More eye candy

Pat put this top together from a swap that pre-dated my friendship with them. Otherwise I would've done it. I think it's adorable!

We did this dipped in chocolate swap I've complained about. This was actually the second go-around for the swap. Patsy, who owns the Homestead Retreat, came by last night to show us how she put her blocks together. I love what she did! Seems way more civilized than what I'm doing! My top has 780 4-patches which was sashed into units of 4--- I needed 195 of those units, which I did finish yesterday! Whew!! Now those units need to be sashed. That's for another retreat for sure!

She sewed 8 sets of 4 patches together without sashing in between them.

We took a drive yestersay to Reedsburg to a cute quilt shop there. 

Everyone has barn quilts in Wisconsin. I really want one!! I'd put it over my garage. You don't only see them on barns, obviously. 

On the way, we passed this adorable milk house, sitting right in front of the modern silos. This is a huge juxtaposition of time periods. The milk house dates back 100 yrs or so. 

We stopped to try to pickup snacks for our last night, thinking this place had groceries. Definitely not! This was the sign on the door into this establishment:

Sad to leave my friends and my second home in Wisconsin but I'll be happy to get home. Go Badgers! 

Shopping excursion

No retreat time is complete without a quilt shop stop. The town of Spring Green has the most wonderful quilt shop called Country Sampler. I love their fabrics and the samples throughout.

This is in the basement so it's a little dark but still filled with treasures!

I think the quilt on the bed is a cheater-cloth but you can't tell!

This is what DarLynn finished:

She tried to convince me to make it too but fortunately someone else took the pattern home! It's adorable though. It's an old Quiltmaker pattern. 

This is a kit from Country Sampler using French General fabrics so of course I loved it!  Here are a couple of close ups of the blocks:

Someone was going to throw out (imagine that!!???) her extra hsts so they became mine:

They were 1-1/4" unf! Tiny!  And since I had nothing else to do (NOT!) I looked around for a pattern. Look what I made!

I bought that gold fabric at JJ Stitches and love it!

One of the women is a great embroiderer! Look at this Christmas green quilt:

The machine quilting was amazing too! A change of bobbin thread made a huge difference!

Back to sunny and warm California tomorrow!

First day's progress

Once again I'm amazed by the productivity of these Wisconsin quilters! They're prolific and have such great taste in fabrics!! They inspire me to focus!! We know I need the help!! Vbg

I did get my Barbara Brackman Stars in a Time Warp all caught up!!

They said purple!!  

Double pink

Blues 

Poison green. Can you see the arrows I used for the background? I got it at JJ's Stitches. 

Matters. Or is it Madder??

Here are some pictures of what some of the women have sewn already!

That's a pattern from the Jelly Roll

 book. 

This was made using one woman's late husband's shirts!

This has a small wool appliquéd center. The hsts are very small!

This is Pat's X's and O's, which I'm very happy I finished last fall!

I've also been working on a swap we've done based on a quilt in Fons and Porter's magazine last fall called Cheddar Delight. There are lots of quarter square triangles which are fortunately not terribly small!

We took a trip today to Spring Green's Country Sampler. I'll show you the pictures tomorrow. 

First stop on the way to the retreat

On our way to get to the retreat we had to make our usual stop at JJ Stitches in Sun Prairie. The owner Julie Henderson does a beautiful job and also designs the most wonderful fabrics and quilts. She allowed me to freely take pictures throughout her store. Her knack for decorating is enviable!

Check out the saying on the top!!

Look at this sample!! Tiny 9-patches

Then we made the next required stop: The Shoe Box.  Largest shoe store ever! 

Sewing today!

SEVEN HUNDRED

WOOHOO...

I got to 700 today. But I have no idea who is the last person to follow me.

So, can you fess up?? Send me an email so I can send you a gift???

The other good news is that I'm leaving for Wisconsin tomorrow morning, very early, for some serious retreat time with my friends.

So watch for pictures every day, although I know I have to take a walk down to road to get a signal!  We are going to the Homestead Retreat in Hillpoint.  Can't wait!!

Small quilt show

After we dropped the kids off this morning, my dh and I went to a small quilt show just for fun. Even though it was small, I still found much to be inspired by!

Very simple but fun!

This may have been a kit. 

Look at this quilting!!

Love the border:

Simple small half square triangles!

Very different but cute!

Adorable!

Great way to use hexies!

This woman always wanted a farm so she sewed hers!

This was made using my favorite French Provençal fabric!

This was a special display of miniature quilts! These are even tinier than the ones Janet O. Sews!! Like a doll house!!

Cute, don't you think?