A Quilt for Joan

I met Joan when I joined my first guild, The Flower Valley Quilting Guild, about twenty years ago.  More than fifteen years ago we both joined a small daytime group started by a mutual friend we fondly dubbed "Day-Quilters".  So I've been to many meetings, lunches, field trips, and retreats with her, and she is a dear friend.  Here she is with a paper doll of herself; we were each asked to make one for a 50th Birthday Party/Quilt retreat we were graciously invited to a while back.

Sadly, Joan is losing her vision which means she has to give up quilting.  When I saw her a few months ago at Day Quilters she asked each of us to take what we wanted of her fabrics and UFOs.   I came home with this scrappy little 35" top.  

She thought I could make it into a doll quilt, but I decided to turn it into a "Joan Quilt".  Scrappy it began so scrappier it would become.  I just grabbed some scraps .....

..... and black & white prints, then kept making borders until I thought it was done.

Of course, it definitely needed Scottie dog fabric on the back because Joan really, really loves Scottie dogs.

It finished up about 53" square and pretty cute, I think.

Now it's washed and dried and has that comfy, crinkly look every quilt looks better with .....

..... which means it's ready to mail.  I hope it brings up a lot of sweet memories for Joan when she uses it.  I know it did that for me while I worked on it.

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict,

and Quilting is More Fun than Housework, 

and Tish's Adventures in Wonderland.

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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Retreat Report

There sure was a lot of sewing going on at the Retreat I went to this week. Some people (like me) ended up doing more ripping than sewing and went home with four quilt blocks made.

Other people (like Jan) sewed like a fiend and got an entire quilt made, quilted, and partially bound.

And then other people (like Dar) kept the smoothies flowing!  Some were really healthy with spinach, oranges, apple juice and bananas.  Others were just smooth, with chocolate and cream and other good stuff.

In all fairness, Dar did also get some sewing done, like these beautiful string blocks. 

Reba wowed us with one great baby quilt after another.  She worked on quilts and brought lots of Show and Tell.

Joan got a T-shirt quilt put together......

...Barb made several cat or dog quilt tops to be raffled off at a charity event for Heartland Humane Society of Missouri. 

...and Katy used strips she won at a guild meeting to put a cute top together. 

Ree finished a Thimbleberries quilt top. 

This shows just part of the gorgeous homespun log cabin type quilt Lee Etta worked on.

This is one of the baby quilts Rita worked on.

Jeanne worked on so many things I couldn't figure out what she was doing, but her sewing kit/organizer made for a good photo.

Just like every other retreat I've been to, it was way too short.  It was hard to say goodbye to these special ladies. 

I hope it isn't such a long time before I get to see them again.