Giveaway Winner

This is a short post today to announce the winner of the Retreat Comment Giveaway from yesterday's post. Thank you all for visiting Doris' blog and reading my post and then visiting Patchwork Breeze. 

There were 12 comments. I put the numbers 1-12 in a basket. Shook them, tossed them, really mixed them up. I picked #1.

Congratulations to Heather who wrote

"I attended my first retreat just last year...and loved it! Can't wait to do it again next year!!!"

I have sent an email to Heather. 

I hope that you all have fun on a retreat some day. If the chance doesn't arise, perhaps a STAYCATION (as my friend Val calls it) is in the near future. 

Quilt Retreats and A Giveaway

Today I am a guest blogger at at A Quilting Queen Online. 

Doris, a fellow blogger and quilt designer, is opening a retreat facility in Texas. 

She is taking a bit of a break right now and asked for guest bloggers. 

I answered the call and thought I would write a post about retreats. 

Visit her site and read my post about quilt retreats. 

HERE is a previous post about a retreat I attended this past fall. 

How about a giveaway? 

Leave a comment here on my blog page. 

Tell us if you attended a retreat or would like to attend one.

Make sure I have a way of contacting you. 
On April 23, about noon EST, 
I will randomly select one comment to receive 
this nice canvas tote and 3 of my published patterns 
that you can take to your next retreat. 
(I will ship the bag with patterns within the United States. 
I can't send the bag and patterns overseas; 
but I will email the patterns in PDF format.)

These patterns are available from Patternspot.com. 

Quilting is Off the Cutting Table

The quilting retreat I attended was great. This is a new group that was formed this past spring by a friend of mine who wanted to get Michigan quilters together. We have a Facebook group of over 700 Michigan quilters!

There were 65 quilters working in 3 different areas of the Kettunen Conference Center. 

The space was well-lighted with lots of room to work, we had very good meals, and great fun. 

I looked forward to seeing my long-time friend, Kathi, who I haven't seen in a few years. 

But, I had no idea Bev would be there, sewing at the next table!

The first night we were treated to a beautiful sunset.

The projects I took needed binding while 

others were somewhere between started and partially done.

My goal was to get them off the cutting table. 

For those of you who followed the 2015 EQ Seasons Row Along, 

my first and most important item to finish was the "Welcome Spring" wall hanging 

for the October 6 show and tell day. 

I sewed the binding and glued the rick rack, flowers and beads to the fence. 

I put the binding on the "Peeking Snowman" wall decor. 

The ladies really liked this project. I am sure it was the snowman 

I used from Marian's Row Along block that made it a hit! 

It went home with my daughter for Christmas decorating. 

I put triangle pockets in the top two corners 

so that a dowel can be put in them and used as a hanger. 

The "Eye Spy" quilt is bound and ready for a relative's new baby. 

And the project I finished today was 

a doll quilt for my daughter's friend, 

matching the quilt my daughter made and gave as a baby gift last winter.

(Scraps must be used, that's my motto.)

Thank you for stopping and looking. 

It encourages me to share when I know there will be visitors to my blog. 

What will you finish this week? 

Quilt Retreat and Unexpected Surprise

This past weekend I went to a quilt retreat with 11 other ladies. Some were from the Tall Pine Quilters Guild, some were friends.  It was relaxing and fun and with only 12 of us we had more room than normally is available at a retreat. 

It was held at KETTUNEN CENTER in Tustin, Michigan. 

In 2004 I had attended a quilting retreat here with another group. Only two of the other ladies had been here before. It is owned and operated by the Michigan 4-H Foundation. There are 160 acres and a lake and unfortunately it rained while we were there, so we did not get to explore the grounds. 

But we did a lot of quilting. I took projects that were nearly complete. I do this when going to retreats because I can bring more items to work on and usually get most of them done. I don't have to cut much more than bindings, backing fabrics or small pieces. 

And these are the things I finished: 

I sewed bindings on:  

The Give and Take quilt I made
after taking a class from Susan Purney Mark
at the 2012 AQS Show in Grand Rapids, MI

Small Square in a Square quilt for me.

A small Square in a Square quilt that will be donated for the church bazaar.

A Christmas table runner for the bazaar.

For the bazaar: 9" and 12" table mats from orphan blocks I had.

A 15" table mat quilted and bound, for the bazaar,
made from an orphan block given to me by a friend

Another block given to me by a friend. I added the 4 corner triangles,
quilted it and bound it (bazaar donation). 

Another Christmas table runner that I quilted for the bazaar.
This is made using the Triangle Frenzy Pattern.

A table mat for donation made from a leftover block I made
using Quilt Smart Interfacing.
I sewed backing and front right sides together with the batting.
Then I quilted the curves of the center "flower".

I sewed the sashings on these slash and sew blocks I made a few years ago.
This flimsy will be a small quilt that could be a wall hanging,
child's quilt or used on a table.

Pillowcases for my daughter to go with the Chevron quilt that we made. 

Now, for the strangest occurrence at the retreat. 

I attended a retreat (at a different place) in the early 2000s, where I supplied a kit and showed the ladies how to make a 3-D flying geese block. Some of them chose to keep their blocks, others combined them to make quilts for auction or giving. While exploring the various areas of the building this weekend, I found a stairway with lovely quilts which had been donated over the years by retreat groups. 

And I found the quilt, shown above, hanging quite high on the wall; but I saw right away the 3-D flying geese made from the fabric I had supplied. And sure enough, when I searched the names, they were the ladies who had been at the retreat when I taught that block. You can see 2 of the blocks in each of the 4 corners. Some of the fabric around the signature blocks have geese flying in them. This quilt was donated to the Kettunun Center in 2008, atleast 4 years after the retreat! I am so happy to see that they used the blocks in the quilt they named: 

What do you take to retreats to work on? What kind of quilting retreats do you like to go on? 

Have you ever had something from your past show up in an unexpected place?