Spring Quilting Retreat

We just finished a three-day retreat and what a great time we all had! We had 3 guests join us - Darlene, Helen and Wendy. Wendy was a member of our group way back in the beginning and unfortunately, for us, she moved away from Sherwood Park but we were happy that she could join us for our retreat. We welcomed them all and hope to see them again soon.

It is always so much fun to see what everyone is working on and I took a lot of photos so without delay, here is our retreat:


Jane showed us two of her recent finishes - the first is her Eleanor Burns 'Day and Night' quilt:

Followed by this stunner in blacks and greys and light blues - both beautiful!

 

 

I finished the top to my 'Trip Around the World' that was I have been working on for a little over a year; it started making the rounds on the web last spring. (it has 1352 2.5" squares)



 

 

 

We had a few games and the first quilt anagram quiz was a little tough as you can see from the intense concentration on everyone's faces during lunch the first day!

 

 

 

Congratulations to Carmen who was the winner of this quiz! I never realized before that I have (several) PhDs - projects half done!

 

We played two games of bowling - always fun, always zany! (and it does my confidence good to see I'm not the worst bowler in the world - sorry Carole!)

 



 

 

Helen finished the binding on this lovely quilt!

 



 

And Wendy put together this stunning table runner called "Criss Cross Applesauce" from the book "Let's do Lunch" by Atkinson Designs. Follow this link Let's Do Lunch to see the book. (I have the book and have made several table runners from it, great book)

 

I put together four placemats from a kit I purchased at Quilt Essentials in St. Albert. They're simply called 'Seasonal Placemats'. Here's a link to the store, Quilt Essentials. 

Judy finished this colourful purse/tote that used charm packs. It's called 'Fast Patch Bag' and it's from Carola's Thread Company; their web site is here!

 

 

 

Day two we all got back to work:  

Faye trimming:



Carmen stitching:



Wendy cutting: 

 

Louise stitching: 

 

Helen working on the second quiz (which she won!): 

Faye showing her completed block:

 Myrtle busy sewing:


 

 A mini-conference on border fabric for Carmen's quilt top:

 

 Judy busy sewing together her rectangles:

 

 

Carole's beautiful Great Granny Square quilt top with the tiny green sashing!



 

 

And then it was time for Strip Poker! Today we played for 10 inch green squares.

 

 

And the winners were Wendy and Louise (and Louise gave her strips to Judy!) and yesterday's winners of green jelly roll strips were Wendy and BJ.

 

These beautiful houses were sewn by Carmen and are from Lori Holt's book, Quilty Fun. Lori has an amazing blog which you can visit right here.

 

 

Another beautiful quilt of Helen's has its binding finished! Looks like another Eleanor Burns

 

 

Carole made this cuddly giraffe quilt for a special little boy!

 

And she was working on this table runner, very nice!

 

Jane shows a colourful work-in-progress!

And Darlene is almost finished the 'Professional Tote', great job!

 

Another work almost finished from Carole!

 

 

And Myrtle's quilt is coming together beautifully! Such spring colours!

 
And it's called 'Full of Grace' and it's a kit from Connecting Threads.

 

Myrtle's quilt is called 'Log Cabin Stars' and it's from Connecting Threads too! I love the log cabins in the middle of the blocks.



 

My quilt that I started was from Connecting Threads too and it's called 'Spools'; I must say we all love Connecting Threads - such great kits and great prices.

 

Thanks for checking in and have fun quilting! And thanks to Carole for picking up all the prizes for our retreat!

 

Bev





 

 

 

 

 





 

 



 

 

Catching Up!

Don't you just love computers? Me too, especially when they are working that is, so I am happy to have my computer back (thanks to my nephew, Dave)! I have two quilting meetings to show you: 

 

Carmen started a new project using the Kansas Dugout Quilt block from the tutorial listed on the wonderful blog Red Pepper Quilts . Rita, the amazing and talented quilter, has the entire tutorial on her April 7, 2014 blog - you have to check it out!

 

First block made

 

 

 Carmen is cutting into her beautiful Liberty fabrics!

I finished the top of my 'Marks the Spot' quilt from Connecting Threads; I haven't worked with batiks for a long time - I forgot how much I love them!

 

 

Jane made a lovely little bag and was working on another Day and Night quilt, an Eleanor Burns pattern.

 

 

 

Cheryl was making more blocks using Thangles and shows us how four blocks becomes one square (although her squares will use different colours of blocks)

 

 

 

BJ had her thinking cap on and was planning the layout for a T-shirt quilt.

 

 

Carole was squaring up her Lincoln Log quilt and sewed the binding on.  

 

And Faye #2 showed us her progress to date on her Trip for 2 to Boston quilt, looking lovely! 

 

 

This past week, two of our snow-birds flew back to the group - Faye and Louise - so nice to have you back with us!

 

Louise was working on an original design - looking good!

 

 

BJ was quilting her T-shirt quilt - very nice layout!

 

Judy finished her quilt using the Jennie Doan Missouri Star Quilt Company tutorial - it's called Window Pane 9 Patch - very pretty!

 

Faye#2 and Myrt are making nice progress on their Trip for 2 to Boston.

 

I was cutting template shapes for my Chelsea pattern - an Sue Daley English Paper pieced quilt; I cut 192 of the little darlings cut!

 

Carmen showed us this adorable block of the month from Shabby Fabrics called Bertie's Year, so cute!

 

 

And she is almost finished her Easter hand-appliqued quilt! 

 

 

And Carole was busy making a table runner. 

That's all for now!

 

Bev

 

 

 



 

Some Great Finishes!

 

Another quilting day brought out a few finishes; here Cheryl is showing her completed Professional Tote in very patriotic fabric, lovely! And a stunning purple and blue beauty!

 



 

Faye #2 and Myrtle each completed their "Golds got the Blues' quilt top - gorgeous!

And they started working on another complicated-looking quilt - 'Trip for 2 to Boston' - lots of strip cutting and calculating on this one!


 

Carole was connecting her 'Great Granny' blocks and adding a little green zinger in the sashing strips, beautiful!

 

I worked on a Connecting Threads  kit with purple and blue batiks (I guess purple and blue are very popular now!).

 

 


Cheryl started a new quilt 'Orion Star Quilt' using Thangles; if you haven't used Thangles before you must visit their web site.

Judy was working on 'Window Pane 9 Patch Quilt' from a Missouri Quilt Company an on-line tutorial. Missouri Quilt Company has amazing on-line tutorials, you have to check them out!




 I think this 'pile of fabric' was BJ - wonder what this will turn into?

 

I think our snow birds will be back soon; hopefully they will have lots of quilting ideas and fun to share!

 

Bye for now,

 

Bev