Virtual Retreat - Ongoing (started January 2019)

[Geneva C.]

Thank you Lotti.

It is a beautiful deep breath.

geneva

[Sharon E.]

Good morning everyone from snowy Colorado. Saturday we had nearly 70 degrees to snow for Easter and will continue to snow until Wednesday. My hubby retired on March 31st and my mom moved in with us last week. So my home is very different for me now. YIKES!

BTW, Lotti the photo is awesome! I have been very busy with drapery work and finished that last Thursday. Now I plan to go through quilting stuff, clean and reorganize it. I moved into this new room 5 years ago, so now is the time.

I do have a photo of my grand girl, Lena that I want to use Lea McComas technique to make an art quilt. I will practice first on other photos.

I did make a few masks for us and family. I am sure you are all staying safe.

Sharon

[Geneva C.]

We had a wonderful Easter. My husband and I watched Andrea Bocelli sing at the Duomo in Milan. It was amazing and so beautiful.

Like the rest of you I've been making masks. This week I have agreed to make ICU gowns for local hospitals.

I did finish "Pathways". I like how it turned out.







And I made a little quilt to practice sewing long strips. I needed something easy to do! This is a pattern from Steph Skardal via the Modern Quilt Guild. I call it "Dictionary". The background fabric is filled with dictionary entries.





I hope you are all enjoying the (hopefully!) spring warmth. Soon!

Stay safe and sew on!

geneva

[Terry K.]

Hi everyone! It's been a few months since I posted here. . .I got out of the habit! My "day" was a couple days ago; but, I figured I would check in anyway! Lotti, your photo is beautiful. I love all of the colors. Sharon, we have had an unusual year. We didn't have much cold weather and have even had little rain and staying in regarding the Covid virus has altered many people routines, habits and lives. May a new normal begin soon for all of us. Geneva, I like your Pathways and Dictionary quilts.

I did finish "Leaves" for my daughter in the UK earlier this month. I hope travel restrictions are lifted so that she can come to Oregon for a visit in August and take her quilt back with her. I bought the leaf print fabric more than 11 years ago. It is a Valori Wells print. I liked it so well that I actually went back to the store and bought the remaining fabric. I also bought the other fabrics. I had no plan and didn't come up with one until last October. I sent Valori an e-mail about the finish and received a complimentary e-mail in return. In her last line she said my e-mail had made her day!


I also finished "The Tea Room" which has been on my to do list for a long time.


I'm currently sewing along with Bonnie Hunter on her "Unity" project. I am sewing from stash and am sticking with her red, white, blue and aqua for me that is a light blue color way.


Except for a daily neighborhood walk with our dog, I haven't been anywhere since March 19. I've started a list of items I need from various local quilt shops and businesses so that when the restrictions are lifted, I'll be able to support local businesses again.

I've sewn a couple sweatshirts and other clothing items for the granddaughters. I am determined to continue to downsize my stash into finished projects!

[Sharon E.]

Hi Everyone! Well, today is my birthday. WooHoo! I love having a May birthday. Received beautiful flowers yesterday and will have a ZOOM meeting with all the kids in a few minutes.

I am working on a silk quilt and will show a photo in a few days. I bought Margaret Solomon Gunn's book and have wanted to make one in the book, but didn't have big enough pieces of silk, so reduced it by 50%. Dang it, just a little too big to be a miniature, but a nice wall quilt.

I am really enjoying all of your photos and stories about your lives.

Jerry has now been retired for 6 weeks and wanted to build a workshop, he loves to build. So the floor is down, the walls are up and last week he was putting up the trusses. He was on a sturdy scaffolding up about 3' and the truss decided to not cooperate and down he went. I heard the crash in the house, and honestly I thought I had a dead husband. Lumber went flying and mom and I found him on the floor moaning. Neighbors came to help move lumber and the paramedics (who are always good looking) assessed him. We decided I would drive him to the ER and they let me in with him. Praise the Lord, no broken bones, but very sore. He landed on his left shoulder and hip. However, now a week later he cannot move his arm or shoulder, so today he has a video chat with his primary we are requesting an MRI. We are sure he tore his shoulder up.
So time will tell on how this proceeds. I will keep you posted.

Love and Hugs to all of you and stay safe. This is certainly strange times.

Sharon in lovely Colorado

[wendy w.]

Heavens Sharon I do hope he can be fixed and is comfortable. Shoulders can be so painful.

Looking forward to seeing your silk quilt and a very happy belated birthday.

[wendy w.]

Happy Birthday Sharon!
Yikes re your husband so glad he’s mending. Please keep us loop. Fun to hear about your silk project!

I’ve quilted my “My Country Home” 1/2 size quilt (I’m blocking it now). And I’ve completed the Row exchange quilt. I’ll post pictures when finished.

Barb

[Geneva C.]

Happy Birthday Sharon! Today is my half birthday. Do we still count half birthdays? nah...

Sharon I'm sorry to hear about your husband. I hope he mends soon. That's a serious accident. I can't wait to see your silk quilt.

Barb, looking forward to seeing your half size County Home quilt.

I'm trying to use up some hand dyes I did a few summers ago. I'm hoping to do more dyeing this summer. Here's an impromptu quilt made with drunkards path blocks and the hand dyes. I used a background I found in my stash. It was a backing for another quilt. It's called "Twins!!"






I drafted up a Jinny Beyer block, leaving out some of the lines, and am working on using the above mentioned hand dyes. These blocks are 5" finished and foundation paper pieced. Just something to feed my color habit! I haven't thought of a name for it yet. I only have this fat quarter of the background. We'll see where this goes!





And like all of you, I'm making masks. I'm up to 107. Sure putting a dent in my stash!

Hugs to all of you. Let's hope things open up a bit soon. Meanwhile, stay safe and sew on!

geneva

[Eileen K.]

Happy Birthday to you, Sharon!!
Hope your husband gets the care he needs and that nothing is torn in his shoulder.
Margaret does beautiful work, doesn't she? Can't wait to see yours.


Please, everybody, take care and stay safe!

[Terry K.]

Sharon--I hope Jerry heals quickly. That was a nasty start to his retirement.You and my brother share the same day of May birthday! Margaret is an amazing quilter. I look forward to seeing your silk creation!

Barb--I too look forward to seeing your "Country Home" quilt when you have it finished. Congratulations on getting that far!!!

Geneva--love your "Twins" quilt. That leftover back was perfect with your hand dyes. I'm intrigued with your Jinny blocks. It is interesting where one "travels" with a thought and a little bit of fabric!

Lotti--Your Alps photo is amazing! Your results from Claudia's class are so cool! I've wanted to take a class from Claudia because she seems like a fun person who is terrific at designing, quilting and embellishing such interesting projects! Thank you too for your kind mention of my projects!

[Terry K.]

Today is my actual birthday. I've spent the last month sewing along with Bonnie Hunter and her 'Unity" project. I'm using stash which includes a few patriotic strips and charms I received in a guild exchange years ago along with a bag of red strips that I bought at a stash bazaar at about the same time. You can read post 1, post 2, post 3 on my blog. I'll post an update tomorrow.

I finished an apron as part of a birthday gift for my daughter. I finished a tiny cross stitch project that I began on our Hawaii trip last fall. I also finished three potholders which the birthday daughter had chosen and kitted the fabrics more than two decades ago.

A friend e-mailed me last week requesting masks for her family so I stitched those. I haven't made nearly as many as Geneva! I think our new normal will include wearing masks and social distancing at least until a vaccine becomes available. Zoom conferencing has kept me in touch with some of my quilting and work friends. My husband couldn't stand his hair length so I buzzed it off with the dog clippers. In my lifetime, I've clipped horses, cattle and dogs; but he was my first human head to buzz! The first time, I trimmed, it wasn't short enough for either of us. I liked the second trim length; but, it wasn't short enough for him. The third time was the magic one because there was hardly any hair left; but, he was happy! I do miss seeing his curls--he has cut them off for the last several decades! While I would buzz his head again, I hope his barber will be open when he is ready for his next hair cut!

I started a tree skirt project which I'll gift to a niece when she married in August.

The previous two days, I spent conducting CPR skill checks at one of the local hospitals. I hadn't been there since mid-March. It was my second driving outing since the stay at home order went into effect in our state. Teaching wearing a mask and gloves to participants wearing a masks and gloves while social distancing and disinfecting every surface between participants was a new experience for me. What struck me as the most changed was the lack of staff I saw. Because of the canceled elective surgeries and because our state didn't have the predicted surge of Covid-19 patients, the censes dropped to less than 50% of normal. Many staff were temporarily laid off with plans to be hired back in 90 days. My department which had nine full time staff and two part time staff has two full time staff and one part time staff now.

While I'm sad about the economic hardships Covid has caused, I'm thankful my family which includes my teacher daughter and her family and my London daughter are well and practicing safe behaviors to remain well. I did miss celebrating birthdays and Mother's Day with them though! Stay safe out there!

I'm currently stitching blocks for the current step in the Unity project. I'll attach a photo. These blocks are taking me much longer to stitch than I had thought. If I don't finish in time to start the next clue on Monday, I'm okay with it because I'm on a journey and some parts of the trip just need to be enjoyed more!

[Eileen K.]

Happy Birthday! I've downloaded the Unity blocks, but have so many projects!
I think we all wonder what normal is going to look like. Hopefully, it will eventually transition back.

[Eileen K.]

it looks really great))

@ Terry: fabulous quilts - love what you are dong

@ Sharon: happy belated Birthday - and best healing wishes for your husband - hope they find the problem and all well soon.
looking forward to your silk quilt. i have been collecting silks for years - now have various boxes sorted by types. every time i want to cut into one for something I decide against it. but last summer I saw a fabulous antique log cabin made with silks and want to do something in that line... the pile is ready - most of it has received a backing but the first cut is yet to be made. something else crops up every time

@ Geneva: so fun and bright - love it. and those Jinny Beyer inspired blocks are fabulous - i love the combination. looking forward to what these turn into.

I have been working on a "let's see what it will turn into" corona project by and with Claudia Pfeil, here's where I'm at now still needs more sky and various thing appliqued before I can even think about the quilting - some of the people doing the project are just about ready to bind - but with a few more weekends and maybe a week's vacation or so - I will get there eventuelly.



and this was my view out the window one morning last week (may 4th) - we rarely get such a clear sky where we can see so far into the alps - i've made two pictures - the second with the peak-finder app - which shows the names of the mountain peaks.





take care - look after yourselves - stay healthy and be happy!
all my very best to everyone
lotti