Quilt til you wilt?

Here at last, are some pics from this months quilt retreat. I am thinking we should maybe call it a quilt marathon rather than a quilt retreat. Many of us end up staying up way past a reasonable bedtime or getting up with the sun to quilt. I admit to belonging in the night owl camp. There were about 25 of us at this retreat and I know I should have taken more pix but I was too busy stitching, visiting and giggling.

Anyway...here are some of the fabulous quilts that were being created at "retreat"... enjoy!

Peggy was diligently working away at this stunning quilt. I love the colors in this

Karen was adding piping and binding to her lovely quilt - turned out perfect!

Oh-oh - this was a twin needle I was using to top-stitch a knit top I was making - something went wrong. Oddly, it didn't break, but It should be pointing down not sideways LOL

Debbie put together this pretty blue, white and yellow quilt - Love that color combo

Here's Fran modeling the cool scarf she made - now we just need some weather below 70 degrees!

Here's Fran's amazing quilt she made for someone's wedding  - lucky people.

Truly a labor of love.

Linda B - (on right)  made this stunning quilt top after changing the design numerous times - also a gift for someone lucky.

Karen's fabric collage project "Ray in progress and looking fabulous!

Dear Marcia - she traveled all the way  back from her home in the northeast just to be here with us and quilt. She taught many in our group how to hand applique. She is a joy and a treasure - can't wait to see her next year again!

Gosh, love this quilt but now I can't remember who made it. Trying to tell who is hiding behind it, anybody else know?

This is a McKenna Ryan quilt that Jo and her sister Connie were working on together all weekend. They are doing a splendid job- it's gorgeous!

Here's one of our quilter's that resorted to making a sleep mask because her room-mate kept the lights on to read and the light was keeping her up - I snapped the picture when she asked me if it was centered as she was adding the strap - naughty Linda.

Carol was working on her wedding quilt blocks. All her guests signed blocks at their wedding and now she is putting them together in a quilt - she had a lot of signature blocks - it was a big wedding.

Alice finished up this stunning contemporary log cabin quilt top

A few were having word fun with the whiteboard in the room.

Linda F. was working on this awesome quilt - I saw it last week finished and it's really beautiful!

btw, we had 4 Linda's at retreat - we considered going by our middle names to stop the confusion every time someone said Linda.

Aloyse rescued this traditional pieced quilt top from a rummage sale and is hand quilting it. 

 

 

 

We all had such a good time,  it's great to see quilting friends that we don't always get to see much of throughout the year, and it's also very inspiring.  I hope you have a chance to take in a quilt retreat  where you live. Belly laughs are priceless, as are all my dear, silly, quilty friends.

 

And alas - on our way out the door.... bye, bye  retreat center - until next time......

 

 

on the road....with quilters

Ah yes,  another quilt retreat has come and gone, but what a retreat it was. Of course all good retreats begin with the road trip to get there. WOO - HOO!
This year my friend Karen was the driver and I, the navigator. This usually works out quite well, I said usually. Last year there we took a small unintended detour. Oops.

This year things went very well. We started out in the morning and met up in Sarasota with our friend Fran (aka Frannie). We had decided to go to Yoder's Amish restaurant for lunch before hitting the quilt shop. Hard to shop on an empty tummy.
If you are going to be in Sarasota, love good homemade food, and are hungry, then Yoder's is a must. They were featured on an episode of Man vs Food. You can see the video clip on their website. Warning .....it will make you hungry.

Anyway, we all sat down and then started placing our orders. When it came to choosing our side dishes we decided to all get something different, and then share. Sounds like a plan..... well, when the waitress came to our table and set our "sides" down in front of us, we all burst into peals of laughter. OMG and OMG again! See for yourself..... we could have shared with the entire restaurant.

would you call these "side" dishes?

We knew there was NO way we could, or would want to, finish these tasty, but decadent plates of food. I do confess however, that the still warm, homemade chips were very good, as were the very tender onion rings. Needless to say, we left with the plates still mostly full and with very full tummies too.
Just one more thing.... Yoder's happens to have the BEST homemade pies and I LOVE apple pie. I have had their apple pie before, and just couldn't leave without some, and so we left, full and giggling with an apple pie in tow.
Luckily, we were headed to retreat where the salad bar rules with lots of healthy choices.

This is all that was left of a large apple pie on the last day of retreat... I did share it....

sharing the apple pie with "Olivia"

Our next stop was Alma Sue's Quilt shop where Fran wanted to see about having her gorgeous quilt hand quilted by the Amish women there. It's a very nice shop and sure enough there were two older Amish women sitting at the quilt frames, quilting away by hand. I found a couple of things while there....more on that next time. Until then......

a true labor of love....by Fran

the coincidental avocado...

Yum!

Fran, a sweet friend of mine was kind enough to share a couple of beautiful home grown avocados with me. They were perfectly ripe, and large, and ready to eat.
Naturally, I decided to make a batch of Guacamole (yum!) and to also make croissant sandwiches with turkey, bacon, tomato and avocado.  (If you add bacon.... the husband will eat avocado)
So, after a long day, we sat down to dinner and popped in a movie. We decided to watch the movie Big Miracle.  Just as we dipped our corn chips into the Guacamole, there, in the opening scene, was a reporter talking all about avocados and Guacamole - we looked at each other and started laughing - guess you had to be there LOL but we found it to be a humorous coincidence.
Anyway, if you haven't seen the movie it's about the 3 whales stranded in the ice up in Barrow Alaska, back in the '80's, and based on a true story.  My review- a thumbs up - we thought it was a nice family movie and I really enjoyed it.
We also have an avocado tree, but apparently our naughty squirrels have eaten all the buds before they can form into fruit. Oh well, lucky for us we have nice friends.

While I was away at quilt retreat (more on that soon) my friend Karen & I stopped at one of our favorite stops. The Earthbox store, to get planting supplies and starts.
I came home with a grape tomato and bell pepper start and a new mini Earthbox to add to my collection. Come October, I'm going to try green onions and radishes in the mini box.  After speaking to the farmer, it turns out I was planting my onion seeds too early.
This morning I finally got my planting started. In one Earthbox I have snowpeas, green beans and beets.  Haven't tried beets before, so I am curious as to how they will do.

 In the other box, I have my grape tomato and bell pepper. I need to go get more soil, so my third box will have to wait a day or two. The third one will have red romaine lettuce and spinach.

Now I can't wait for harvest time, and the cooler weather ahead. Hopefully this will be a green thumb year!