Quilt Retreat by The Lake III

This was our third retreat at my sister and brother-in-law's up-north home about 15 miles east of Ludington. It's on a small isolated lake deep in the woods. The weather was unseasonably warm for this time of year and I never wore my jacket the whole long weekend. Linda and I were the first to arrive and we had to move some large limbs and leaves from a poplar tree that had fallen over from the high winds earlier in the week. It just missed hitting the house. What luck!! Pat arrived shortly after us, followed by Debra, her sister came down with pleurisy and could not join us, finally, Lisa and Chris arrived. Lisa and Chris ran into Linda and I in Portland on the way north and they hit a few other quilt shops along the way.
This picture should give you an idea of how much sewing and quilting the six of us did over four days. We all saved our empty spools from the long weekend and they made an interesting sculpture.

Some of us (me) were sewing in our PJ's. We stayed up past midnight most nights. Linda got up early in the mornings to walk/run 4.5 miles and I was the last to arise every morning. I got lots of sleep and I think it helped me get over this awful H1N1 lingering cough and wheezing.

Debbie spent time machine quilting a basket quilt and working on the top for a deer hunting themed quilt for her brother.

A view from the upper deck.

Linda taking pictures by the lake edge.

Another view from the deck.

Lisa and Chris prepared a fantastic dinner of homemade chicken tacos including yummy guacamole and green salsa. It was a wonderful meal and we promptly asked Chris to join us again next year. Chris lives in Burbank,California, quite near to Phyllis.

I pieced this top for a quilt for Madeline.

I have been hand piecing the curved blocks for the quilt over the past year or so. I finally finished the hand piecing and put the blocks together into a top. I might add a border, not sure yet. All of the fabrics are circles, dots or round shapes. I used each colored polka dot fabric only once. Some black and white backgrounds are repeated. I have several name options in mind.

I added the borders to my home office wall quilt. Linda and I stopped at Around the Block Quilt Shop in Portland on the way up north and I bought the batik fabric for the border.

My Kaffe Fassett disappearing nine patch quilt. This was my first project for the retreat and I discovered my piecing error when I took the photo. Can you find the problem? I haven't decided yet whether to unsew part of it to fix the problem or just leave it.

I machine quilted my Windberry Studios wall hanging. It just needs binding and a sleeve and I will hang it in my cubicle at work.

I basted, machine quilted and bound Jessica's Birthday quilt.

I pieced the top for a quilt to be given to a new Habitat for Humanity Lansing homeowner. I will ask someone to machine quilt it as a donation.

I started piecing the latest Scrap Fever group project. All the fabrics are autumn colors. I think this quilt will be a gift to my sister and her husband.

Stay tuned for more in a later post.