Weekend Retreat in Pacifica

I'm on my way to seaside Pacifica, CA for a three-day quilting retreat.  As usual, I'm going solo, staying in an ocean-front motel where I can see the ocean and hear the crashing waves as I sew.  This is the third such retreat for me. I love it.

I'm taking along my tiny Janome Sew-Mini sewing machine, which is the size of a toaster.  It sews straight and zigzag, very slowly, but it gets the job done.  I'm leaving my nice Bernina at home because it's too valuable to replace.  I'm not as concerned about my little machine walking away.  Of course, there are lots of tools and fabric to bring.  I'm driving this time, rather than taking BART and bus.  I'm hoping to fit my ironing board in the car.  Otherwise, I'll have to use the motel's small tabletop ironing board as I've done in the past.

During my retreat I'll be working on a couple of projects.  The first is another mystery quilt, details about which I won't share since the recipient reads my blog now and then.  The pattern is Road to California, with just 9 large blocks and a border in a theme print.  And that's about all I want to say about it at this time.

The second quilt is a Liberated Quiltmaking version of Shoo Fly.  The center of each block is a print in a dark yellow background with blue, red and brown stars--kind of a country palette.  I plan to alternate backgrounds of blue and dark yellow, with the Shoo Fly triangles in blue, red or brown.  I raided my stash for the quilt, and it will be fun to try to work with only what I brought with me.  The quilt will be donated to my church to be given to someone going through a difficult time.  I'm hoping it will have a masculine feel.

I'm looking forward to sewing by the sea.  I don't expect to finish either of the quilt projects before I go home, but I'll make some progress, and that's enough for me.