it to make it just a bit bigger.
Day 2
Stars in the sashing. 
Day 3.
I learned that I feel very comfortable working on patterns with a grid. I decided to challenge myself to do something without a block base.
I think the quilting will make a big difference in how this looks.
Day 4.
Kona Sample Quilt
Among the fabrics I packed was a stack of 118 five inch squares which was a sample pack of each of the Kona cotton solids I have had about eight years. Since I have the new color card I decided I could use these squares. I simply cut each square in half on the diagonal and flipped one stack of the triangles over. I then sewed two triangles together again. It was completely random. I had to stop myself from choosing which fabrics to put together. After the blocks were sewn and pressed I laid them out in rows in the order they were on the stack. Trying not to over-think things, I did not move them around. 
I like the way this one turned out.
I think it is interesting that often what I learn at a workshop or class is not what I expect to learn. I did not learn much in the way of new sewing techniques but I learned a lot about myself and how I approach my projects. I learned new ways of thinking about my design process.
