After wandering through the uncharted territory of my first day of post-pandemic retreat, I decided on Day 2 to boldly go where no one has gone before, and make this block featuring Star Trek insignias. I’m guessing that wasn’t Jane Stickle’s intent back in the 1860’s, but it’s sure what they look like.

The rotary cutting called for rectangles cut on the diagonal to make those pieces on either side of the Star Trek insignias, but this fabric is actually surprisingly directional, so that meant some of the triangles had to be “upside down”. I probably should have just picked a different fabric, but I was at retreat and just wanted to push forward.

The inset seams are not such a big deal for hand-sewers like me, but they’re not super simple either. They went together pretty smoothly though, despite me being mildly displeased with the fabric motif placement:

The more challenging part of this block was actually the cross in the middle. I’ve assembled many blocks like this and never seem to get the two side strips exactly lined up with each other on their separate sides of the center strip.

This time, I decided to add registration marks to show exactly where the two red side strips were supposed to intersect the red center strip. That way, I could make sure that the two sides of the cross lined up for a change:

(Now I see that the registration marks on the back of the center strip are not that visible in this photo, but it’s far too late now for me to acquire basic photography skills.)

I started the block on Day 2, went home for the day with it partly done, and got an email Friday night that someone at retreat had tested positive for Covid. By the next morning, I’d had more emails and phone calls, and the total was up to three positive cases.

For most of the morning, I dithered (yes, that is exactly the right word for it) about whether to go back for my final day of retreat. In the end, I did go, just to show that I was brave, but I had lunch first and went home before dinner, so I could remain masked the entire time.

I’d been feeling kind of uncool for wearing my mask (except for meals) on the first two days, but ultimately I was glad I had done so. I did not get sick, and I was able to finish this block on my abbreviated last day of retreat.

Thanks to the uninterrupted quilting time at retreat, I made a lot of progress in April, completing my sashing goal and not one, but two, Dear Jane blocks for my UFO Challenge goal. Plus, I started on the final fourth of the rainbow quilt, quilting 18 more triangle motifs. If I keep up this pace, I’ll be done quilting the rainbow quilt by the end of September.

There were lots of ups and downs at this retreat: covid was definitely a down and made for an odd retreat, but on the upside, I got to see some of my retreat friends, won the raffle basket (pictured below), made great progress on my Dear Jane, and got some excellent advice from my friend Judi on a backing fabric choice for my blue swirls quilt.

In the end, I was glad that I had braved the final frontier and gone to my first in-person retreat in 3.5 years. I’m already anticipating the next retreat this fall.