retreat...

Last Monday at this time I was on my way to 3 fun filled days sewing with some friends and some friends-I-didn't-know-yet...   Well, we had a wonderful time.  I had been to this retreat place before and so knew what to expect.  It's a church run camp that has tapped into the quilting retreat community.  You make your own bed although linens are provided. Meals are cafeteria style, but the food is good and there is plenty of it.  One day for breakfast we had a choice of pancakes, bacon, oatmeal, hard boiled eggs, bagels, fresh fruit, and milk, tea, coffee and juice.  Lunch and dinner were the same.  I ate so much I broke a chair...really!!  I went to sit down after one of the meals and must have hit it wrong and one leg crumbled..lol  I felt bad, but hey, seriously it wasn't the food...it was the chair...

So what did we all work on?

This is Linda with her Tweetie D Pie...She had all the embroidery done and the blocks cut before retreat. The fabric is Sugar Pop by Liz Scott for Moda

Dee and her cats. This started out as a panel..

Nancy (no blog) was working on this project.  It is a wedding gift for a couple that have been married for 13 years if I remember correctly.  She made the rest of the blocks, put the top together and had a border on by retreats end.

Miss Nancy sat head down and sewing machine going, going, going... She made so many table toppers and runners we all lost count..  I think there are more photos somewhere but I can't find them.. This is a pattern from Terry Atkinson.

a little Bow Tie quilt..

A sunflower table runner..  The edge you see there is fusible web.  The pattern was printed on the fusible.  After fusing the fabric onto it you just fold and stitch...

Here it is!! This was the first one she finished.. Very pretty and another from Terry Atkinson.

Double Wedding Ring. Another wedding present where the couple have been married 11 years. lol  It had been so long since she worked on it she had to read and figure for a couple of hours to find where she was supposed to start. She got one row completely sewn together..

This is Veronica and her quilt.  If it's Veronica and she is at a retreat she makes a Turning Twenty. This must be a version of that..

This is Linda. She is the one that was on the phone when I invited myself to her retreat... She asked me to bring some "Modern quilt books or patterns" for her to look at.   With her leftover Sugar Pop she made these two blocks.  It is a quilt by Barbara Brandeburg named Birdie Big Blocks. The original pattern has blocks that are 18 inch square. Linda reduced the pattern to fit her layer cake. 

Linda also worked on these Cross Blocks.  She did a little mini-tutorial on cutting them. They are so fast and easy, but I don't know where she got the tutorial or if it is hers so I can't reveal the secret. Maybe she will read this post and leave a link in the comments..  They do start with a layer cake..

This is a pitiful little baby quilt I worked on.  I got all the blocks done and slapped them up on the design wall to snap a photo.  They aren't my colors and I have no idea how the charm pack got into my stash.  It doesn't have a home but I am hoping that it will be adopted at some point..

I was intrigued by the Ticker Tape quilts I have been seeing all over Flickr and wanted to try the technique so I made this pillow for second daughter.  She has a bunch of red/white/blue pillows that were "gifted" to her and I am slowly covering them.. It's a great way to  try a new technique ..

I also worked on a super secret baby quilt that I can't show you as "someone" might see it and show it to the mom-to-be...

Then all too soon it was time to head back to reality...or home as the husband calls it..  Of course we did stop at a couple of quilt shops...  Monday part of the group decided to go to the local quilt shop.  They used Susan's GPS and came back with some goodies.  Tuesday another group decided to go and I was one of the drivers and ended up being the leader.  I got some good directions from Susan and we headed out.  After driving for about 10 miles the road split and we had to decide whether to go North or South.  I picked North. The next sign we saw said "East St Louis" 11 miles.  Oh no..we can't go there.  It's not a safe neighborhood.  I quickly took the next exit, turned around and started driving south back to town..  Someone else called Susan and between all of us we tried to figure out where we had gone wrong.  We finally ended up on South Main street where the quilt shop was supposed to be.  119 South Main was the address.  We looked everywhere for 119.  We found 116 and then it jumped to 124..  We drove up and down Main Street so many times we joked that we looked like we were casing the joint... Finally I stopped and walked into another retail store and asked if they knew where the "quilt store" was.  She said there was a store in the next town, but it only sold fabric.  I joked and said "well, we will just go there then"...but she owned an Antique Store and apparently didn't get the joke.  Wait! Next Town?  Yep, we had hung a right instead of a left and were in the wrong town.  So off we go with written directions to head south and then turn at the Sonic and then look for the Rural King and lo and behold we got to the store only to realize that...they...moved...  So I popped in next door and asked directions.  We finally made it...and everyone kissed the ground and started shopping...  I bought some beautiful RJR solids..

And that fiasco didn't deter us from  deciding to to find another new-to-us quilt shop on the way home.  In fact, I had my iPad with me so I got on and got GOOD directions and we didn't make one wrong turn.  It was a fabulous shop with one whole room of Thimbleberries. I am not a fan, but everyone else was in heaven.  I found a couple of polka dots and some hand needles.  And a book.. Modern Basics .  I hope to get to look at it this week.

Well, that's retreat.

And look what I have...

Second daughter, son-in-law and two grandkids went fishing on Saturday and caught 60+ crappie .  This is my share.  I got them home and this morning I used my seal-a-meal to individually freeze them.  Can't wait to have some...I am hoping more will come our way when we start fishing our little pond...

Nancy