Talk about challenges....

I took my challenge bag from the fabric swap I did with friends a few months ago along on my retreat. You might remember that we all brought fabrics of different sizes with the guidelines and we had to make something out of it. I had some trouble deciding what to make plus have been busy with other things. So I decided it was time to get busy on it.

I cut it all into 2 1/2" strips and then cut those into half hexies. I sewed them into 2 long braids, then cut each in half. I had about 36" of braid in each row after trimming.

I had taken white along to put in between the rows. I think it adds some clarity to the busyness of all those scraps.

I like it! I hadn't taken along anything to border it with, but when I got home last night I tried out several fabrics I had here.

So far this is the winner. It's a reddish paisley. I don't think I want anything multicolored, though not sure.

Here is a close up of the design, though the color isn't right in this picture. It's not this goldish.

Cindy is in the same challenge group and I posted pix of her blocks in progress awhile back. She finished her blocks and put them together on retreat. We all loved it!

Now for our RETREAT challenge.....

We like to play games while on retreat. We play the L-C-R dice game with fat quarters. It's fun and someone ends up with 6 fat quarters at the end of each game. We also play Trader's Dice, which is fun because there are no losers....everyone ends up with whatever you are trading. Last year we each took 10 width of fabric 2 1/2" strips, cut them in half and played with them every time we played Trader's Dice. The challenge came after we got home...using them to make a project that we would show at the next retreat. I procrastinated until about a month ago, but made this cute snap bag with mine. It's got the strips in the lining too. I used them all and didn't use any other fabric except for the point in front.

Diana made each of us a soothing eye patch that can be heated or frozen .  They are filled with good smelling scent and flax seed.

Rose made this cute quilt sign for her quilt room.

Here is Dianne's bag....she had it started so it was her first finish on the retreat.

Cindy finished hers on the retreat too. We all loved it...and thought she did such a good job that she could make each of us one too.

I will share more of my retreat pictures through the week.