Sunday, March 18, 2007

Back from Quilt Retreat aka "Come Out Come Out Wherever You Are"

Well I am back from a 3 day quilt retreat with my guild in the lovely mountains of southern PA!! As always we had a blast!! Our table is the "rowdy bunch" and we tend to entertain ourselves by singing anything and everything that happens to pop into our heads....LOL


It was certainly another weekend full of good fun, good food and great friends!! We even somehow managed to get some quilting done amidst to roaring laughter....First I'll set the scene for Friday.....

I live on the Eastern Shore of Maryland....it's normally a 2 - 2 1/2 hour drive for me to the retreat center.....This time I left at 11am with plenty of daylight ahead....so I should have arrived by 1:30pm at the very latest.....I finally arrived a little after 3pm....When I left the house it was raining.....about an hour into my drive the rain turned to sleet....and I was climbing the mountains of western Maryland toward Chambersburg PA....Soon the sleet turned to snow....so I drove an average of 15 MPH on the interstates...surrounded by tractor trailers....sigh

When I finally arrived at the retreat center there was already 4+ inches of snow on the ground...and it was lovely....I was very happy to park the truck and set up to sew sew sew the weekend away!

I brought 3 projects with me.....A Pink and Brown Turning Twenty Again which I had cut out on Thursday night.... A pack of FQs and pattern for a Trip Around the World Variation called "Wanderlust" that I bought at the Hampton VA show a few weeks ago......and the rest of the siggy blocks that I needed to finish for a swap on my HQ16 list.....I am happy to report that I finished everything I brought with me (except for the quilting of course)....I was thrilled to accomplish so much.....I even managed to get some shopping in and a trip to my friend Nancy's house to "shop" in her sewing room....LOL

I managed to use up 7 yards of fabric......and brought home 35+ yards of new fabrics and a bunch of quilt books and some patterns....LOL...I also picked up my set of Black and Bright Pieced Tulips from a guild swap that I joined at the last retreat in November..

OK....so here are the 2 tops that I finished this weekend......




















And here's Nancy showing off the Stack and Whack blocks she was working on.....














And here's Nancy's Coffee themed Turning Twenty Again (she sold me the other half of her fabrics so I can make one of my own)

This is Fran and her weekend project......This is a lattice quilt top that is designed as a fat quarter quilt...She used the "He Loves Me" line of fabrics from Maywood Studios and it is just STUNNING!




These "monsterous bugs" were the talk of the retreat! They were designed by Jane (one of the very artistic ladies in the guild and at the retreat) and she assures me they will be on the market at some point in the future....I just cannot wait to get the patterns and make my own!!
























Hope you all enjoyed seeing how I spent my Quilt Retreat Spring 2007!!!

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

looks like you had a blast.. i am so happy for you and what wonderful quilts "again" .. hahahaha... Hugs Cathy

Lori (A.K.A. Elkhoundmom) said...

Sounds like it was great fun and very productive despite the long trip there! The quilts look fantastic. I love the bugs.

Anonymous said...

Wow, you do some great work! Love the pink and brown....trip around the world is great, too!

Nancy said...

both of your retreat projects are great. Love the pink/brown. And I have to LOL about bring home more stash than you busted. I was tracking stash in/out but it got to be too distracting so I stopped. But I'm pretty sure I'm at more in than out. Guess I'd better get really busy!

Sweet P said...

Sounds like you had a great time at your retreat. Your projects are adorable. I'm not sure about the bugs though. I'm not much of a bug person.

swooze said...

Looks like you had fun. One day I am going with! Let me know when those bugs coime out!

Debra Dixon said...

Great looking quilts!!

SuBee said...

How cool! I want to come play at YOUR retreats! Well worth a long drive in the snow!

Jennie said...

Great job finishing two tops!!!

Jeanne said...

Aren't retreats just the best? You sure made the most of your week-end. Great quilts.

flippytale Quilter (Christine) said...

Love the Pink & Brown top! Looks like you really had fun!

Quilter Kathy said...

I really enjoyed reading about your retreat experience, since I just came back from one last month. What a drive you had to get there! And you all were so productive!

Darlene said...

Nothing like a fun and productive quilt retreat. Love your completions!

Anonymous said...

I love your Turning Twenty in pink and brown! I looks delicious.

Nicole & Phil said...

Your pink and brown quilt is stunning!
I often wear these colours together, but never thought of a quilt in those colours. i also like the idea of blue and brown together as well!
Thanks for sharing your weekend. Looks likea great time! I miss my annual quilt retreat in Sydney...deep sigh!
Thanks for the photo of you as well!
Cheers!