Still Back from Quilt Bliss!

So, continuing my saga from the other day . . . after we arrived at Timber Moose Lodge, we settled into the sewing room, which was transformed from this great upstairs room with a fantastic view of the mountains:

There wasn't quite enough room for all the sewists, so another room was set up on the first floor. I snuck down there occasionally to lay out and baste my quilts, and they had quite a cool, zen sewing environment. Just a handful of ladies, but they were having a great time and had plenty of room. I loved being upstairs, although there were a lot of tables to fit in and it was sometimes hard negotiating around people on the way to and from the iron and cutting table. 

Before I forget to mention it, throughout the retreat we had the most amazing meals, prepared by Pamela's sister Christina, mother Ginny, and aunt Becky. Seriously good. I tried to be good and skipped most of the desserts, but they were incredible: bouche de noel, meringues, rustic tarts, and more! They worked so hard for us and did an outstanding job. Thank you ladies!!

Throughout the retreat there were many great classes and trunk shows. Because I signed up late, there were only a few classes left, but still such great choices! I have to confess that I spent most of my time sewing, so I only got to one class, but it was great! I took a fabulous scrap class with Amy Smart. Amy reviewed a number of great techniques to use scraps, but we focused on making a string pieced quilt. It was perfect! About a year ago I won scraps from Film in the Fridge, leftovers from her lovely Bonnie & Camille Ruby quilt, and I've been holding off using them until I got around to doing these string blocks. I made it through one block before digging back into other projects at the retreat, but I'm inspired to finish a quilt with them. I was so impressed by so many ladies at the retreat who really dug in and made a ton of these blocks. Amy had the great idea of cutting the block into quarters, which made a super cute baby sized quilt. 

In addition to the class I took with Amy, there were great classes by Amanda Woodruff on mixing and matching fabric, Emily Sessions on quilting, Kristin Barrus on quilt journaling, Anna Morrison on paper piecing, Leigh Hansen on carving out creative time, and Jeannette Hartvigsen on her fabulous hand-turned appliqué. 

I had been so crazed with work and preparing for my big meeting in DC (which was scheduled for the day following the retreat) that I really didn't have much time to plan (or pack) for the retreat. The morning of, I opened up a suitcase and just dumped in somewhat random piles of fabric. All were tied to projects I had already planned, but I just ran out of time to think about how much I could accomplish and how much to pack. As a result, I ended up with a rather small suitcase filled with retreat and work clothes and a large suitcase filled with fabric and assorted projects in progress. Some of what I packed were the medallion quilt blocks from the round robin I've been working on. I had three to tackle, and April had the awesome idea of us working on them together at the retreat. I've decided not to show the blocks, as I know there are peekers out there! 

But here's a photo of some of the great swag we received:

There's an adorable little print of a sewing machine, two Omnigrid rulers (5.5 inch square and 1x5 inch ruler), little snips scissors, some Aurifil and Metrosene thread, a charm pack and Kona solids mini charm pack, and that adorable little name "tag" person. It's all resting on top of the great Valentine's table runner made for me by my secret swap partner, Lori. I've also included some of the fat quarters I bought at Corn Wagon on my way to the retreat (on the right) as well as two cute Christmas FQs from April. I have just realized that I neglected to add (but need to include) the great little jar filled with selvedges that Sue gave me!

Going to the retreat has really rekindled my sew-jo, and I've been busy since I returned working on a hexie quilt. I've noticed everyone around me getting into the hexie craze for some time, but it really just didn't interest me until now. The QuiltBliss swag included a little hexie starter kit with EPP templates. While I love all things paper piecing, I initially only picked up the little hexies when I returned from the retreat with a bad cold and ended up in front of the TV (and Olympics) for a solid week. Now I have totally gotten into it!

I initially started making flower circles, using the same scraps pictured above, but I didn't like the more traditional look they were creating. I unpicked what I had done and restarted using a swirling spiral pattern which is making me much happier. And the best part? All of the fabric I'm using—even the white Kona—comes from my scraps collection! I forgot to add something to give a sense of scale, but they're little 1-inch hexies. So lots more to go if I want to make this into a lap quilt!

Okay, enough for today . . .  stay tuned for more to come!

Back from Quilt Bliss!

And back from the blogging grave too! This past month or two have been totally crazy with a big work project that, of course, coincided with the much anticipated Quilt Bliss retreat! My work project included a big trip to DC and I initially worried that I'd have to skip Pamela's retreat in order to meet my work obligations. A little bit of tweaking of the itinerary and I made it work!

As you know, I left Utah mid-summer, relocating to the NYC area. When Pamela first mentioned she was hosting a fabulous luxury retreat along with the Utah County Modern Quilt Guild, I knew I wanted  to go, but I assumed I wouldn't be able to come, given that we're still very much settling into our new jobs and new home. When I discovered a few months ago that there was still room in the retreat AND I realized I had some frequent flier miles piled up, with the support of my honey I decided to make the trip. I knew it'd be a fabulous experience, not to mention a great opportunity to catch up with dear friends.

And what an adventure it was! My dear friend Sue weathered a nasty storm to drive all the way up from Utah County to pick me up late at night at the SLC airport. I settled into her guest room, which included chocolates on my pillow! The next morning, April picked me up and, along with Marion, we wended up our way up to Heber, stopping along the way at several fabulous quilt shops. As I may have mentioned, it has taken some adjustment living in the NY metro area in terms of the shortage of modern fabric stores. There are a few places out on Long Island that have primarily batiks and traditional fabrics, but we have to head into Manhattan to the City Quilter to get some real options. I felt as if I were coming out of the desert into the rich world of Utah fabric stores! Despite the great temptations at Corn Wagon, Gracie Lou's, and American Quilting, I walked away with some fat quarters and some new fabric ideas for my wish list.

We then headed up to the Timber Moose Lodge in Heber. So grateful for Marion's trusty monster truck! A lot of snow had accumulated and only the most robust of 4 wheel drive vehicles were making it up the hill! We actually passed the Dave's Bernina truck, which had gotten stuck going up the hill. After a little backing and forthing up the hill, we finally found the lodge. Funny that you can drive past a 26,000 square foot home and not see it!

Yes, this place is so massive that I could fit my entire house—with room leftover—in the lodge's great room! This incredible place is apparently the largest privately-owned log cabin in the U.S. It has 13 bedrooms, 16 bathrooms, an indoor pool, outdoor hot tub, a game room, and plenty of nooks and crannies, including a gorgeous crow's nest with a nearly 360 degree view!

The lodge overlooks a private lake, which is apparently stocked with fish! I didn't bring my camera (just one thing too many to pack!), so I'm using photos from the lodge rental site (thank you!), but during our stay the lake was frozen over and covered with snow.

I bunked with my friend Sue in the lodge's bunk room, which had six queen-sized bunk beds. I don't think I've bunked down with so many people since sleep-away camp in my teens! There was such an impressive number of bathrooms that despite having almost 60 people sharing facilities, I never once had to wait in line for the shower or potty!

So this is a little glimpse of where I stayed. Stay tuned tomorrow for more about the retreat itself!