Double Dutch Manor

We had a wonderful weekend retreat at the Double Dutch Manor in Oswego, IL.  The owners lovingly restored a beautiful 1840-era manor.  All the rooms were large, airy and bright.  Gourmet meals were cooked to perfection; so mouth-watering good.  I highly recommend it. 

Lots of room to sew. 

 

 

Here are just some of the pictures from our weekend.

This fast and easy "10-minute table runner" was a big hit.  Almost everyone made one! 

  

Ute worked on a modern hexagon quilt.

 Ute also has a new wool pattern and is teaching a class at Roberts Sewing Center.  This is a sample of wool applique using an embroidery machine.  

 Leesa quilted her sampler quilt...

 

and pieced this flying geese quilt!

  Charlene gave us the 10-minute table runner demonstration.

 

She pieced and finished several quilt tops.

 Charlene is showing off "Anita's Arrowhead" block.  It looks complicated, but it's not! 

 So Soft Minkee...

 

 Kathy made this cute, reversible pumpkin table runner!

 

And a flag wall hanging.

 Barb pieced and quilted this flannel quilt.  Look at all those squares!  cheater...

Donna worked on some hand applique AND some machine embroidery.  She started pieced together some blocks.

 

She machine embroidered some "monsters minkees" for the kids.

 

Here's my finished a charity quilt for Quilts Of Valor.  Yeah! 

 

I also pieced 2 block of the month blocks...

 And some strip-pieced pot holders.

 

Mary Ann worked on a Thangles project with brights by Kay Fassett.

 She pieced one log-cabin flannel quilt and finished putting borders on the other.  Very productive!

 

 Our fashion model Julie made this jacket! 

 

And she quilted this beautiful fall quilt top with wool applique.

 

Even our host, Jacqueline joined us for show-n-tell.  She knitted these dolls.

She also hand-crafted these gnomes from clay.  She painted their faces and made the clothing.  Such detail - she is so talented!

 

It was a wonderful, relaxing weekend and I can't wait to go again.

Retreat

I took a couple days to sew with friends.  Since this is the only time I piece, I had a couple projects to work on.  This one was so quick and easy.  It started out like this...

and turned into this table runner.

I purchased this cute safari panel years ago and put some borders around it.  

  

And worked on three block-of-the-month's that I had not completed.  I'm all caught up now.

Last October 2011, at another retreat, I pieced the blocks together from a basket block exchange that I participated in.  I just had to put the final batik borders on it.  I like how it looks now.

Here's what others were working on.... a tote bag and blocks for a bed-size quilt

The Queen of wool, Ute!

This is a little basket embellished with wool.  So cute!

This log cabin block is only 8" square.  Jodie did some quilting.

 

Sue sewed this quilt with vintage fabrics and finished it with hand-quilting.

Retreat Weekend

I went on a retreat last week.  We made a bee-line to several shops in Indiana. 

Our first stop was Erica's Sewing and Craft Supplies.  A large store with a terrific variety of fabrics to choose from, plus sections for wool, hand embroidery, cross-stitch, knitting and other crafting supplies. 

They had a big 30's section.

On to Shipshawana to Lolly's.  It was my first visit and I was very impressed.

 Everything is so neat and tidy. 

 

A boat-load of fat quarters!

 Next up - Yoder's Department Store,  They were waiting for us. 

 A huge fabric section.

Their Shop-Hop basket Quilt. 

 

Here are some of the quilts we worked on or finished during the retreat.

a Quilt of Valor made by Sharon

One of those tiny twister quilts.  Sandy is quilting it.

A table runner I made from left over pineapple blocks

Ute's hand-dyed wool.

Mary Ann's airplane quilt

I pieced this red and white mini quilts from a kit. 

Dorothy's Kitty Quilt

More Wool mats that Ute designed. 

Charlene worked on a large shop-hop quilt.  These are some of the blocks.

A flannel quilt of 9-patches

Barb pieced 3 T-Shirt quilts!

This quilt was made from jelly rolls! 

Sharon made this wool table mat and the decorative thread matches perfectly.

She started making ohio-stars.

And finished this table mat too.

Julie made this table topper out of 30's fabrics.

Leesa made this star out of tiny 1-inch HST! 

She put some borders around this neat pine cone panel. 

This was made from a 6-inch charm pack.  Bright and fun colors.

Mary Ann made this baby quilt from a turning 20 pattern.