Retreat recap

I enjoyed a great quilt retreat this weekend with some very dear friends.  Thanks to our hosts at Crestfield for all the great food and meeting location!
It was a busy time, full of conversation, inspirations, laughs, and movies (usually simultaneously!)
Good thing my mom took pictures to share- I was too busy sewing!
Janet put together this top. I'm not sure you can tell from the picture, but it has the best polka dot fabrics.  So cheerful!

Here is Linda taking a photo break from her hard work.  She's finished an impressive number of star blocks (like maybe 60?  I know it is more than 50!) since our last retreat in January. 

Marilyn is hard at work too!  As you can see from this picture, the camp we go to has a nice big table for each person to work at.

I'm modeling my newest quilting apron.  My mom made it from start to finish at the retreat!  The fabrics are from our trip to Hawaii, so it brings back some great memories.  Now that I have two quilting aprons, I have to decide how to allocate them.  Maybe a piecing apron, and an FMQ apron?  Or just as the mood strikes?  Why have a quilting apron at all, you may ask.  Hard to explain- but putting on a stylish apron in fabric I love just helps me be in the zone.  (Not as my husband suggests "to keep off the quilting juice.")

I love these leaves my mom is putting together!  It's hard to appreciate from this picture, but the strips are super skinny.

Here's Wendy- she has an impressive technique of balancing a rotary cutting mat on her lap, and still managing to cut pieces accurately.  I think I'd just cut off my thumb...Check out Wendy's blog for details of all that happens behind the scenes of her beautiful fair trade shop, The Silk Road.

I don't have pictures of my mom, or friends Janice and Claudia.  Thanks to all who made it a fun weekend!

Yay for retreats!

Last weekend I enjoyed a super-fun quilt retreat at my mom's house! Great conversation, delicious food, a couple of movies, and of course- lots of sewing- all of the elements of a great retreat.  What makes it really special for me is seeing my friends back home, some of whom I only see a few times a year. Here's a look at the accomplishments of the group:
Claudia finished her quilt top with Alaska fabrics, commemorating a family trip.

My mom pieced 2(!) tops with Asian fabrics- these will be great machine quilting practice for me.
And I get to keep one when they're done!

Linda started a fun challenge- 180 4" squares completed in the next year, or 1 every other day. See how hard she's working!

 

And Janet reverse-sewed these fun prints when her design wasn't working out. I'm sure it will turn into something great!

Don't be fooled by this picture.  Honestly, my usual look at a retreat is still in my pj's, with unwashed hair til lunch time, but I thought I'd spruce it up for the blog and put on some real clothes. Check out the wrist pincushion- I love it!

A couple more friends came by, although I didn't get pictures of everybody.  Marilyn, Janice, Debbie, and Wendy- hope you had a fun time too!
Thanks to my mom for hosting a great weekend!