Quilt Retreat Part 4

I have finally joined a Quilting Bee.  We have a whooping three members at this time.  Our Bee is new and should grow with time.  We meet from 5-8pm, once a month, between my work and home.  It was a perfect fit for me.  All three members were at the Retreat last week.

Night Divas Bee

At the last retreat, we played strip poker with 2 1/2" black and white strips.  We had a blast.  It didn't hurt that my BQF and myself, each won one of the jackpots. 

At this retreat, we had a contest using the black and white strips that we had won last Spring.  Below are the entries.

The three quilts were judged. Olivia quilt, checkerboard quilt (complete with a pocket on the back for the checkers and ties.) and tablerunner (Note initials, LMS).

And the purses and totes were judged and then an overall winner was chosen.

First Place Quilt: Olivia Quilt by Jackie

First Place Purse:  Top Left w/Blue trim by Marty

Overall Winner:  Black and White Purse w/ Pink Bow by Polly (bottom middle)

We played strip poker with Christmas strips this retreat and I won two Jackpots.  We are talking about another contest, I may have to enter this time.

BQ Quilt and Retreat Part 3

I spent three days with 23 talented quilters.  I thought you might like to see what some of them were working on.

Note the Black and White and Pink machine cover.  Jackie made it at the retreat after looking at one brought by one of the ladies . 

Isn't this pretty.  The white blocks are hand embroidery by the quilter.

This is a little blurry, but I wanted you to see the lovely batiks.  We had Sally Schneider as a speaker at our August Guild meeting.  This was her workshop the next day.

This is the BQ Quilt I worked on.  I finished the center on Saturday afternoon, then decided it was time for a change.  It still needs three borders.

This is my BQF, Judith, she decided to spend the weekend working on her stump work.  It is exquisite, I'll have to get a better picture for you.

Ruth had some issues with her machine and decided to hand quilt awhile.

This is what Ruth was quilting, isn't it awesome.

Selvedges sewn to prequilted fabric.  These are going into an item or two for the Guild Shop at our Quilt Show in April, 2011. A tote bag or machine cover were some ideas tossed around.

Red Barn Retreat Part 2

I spent last weekend at a quilting retreat in Coldsprings, TX.  We stayed at the Red Barn where we were treated to six wonderful meals.  Homemade bread is served at each meal as biscuits, rolls, buns, etc.  The table decorations change for each meal.  Below are pictures of one or two of the tables from each meal. 

Friday Dinner, before mats.

Friday Dinner

Saturday Breakfast

Saturday Lunch

Saturday Dinner

                                                              Sunday Breakfast

                                                                Sunday Lunch

At the end of our stay, we are offered a book for $5 that contains a large group picture, small group pictures and all of the recipes that we were served during the retreat.  Some of the ladies collect signatures from the other 23 guest in their book.  This purchase is optional.

                                                        

Back from Quilt Retreat

I spent three wonderful days at the Red Barn Retreat in Coldsprings, TX.  Good food, good friends and lots of quilting.  I took a lot of pictures, so I am going to spread them out throughout the week.

As you can see, the weather was beautiful and hot.  There are four hummingbird feeders on the front porch.  I do not have a lot of pictures of birds, because they fly really fast and they were very busy fighting with each other.  The Hummingbirds and Red Birds are always a delightful site.  The owners of the Red Barn feed them well, too.

Below are just a few of the quilts that hang on the walls inside.  There are many more and one on all twenty-four beds.  So, when we leave, they still look pretty.

That is all for today, I just wanted to give you a little eye-candy.

A Rag Quilt for Aunt Letha

Aunt Letha is my only living Aunt on my Mother's side.  She is my DM's younger sibling by seven years.  I had not seen her in years and was going to be near her small town for a weekend.  We arranged to get together for a visit at her home.  During our conversation, we noted that we are only ten years apart.  For those of you doing the math, yes, my DM married at 15 and had me at 17.  Unfortunately, she passed away at the age of 53. 

My Aunt had five children of her own and always had a house full of dogs and cats.  She gave me a baby poodle in 1976, which I named Ledet.  Ledet was my perfect fur baby for ten years.  

Anyway, this occasion called for a quilt.  I made my first Rag Quilt as a gift for my DA.

I used two layers of soft flannel with a cotton batting in between.  It went together quickly and washed beautifully.

Golfing Quilt Anyone

One of my BF had a 60th Birthday Party for her DH.  He loves to golf.  I went on the hunt for golfing fabric in person and online.  I see it everywhere now.  I wonder if I had anything to do with that.  By the time I got the fabric in my hand, I had to go into rush mode.  I used the pattern "Take Five" and it went together easily and made a nice lap size quilt.  He seemed to really like it.

As I said, I was in a hurry, so I just turned the backing to the front and hand stitched it down as the binding.  I love a good double fold binding, hand stitched to the back, but it wasn't to be this time.

The back.

Texas Wildflower Quilt Project Ready For Retreat

Saturday was our 34th Wedding Anniversary, so I spent the day with Sweetie.  Sunday afternoon, I wandered into the sewing room to work on a project for retreat in two weeks.  I am trying not to wait until the day before to get everything ready.  After working all day, it is a pain, even when I am excited about going. 
In July, My BQF and I hit three QS in one day.  Two were in The Woodlands and one was in Old Town Spring.  One had a display of quilts made with Texas Wildflower fabric.  It was a simple pattern and I ask some questions (and purchased all the fabrics and more).  They were kind enough to give me a drawing they had made up to help me.  This is the second quilt I plan on sewing at Retreat.

The Texas Highway Department plants these Wildflowers all along our Highways.

Here are the directions using a finished 4" block for the Texas Wildflower Quilt (with my notations).  The layout was 9 blocks by 12 blocks with a 1' border of orange and a 3" border of wildflowers.  The finished quilt would be around 44 1/2" x 56 1/2".

I decided to make mine in 6" finished blocks,  9 blocks wide and 12 blocks long.  My 1st border will be a 2" orange and then a 4" wildflower border.  It should finish at about 66" x 84".

Here are all the pieces, ready to go to retreat.  This is a better picture of the colors.  I have been wanting to use orange in a quilt for a while now.  I'll share the finished top in a later post.