News - May 13th, 2013
HEY FRIENDS, COME ON AND GET HAPPY!-
THROW ALL YOUR CARES AWAY AND ENJOY THIS DAY GIVEN TO YOU
"THE MOST BEAUTIFUL DISCOVERY ABOUT TRUE FRIENDS IS THAT THEY CAN GROW SEPARATELY WITHOUT GROWING APART." elizabeth foley
This is how I feel about the dear friends I really get to know and love on the road as I teach...God has blessed me by introducing me to wonderful people with good hearts.
I just completed my yearly June retreat in Idaho. To see the wonderful photos of our good time please visit my blog at
Mary Lou and Whimsy Too
All but one student flew in and we went to Farm Chicks the next day and then Art Dest in downtown Brown's Addition. Then we all met at Azteca for dinner and getting to know one another. The next day we started in with color talk and what people might not have thought about with color and their stashes and then we started to do easy piecing and some girls brought their story quilts from other years to finish up.
I have to say this group got along well and everyone shared ideas and fabric and laughter. Tina came from LA and cooked for us again and I am going to be doing alot of walking....the doofd was exceptional. The theme this year was Paris and next year it will be Cowgirl Quilters and we already have prop plans and give away plans and some really good recipes too. We will be having it in Washington instead of Idaho next year. Hope you can make it you will love it.
Many lifetime friendships have been made there
I was blessed last month by visiting Chicago twice. Harriet my hostess at the first guild is an old friend who has taken many classes from me beginning with one in New York when she lived there. Ellen was my second hostess for Village Quilters and she brought her son and husband to dinner. Her son is 11 and darling and reminded me of my 11 year old Grandson. A bonus of the lovely trip.
Ellen also took me on a trip to the Milwaukee Museum of Art. See my blog for photos. It was so creative and inpiring and fun to be with someone so knowledgeable and fun. That was something I will always remember much like the Chicago Museum of Art.
The thing about Chicago isthe wonderful places to visit there and restaurants and FUN creative people. Who wouldn't be creative living by the Chicago ART Museum...it should be on your bucket list if you have not visited there yet. It is just beyond wonderful. I had a one day workshop with the first guild. That is not enough time to do my process and I won't be doing one day gigs again. It is too hard to try to cram two days into one and it takes a day to "get it" and to do wonderful things. The second guild had me for two days and people did fab things. I took a photo of girls with their flowers and that is on my blog also. Great work and lots of "aha's." I love that!
I taught at John C. Campbell last week before my retreat and it is always wonderful because we have FIVE full days there to work and process is the theme of the school which I do. One of the wonderful quilts might be on the cover of the school catalogue next. It is a peacock. If you do not get the catalgue you are missing out! It is fabulous and they do so many kinds of classes. Usually there are 12 to 15 classes going at once so we get to see wonderful results at the end of the week. Their quilting room is large, well lit and has a high cutting table. The food there is the best for a large place and all made from scratch and if you are a vegetarian they have you covered with good things. The beauty there is fabulous in North Carolina...I fly into Atlanta and drive there. It takes about 2 1/2 hours.
Last month I had the chance to fly to Bozeman and do a three day workshop for them. It is a fabulous city in the heart of Montana by the Gallitan Mountains. It has beauty, Gracious people, great shops and restaurants and quilt shops that are GREAT! It also has girls who know how to make fabulous quilts and projects. I was awed by what I saw. I liked their guild because everyone had a job and they all did it well! All smiles, all positive and all with offers to do more. My friend Barb Cribb who owns a wool business (senior moment here) took me through her home to see how it works and her home is something else..belongs in a magazine for sure. Sandy Appleby who comes to my retreats was my hostess and that was really fun. She likes vegies like I do and we hit a couple of great places to eat. :0)
And last but NOT least was my workshop in WEST VIRGINIA at CEDAR LAKES. This is a pristine and beautiful part of the US that is wonderful to visit and create. I teach there every May and we do story quilts in the middle of the most beautiful Mountains. The trees are rich green and the red buds and wild flowers are everywhere. People there are honest and kind and very Southern. I had my first West Virginia hot dog this year. It is a hot dog with chili on it and it was great. I usually have sauerkraut and mustard. :0)
Many girls came back and continued on with their story quilts. We exchanged fairy gifts as we often do in my longer workshops and that is always fun. June who comes every year brough tbeads to show us how to make amazing bracelets with memory wire. I share this with my retreat buddies. One of the girls brough yarn and showed us how to crochet necklaces and that was fun too. We usually have a night time craft session with anyone willing to bring stuff and show us. That was fun. Kim brought wine and invited everyone to bring cheese or crackers or whatever for a party. I mailed a box with crackers and fig jam and chocolate. We had a big spread and alot of fun. We stay in a building that is joined to the classroom so people can come and go as they please. Alot gets done there as you can imagine. Gloria who is in charge is wonderful. It is a blessing to be able to go and create there and many story quilts that will be studied later on begin there.
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I will be teaching at Camp Watch a Patcher next month. And I will be at sisters at lunchtime sitting with a COW Exibit.
SPEAKING OF COWS....if you have a cow to show off from our book "Out of the Box with Easy Blocks" please email us a photo by July 1st. We are organizing the AQS COW Parade and there will be 40 cows there. YES FORTY! The cow parade continues to grow and we hope to have new venues next year!
If you wonder where the pattern is, it is in the book above which you can order from me here.