Friday, April 26, 2013

What is on the design walls today?

Ruth's beautiful bird quilt
I did not get photos of everybody's but here are a few:  
Ruth had a large print fabric that this pattern really worked well with (above). She used the dark green to make it pop out, with a dash of purple for interest.   I apologize for not remembering the name of the designer of this pattern.

Janelle's thread spool quilt
Janell is a piecing maniac.  I do declare she must have completed a dozen quilt tops in three days!  I think she had most of these thread spool blocks started before she came to the retreat, so I will cut her some slack for not being a slacker.  What a cute thread spool pattern, done with striped fabrics.  I love it, but I must resist making one and not swerve from my already-lined-up projects! 
Carol's Twisting Turning 20 quilt

Carol's takes up the entire design wall and part of the floor. Meanwhile, after she got the top row sewed together there was an avalanche, so they were mostly on the floor.  She got her starter fabrics on her road trip from Tucson, AZ to Waynesville, MO in August 2012.  There are fabrics in here from the Calico Cow, Roswell, NM, Bittersweet Quilts, Joplin, MO, and The Thread Peddler in Buckthorn, MO.  She also used some of her stash. Imagine that!

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Road Trip to Quilting at the Monastery

Ruth and I packed our sewing things, quilting things, bags of stuff, and our mad money, into my 1997 Chevy Blazer, and headed out at 10:30 a.m.  I drove and she knitted slipper socks. We chatted all the way to Twin Falls, where we stopped for lunch at Five Guys and had burgers and fries. Burgers wrapped in lettuce to be exact; a perfect gluten free lunch.  We proceeded eastward toward Rupert, where we hoped to indulge ourselves with a visit to an exceptional quilting establishment.  About 30 miles from Twin Falls great big snowflakes began to squash up on the windshield. This is April 22nd! What is with the snowflakes?  We got off at the Rupert exit and headed north about 4 miles and turned right onto 6th Street and found ourselves in a mobile home park.  Ruth reread the address, "524 6th St. (on the square) Rupert, ID".  We kept going and found our way to the old downtown part of Rupert and found "the square".  Eureka! We found The Gathering Place.
As it turns out, Ruth and I both, appreciate old buildings.  What a delightful setting!  I know why they call it The Gathering Place.  I gathered a nice stack of fabric and had to make myself not look anymore. Yet, there were more places to look!  They have a ton of fabulous fabric.  As it turns out, we were not the only ones heading to the retreat, that were visiting Rupert on the way.  We saw two other quilters there, that were getting their fabric fix prior to the event.  While Ruth was having her fabric cut, I put mine in the Blazer, then got my camera and took some photos of the wonderful old buildings.  I drove us around the block to head out, and discovered we had come in on a one-way street!  I had briefly wondered why the angled parking was angled in the wrong direction!  Well, we drove back to the Twin Falls exit, where the sun was shining and on to the monastery.  We got the vehicle unpacked, our machines hooked up, and said some hello's to people we had not seen since last year.  Julia, our fearless leader, helped me to square-up a quilt top, that night, after the main room thinned out a bit.  I went to bed feeling as thought I had accomplished something. Smile.