I was delighted that Joy shared these vintage Sunbonnet Sue blocks.  They were made by her husband’s grandmother and she plans to finish them.

Penny made this great wildlife quilt.

Lynelle made this gorgeous jacket.

Margaret showed us a beaded bag she’d made with some vintage beading.  It was stunning.

Linda F. was a great presenter–pulling socks she’d made from her sleeves, waistband, etc.!

Sherrie made this beautfiul quilt.

This is Carol C.’s stunning table runner.

Here’s Pearl’s striking Log Cabin.

And she’d made several of these wave table runners for gifts.

Another table runner design of Pearl’s.

She also made this Bargello quilt.

And this is the quilt she made for her bed!

Virginia made this great circle quilt.

Oh, look–my Sweet Pea panel.  Thanks,

Suzette made these paper pieced animals.

Another quilt using old sheets made by Evelyn.

And look at this great sheet on the back.  I could have used that in highschool–my bedroom was hot pink and orange!  Imagine!

Quyhn made this charming quilt.

Sisters Kim and Emily were given this antique Redwork quilt by a great aunt.  It was quite amazing.

Michelle showed off her new Jessie Bag.

She also made this quilt using family photos of bathing beauties!

Peggy fell in love with this fabric at Boardwalk Quilts and had Renee make her a jacket from it.

Then Renee surprised her with a sewing machine mat made from the leftovers!

Susan shared this Basket Sampler with us.

And I think this, too, is one of Susan’s.

More in the next post!

Besides the Wall of Fame at Retreat, we also had a lot of Show-and-Tell.  Here’s Sandy with a completed quilt she brought to share.  Edit:  That IS Sandy holding up the quilt, but the quilt belongs to Linda K.

When people hide, I’m not sure who the quilt belongs to, but I think this is Sandy’s also.  Edit: Nope–this is the back of the quilt shown above–made by Linda K.  Don’t you love that it’s reversible!?!

This Lover’s Knot was made by Becky L.

And these are the blocks she won at a retreat about 7 years ago.  She finally finished it.  Way to go, Becky!

Sandy made some quick, cute charity quilts.

And Sarah G. made these table runners.

Linda A. showed us her Hunter’s Star.

Rebecca M. had taken a class in portrait quilts.  Amazing!

Here’s Phyllis showing off a Christmas quilt.

Here’s a darling charm quilt.

Karen J. rescued this Yo-Yo quilt.

Judy was working on this at the last retreat and now has it finished.  Way to go!

Laraine made this cute Turkey Table Runner.

Phyllis’ wonderful batik quilt.

Marsha’s great batik Card Trick.

Patti with the *&%* quilt she was working on last year.  Another one finished!

Patty made the Liberty Garden quilt from Michele’s pattern, Victory Garden.

A beautiful star quilt from Sara G.

Kirstie was making Barbie clothes for her granddaughter from a vintage pattern.

She also made this striking table runner.

Heather brought this amazing, vintage Trip Around the World.

And I love this Basket Quilt she made.

I believe Sarah M. was working on this quilt at the last retreat!

Stephanie made this great quilt.

More to come….

More of the great projects that people were working on at the retreat.

This is Evelyn’s quilt—made entirely from vintage sheets!

Kirstie’s dog themed baby quilt.

Patti’s gorgeous quilt.  She always chooses hard patterns!

Becky L. made this sweet baby quilt

Ethel has all her blocks finished for our guild block exchange.

Renee made this Spider Web quilt from selvages.

Mary’s friend Judy in front of her Christmas Tree quilt, giving us the royal wave!

Heather made this super pumpkin quilt.

Michelle in front of her Hip T0 Be Square quilt–a pattern she designed.

Susan with a quilt that’s perfect for showing off a large scale floral.

Nancy made these flowers from a Buggy Barn pattern.  They’re from my fabrics, and she geve me the blocks!  Thanks, Nancy.

Don’t you love this rocking horse Nancy made?

Laura did this Hunter’s Star using the ruler I demonstrated.

Carol and her daughter, Julie, were both working on this quilt.

Mary and Teresa were making twin quilts from this pattern.

Here I am demonstrating how to make a scalloped edge on a quilt top.

This is the quilt I’m going to scallop.  I’ll show you a finished picture at a later date.

Linda K was working on this fun four-patch.

Mary P. got her top put together.  All those little squares are 2″ scraps individually pieced!  Way to go, Mary.

This table runner was Joy’s first attempt at machine applique and it turned out to be terrific!

Cathy and Jessica made matching Plate quilts.

Sandy did a great Halloween quilt.

Rebecca was making several of these cute snowmen quilts.

Carol L. also had success with the Hunter’s Star ruler.

Sarah made this quilt for her husband.

Debbie W. made a Hunter’s Star, too.  Aren’t they all wonderful?

Laraine made this striking quilt.

Several of the ladies made lunch bags from our “ugly fat quarter” exchange, and not a one of them is ugly!

I thought sure Karen J. made this orange and aqua dot quilt for me, but, alas, she’s keeping it!

64 ladies and I just spent 4 days at Falls Creek Retreat Center for a wonderful, relaxing quilting retreat.  I want to share some of their fantastic work with you.  I hope I give the right people credit for the right quilts!  I’m sure the ladies will straighten me out if I didn’t!

Susan O. made this stunning floral quilt.

Laura designed this quilt and calls it Hole in Nine.

She also designed this flying geese quilt–all made from my Sweet Pea fabric!

Jessica was working on this great memory quilt.

And I think this was Penny’s.  It was her first time doing curved piecing.  Added, Oct 27. This was Stephanie’s first attempt at curved piecing, not Penny’s!

Penny made this cute Boo wall hanging!

Another beautiful floral quilts from Susan.

And to show she’s about more than just florals, she made this eagle quilt.

Gail made this outdoors quilt for her uncle.

Mary P. was involved in a string piece swap and put her blocks together to make this striking quilt.

Linda K was making X’s and O’s.

Quynh made this pretty quilt with lots of paper pieced hexagons.

Another pretty floral from Susan.

My sister, Sally, was our lone scrapbooker at the retreat.

Carol O. was working on hand quilting the quilt she made from her mother’s vintage blocks.  These blocks were the inspiration for my Dear Dorothy fabric line.

Jean made this quilt.  Isn’t it perfect for fall?

And I love Sherrie’s quilt.

Robin is making this adorable baby quilt for a friend of her daughter’s–whom she’s never met!

This quilt of Marsha’s is made from Minkie.

Her sister Billie made one, too.

And here’s Susan again!  Don’t you love this setting for a panel?

Peggy was making this adorable Hip Baby.    Added October 27 – Oops!  I knew I’d foul up.  Emily made this quilt, not Peggy!

Gail was making this great, fun pattern.

Phyllis had this stunning batik quilt up on the wall.

Sandy finished this quilt top from a kit she bought at Anna Lena’s a few years ago!

Bernice was the first to complete a Hunter’s Star.  I had demonstrated the Rapid Fire Hunter’s Star ruler.  Boy is it a slick way to make this block–no set-in seams!

Karen J. made a pincushion from these fabrics and loved it so much she had to make a whole quilt!

Sue made this great quilt from my book, Fat Quarter Fun!

Barbara made this wonderful Christmas wall hanging.

Stay tuned for more!

Finally, the quilt show at Mission Mill.

I loved this Halloween applique.

And this Pumpkin Patch was superbly done.

A great fall wall hanging.

Yum.  Love those colors!

These strippy quilts are very popular, but the addition of this adorable puppy really made it shine.

A great, graphic use of bold prints.

It couldn’t be Oregon without a covered wagon!

I love these New York Beauty variations, and the color placement in this one made it especially nice.

Isn’t this bright quilt fun?

What a great scrap quilt!

The graphic quality of this quilt makes it stand out.

This floral applique was really lovely.

I’m fascinated by the perspective in this quilt.

At first glance I didn’t realize this was a log cabin variation.  Very interesting.

This quilt and the one below it are made from the same pattern.  Really.

Isn’t it amazing how different they look?

I haven’t seen a border like this on a Grandmother’s Flower Garden before.

The colors are amazingly bright for an 80 year old quilt.

A pretty Dresden Plate.

I’m always amazed at how many prints women had in their stash–even in the 1930′s!

Is this pattern Hearts and Gizzards?

There’s something special about curved piecing.

Whoa!  This quilt is all made with fabric from my Daisy A Day line!  I loved seeing that!

Here’s an early 1900′s quilt.

Another Grandmother’s Flower Garden.  Hmmm, this one set with orange.

Orange and blue is always such a great color combination.

Someday I’m going to make a Trip Around the World quilt.

But that’s a lot of 1″ squares!

This Colonial Lady is one of the prettiest I’ve ever seen.  The quilting on it was wonderful.

And the colors clear and bright.

Who doesn’t love Teddy Bears?

This is a great scrap quilt.  Another one for my list, perhaps…

This Dresden Plate on red was different.

And I thought these diamonds were quite unique.

Here’s a chubby Dresden Plate.

The pattern for this Sunflower Quilt was printed on labels of Mountain Mist quilt batting.

The machine quilting here is very nicely done.

This quilt top was for sale.  Do you see yellow flowers with blue centers or do you see scrappy flowers with blue centers.

Either way, it has a new home new!

It was a great show.  I plan to put it on my calendar for next year.

Our next stop was a tour of the Bush House, featuring red and green quilts from 1840 – 1860.

Again, considering it’s October, the grounds were lovely.

Mr. Bush, I presume!

This house had the most elegant wall papers.

Many of them had fantastic, coordinating borders.

And there was truly a treasure trove of oil paintings.

Our guide was a hoot, tailoring the tour to our interests.  Here he demonstrates the player organ.

Another beautiful painting.  I especially love the seascapes.

And this old map of Salem is pretty cool.

Check out this hot water bottle in it’s holder.  The “bottle” is made from copper.  I have a holder like this that’s embroidered ‘hot water’ but I never knew the insert would have been copper.

Near the kitchen was a different style of painting.

What a great stove.  I’m sure some grand meals were prepared on it.

The punched tin pie safe is pretty neat, too.

Kitchen weren’t “public” places in Victorian homes, so no reason to have doors on the cupboards.

Even though this kitchen light fixture is plain, it still has an elegant grace.  I think it may have originally been a gas fixture.

This mug is so similar to an ABC plate that my mom has.

Of course every historic home had a hole where they buried trash….

….and today people love to dig through them to see what they can find.

The good china was in the butler’s pantry.

Very pretty.

Another beautiful oil painting.

Mr. Bush again.  I was in love with this frame.  It was made by someone locally.

It was the pinecones that sucked me in.

Ah, finally, the quilts!  This Arkansas Lily was hanging on the banister upstairs.  Often times in the old red and green quilts, the green will have faded to a soft tan.

This light fixture was a combination of gas and electricity.  People just weren’t sure that new-fangled electricity was going to catch on!

A gorgeous medallion quilt with eagles.

Again, you can see that the green dye was fugitive.  But remember, these quilts are 150 – 170 years old!

I don’t think ladies of the day carried as much stuff in their purses as we do!

This quilt is in pristine condition.

I hope you can see the beautiful quilting on it.

Of course a lady always had hand work at the ready.  Idles hands are the devils workshop, after all!

Another beautiful Lilly quilt.

I love the scalloped border.

Here’s an interesting piece.

This Palm quilt was stunning.

I love how the border anchored everything.

One of the bedrooms had this gorgeous wallpaper border.

I believe this is a variation of the Whig Rose pattern.

The fan quilting is amazing.

And I love the pitcher, or urn, appliques.

One last oil painting to share with you.

This Pomegranate quilt also uses a popular color from the 1840′s—cheddar.

Again, this quilt looked like it was brand new.

This Mariner’s Star is quite spectacular.

The floral border is unusual on a quilt like this.

Oops!  Someone left out their underwear box!

Part 3 still to come–photos from the quilt show!

Connie, Robin and I were on the road again recently, this time to Salem, Oregon for Quiltopia, a weekend quilting event there.

This was a perfect day for me because it combined all my favorite things—good friends, vintage quilts, old houses and high tea!  We started at Deepwood Estate.

The grounds were gorgeous.

I couldn’t believe there was so much blooming so late in the year.

We were ushered into the Carriage House for a lecture before tea.

Our speaker, Vickie Simpson, was even dressed in period clothing for her presentation.

She gave a good talk about the history of quilting and had some lovely Dresden Plate quilts displayed.  This one had an ice cream cone border on three sides.

I’m familiar with this pattern as Fancy Dresden Plate since it has ellipses in the center and pointed pieces at the four compass points.

The Dresden Plate below is button hole stitched in place and has a bubble gum pink sashing.  It’s a simpler block and has a simpler variation of the ice cream cone border.

Here’s a pretty variation where every other blade (almost) is consistent.

I like the different pinks here.  And notice that since she had an odd number of blades, two solids ended up side by side.

Here’s an orphan block.

She also brought this satin crib quilt that her grandmother had made for her.

Then, we were take to the big house.

It’s a gorgeous old Victorian.

The tables were beautifully set.

I loved the pink sugar cubes!

Connie and me, waiting for our first course!

Connie and Robin.

Between courses we were treated to more vintage quilts, like this Snow White one.

Our first course was heirloom tomato soup and a cheese scone.  Delicious.

I always love seeing Sunbonnet Sue in her many forms.

And I was delighted to see this fabric with the four suits of cards on it!

Oh, our main course!  We had puff pastry filled with mushrooms, quiche and a deviled ham sandwich.  Once again, delicious!

This quilt had Sunbonnet Sue and several different butterfly patterns…

…and a terrific looking “tablecloth” print on the back.

Dessert was a spiced cake roll.  Did I mention, the food was delicious!?!

A traditional butterfly quilt.

Then it was time to tour the house.  The mantle was lovely.

I’ve seen lots of delicate hot chocolate sets, but never one with a matching china tray.

There were quilts displayed around the house, like this one on the bannister.

Oh, my.  Imagine having a waist that size?

A pretty Trip Around the World.

The yellow china on this table was so pretty, and looked so great displayed against the yellow fan quilt.

The ivy wallpaper was very nice.

And I loved this green light fixture.

This light makes a really cool pattern on the ceiling!

Ah, I could happily sleep under this Irish Chain quilt and let someone bring me some scones in bed in the morning.

I have this very same pillow!

Doll quilts are always charming.

This cactus basket is very pretty.

As is this Grandmother’s Flower Garden.  I love how the hexagons have been fussy cut.

I covet this doll bed!

Now that’s a vintage sewing machine!

There’s more Quiltopia to come!

I had an email from a local woman two days ago.  She said her dad sent her some unfinished quilts and she’d heard from Andi at Jelly Bean Quilts that I was the one to talk to about them.  Thanks, Andi!  I love to see old quilts and quilt tops, and these were a treasure.

She had two nearly identical tops with alphabet blocks embroidered and appliqued.  This top is finished except for the last block on the bottom right which seems like it should be XYZ.  I’ve seen quilts made from this pattern before but don’t have a quilt or the pattern in my collection.

The second top has a few problems with its border and sashing strips, but luckily, she has extra fabric and I think she will be able to fix it.  She believes her grandmother started these quilts and that her mom worked on them at some point.  She wondered what I could tell her about them.

I was pretty sure that it was a serial quilt.

A serial quilt was a series of blocks that were published, one at a time, in the newspaper.

Women would clip them out, collect them all and make a quilt.

This was a great promotion for the papers.

No woman wanted to miss a block!

The Kansas City Star was famous for serial quilt patterns.  But I didn’t think this was a Kansas City Star Design.

The blocks are certainly charming, though, and the stitchery and applique are nicely done.

I’m not even going to mention there was orange!

After Cheri left, I did a little web search and learned that this was a Florence LeGanke design.  She designed under the name Nancy Page, and her patterns ran under the name “The Nancy Page Quilt Club.”

It turns out the last block wasn’t XYZ, but YOU.  Nancy suggested you personalize the quilt for whomever you were making it for.  Seems odd to me!  Perhaps she offered some other options.

I did find some photos on the net of other vintage ABC quilts.  This one was finished with XYZ.

And here’s a combination of the You and XYZ.  I think I like this best.  This is actually a preprinted fabric available from Grandma’s Attic.

I thought I’d share a couple other photos I found.  I like the alternate setting blocks used in this one.

The quilting in the setting blocks is simple yet effective.

It looks like these letters were chain or stem stitched rather than satin stitched.

Here’s a pretty yellow version.

I think the crosshatching on it is perfect!

But this quilter had the most unique setting.  She made her own ‘X’ and ‘Z’ designs, and used the original YOU as well.

And she personalized it, too.  How clever!

Just like last year, the Latimer Quilt and Textile Museum had a booth at Quilt Expo and did a bed turning.  This year, they did applique quilts through the years.

They started with the oldest quilts.

Red and green quilts were very popular in the 1840′s – 1870.  This one has some added cheddar.

This quilt is exquisitely quilted.

Some of the dye has eaten away at the pink fabric, leaving tiny holes.

The pattern below is called Coxcomb.

Here’s another variation of it.

Green was a very unstable dye, and you often find that what was once green in these old quilts now looks tan, like this one.

The fabrics in this quilt are remarkably bright.

And the workmanship is superb.

It’s so nice to find a dated quilt.  Imagine, this quilt is 141 years old!

I know this quilt pattern as Princess Feather.

Now we get to the 1920′s and 30′s.  Dyes have changed from vegetable and mineral based to aniline (chemical) dyes, and the results are vibrant pastels like in this Sunbonnet Sue.

Look how much orange was available!

And I love the shoe buttons embroidered on her shoes.  I don’t think I’ve seen that before.

This Balloon Lady also had great color.

And don’t you love her little shoes peeking out from under her dress?

This design has some Art Nouveau influence.

The lines are so fluid and graceful.

Here’s a quilt top with a poppy pattern.

I love the combination of applique and embroidery.

This interesting Dresden Plate has lime green centers and cross stitched flowers!

This is an interesting use of yo-yo’s.

This red and green quilt is made with more modern dyes.  Can you tell the difference between the earlier quilts and this one?

But for the fact it was made in the 1930′s, this quilt reminds me of 1960′s flower power!

If I’d made this quilt in the 1960′s, it would have been hot pink and orange to match my bedroom!

Here’s a Hawaiian quilt.  Don’t the flowers look like they’re smiling?

Here’s a modern Baltimore Album quilt.

A modern pictorial quilt.

A contemporary batik quilt.

And another contemporary batik quilt.

Thank you, Latimer, for sharing with us.

Yes, I actually did it.  Bob and I took Lola, our 1972 Airstream, on her first camping trip.  Well, her first camping trip with us and my first camping trip EVER!

We went to Stub Stewart State Park in Oregon, only about two hours from home–perfect for a first outing.  And, a beautiful campground, I might add.

Son Doug and his family met us there.  I’ve mentioned before that I have cute grandkids.  Well, here’s the proof!  This is Carson.

And Peyton.

Carson thought the gravel parking spots were perfect.

And the play area was really neat!

We had a beautiful day on Saturday.

On Sunday it began to mist.  But, we decided to do a hike through the woods anyway.  I’m not sure this was the best trail to take!

I love the forests here in the Northwest.  They’re so dense and lush.

And I love the odd shaped trees.

Or this one, that has dozens of “arms.”

Multiple trunks are always interesting.

Crooked AND moss covered!  What could be better?

There were lots and lots…

…and lots more ferns.

And giant clover.

I mean GIANT!

I find old snags cool, too.

As well as old stumps.

Even rotting stumps!  Notice how dark it was in the woods.  My camera flash went off!

“Grandma, look at me on this big stump!”

Have you ever heard of “disk golf?”  It was a first for me.

There’s a course and these baskets for catching Frisbees.  Who would want to throw a Frisbee in the woods?  Wouldn’t all those trees get in the way?

From the highest part of our hike, we could see the campground.  See Lola there in the mist?  Doesn’t she look beautiful?