A little challenge....met!

Kathy

 Last month I did a trunk show for the Piecemaker's Quilt Guild in Missouri Valley, IA. I had a great time and taught a class on making the Miss Tess quilt the following Saturday. It was fun to see their quilts start to come together during class and I promised (or did I issue a challenge....) I would come back this month to see how many finished the tops.

Jeanine 

 Amazingly, 8 of the 10 brought their quilts back in various stages of completion. One made many blocks and made two quilts!

Jeanine's 2nd

 The other two quilters were there; one had forgotten hers and the other was still sewing rows together. She was making the larger version and said it was still on her living room floor.

Bonny

 It was fun to see them again and chat about quilting. They really are an awesome group of quilters.

Karen

 I've had Sampler Clubs the past few nights and sewed with friends yesterday, so need to do some things around here today. The quilting group that I go on retreat with twice a year is getting together tonight to plan our meals...we leave next Thursday! I'm so excited, even though this is my 3rd retreat of the summer. I have been working on class models for the most part and feel like I'm making some headway. I have to do this every year!

Rita

Our first retreat was back in August of 2010. None of us had been on a retreat before, so it was our first retreat and we had to figure many things out. We went to the Farmer's Dotter Quilt Retreat in Bedford, IA. It was a cute place, and set up like a bed and breakfast, so we did no cooking. We had so much fun we decided to do it again!

Denise

 That first retreat began on Friday afternoon and we stayed until Sunday. We didn't think that was long enough, so now we go on Thursday and stay until Sunday. We have stayed at several locations over the past 6 years, but have stayed at Stitchin' Tree Quilter's Cottage ever since it opened in 2013.

Bev

It's a nice set up with a full kitchen, so we fix our own meals and best of all there is a small shop next door so we can shop when we run out of important things...like fabric and thread! this will be our 13th retreat, the 8th one there. I need to start planning what I will work on!

Pris made a runner

Mini Retreat, mini Serenity...

When I made Serenity, I made extra blocks so that I would have plenty to play with. Even when you love the fabrics, the blocks don't always fit in with the others. I took those blocks along on my retreat last weekend, plus fabric to make more. I wanted to make a smaller version and wanted lots of fabric  choices. this top went together fast because there are no setting triangles like in the original, just a straight grid. I did add a black batik print border to finish it. 

Lots of other creativity going on...Pat made this colorful quilt top using the Yellow Brick Road pattern.

Karen's 30 minute runner turned out cute!

Deb's cute graphic quilt (I forget the pattern name, sorry!)

Karen's Simply Posies center. She's trying to get caught up.

Deb's Disappearing Nine Patch.

There were a few more projects worked on and finished, but they are being made for gifts, so can't show the pictures yet. It's always fun to spend some solid time sewing...amazing what you can get finished!

Retreat planning day

 My retreat friends and I got together on Sat. to plan the food and games for our upcoming Feb. retreat. It's three weeks away and we're counting the days! Then we spent some time sewing. I worked on sewing the first large diamond together for my Lone Star class model and cutting another set. I love how this looks! That's all I will cut until demonstrating for the class on Saturday.

 Then I worked on making a few more black/gray Honeycomb blocks for that class. I am becoming obsessed with this mostly black/gray quilt. I partially sewed some of the seams together, but can still add more blocks if I want. I got opinions on using the zebra sets, and they all loved them so I worked them in.

Pat brought two show and tells ....her zigzag quilt, which is beautiful with 2 color zigzags.

 And this gorgeous 30's prints rail fence. She gave both of these quilts to Cindy to quilt for her (she has a long arm quilting business).

 Cindy brought her Chevy truck  quilt...she worked on getting this finished at our last retreat and it is now finished, quilted and bound.

 She put a road on the back of it! She delivered it to her brother on Sunday.

 Then she worked on her Sampler Club quilt. It's coming together nicely!

 Dianne worked on her Scattered Thoughts quilt...she has some gorgeous fabrics set on a gray background, so I can't wait to see some blocks finished.

 Rose worked on her last Sampler Club quilt....we all love her fabrics and think she should share.

 Pat was also working on her Sampler Club quilt...she had a problem with the sashings and had to get out her ripper...hate when that happens.

 Diana couldn't come as she had some family obligations. We missed her!

I worked on some class paperwork all morning yesterday...then went swimming with a friend at the senior center. It was my first time in that pool...the water there is so warm...it was wonderful. We did water aerobics. I'm not much of a swimmer, but I love water aerobics. I used to go to a class in the summers, but haven't gone for quite a few years. Maybe time to get back into it.

I worked on more paperwork when I got home and will probably do some pattern writing today as I'm home because of the holiday. Are you sewing?

Lots of sewing!

I had a lot of fun on retreat working on some new blocks made out of batiks. I am in love with the background fabric and think it looks good with everything I've chosen so far.

You might remember the 3rd colorwheel quilt that was waiting to be finished...I spent more time trying to decide what to use for borders than it took to sew them on. I'm still not sure if it's finished...hopefully I will decide soon.

I played with colorwheel orange squares one night when I was too tired to sew and sewed it together the next morning. I have an idea in mind for some more colorized squares.

Dianne made a microwave bowl potholder...

...I love these things and plan to make more!

 Diana finished her Tangled in the Kite Strings blocks out of her mother's stash....this will be a stunning quilt.

Rose finished one ZigZag quilt and started another one. They look so different!

She also finished this quilt that she started on the last retreat....

 And made a quick and easy scarf!

Dianne worked on her polka-dotted Which Way is Up quilt. She is going to add a green dotted border.

Diana also worked on her Sparkling Prisms blocks.

Rose made a cute snow globe wallhanging....

Dianne liked it so much, she made one too!

Pat started and finished this quilt on retreat. We all loved the soft colors. She worked the rest of the time on her ZigZag quilt, but sadly I didn't get any pictures of her blocks. She was finished making them, just had to start assembling the quilt.

Diana finished a sampler quilt she started a few years ago. She went back to school while continuing to work fulltime and raise 3 kids, so she didn't have much time to sew. She recently graduated and is happy to be able to devote some time to quilting again.

It was a great weekend of sewing, laughing and sharing stories. I can't wait for the next one!

I spent some time working on the mystery pattern last night and got more done than I thought I would. I'm home today (SNOW DAY!!!) so hope to get it finished. Maybe I'll have time for a little sewing too.

Ahhhh.....retreat....

 Our retreat is in full swing and we're having a great time. I worked on finishing the mystery quilt, so I worked in another room most of yesterday to keep the mystery a secret. I was glad to have the blocks put together late in the afternoon so I could join the others. I could hear all of the conversation, but wanted to join in. It was a great motivator!

They were busy all day! Diana is working on a sampler quilt...she really wants to finish it this morning.

Dianne made a microwave bowl....and finished her challenge project.

We swapped 2 1/2" half strips last time, so challenged ourselves to make something...I forgot to take pictures of all of them, so I will do that later, but here are Cindy and Dianne's projects!

Cindy finished her challenge project....

nice!

Rose is working on her ZigZag quilt. She got the blocks put together already this morning, but I don't have a picture of it yet.

I made two microwave bowl potholders....I love them! You can get the pattern here.

I also started cutting the fabrics from my OTHER  challenge...so will be working on it soon. Breakfast is ready...gotta go!