Mystery Monday – STEP ONE

One of the projects this past weekend at the 2009 Quilt Retreat Getaway Weekend sponsored by Quilts by Barb was a mystery quilt. So, for the next few Monday’s I will be posting the clue and the pictures of what was created from the clue. At the very end of this series I will post some pictures of what the quilters created during the retreat. It’s so neat to see how everyone took a different approach to the color scheme’s and fabric selections.

We did the pattern ''Golden Oldie’ A Judy Hopkins Mystery

Before we arrived at the retreat we were told to chose:

1/4 yard each of 5 different LIGHT prints (I chose grey’s)

1/4 yard each of 5 different MEDIUM prints (I chose pinks/purples)

1/4 yard each of 5 different DARK prints (I chose teals/aqua's/blues)

Cutting – Golden Oldie (I’m just going to give you the gist of what we were instructed to do. Click on the link above to download the mystery for free)

from EACH of the 5 LIGHT prints:

Cut 4 strips, 2” x about 21”

Cut 2 strips, 4” x about 21”, cut these into 4” squares

from EACH of the 5 MEDIUM prints:

Cut 2 strips, 2” x about 21”

Cut 2 strips, 4” x about 21”, cut these into 4” squares

from EACH of the 5 DARK prints:

Cut 2 strips, 2” x about 21”

Cut 2 strips, 4” x about 21”, cut these into 4” squares

2009 Quilt Retreat Getaway Weekend and The Christmas Store and Quilt Shop

Hi everyone! The first night of the 2009 Quilt Retreat Getaway Weekend sponsored by Quilts by Barb was a lot of fun! I’m writing this at 1:30 am and I was not even close to being the last one to bed. I’m not going to write too much in this since I really need to go to sleep but I wanted to share some pictures. Tonight I’m just going to share with you some pictures from The Christmas Shop and Quilt Store we have set up. This will be open to the public today from 8am until 5pm at the Baymont Inn in Belmont, WI. Some beautiful hand-dyed fabrics dyed by Barbara Raisbeck and Diane Lapacek. An overall look at some of the beautiful items we have for sale. Jewelry from theApple and Blue Hill By Hand Apple cozies, wall hangings, and table runners Wall hangings, canned items from Lapacek’s Orchard, Body Butters from Zuresh, Christmas decor… Baskets by Becky’s, Cute frames and wall decorations,Wide variety of bags Some gorgeous quilted wall hangings… I hadn’t seen these yet and I think they are just beautiful!

Alright…now it is time for me to go to bed. I have to get up EARLY to start sewing and help run The Christmas Store and Quilt Shop (make sure to stock up on all your quilting/sewing needs!). See you in the morning!

Preparing for the 2009 Quilt Retreat Getaway Weekend sponsored by Quilts by Barb

I am one of those girls people that can pack for a weekend and easily spend a week away without having to do laundry. I’m terrible at making decisions…you never know what you’re going to need and what if it’s at home? Well, packing my suitcase of clothes is easy (sweatpants, fleece pants, pajama bottoms, tanks, t-shirts, and hoodies, oh and some clean underwear). My plan is to be cozy and unconcerned about my looks. Now, packing fabric…not so easy.

My plan for the book of circle quilts is to make a little of everything and then create some great bags from my blocks. I’m going to need a lot of options! What to bring? I’ve been ‘collecting’ beautiful and fun fabric for the past year or so…now my problem is that I don’t know how to pick what for each project. I guess I’ll have to bring it all! For the ‘mystery’ quilt I plan on doing a grey (black and white), pink (into purples and reds too) and teal (blues and greens) so I have to separate those out. I have determined that I am going to bring at most, two crates full of fabric…I think that’s reasonable…you?

I’ll keep you all posted of my preparation progress.

I will also have lots of jewelry and handmade items for sale at the Christmas Market. If you want a sneak peak at what I’ll be bringing check out theApple and KimsCraftyApple.

A Treasury in Preparation for a FABULOUS Retreat Weekend!

Last night, Barbara Raisbeck, owner of Quilts by Barb managed to snag a treasury west in honor of the upcoming Quilt Retreat Getaway Weekend she’s hosting (no, it’s not too late to sign up!).

She chose circular quilts for half the treasury because one of the project options is a project from the book, “Easy Bias Curves.” The other portion of the collection was found by putting the word ‘mystery’ into the etsy search engine in honor of the ‘Mystery’ Quilt project that will happen.

I just have to say that I’m SUPER excited for a weekend away! I LOVE that I chose to go with my own room at the hotel…it means 48+ hours of sewing and peace and calm. I CAN’T WAIT!

Retreat Mini Project

Can't believe it'll soon be time for this year's retreat. The new location should be nice with
plenty of room for everyone to spread out...which I SO like to do, as anyone who's ever sat next to me will agree.

Hope everyone has finished up last year's mini project, and will remember to bring it along to share. I've been selling my pattern at a couple of local shops and will be teaching it each of the three days of this year's Wisconsin Quilt Expo. Coming up with something new for the retreat every year and having a deadline is just the kind of pressure I need to get things done. If you'd like to see more of my quilts and other artwork, check out my blog at tisha-tsblog.blogspot.com.

I'm busy working on this year's mini project and it's going to be something totally different. Again, we'll be using my original pattern and some of Barb and Diane's beautiful hand-dyes. The pattern can be made up to look anything from more subdued and traditional to totally wild and funky...but that's all I'm going to tell you for now.

Hope to see you at the Expo, and oh, here are a couple of Barb's creations from my pattern.