Quilt Retreat and progress on One Monthly Goal

I took my Windmill Quilt to our little retreat last week and pieced all the blocks plus half the borders. I still need to applique' circles.  This quilt always comes together quickly.  This will be the 5th one I've made.

This is my One Monthly Goal and American Patchwork and Quilting Goal for April.  I don't think I will have the top completely together this week, but pretty close.

The Castle Country Quilter's Retreat was close to home, and I knew many of the ladies there, some of which I have not seen for 20 plus years.  It was like a reunion.  They gave us cute little gifts, provided a make and take every day, organized a quilt block drawing, and fed us the most amazing home cooked meals.  I have decided that quilters are also amazing cooks.  The classes were fun too.  

My long time friend, Patty, brought quilt kits she had purchased through the years and offered them for sale.  I think she realized she wasn't going to sew them.  She set them up in a bedroom at the lodge and let us bag up the ones we wanted.  It was an on-your-honor system that worked great.  We just paid for them when we were ready.  It was a super fun way to shop.  Sometimes I didn't like the patterns, but I liked the fabric and bought them to do with as I pleased.  Here is what I came home with:

1. Fat quarters - no idea how I will use them yet.

2. Chicken Soup panel and coordinating pieces - no idea how I use them yet either.

3. This Kaleidoscope Bloom Kit...I love it so much that I can hardly wait to sew it up! 

 

I am putting it together very different from the pattern using folded insert triangles to make the orange peels without the need for applique'.  I randomly grabbed some pieces out of my scrap bin to test out my plan.  It worked like a charm.  It was so much fun that I threw in a few more pieces and ended up starting a new quilt unexpectedly.  What was intended to be some practice blocks will now become a sister quilt to the kit I purchased.

You can see my progress on it below.  Realize that the folded inserts on the second row are not yet peeled back and stitched down to reveal the correct shape of the orange peel pieces.

Here are a few photos of the progress others made while we were there.

I still have more to share maybe later in the week.

Quilt Shopping...

 We ran to the next state for an overnighter to buy race car tires and drove right past a QUILT SHOP!!!  

This is what I came home with...

A panel of super cute houses as well as some fabrics to go with it.  I generally don't purchase panels, but I LOVED IT!

The next week I went to a teacher training upstate and went to the Cornwagon Quilt Shop.  I came home with these.  I have no idea what they will become, but I love them.

Christmas Row Quilt just needs a border - yay!

My next post will be all about the wonderful retreat I attended this week.  Here are a couple of the Sunflower blocks I made for the drawing.  No, I didn't win.

Here is the status of my Windmill Quilt before retreat.  Stay tuned for what I came home with.

I took my daughter-in-law out for her birthday last weekend.  They are living in the basement of an elderly couple who they take care of.  The lady upstairs loves to read, and brings the books downstairs when she is done.  I recognized several great titles and decided to take photos with the idea that I needed to read some of the ones I have not yet.  She has good taste in books.

We went for a little hike the other day with family and discovered some hidden gems in our back yard desert including a secret garden, Indian artifacts, a hidden arch, and a skinny little slot my nieces and nephew managed to squeeze through.