A Quilty Retreat

I was lucky to be able to attend a fantastic retreat this last weekend put on by the Portland Modern Quilt Guild. It was awesome. I want to go again as soon as they organize another one!!

I’ve never done a retreat before on any level, so it was an experience in many ways. The only thing that was tough was the bed I slept on, but even that wasn’t as bad as it could have been. The best thing about it was being able to focus on a project for a long period of time… without cooking, laundry, cleaning or any other thing I usually do on the weekend. Because of the time I had to work, I was able to create a design and complete a quilt top:

It’s called Green Cross and I’m excited to quilt it up once I get a backing done for it. I designed it using Susan Beal’s Modern Log Cabin pattern for the cross blocks. It’s basically just 4 rounds on a log cabin block and put together so it looks like crosses. Next to it is a quilt top by Amy Redfield Morinville. As quilt tops were finished, we hung them like this from the balcony.

Views

The retreat was at this great space out on the Columbia Gorge. It was high up on a hill so the views were spectacular.

Equally amazing were some of the quilts that people were working on! This top was done by Heather Joy – and looked phenomenal:

Tracie was working on this one:

Kelly’s medallion quilt was stunning!

Looking at friends over the balcony:

This was the room I shared with Brittany, Michelle, and Emily:

The weekend was full of sewing, fun, beauty and laughter. All the best things, right? It was pretty awesome to meet and get to know some new people from our guild too! Thanks to the PMQG board members for putting this all together! It could not have been better!