I'm full to the brim with quilting!

I can't believe the last 3 days of my life!  An amazing journey in quilting, unlike anything I've experienced before.  Three days on retreat with about 20 members of my guild--Ah, life is good.

We stayed at a northwoods resort on Lake Holcombe an hour's drive east of where I live. We were all in one room with our machines whirring away, irons steaming, Ipod playing great tunes, and a "special" table spilling over with delicious snacks. A quilter's heaven!  We all worked on projects that we had brought from home as well as a charity project. We each sewed a dress for "Little Dresses for Africa" http://www.littledressesforafrica.org/blog/ and we'll send them to Nancy's Notions http://www.nancysnotions.com/ to be shipped to the organization.  I hope the girl who receives my dress enjoys wearing it as much as I enjoyed making it. 

We played a few games, had drawings for door prizes--I won a book of seasonal quilts and a little table to keep near my sewing machine for pressing little blocks or to hold quilting supplies as I sew--and talked/laughed/sewed/ate until the wee hours. 

I finished the applique on Lily's D 4 Patch quilt.

I also did most of the flannel owl baby quilt for my friend's expected new granddaughter.  (Thank you to whoever put this fabric in the Traveling Stash!) I created this quilt as I went along and decided I needed a bit of green flannel for a narrow inner border or flange before putting on the main border. When I packed up to leave on Sunday, I headed for the shop where I'd purchased the rest of the flannel to get the green.  I also decided to make prairie points instead of flange. 

Other than the tremendous amount of camaraderie, stitching, and sometimes reverse stitching that occurred, there were 2 highlights for me.

1) We took a trip to a new-to-me LQS about 20 miles away and they had some very cute things. I couldn't pass up this fat quarter bundle of Xmas prints (Can you believe 8 FQ for $12.50???) and I also bought this bag pattern which I'm wanting to make up RIGHT NOW!  and 2) On Saturday, I took a 2 mile walk in the afternoon (which I normally don't do because of knee pain when I walk) and NO KNEE PAIN afterwards! Hurray!

All in all, it was a wonderful retreat for a first timer and I'll definitely return next year. As Lily would say, "Aww--Do I have to wait an entire year for the next one? Not fair!"

Traveling Stash

The TS is at Bernie's (check out http://sewbernie.blogspot.com/) so if you want to have a chance at getting it at your house, leave a comment on her blog and she'll put your name in the drawing which she'll have on October 13.  Take it from me, that box is full of quilting yummies! 

The rules are 1) You have to have an active blog 2) You can take anything you want out of the box but you MUST replace it with items of equal value and quality 3) You must post about the TS on your blog and 4) You must be willing to send it on to the next recipient. Because of the cost of shipping, this is limited to the US and Canada. 

When the box arrived at my house and I opened it up, it was like a quilter's Christmas!  So many wonderful things in there! The hardest thing about the whole venture was choosing what to take out, but it was fun shopping my stash to find replacement items. Bernie says she has some Halloween fabric to add to the stash--Sweet!

Anyway, it was a lot of fun to get the TS and to send it on to another delighted person, so please check out Bernie's blog and enter your comment into her drawing.

The Traveling Stash moves on

In my low tech but effective manner, I've chosen the winner of the Traveling Stash--it's BERNIE of SewBernie http://sewbernie.blogspot.com/!  Congratulations, Bernie. I hope you find something you like in the Stash.  When you email me your mailing address, the Stash will be on it's way to YOU!!