The Company I Keep

 This past weekend was our quilt retreat at a place just short of heaven for me. Our group was much smaller this time but we managed to soldier on just the five of us.

The weather was picture perfect in every way so we spent about 75% of each day on the porch with hand stitching.  Thank goodness we all do some of that.

My spot on the porch.  I've found over the years there are few photos of me because I'm the one holding the camera.  My great grandchildren will ask "what did Grandma Denice look like?" and no one will remember. 

We decided to hold show and tell on the porch.  No one wanted to go in and waste the gorgeousness of the days we had.  We did just everything but eat our meals and sleep out there this weekend.    This beauty is Barb's own design. It's a Christmas quilt and it's stunning.

She was on a tote bag spree and recently made several.  This one is big enough to hold a few quilts. 

                                                             Joyce is a phenomenal knitter.

Sally loves the itsy bitsy piecing.  This was her basket quilt we all made over covid winter.  She showed it when we were together in July but decided she wanted the baskets to have the little diamond cut out in the middle.  She did those cut outs AFTER the quilt was finished. 

This was a kit that sat waiting for attention and she finally had it quilted. 

Jan and Sally are working on the same quilt pattern but their colors are different.  Jan is doing exactly what the designer did and Sally is using her own fabrics.  Both are going to make a beautiful appliqued quilt.  Hand appliqued, buy the way.

Sunday it rained so we were inside. As I said, Sally works in itsy bitsy piecing.  She loves it and it makes me go cross eyed.

 Recently Barb made a Minick and Simpson quilt entirely in blues and used her blue leftovers to make these circles for a quilt.  She made almost 400 circles and found as she laid them on the wall that 234 was big enough. 

                      Jan's machine project, machine piecing the border pieces for her quilt.

Joyce was making table runners for her church bazaar that she covid cancelled while we were retreating.

So she was free to make one of those bags that slip over the handles of your suitcase.  Except the kit shorted her on fabric and substituted something that worked well but while you're reading and trying to make it work and they didn't TELL you of the substitution...well, it took some conferring.

                         And here they go, eleven turkeys out for a morning stroll.