Detail from "Rain Dance," an original quilt by Sherrie Spangler

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Quilt retreat at Seabeck, WA


I just got back from my quilt guild's first overnight retreat -- two nights and three days at the Seabeck Conference Center on a beautiful, woodsy campus in the Northwest. The top photo shows the building where the 13 of us were housed in spacious guest rooms, each with its own very nice bathroom.


These two photos show the building where we sewed. We were on the upper floor, with sweeping views of nature.


As soon as we set up our machines, Carol and I started making microwave bowl cozies. Mine, on the left, uses a square template and deeper darts. Carol's has rounded edges and shallower darts. They must be made with 100% cotton fabric, batting and thread otherwise they might blow up the microwave and wouldn't make such good gifts.




Meanwhile, our fearless guild president Barbara got started with these strips making a Jelly Roll 1600 quilt. She finished it the next day, including mitered borders with a striped fabric that looks like it was made to go with the jelly roll packet.



Then Carol started production of cordage, running seven different colored yarn strands through her a cording foot to produce one thicker cord. She sewed back over it a second time to make it stiffer, then sewed it into a coiled bowl.



Carol's bowl still attached to the cordage used to make it.

Later on that night, I was engrossed in my wool birds and Delaine was engulfed in a cloud of tulle.


 
Judy, above, worked on a beautiful, soft flannel quilt. Marie completed an intricate Jinny Beyer paper-pieced medallion, below.

 
More creativity and joking was going on across the aisle, but I didn't get pictures of everything. And somehow, unbelievably, I didn't get photos of the food! We had mountains of decadent snacks that we brought as well as huge meals in the dining hall served family style.
 
 
I'll leave you with two parting shots from a walk I took on Day 2 before the rain set in.


Have a colorful day


7 comments:

Judy Sall Fiber Art said...

Looks like fun! I love the cordage... I think I have a cording foot somewhere... might have to give that a try!

Lynda said...

Wow! Such fun! Love everything especially the bowls and the cording. More to put on my to do list.

Robbie said...

Appears you had a great and productive time!!! Always nice to get away and focus just on your artwork...no cooking, cleaning, yada, yada! Good for you...love your wool birds!

The Idaho Beauty said...

Couldn't help but think Carol's making cordage for the bowls is a bit obsessive! But I can see what a refined product she gets from it. Love the lone leaf.

The Idaho Beauty said...

Oh, meant to mention that Jinny Beyer medallion is a bit obsessive too! The sort of challenge I used to take on but now it just makes me tired thinking about it. I love it though.

Janey said...

Thanks for sharing. Hopefully the guild will go next year and I won't miss out on a fun time.

Donna said...

Hi Thanks for the beautiful photos and sharing our retreat adventures. It was a fun time and i enjoyed getting to know all of you a bit better. I loved your felt bird blocks. Your embellishments were beautiful. Merry Christmas to you!