Recently, I went on a trip with Chris to one of his remote sites. It wasn’t the first time he’s visited the site, but it was the first time in more than a year since he’s been there, because someone else has been covering it until recently. Since he was away the previous week as well, I decided to go with him.

I had the idea to have a solo quilting retreat at the hotel when he was working, so I pulled together the quilt I’ve been working on recently, and packed up my Bernina 435, and off we went. I have been working on this quilt off and on for the last couple of months, and I thought that would be a good one to take with me to test out this solo quilt retreat idea. The quilt pattern is from Lori Holt’s Scrappiness is Happiness book. I chose to make Spare Squares because I wanted something that would be slow and that would allow me to discover the joy of quilting again. I’m not going to lie – I was a little worried that I had lost my desire to quilt, and all I could think of was how much money I’ve invested over the years in patterns, supplies and machines. I needed a kick in the pants to get me going again, and I thought maybe this was what I needed.

Day One

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect at the hotel, but there was a very nice long desk where I was able to set up my sewing machine and supplies, and I knew it would work well for me.

The first day, I spent a fair amount of time setting up and figuring out where I was in the process of quilt top construction, but by 9:30 am, I was ready to get started. As I got ready to start on block construction, I realized that I was in multiple stages of construction, with quilt block units in various stages of construction. Instead of making all of Unit A, and then all of Unit B, and then constructing Unit C out of Unit A and two Square D’s, I’d made a few of Unit A, sewed them to Square D, and in short, I had only finished all of the construction for one of the three units needed for each block.

While I was unpacking the sewing equipment, I realized that I didn’t remember to bring a power strip or extension cord, but fortunately, there was a power strip built into the table. Because we had been running so late the day before, we didn’t make a trip to the grocery store to pick up supplies, so I ended up ordering lunch from DoorDash (Chris took the car when he went to work). I definitely could have planned better for my time in the hotel, but by the end of Day One, I had the middle rows of the blocks sewn together. We went out for dinner, and was in bed and asleep by 11:30 pm.

Lessons learned: Don’t forget the power cords; bring a lamp, preferably a gooseneck; plan for food and drinks ahead of time.

Day Two

For day two, I continued to work on the units for the blocks, and then I realized that I was missing some fabric pieces. At first, I thought the issue was with the middle units, but soon it became apparent that I was missing the four patch units that make up each corner of the block. I continued to put together blocks until I ran out of fabric/units.

When I was out of fabric/units, I did a tally:

Full Blocks – 34

2/3 complete – 21

Middle rows – 13

I will need an additional four blocks over and above what I have cut now, as well as the missing four patch units that I will need to make for the 2/3 completed and middle rows that have no four patch units. It should be fairly easy to get the quilt top finished at this point, so I’m excited to get it done.

What’s the Verdict?

Would I take my sewing machine with me again and sew in the hotel room? I can say without hesitation that this was a very successful trial run. Yes, I was missing fabric and I didn’t get my quilt top finished, but I could have, if I’d had all the fabric with me.

Next time I try this, I will have a quilt top that I have completely cut out but haven’t yet started to piece, maybe even two in case I am able to finish one. I found this experiment to be relaxing, and it allowed me to stay focused on the quilt. Distractions were kept to a minimum. There were no dogs to let outside or back inside, I didn’t get bogged down looking at my phone or iPad. I rather enjoyed the lack of distractions, I have to say. It reminded me of when I first started to quilt, and I wasn’t online all the time. I didn’t have an iPad or smartphone to pull my attention away, because those things didn’t exist yet.

In fact, I’m thinking of looking for a sewing machine that I can carry on top of my suitcase that will fit under the seat of an airplane, just in case I want to recreate this experience somewhere we can’t drive.

This might have been the most productive, fun week I’ve had quilting in a very long time.

Have Quilt Kits, Will Travel

This might be a whole new way for me to enjoy quilting. Chris travels fairly often for work, and while I have no plans of going on every trip with him, it might be nice to go every once in a while, just so I can hole up in the hotel and sew. It really does seem to be a great way to focus on a project and make progress.

During the weeks when Chris is traveling and I don’t go with him, I think I will hole up in the house and work on whatever project I have going at the time. Or I could use that time to work on Unfinished Objects (UFOs). Either way, if I learned one thing during this experiment, it’s that I do still love to quilt, and I should do more of it.