I’m just back from the Anna Lena fall retreat.  Boy, was it fun!   We were at the Falls Creek Retreat Center, and we did our sewing in the gymnasium.  There was plenty of room for all 63 of us!

One of the best things about retreat is the inspiration you get from seeing what others have been doing.  I’ve posted pictures of the show-and-tell we did to flickr.

Evelyn brought the Twelve Step Program quilt that she’d made from my book, Bundles of Fun.

And during the weekend, Terry made the same quilt!  It’s amazing how different they look!

It was fun to see other quilts made from my books.  Ginny made this quilt for her daughter.

It’s the cover quilt from Big Print Quilts, but, boy, does it look different with the fabrics she chose!

Here’s another one from Big Print Quilts.  See me subtley waving the book above the quilt?!?  This one is Pat’s and it’s called Whopper.

This quilt, called Summer Fun, is from Fat Quarter Fun.  Janet made this one.

I love the way Twelve Drummer Drumming, from Bundles of Fun, looks with Mary’s fabric choices.

Also from Bundles of Fun is this basket quilt.  Sue made it and is donating it to a breast cancer fundraiser.

Renee was making these adorable dress blocks from a box of scraps from her grandma’s attic!

Teresa, who teaches first grade, was making book bags for all of her students!

Barbara had a kit to make a table runner–and she didn’t even know the fabric was from my Santa Claus Lane group!  And the pattern was designed by my friend, Karen Montgomery!

And, speaking of Santa Claus Lane, Robin made a Santa Claus Lane Jumper for her granddaughter.  I just had to use the last of the Santa Claus fabric to make kits for this.

You have to have some fun at retreat, too.  Here I am wearing my Christmas tree skirt!

We had an ugly fabric exchange and made bags–most of which weren’t ugly at all!

Bob even came by on Friday to do maintenance on people’s Featherweights!  He was the only boy allowed–and after lunch we sent him on his way.

It was a great time, in a great location.  I even walked to the falls–but more on that later!

In the meantime, you can see other posts about the retreat from the following atendees:

Monica – The Happy Zombie

Sarah – Anyone Can Quilt

Robin – Crafty Musings

Evelyn – Use The Loot

I decided to take a break from retirement (insert laugh track here) and take a booth at the Northwest Quilting Expo at the end of September.

It was fun to see all the samples hung up and the fabric displayed.  Thanks to Robin and Connie, my Beck and Call Girls, the booth looked great.  And they worked their tails off all weekend!

All the fabrics in the booth were designed by me, so that was kind of cool!

I got to do two lectures – one on using large scale prints and one on using fat quarters.

This woman had made a shirt from my fabrics.  I was delighted to see that!

The quilt displays were great.  This was the winning quilt.

And you know I’m just a cowgirl at heart, so I fell in love with this quilt.

Oh, my gosh, here’s the quilt that reminds me of the doors in Sweden!

Like this one…

Perhaps it was the orange in here, but I loved this one as well.

Here’s a close-up.  I love the strip piecing and the quilting on it was stunning.

I’m sorry this is blurry, but this was a lovely quilt.

Again, the quilting was amazing.

This quilt is from the Latimer Quilt and Textile Center.  If you’re familiar with Tillamook, Oregon and the Tillamook Cheese Factory, you’ll recognize their logo.

It was incredibly well done.

I recently got a great deal from my publisher on my second book – Fat Quarter Fun.  I’m passing the savings along.  FQF usually sells for $22.99, but right now I’m offering it for just $10.00 in my web catalog.  If you have some fat quarters looking for a project, I’m sure you’ll find something here to inspire you!