FRIENDSHIP

Friendship and quilters just naturally go hand in hand.  I have had the great pleasure this last year to go on several retreats with lots of different quilters in several different places. 

Each retreat has its highlights and special memories.  It would be difficult to pick the one I enjoyed the most.

This past November I went with an awesome group of women to Grand Oak Retreat Center in Scottsboro, AL.  These gals call themselves the Lotus Blossom Quilters.  Each one of us made a rail fence block using fall colors with a neutral as the  center bar to put our autograph on.  After arrival we then exchanged these blocks with each other and now each of us has enough blocks to make a small wall hanging; or, we could add blocks to it and increase its size to bed size.

 
 
 
 

My blocks had my name and the name of the group with the date.







I decided to take the suggestion of my friend, Linda, and I made 9-patch blocks which I then "fractured" to make new blocks.

Putting them together became a fun little project and I chose to use asymmetry for a couple of rows.  That offsets the predictable, traditional style of this pattern.

 

 

Each block echoes the style of the maker.  It is such a fun quilt to look at and enjoy with each person's name and her fabrics.

 

I quilted it on my domestic sewing machine with concentric circles and pebbling in the centers.

 

 

No project is ever complete without LilBit's approval!

 

                                   -sandi

www.grandoakretreat.com

 

 

LOTUS BLOSSOM QUILTERS' RETREAT

Here we are for four days of sewing and sharing!  I made these little pincushions for favors for the  ladies.  They are paper-pieced and finish at about 3.5 inches square.  They are filled with steel wool and batting.  The steel wool will help sharpen  the pins and needles.

All of us (there are 15 quilters) made Rail Fence Blocks to exchange with each other so we could make small quilts to remind us of our new friends we made and the joys of being with old friends to sew.  We signed our names to them.

Here is my group of blocks with every one's signature.  Now I want to get them put together into a sweet memory quilt.

They may need some sashing.  I do not think I want them turned two different directions.

I  put these blocks together and had the sashing ready to add, but decided I wanted to change the cornerstones.  So I will finish these right after the holiday.

 

 

Someone gave me a layer cake with these fabrics in it.  I have not done a Twister Block quilt, so I put these blocks together and then did not have anything with me to border it.  I have brought it home to put on the border and to cut the twister blocks to make a cute little quilt.

I took this with me to Retreat because I thought I would separate it and do another strip and add some borders.  I changed my mind.  I like it the way it is.  That means it is now ready to be quilted and will make a nice Christmas gift.

This was a wonderful retreat with lots of great friends and fun and laughter and food!!!

                                                            -sandi