What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

The sewing machines were rolled in, set up and immediately put to work.

My first little mini workshop on foundation paper piecing will begin at 9am this morning.  I will be teaching wool applique this afternoon.  In between the workshop, the girls will be working away on their own projects.  One of the girls made a schedule of what she plans on doing during the retreat.....and she is sticking to it!

The quilters worked until 5pm, then headed over to my cabin for an ...

 Hello Everyone,

I'm finally getting around to posting more retreat pictures......and I still have a lot more! Mr. Joe and I sat out on the deck for lunch yesterday and Fall was definitely in the air.  What a great way to start off this post with Ann's Scrappy Maple Leaf quilt.  This quilt is a work of art! 

 Hello Everyone,

I haven't been good about posting pictures from the retreat, so I'm going to get caught up over the next few days and explain my reason for being very quiet online.  The rain stopped Monday night and Tuesday was a gorgeous day here at Snowflake Lodge in Arnold, CA.  My sister Gail took all of the pictures in this post....this one is my absolute favorite!

 Hello Everyone,

Just a quick post before I dash off to the retreat.  This is Diana's interpretation of my October Magic pattern.  I LOVE IT!!!

This quilt is called "Blessing of Spring", offered by Shabby Fabrics. Cindy did a beautiful job.

This quilt was called "Arabella" is a BOM currently offered by Cloth and Quilts.  

This is Candace showing her Country Romance quilt. Lovely. 

Zoom in to see the fussy cutting Candace did on this quilt ...

Quilts started going up on the design walls right away.  This is Candace's Romancing Alaska quilt.  I taught this quilt on a cruise to Alaska a couple of years ago.

It's so good to be home! Yes -- I'm now home for at least three weeks -- can you believe that? I can barely believe it, and the even better news is that my commitments are much fewer this month, so it'll positively feel like a vacation! I'm going to be totally lost! 

OK -- that's a lie since I have some long-arm quilting to do, blog posts to write, articles to put together, plans for the fall quilts, and a lot more paperwork, but I won't have so much happening on the weekends. Yeah!

We all ...

What a relaxing time we're having! It's so fun to be in a small group, so there is NO drama, no crisis, no over-talking, and well --- this is my favorite retreat! No need to name you -- you know who you are! We don't see each other often, so it's nice to catch up with family and mutual friends. 

Recently, we made desserts at the retreat optional, and so far, we've not had any dessert. Guess what? I do not miss it, and I feel better. So optional dessert is going to become the norm! 

I ...

WOW --- it feels great to be away in a very casual setting and have great friends to chat with! Yep -- I think I'm in quilting heaven, and that's OK. 

It took a while to get here as I had to wait for my 1:30 appointment for the ultrasound. And can you believe I was almost at the clinic when I realized I had left my wallet at home? And my health card was in my wallet, and so was my credit card to pay for parking. DUH!! I didn't have time to go back, so I ...

Last week our local guild had a sleep-at-home retreat at a conference center in Flat Rock. We have the use of the room with a full kitchen for three days, so we can haul everything there on Tuesday, and leave it overnight both nights. So projects can be started and left as they progress, to be continued the next day. Food can be left in the refrigerator, so you don’t have think about lunch each day. Tuesday, I set up my little class machine, a Janome Gem Gold, on the table space allotted. Each table was 8 feet, enough ...

 I'm here at the retreat! We're back at Retreat at the Farm in Shelbourne. I arrived at 7 PM, and it's good to be back even if I have to work most of the week. Hey -- I have presentations to prep and samples to sew, but I can have more fun doing that while visiting with friends than being at home. 

I brought most things I need, and whatever I'm missing, then we'll make it up! There is one thing that I have a big issue with my phone charger. I have two, but again ...

 Christine and I left early for our quilting retreat with the Oxford Guild this past Friday because there was a winter storm coming and we wanted to get there and be set up before the snow started to fall.  The snow started in the afternoon and kept going all night.  In the morning there was almost a foot of snow (30cm for the metric folks).  We were all snowed in and loving it.  We did not lose power and we had our sewing machines and lots of fabric and projects on hand to work on.  It was a great weekend ...

Overall, I loved the two weeks I spent at Penland School of Craft, as a Winter Artist in Residence. The people were amazing. It was so fun to see what everyone was doing in each of the studios. It was amazing just to kick off my new life as ?, who knows (yes, I quit my job with no plans but to rebalance and rejuvenate and work on some art). I am getting ahead of myself though…

I was all prepared, or so I thought, after I had received the acceptance to Penland’s Winter Residency (application process covered in this ...

... and it's coming in like a lamb here today; what's the weather like where you are? Up at my Mom and Dad's in New Hampshire they're buried under snow with more forecast to fall on Saturday. My Dad loves it but my Mom has had enough already! Speaking of my parents, today is their 71st wedding anniversary! This picture was taken a while ago, but you can see how cute they are! Happy Anniversary,

... and it's coming in like a lamb here today; what's the weather like where you are? Up at my Mom and Dad's in New Hampshire they're buried under snow with more forecast to fall on Saturday. My Dad loves it but my Mom has had enough already! Speaking of my parents, today is their 71st wedding anniversary! This picture was taken a while ago, but you can see how cute they are! Happy Anniversary,

I'm just home from a 4-day stitching retreat in rural central Ohio!  Do you have the opportunity to get away from your at-home sewing area and devote yourself to some stitching?  I hope so because I find it's a great way to refresh my state of mind!

I've been hosting and attending retreats for many years.  I've graduated (finally) from taking more than two people could accomplish in the allotted time to a reasonable assortment that keeps me busy and delivers a morale boost of reaching a few goals (not necessarily "finishes").   This time I also ...

You may have noticed that I was missing in action last weekend...no blog post!  Christine and I were away for the weekend at Camp Kintail.  The camp hosts two crafter's retreats every year and we try to attend both.  We both made great progress on the projects we brought with us and the meals and accommodations were fabulous!  The camp was decorated for Christmas, inside and out. The other retreaters were sewing, knitting, crocheting, doing paper crafts, making cards, making blankets, etc.  It was fun to see what everyone was up to and to visit with friends, old ...