In between the first snow of February and the big snow storm at the end of the month, I escaped with nearly 40 other quilters for the Endless Mountains Quilt Guild Retreat at Watson Homestead in Campbell, NY. The retreat center we go to is a great location for the retreat. We had large rooms to set up our machines and more to sew and hang out with each other, all our meals were prepared for us, and our dorm rooms were in the same building. Four days and 3 nights of fun, and I actually felt like the creative juices were beginning to flow again!
Mud on the Wall
Here, I just stuck photos and chunks of fabrics on the design wall to give me an idea of what I wanted to do for my new Water Road inspired piece. This was before I took it off the wall to pack for the retreat.
Retreat Main Room
This is the room we we spent most of our time in during the retreat. Lots of different projects were being worked on. The following photos show the progress of the piece I began at home.
Mud on the Wall 2
Mud on the Wall 3
Mud on the Wall Not so Muddy
The last photo shows the piece after I got home and have it almost ready for fusing to batting for stitching. Finally some progress on a piece inspired by mud and rocks.
Wisteria Vines being Stitched
What I worked on when taking a break from the Water Road piece. This is one of the stone walls I began while at my grandmother’s last fall. The vines are made of various yarns and torn strips of fabrics. They are then stitched on with a free motion zig-zag and variegated threads.
Wisteria Vine Stitching 2
A closeup showing the vines in more detail.
Wisteria Almost Done
Flowers and leaves fused on then stitched.
By the time the retreat was over, I had the binding done on this as well as another tiny one done, too. Finally some progress!!
I am a former textile artist and new pattern designer with a degree in horticulture, wishing to share my love of nature, flowers and gardens with everyone through my photos, sunprinted fabrics, and now pattern designs. Chronic Lyme Disease has caused major changes to the direction my life. I have to limit the amount of time spent digging in my gardens, and quilting has become more difficult. I discovered pattern design as a way to get art back into my life. I now use my gardens and photos to inspire designs that can be used on fabrics and print on demand items.
The retreat room looks great and it looks like you got your creative juices flowing. I like your wisteria vines.
We had a bit more room this year… A few things that had been stored there like a piano and extra tables, chairs, etc. were not in there, so we had even more room to spread out a bit. The first retreat in 3 years that I really felt I accomplished something 🙂