Sew'n Wild Oaks Retreat

 Hello Everyone,

The quilts that I'm posting today were made by members of the Independance Hall Quilt Guild who attended my retreat.  We were auditioning border fabrics for Mary Sue's fabulous quilt. 

Next up are Cynthia's two quilts.

Cynthia is relatively new to quilting, but you would never know it when you look at her quilts.  She's a natural.

Jocelyn is always entertaining telling us about her creations.

This is Jocelyn's Lil' Orphan Scrappy block.

Sue showed us two stunning quilts. 

Diane made a quilt perfect for mountain life.

Ann picked up two needlepoint kits on the 'free' table at a guild meeting and she made them.  They are beautiful!

Cindy showed us quilts she made from classes offered by the guild.

Here are the talented Independence Hall quilters.

The weather was nice enough for us to enjoy being outdoors in the beginning of the week. 

The rest of the week we had all of our meals indoors.

I still have more pictures to post this week.

Soon,

Lynn

Sew'n Wild Oaks Retreat

 Hello Everyone,

It's been a whirlwind of activity over the last few days and I'm just now getting around to posting pictures from my Sew'n Wild Oaks Retreat at Snowflake Lodge.  The first picture is a beautiful Winterset made by my sister, Gail.  She enlarged the pattern by adding extra blocks and pinwheels.  She is also going to add another border.  She worked hard on it at the retreat to get it to this point.

There is always a lot of discussion around the design walls, and the design walls are always decorated with beautiful quilt blocks.

Quite a few of the girls were making little cottages for Calico Cottages.

I taught a class for Lil' Orphan Scrappy.

Here are some Bridle Path blocks.

We had show and tell every night. This quilt by Jocelyn was stunning!

This is my Christmas Ribbons pattern which Taimi made from her stash.

We started each morning with an inspirational message to set the tone for the day ahead.

I taught a couple of workshops and one of them was Lil' Orphan Scrappy.  Paula brought her beautiful quilt to show the class.

This beautiful wall hanging was made by Diane and was very apropos for two of the quilters.  They were late coming in one morning because there were four bears right outside the front door of their cabin!

Our cousin Melody joined us this year.  Lil' Orphan Scrappy is the backdrop for our picture.

Mel isn't a quilter, but she brought two quilting puzzles.

This is the fabulous group of fantastic quilters and women who made our time together so special and memorable.  They are all so giving, compassionate and just plain good souls!  What fun we had.

I have many more pictures to post, and I'll get to them throughout the coming week.

Soon,

Lynn

Sew'n Wild Oaks Retreat Day 1

 Hello Everyone,

The first machine started up around noon on Sunday and the girls started in quilting for the next five days.

The restaurant in Snowflake Lodge in Arnold, CA was transformed into a giant room for quilting.

The girls started in cutting and chatting.

Melody brought a quilting puzzle and many joined in putting it together.

At 6pm, we went to my cabin for an appetizer dinner.  Melody made 'Shrimp on the Barbie'.  So cute, Melody and the shrimp!

As always, the girls outdid themselves with wonderful appetizers and desserts.

The snow melted and the weather was beautiful and warm enough to be outside.

I'll be posting our activities and quilts throughout the week.

Soon,

Lynn

Spring Frolic Kits

 Hello Everyone,

I'm deep in preparations for my first Sew'n Wild Oaks Retreat of the year at Snowflake Lodge here in Arnold, CA.  One of the projects is my new Spring Frolic design.

This weekend, my sister Gail and our friend Debbie helped me make kits for the girls.  They are ADORABLE!  The table topper features my Hearthstone fabric line from Marcus Fabrics.  Debbie said she has a much greater appreciation for kits after she saw the level of effort it takes to pull them together.

I ordered more bolts from Marcus Fabrics so I can make more for my other retreats and I'll put some out on Etsy.  I'm including the backing and binding in the kit, so it is exactly like my original design. 

Today is going to be a full day of housecleaning, pattern printing and tutorial writing. 

Gotta scoot!

Soon,

Lynn 

Terial Magic is Magic

 Hello Everyone,

I'm sharing a product with you that I just tested out on my applique called Terial Magic. It gives your fabric a 'paperlike' texture. It is supposed to prevent fraying and it works like a charm!

I use the starch method of applique using freezer paper.  The pieces are nice and crisp, just the way I like them to be.  Even though I've been manhandling the background fabric while stitching, there was hardly and fraying.  Normally I run a machine overcast stitch on the raw edges, and I didn't do it this time just to see the results.

I sprayed the background fabric and all of the fabrics for the applique.  It was a bit harder to needle, but the edges turned on a dime.  I am very pleased and will continue to use this product when I applique.

With this product, you saturate the fibers, let it hang for 10 minutes, then iron it dry.  The fabric is so stiff you can bounce a quarter on it.  I was so amazed, I had Mr. Joe feel the fabric and he was surprised too. It doesn't take much to keep us entertained up here in the mountains!  Maybe we are experiencing cabin fever.

If you love applique, give this product a try.  You can also use it to starch your fabrics before you cut and piece.  I may have to give that a try to and I'll share my results with you.

In case you are wondering, this applique is for my super-secret project.

My first Sew'n Wild Oaks Retreat of the season begins on the 21st of this month.  I'm cutting kits, finishing pattern writing and straightening up the cabin.  The window cleaners are coming on the 17th, so that's adding a whole level of stress......moving furniture and washing the valances above the windows. It needs to be done, but it was poor planning on my part.

The other night, Mazey's bear alarm sounded off loud and clear around 10:30.  There were three cubs on the stairway leading up to the deck.  One of the cubs decided to do a balance bar routine on the railing.....I guess in preparation for the summer Olympics.  It looks like a polar bear statue.  We were pounding on the sliding glass door to get them to leave before they decided to dance on top of the Blackstone.

We received another 14" of snow last week.  I'm beginning to think I'm never going to see my daffodils. Another slight snowstorm is supposed to roll over us on Sunday.

Time for me to get back to my cleaning when all I want to do is applique!

Soon,

Lynn