Quilt Retreat and Microwave Bowls

I got home Wednesday night from the most fabulous retreat with my local guild.  Nineteen ladies spent Sunday through Wednesday morning stitching up a storm at the Palouse Divide Lodge.  The lodge is gorgeous

and this was what we woke up to

Sunday was gorgeous, but Tuesday and Wednesday the clouds must have been tired because they were down on the ground, giving the area a good soaking!!  Wednesday we had to leave by noon and the view changed to this

 It was perfect that the two days we were unloading and loading our cars were nice and dry and the days we could just stay in and sew were quite damp!  I got a bunch of sewing done - I don't get to sew much when I'm at home - I'm too busy dancing with my longarm!!!  I got the bindings on 4 quilts, made some microwave bowl holders, came up with a way to make some microwave plate holders and made two more quilt tops.

This is the Abacus quilt I made (forgot to get a picture of the other quilt I whipped out on Wednesday morning!)

I used some of my precious stash of ombre fabrics for the two new quilt tops...I'm on a bubble kick!  And then there were the microwave finger savers:

To make the plate holders, I cut 2 14" pieces of fabric, 2 13.5" pieces of microwave-safe batting, sewed the batting to the fabric, took tucks on all 4 sides 1/2" from the center line and 2" deep.  They certainly work great!  My plates are 10" and 11" in diameter and both sizes fit perfectly!   If there is any interest, I'll work up a tutorial (it would be my first!!) and put it up here.  And I'll put up a picture of my other quilt as soon as I finish unpacking!!