Back from Guild Retreat - and what fun it was!!

 My DH gives me a hard time when I go 35 miles up the coast to retreat in a town that doesn't even have a quilt store!!  But I'll never give it up!  Worth it every time.

Retreats:  Are yours like this?   Sew, sew, sew, talk, talk, giggle, talk, eat, eat, eat ...

It goes so fast, and I never get as much accomplished as I dream I will.  But nothing is as inspiring as a room of 'like-thinkers' working on projects, consulting with others and learning something new every time!

We were expecting rain every day - but we did have some breaks and easy weather when we were packing in and out.

A BIG giggle-fest was the PJ party night!

Here's what I worked on - besides the chocolate section of the snack bar!  I bound this garden challenge from ModSquad and laid out and sewed into columns this HST kid's quilt.

 

I did some other steps to move other projects closer to a finish while I had entertainment in the room.  Pictures to be shown later!!

Out of chaos - the best time AND progress in projects!  Now to keep up the momentum back at home.

We're BACK!

 But first I must show you the article I saw:

To be honest, it went on to give some really weird Jello salads to make.  None sounded good to me - but my cranberry salad is WAY BETTER than canned cranberries.  Just saying!

I was at the Bandon Quilt Retreat and had a blast!  With the Bayshore Babes anything is possible!!  The food is delicious and most days we had a 'chocolate smorgasbord' of assorted chocolates to keep up our energy and spirits!!

J kept bringing delicious snacks over telling me our room wasn't eating enough!  I almost always snuck them back and put them in front of her machine!  On the very first night R, for some reason, put Dawn Liquid dish soap in the dishwasher.  Its a good thing to do if you want to clean the floor at the same time!!  R has a great sense of humor and always helps clean up any mess.  Did you know that Dollar Tree stores have 5 different color mini bottles of Dawn?  It was truly meant to be - the next day when R left (finally) her sewing space we 'dolled' it up with 3 Dawns!  We all laughed about it all week!

P and I were pretty 'nose to the grindstone' when we were there.  Here's the selection of projects I worked on - on my design board.

Now don't get excited about how much I got done!  It was a 5 day retreat; we were cramped in the Subaru we were driving so I packed UFOs - almost all these blocks were already made.

Starting in upper left corner:  

Japanese Boro with fabrics and silk screens from Japan when P & I were there in January 2020.  I've been wanting to design this for years ...  add a triangular border or not?  You'll be the first to know!  

Across the top is a part of a kit that I got in a class at Portland Block Party in 2008(?)  I like the colors but not enough to make a quilt!  But I think it will look fabulous on my green dining room table!  I got the 3 blocks that were made together with the first of many borders.  Unfortunately, I thought the second border needed some pink in it - but didn't have any.  

Stripe Me Lucky is a pattern from Jen Kingwell's Posse - young designers that she sponsors!  I made this quilt last year for D, my grandson, one of the family quilts  to replace quilts that burned in the Almeda Fire while they were in Panama.  P and I loved it so much we cut and made blocks for each of us too!  Still love it and want to make a 70 x 90 couch quilt.

Along the right side:  Bonnie Hunter's Monkey Business.  It looks like a churn dash but isn't.  It's based on a 5 patch (not 9 patch like churn dash)  The corner blocks are twice as big as the middle rows are.  I loved BH's quilt but was not that happy with my fabric choices.  So I made it for our Hospice Charity quilts.  Ta-Da - just need to find a back and turn it in Tuesday to our chairwoman. Done-done.

Across the bottom almost "Annabelle's Quilt" pattern.  I tweaked it quite a bit! Very old UFO too.  I have all the blocks done and was sashing them together. And ran out of the beige-ings sashing.  Now I have bins and bins of "beige-ings" and wasn't going to buy any.  So - cut more sashings and Get 'R Dun!! is on my ToDo list!

The reason I hung them at home was - we left the day after we got home - and I didn't want to let them to be forgotten!!  Because DH whisked me away to Palm Springs for a week!  This year is our 50th wedding anniversary!! And a little get-away was needed after Covid, right?

We started with DD in Portland for 2 days.  Direct flight from there to PS!

We had a great time - especially at Sherman's Deli five out of the six days!!  It's our favorite, what can I say?    For Breakfast I recommend the Greek Omelette.  Lunch:  Pastrami sandwiches is always a must.  I swear there is a pound of meat on that sandwich!  

My second lunch was with my Newport friend who lives in the area now.  I ordered Stuffed Tomato with Chicken Salad.  And there was cups full of fresh fruit around the perimeter of the dish!  Cantaloupe, Musk Melon, Pineapple, Strawberries and Blueberries! Generally, I'm not a melon fan but I am now!!  Other customers even asked me what I ordered!!  It looked as good as it tasted!

After our 'light lunch' we walked around downtown and window shopped.  The Art Museum had some outdoor permanent displays.

  

Palm Springs' 28 foot Marilyn.  We saw a biker gang stopping by for selfies!!  And I was glad I did my toe nails before the trip - even the statues have painted toe nails!

Of course we did eat at other places too!  PF Chang's; a PD Mexican Restaurant and Castillo's.  Chang's is always good, the Mexican restaurant was so busy and loud - it was impossible to have a conversation.  And I have to admit, our food wasn't very good or hot!  

Oh, but, Castillo's was fabulous!  And old Italian restaurant with pictures of famous guests on the wall.  Just in our little corner we spotted Bob Hope, Florence Henderson, and a very young Joe Biden!  There was a piano bar that we could faintly hear.  They make their own Limoncello!  The food was out of this world!  We love Italian and on special occasions we almost always celebrate with Italian food.  Castillo's was a Top 10 restaurant and meal!!  And we've been doing this over 50 years!!!  I had Lobster Ravioli (oh my!)  and DH had Chilean Sea Bass with a side dish of very delicious grilled veggies.  

Our time was very low key - most afternoons were laying by the pool and reading.  I finished 4 books!!  It was marvelous!  And if you ever have a chance to fly into Palm Springs Airport - its a gem! Most of it is outdoors with Palm Trees welcoming you.

A sunset from our balcony in Palm Desert.

We are back home now - just in time to start a 7 day storm!  Sigh, but still good to be home!

And a fun time was had by all - again!!

 Just back from a four day retreat!!  Oh man, oh man – it was great and worth all the hassle of remembering everything you’ll need.  And then packing, driving 4 hours, unpacking, then trying to find the fabric / tool / thread that you KNOW you packed!!  It’s always crazy - but oh-so-worth-it!

Retreats are my favorite thing.  Just the time alone with your quilting peeps and your favorite activity.  They cook for us. The phone is rarely for us.  Giggling 24-7 with friends,  even without the benefit of Mike's Hard Lemonade!!  Not much money spent unless you go shop-hopping!  And win-win – you get stuff done!

On Wednesday, we arrived at the Big K Ranch in Elton OR in the afternoon – first project:  I started repairing my DGD’s Halloween quilt.  What a pain in the patooty!  So, after hours - a whole side border, I called it good until I got back home.  (Today’s update:  All broken quilted lines are sewn over.  I only have 4 squares to tack down by hand.  Tonight during tv!!)

Thursday, I started the funner(?) stuff!!  My machine was already threaded with orange … so what better time to stitch up “Peek a BOO!”  A Jenny Doan pattern for a twin sized quilt.  P made the twin quilt earlier, it was darn cute, but P and I reduced those 4” squares to 2 ½” and me 2”.  Makes a mighty fine wall quilt!  Together they look like big brother and baby Boo!!  Too cute!  L got a kick out of how we were making the same project but with totally different processes!!  All was well for me, until I forgot about the column of “Peek” resting on the table and kept sewing!  Yep, P helped by ripping that seam out and I got the errant column in.  Much cuter!!  And yes, there were games, or photo opps!  A Scissors headgear was a huge success - "Now where did I put those scissors?"

 

Friday, was the ‘funnest’ stuff!  We bought Applique with a Twist from Meg Manwaring.  (we meant to buy Daily Dose of Applique in the same set up!  It’s hard to keep your focus when you are excited to find it and you’re 69 years young!)  But the pattern is practically the same!  Kind-of, sort of!!  The sashing is scraps sewn into ‘ticker tape’.  Yep, that’s what I call it and I’m keeping it!  Ticker tape is FUN to make!  You chain stitch, of course, just add another strip of whatever color attracts your eyes!

The final ticker tape (in our version) is 2 ½”.  So we sewed!  P’s scraps were longer, mine were from an age old project of mini log cabin blocks. I’m sure you remember the grocery bag full of ‘pieces too little to use, but too big to throw away!’  I moved them to Oregon and had a ball with them.  I have enough log cabin blocks made to create a KING-size bed quilt!!  That sucker is going to be    H-E-A-V-Y!

No need to make more, so I magnanimously donated my log cabin scraps to ticker tape!  Still so fun to see all those favorite fabrics!  Sigh!  We each pieced ticker tape until we had a dozen or so – laid them out on a table and took turns picking out strips.  Ended up with a pile each!  And yes, we have as many scraps left as we took!  Scraps are famous for ‘fluffing’!

That evening I wanted to get started with a Boro wall quilt I’ve wanted to do since before COVID.  P and I went on a QuiltTour trip to Japan in January 2020.  Yes, COVID was there, and we were touring around with crowds of tourists.  But we were lucky, got to come home as scheduled; and I don’t believe anyone in our group ended up with COVID.

It was a grand tour, ending up at the Tokyo Intl Quilt Show.  We bought a few fabrics (not as many as we’d liked to – big hassle to get them home.)  So time to gather those beautiful fabrics, some we bought from Yoko Saito herself!  I played with what I’d brought, but I needed more lighter fabrics.  So took pictures of the arrangement so far, and packed it all up again.  P thought we were going to work on Kantha – also from the Orient, but very different. You think you are communicating but sometimes you’re not!  Mostly my fault, I’m sure!

I made an improv forest wall quilt earlier this year for ModSquad – I love it!  But I ended up with lots more trees than needed.  Yes, they are that addictive!  The Newport Guild has a Charity Benefit silent auction at their August Quilt Show.  This year there is a ‘tree’ theme for donations for Re-Foresting.  You can donate a small quilt for the silent auction OR you can display it and make a donation.  This is going to be a close call – it’s still in 3-5 pieces, but I already love it!  I was going to donate the 'second favorite' tree quilt - …. But I may go with a donation!!  I’ll keep you informed!

 

ModSquad Challenge

Retreat edition - in pieces!

P, L and I had been working on improv birds this spring.  We all brought them to the retreat.  They are stinking cute!  So cute that 2-3 more retreaters started them too!  I cut so many stripes so we would have a choice of stripes for bird legs.  Well, we couldn’t use them all - so I sewed them end to end and made a border I dearly love!  You just can’t go wrong with these birds!!  Here are the online directions!  Start on a free day … it’s addictive!

I'm thinking I could add one more row - there's almost enough border!  I do like rectangle quilts more than square!  We'll see.  There IS a possibility that I just want to make some more birds!!  Yes, they are that fun!!!

Can you believe we fit all that into just 4 days??? This week I'm going to watch grandchildren compete in tennis and baseball.  It may be in the rain ... but it's always good to see the 'Mids'!  They used to be the 'Littles' but now in their teens!  I have no idea how that happened!

Good books lately - 

The River by Peter Keller  Two college friends camping and canoeing in the Boundary Waters.  Tested by fire, white water and violence.  But this softie loved meeting the main characters. 

Waiting for Tom Hanks by Kerry Winfrey  A real cutie and who doesn't love Tom Hanks!  Kerry Winfrey has written several light romances - you know, the kind you long for.  She also has a newsletter that's fun to read.

The World Played Chess by Robert Dugoni  A book about serving in Vietnam.  It was heart-breaking but not too brutal for this softie.  Very good

The Book of Lost Names by Kristen Harmel  A WWII resistance in France novel.  The characters came to life and it was hard to put the book down.

See you next time!  Rain or Shine!

Can anything "TOP" a great Retreat??

Just came home from an awesome retreat with our Brookings Quilt Guild.  It was perfect quilting weather because it was storming outside for 3 days!  When the rain broke today, we all ran out and loaded our cars like there was free fabric somewhere!!  There wasn't that many breaks in the rain ... gotta move those machines out to the car when we can!!!

On Friday, CY came up with her serger and we made 130 pillow cases from white sheets to transport quilts for our Memorial Day Show.  We were pillowcase sweat shop machines!!  For 5 hours we were cutting up sheets, hemming the parts that needed to be hemmed and serging those puppies together! WTG gang! Thanks for all the help!

My DH makes fun of us, because we leave our town - with 3 quilt shops and we retreat 25 miles up the coast.  And there isn't even a quilt store in that town, or a Dairy Queen!!  But we stay at the Gold Beach Resort and they treat us oh-so-right!

We take over the conference center but get to sleep in hotel rooms at night!  We provide the food. There is a lot of "crock pot" foods; salads and sandwiches.  I'm not going to describe the 24' table of Snackies we bring!!  We do not starve!  Not by a long shot!  And a washcloth creature in our room!  I think it's a slug - they are rampant here!!

Here are some tops I did at retreat.  They were less than half of what I packed and I thought I packed light!!  I really could have stayed there another week and still have projects to start!  And Lord knows, the Snackies Table would have supported us that long too!

I made the center panel after I finished my "Pies and Tarts" quilt a few years back.  I thought they looked like beach balls and wanted to check it out.  Yep, beach balls.  

I don't know why it was in "time-out" for so long.  I was looking for the perfect border fabrics, I guess.  Found them!  Hope to get it finished for the Soroptimist Brookings Baby Shower in March.

I saw this cutie online - gave you the source last blogpost.  I went with a white background instead of black.  I love it!!  It's 48 x 60.  A little big for a baby quilt!  Must work on my math skills!!  But good for a toddler bed??  Too cute to languish - hope to quilt it before our show Memorial Day Weekend.

This is the center of a Christmas table runner.  6" Fabric borders are added at each end.  It's going to be a great size 18.5" x 39".  

The pattern is "Split Log Cabin Table Runner" by Needle and Thread.  I made 24 green log courthouse steps-like blocks.  Then I turned them into a HST with light fabric squares.  

I didn't want to repeat blocks so I have enough HSTs to make one more.  Since I didn't follow the pattern (who me??) Next time I'll start with lights in the center.  You can choose your favorite.

This is a wonky 9 patch!!  The 9 patches are purposely off center with no lines  continuing from block to block "Wonky".  I found a baggie of the 24 blocks for $1 at a guild garage sale many moons ago.  I like it - it reads very modern!!  I have to find a splotchy fabric for a border.  It'll be another cute baby quilt!

So I'm home - DH is on a golf trip and I'm sitting here in front of the SuperBowl.  Not really paying attention to the game, but want to see the commercials!  It's very hard to "come to attention" when the commercials come on.  Goes against the grain!!  When do you head for the bathroom???

So far I like the talking yearbook ad the best. AND all the diversity / united together ads.  Hope they help!!

Making Quilt Kits

Lat weekend I went up to Portland, the weather was coooperating and Miss P had her first basketball game of the season.  I started at the crack of dawn and arrived just as the kids got out of school.  Our schedule was a moving target but we had fun.

First on the to-do list was to finish a special project that I was too sick to help with over the Christmas visit. (Thank goodness, that episode is over!)

We often make presents for their mom and dad.  One year we made "52 reasons we love you".  The kids dictated the reasons to me.  I wrote them down, printed them off and we all glued them to cards.  I punched holes in the cards and they connected them all by yarn ... I was there a week that visit and we just barely got it done!!  Pinterest is the best and worst place to research these "nifty gifties!"  If you love Pinterest - you know what I mean!!

This year Miss P saw some plaques made with Scrabble tiles.  My first thought, was "Good Grief, who taught this kid about Pinterest!"  Oh, never mind - it was me!

I didn't like the columns of letters next to each other because reading across was NOT words!  But I refined it with crossword puzzle assembly.  We were doing this all long distance!!  She'd send me a pin, I'd send back an idea ... great fun because there were snow days before Christmas and this helped!  It was all very hush-hush!

It was time to pick words.  There were names, hobbies, favorite teams, dogs ...
Miss P was picking things she's like to do!  Ice skating!!! No, we have to pick things that will remind you of all the times you did that, it's not a to-do list!!!

I had an old scrabble board, found and bought new scrabble tiles on Amazon.  You know, there are only 99 slightly oblong letter tiles in every game.  AND you can't spell much with them!  Especially names!  We have a lot (relatively speaking) "Y"s and "K"s in our family!  But not a lot of them in the games!

The kids were still coming up with ideas.  There are crossword puzzle makers online.  You put in the words, they come up with a layout.  I started with that. Longest word first when making these!  BUT sometimes the words were not placed as you would like.  So I got out the graph paper and started adjusting.

It's quite addicting! In the end we had 21 words.  We had to spell Lego with 2 "G"s to fit in "Gus" the new German Shepard!!  We figured it was worth it!

I got home Monday afternoon - tomorrow I go to retreat.  Yikes! What was I thinking? Two days to get ready for retreat??? AND I have to make soup for one of the meals??  So I've been oh-so-busy getting 'quilt kits' made to take with me.

Ideally, I would have Mary Poppin's carpet bag.  Any supply you need, any fabric from home, even any snack, photo, comfy pants ... just reach in and grab it!  But, it's not to be.  So you have to think "What will I be in the mood to work on??" and take 50 of your favorite choices!  Well, it is a 4 day retreat!!!  LOL!

I tried to add a picture of the scrabble project, but Photo Shop is not following my artistic ideas today!!  I need to blur out the proper names ... better look next time!

But here are some of the kits I'm making for baby quilts for retreat!

  

               Geometry                                               Log Cabin Table Runner

  

                 Rainbows                                     Redpepperquilts.com

Quilting Daze

Yes - we have a scrappy theme --- AGAIN!  I always have a scrappy theme!!

I'm off to retreat!

Quilt Retreats! What a wonderful invention. I’m leaving tomorrow for the Lincoln Quilt Guild retreat. This is probably my 20th one!!! I started going the first year we moved back to Lincoln and that was 1987. I got here in July and by Sept I was in guild and on my way to Retreat.

Some retreats are fancier [and more expensive] than others. Ours is KISS [Keep it Simple Silly!] We have guild members do demos and basically bring what we want to work on. We stay at a 4H camp above a state park so there are miles of hiking trails available. We sleep in bunk houses – pretty primitive, but they do have showers in the bathrooms and heat. The lodge, where sewing and meals take place, is a step above primitive and since the guild has gathered there for over 20 years – we’ve convinced them to make some improvements – like electricity upgrades. We rarely lose power any more – but we all know where the circuit breaker box is just in case! A few years back they were lucky enough to gain a chef on staff. Tom is great and we’re so happy he’s there – meals were pretty miserable before then.

Before I moved back to Nebraska, I belonged to Love Apples Quilters of Southern New Jersey. We had a retreat at the senior citizen Salvation Army Camp in North Jersey. It was all in one building and very nice. A wonderful hiking path around the lake there.

Memory: I was manning the check-in desk in Jersey. A quilter brought 4 LOADS on a dolly past me to her room [quilters tend to over-estimate what they will get done at retreat!] :> AND then she came and asked me where the nearest Kmart was – “I forgot my underwear!” And that, my dears, is why I have a packing list!!!