Retreat Fun

I had the opportunity during Halloween week to spend a few days with some very dear quilty friends, ladies I have known a long time and have really missed since our move to Alabama six years ago.  I was used to meeting with them monthly before our move, and I have been on retreat with them only once since, so it was good to see them and catch up, laugh, gab, and oh, yeah -- sew!  We met at Spragues Kinderhook Lodge in Barry, Illinois for the best retreat ever!

Rita quilted a baby quilt she had prepped at home and then made three more baby quilt tops.

Darlene (Dar's Patchwork Garden) finished her Celtic Solstice top.  (A Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt.)

Joan played with her beautiful batiks, as she usually does.

Pat found out she doesn't like making "made fabric" for her blocks.  

Ree taught a lesson on making aprons from men's dress shirts.

Lee Etta worked on three (THREE!) different scrappy quilts.

Colleen made "see through window" craft bags for a friend.

Katy worked with colors that "don't go together" and then found out when the blocks were made that they do.

Jeanne won all our batik fat quarters when we played Right-Left-Center .....

..... two nights in a row!

Since it was Halloween the Grim Ripper showed up .....

..... and led us in a few games of Halloween Bingo.

I even got into the spirit of things!

Wonderful food, comfortable accommodations, beautiful scenery, late nights talking with old friends, lots of laughing, and sewing all day.  What could be better than a quilt retreat?

Next time, I'll share some of the quilty projects I worked on at retreat!

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I Spy Quilt -- Another UFO Bites the Dust!

I am determined to have less UFO's at the end of this year than I had at the beginning.  I started out with ten on January 1st and so far have finished four of them.  I realize I have way less unfinished projects than some quilters (just ask my friend Darlene!) but I have a few more than other quilters (just ask my friend Jan!) but I want to make some progress.  


Last week I was challenged (by my friend Shirley) to "work on something that was nagging me to be finished," so I pulled out an I-Spy quilt I started in 2008.  The top was completed and it had even been basted for a while.  It was just waiting to be quilted.  I have been collecting I-Spy fabrics for a long time.  It's not hard to collect a lot because there are so many fun novelty prints out there.

Aren't these cute?

Love the platform shoes!

The pattern I used is called "Do You See What I See?" and is from the 2003 issue of Quilt it For Kids by QNM. 

I didn't want anything too busy for the back so I used a heavyweight muslin and machine quilted around blocks using lime green thread and a serpentine stitch.  If Diane Gaudynski thinks lime green is a neutral then so do I!


Now, here's the fun idea!  The quilting delineates spaces on the back for the grandkids and great-nieces and nephews to create beautiful works of art with fabric markers.  Won't that be fun!?!?!? 

Since I'm talking about I-Spy quilts I thought I should show you the I-Spy I made for Aidan last year.  I did a sashing with cornerstones for this one.....

...and I incorporated some family photos on it. Then I found a really fun backing fabric.

Here is Aidan all wrapped up in his quilt when he was going through his "DON'T take my picture!!" phase. 

And here he is being his usual sweet self.

Now, I need to figure out how many quilts I have to make in order to use up all those novelty prints.  Does anyone need some I-Spy squares??