Austin Modern Quilt Guild Winter Retreat

Had a fantastic time at the very first AMQG retreat this weekend at the Wimberly Quilt Ranch.   I spent the whole weekend working on my Tokyo Subway Quilt, a design for a Quilt-A-Long that Elizabeth Hartman did on her Oh, Frannson! Blog.  I chose this quilt for a couple reasons.  First, I will be going to Tokyo in February for a business trip for a few weeks.  I thought it would be a great way to commemorate the trip!  Second, I decided it would be a great way to use a bunch of stash fabric.  All but one fabric I've used in this quilt so far is from my stash!

This will be the first quilt I've made where I pressed the seams open.  I've been hearing that this is the latest trend so I thought I would give it a try.  This top was the perfect candidate because it has a lot of small white squares in it.  Had I pressed the seams to one side, it would have been difficult to keep track of which way each should go.

I have to say, after pressing the seams open, I really do prefer to iron my seams to one side.  It is quicker and also makes it easier to line up the seams when sewing rows together.  But, there IS much less bulk, which will be nice once I'm ready to quilt!

Checkout some pictures from the rest of the gals at the retreat on our Facebook page.  And if you are interested in doing a small retreat somewhere in the hill country, I would HIGHLY recommend the Wimberly Quilt Ranch.  While you're down that way you can also checkout the new quilt store, Valli & Kim, in Dripping Springs.