Quilt Retreats

 I've been quite the spoiled girl, attending 2 quilt retreats in a month.  But I did get a lot of sewing done.  These first 2 pictures were taken at the Willow Pond retreat by Cindy.  She documented a lot of the group's fun on Facebook.  The quilt top above is suppose to be my Bonnie's Team donation, but I'm running a bit behind on getting it quilted.

 Several ladies admiring Val's quilt, but that's me in the background at my machine.

 Next retreat was at Warm Beach and I brought my recently completed Zig Zag quilt made from Kaffe fabrics to photograph.

 Bunny had the great idea to pose the quilt on an old wagon that was a decoration near our sewing hall.

 My first project was to sew together the blocks of this quilt.  I started it in a class at Sister's, then managed to get the blocks all sewing during the earlier retreat.  I knew this facility had great walls for designing, so I was able to complete this top.  This is a really big quilt for me, 72" x 84"

 Most of my time was spent on this quilt.  I had purchased the stripped Kaffe fabric a couple of years ago (or maybe last year) and had this inspiration to make a triangle quilt with rows of color.  It went through several arrangements.  My daughter Kim stopped in for a visit at the retreat on her way to Bellingham from Seattle and I had her play with the blocks.  She decided I needed to have a light source and did most of this arrangement.  The blocks are sewn together in horizontal rows but those rows still need to be stitched together.

 And for a little break I made a few more blocks for this selvage quilt that is also a long term project.

Back at home, the spiders have been very busy on the deck railing and yard art.

July Flowers

We are finally getting some warm weather, so the flowers are starting to bloom.  Here is today's bouquet.

 Shasta Daisies, Yarrow, Bachelor Buttons, and Sweet Peas.  I have 2 volunteer Bachelor Buttons in my flower garden, and both are my favorite blue.  There are a lot of purple sweet peas in the mix this year, last year I had none.

 Milo thought he should be in the picture, but then got bored with the process and decided to take a bath.  Or he could be saying "Not another one"

 Sophie also had to investigate.

 Close Up

We bought this flying pig at the Seattle Garden Show in February.  Dave likes to move him around to different locations on the deck rail.