Sunday, March 28, 2010

Home again, Home again!

Retreat is over, boo hoo! Once again it was fantastic. It was so nice to look at these pretty daffodils that Margaret brought along.
We went to Camp Hebron in Halifax, PA. This is our workroom, everyone has a different way of setting up their workspace. There is lots and lots of laughing and goofing around!! I must confess that my workspace is messy. I tend to unpack everything and just plunk it all around. I waste a lot of time moving things around and looking for tools etc.


It's important to keep the coffee mug near at all times. Camp Hebron is wonderful because they have coffee, teas, juices etc available to us at all times. Yay!

Now this is an interesting workspace. So tidy. Hmmm? Whose is it?

Wow, this is more of the same space. Everything in its place. Who could be so neat?

I can't take it! Look at this! I must admit to a fascination with this phenomenon. Mostly because it belongs to my crazy friend, Kathy. I don't think she will be offended to hear me say that she's the last person I would expect to be so meticulous. She's wild, she's crazy, she's a free spirit with a fabulous and creative sense of color and style. Check her stuff out at her blog, here. One thing she does that I'm going to try for the next retreat is pack each project separately. She will pull out one project at a time and pack it away before she moves to the next one.

My friend, Cheryl, went shopping at the LQS on Saturday and found this crazy cat fabric in the middle. It inspired her to make a quilt for herself.
All of our retreats are planned and organized by Nancy. We can't thank her enough. Here is the quilt she worked on. It's not her usual style but how gorgeous!
How about this beautiful Gee's Bend quilt that Pauline made? I just love it.

My friend, Pat, finished this up. I love the focus blocks!

I have had this pattern at home for a few years and I've been afraid to try it. When I saw one of the retreat members with this on the wall, I was inspired. I'm going to get going on this soon.

This was made by my wild and crazy (and VERY tidy) friend Kathy. She made the center fabric with the cone flowers using Shiva paint sticks and rubbing plates. So pretty!! I told you she was creative.
Hi Diane!! She drove us for ice cream on Saturday. Mmmmm. Nutty milky way was my favorite.


Another of Kathy's quilts, Orange Zinger made with selvages.
Yup, you guessed it. Here's Kathy (in her trademark Sock Monkey pj's) standing in front of the New York beauty blocks she was working on. They are just stunning.

Wondering what I worked on? I got to work on a UFO. This was a guild block swap that ran for 12 months. There are 12 sets of 9 batik blocks that we swapped making up the center. We also swapped extra rectangles for the borders. I didn't like the border in the pattern so I did this instead.
I have been inspired lately by Judy Laquidara's quilts, especially her borders. I imitated her with this border and I designed the corner blocks. I'm really proud of this quilt and I'm trying to decide whether or not to quilt it myself. It's pretty big and there's nothing worse than wrecking a lovely quilt top with shoddy quilting. I have a friend in our guild who does wonderful longarm work and I'm considering giving her a call. I'll keep you posted on my decision.
I hope your weekend was as good as mine. Now let's all have a great week!















3 comments:

  1. Reading your blog makes me feel like I was right there with you! Oh that's right, I WAS and we did have a really great time. I wish we could go on retreat every weekend!

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  2. It was a fantastic weekend and I had a blast!!! And here's the secret to my neat and tidy work area.....it is the only way I manage to get anything done is to be extremely organized. That way when I get some free time, I can spent it sewing and not looking for stuff. Did I mention I organize my scraps not only by color but by size too?? I am a sick, sick person.....

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  3. How fun!!! Retreats are just awesome. It looks like you were productive and had a blast, too. :) Thanks for sharing all of the luscious eye candy. :)

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