No sweat shop

Here is the show and tell portion of the retreat weekend recap.

Susan finished this picnic top for her son and his family.

She also finished this block.

Mary Ann was working on a beautiful top made from these adorable panels.

She also put together these panels with sashing. 

Last but not least, she made progress on her octagon pattern.

The photo doesn't do it justice but Gwen made this top with some very sweet fabrics that are well-suited for a one year old little girl.

Susie made lots of progress on her paperpieced blocks.  I think she may have enough.  As luck would have it, she also found some gorgeous sashing or border fabric while shopping over the weekend.

Lynn worked on her Diva black and white plus one color challenge.  There was lots of auditioning and it is well on its way.

Kathy was super-productive.  She popped this bricks and mortar variation out as if it was popcorn!

She quilted this jelly roll top.

And another ...

She also pinned this top made from one of the original Wizard of Oz lines.

Jan was stirring up trouble with this Pockets to Go that is destined for a Wildwood Quilt Guild fundraiser basket.  The theme is "For Adults Only".  Be sure to come to the show so you can buy tickets to win a one of a kind basket of goodies!

Jan made a few pillowcases too.

And an ironing board cover ...

And this lovely skirt.

Syd made huge progress on her Diva braid challenge.

She stitched the borders for her Jan Mullen cups.

I made an XXL tote bag and some zip pouches for the fundraiser.

I wish I'd bought more of these otters because now I want some for myself.  They are cute little guys.

I used my leftovers from the sign quilts to make this reverse applique wallhanging.  Yes, I will probably hang it the other way ...

These blocks don't look like much but they are the beginnings of my Moon Glow  piecing.  I finally dragged out the kit and labeled the fabrics so I could get started.  This one is going to be a marathon and not a sprint.

Last, but not least, is my (in progress) Pockets to Go for the adult basket.

Dianne finished the binding on this luminous wallhanging.

Here's another photo of her Xmas presents wallhanging.  They are really cute and the candy stripe is perfect.

She also managed to savagely rip out stabilizer from the wrong side of these labor intensive blocks and still had the energy to put them together into a top.  Zoom on the photo to pick up the print on the setting fabric. 

Caryn finished the quilting on her Color from the Heart wallhanging.  Really nice!

Prudie pieced this I Spy hexagon top.  It worked out well that our resident expert I Spy-er (Jan) was on hand to share fabric and consult.

She also finished several pretty pillowcase combinations.

Suzanne finished one of Mary Huey mystery quilt wallhangings.

She also got started on a couple of cute block combinations that will grow up to become quilts someday.

Lisa made (and filled) two cute totes.  This one was a Martha Steward pattern, I believe, and the concept was to use a vintage tablecloth.

She also finished this one from a panel.

She also made progress on stacks of these blocks.

She got this finished top pin-basted too.

Whew!  We accomplished a lot in one weekend.  My apologies to Fran and Judy for not snagging pictures of their finished projects before they headed for home.

We also found lots of time to speak fondly of Charlie. ;-)

I hope everyone is well-rested so they can tackle the next batch of UFOs.

Once upon a time ...

This tiny little town looks like it might be a little boring. 

That is, unless you are quilter and show up with a bunch of crazy ladies for a retreat weekend.  You never know when people will start doing the chicken dance, for example.

I love the combo of the dancing and Susie getting a better look (are they really going to do the WHOLE song?).

And the answer is yes.

The dancing was highly entertaining but the star of the show was this unassuming white board.  We had so much fun teasing Kathy about not bringing markers (for a full day and a half, I believe), it was almost a let down once we got them.  But, this board and the markers were a gift that kept on giving. 

Another highlight was when Kathy moved around to the other side of Lynn's table to admire her progress on the heart quilt she was making.  They both reacted when they saw how it looked from a different vantage point.

You be the judge, but it just might seem to be anatomically correct!

Later that night, someone observed that Lynn's sweatshirt had arranged itself to meet the theme.  You can't make this stuff up!  We laughed A LOT, needless to say.

Dianne must have been feeling left out from the prior dancing episode so she did a Rockettes pose with her beautiful presents table runner.

Dianne was also professing her love for Cheetos.  Who knew!?!

Before we parted company, I tried to get a group shot.  Here's one of the outtakes.  We are missing Fran and Judy.

Here's an after shot of the white board.  It definitely falls under the category of "you had to be there".

And .... here's the shot of the group behaving.  A great time was had by all!

Here's a link to the show and tell session from this highly productive weekend!