Sweet Home Quilt Co.

Our retreat was designed to offer plenty of time for everyone to work on their own projects, but we also offered an optional mystery quilt project and challenge, which many of the ladies participated in. We provided kits for the mystery quilt project in Fall and Christmas versions so no one would have to agonize over what fabrics to use.

The mystery project was small and only had four steps…we had pre-cut most of the kit fabrics so all their time wouldn’t be spent on the cutting.

Even so, intense concentration was called for…Leiann is in her own little world!

This is Janet with her Christmas version…all complete except for the borders!

Risa changed up the setting for her Fall version so she could use it as a table topper. Just two side borders and it will be finished!

Our “Bag of Parts” Challenge was a little more intense. Participants received a kit containing block parts…squares, rectangles, triangles, etc…and they had to use all the parts in their project. Here Debbie and Brenda are collaborating on a possible block layout.

These were a few of the blocks Mellie made at the shop to test the block cuts…

You can see what a variety of results came out of those little bags! (They all had the same parts, just different fabrics.)

Doris was our Viewer’s Choice winner! Her prize was a 12-piece collection of Auriful threads from designer Pat Sloan.

Everyone got a little package of fabric-covered tacks (all handmade by moi!) and Risa won a fat quarter bundle because her package contained the one lone ORANGE tack!

No, Vicki isn’t modeling a new look…that’s an ice pack on her neck in the picture on the left…we thought we’d found a new use for the amazing Wonder Clips, but the ice was a little too heavy. Vicki ended up wrapping the ice pack in her retreat pillowcase and clipping it around her neck…worked like a charm! Quilters are very resourceful in the face of necessity!

I personally hate wearing a name tag, so we made little chalkboard painted treat baskets for everyone and wrote their names in chalk, which were placed on their tables before they arrived. No one had to worry about not getting a good seat because there wasn’t a bad seat in the house!

The view out my rear window as I drove away Sunday afternoon…a perfect ending to a perfect weekend!

Melisa