Colorado Retreat, part....uh....5? 6?

Hazel brought a CQed wedding memory quilt, which included lots of sentimental images. These frogs are trapunto-ed, which means they've been stuffed to give them a 3D quality.

This is a framed photo that was over the head of my bed. I thought it was a lovely little pine tree; something that could be stitched on a CQ.

I was having a hard time getting enthused about stitching on any of the projects-in-progress that I'd brought with me, so I took one of my painted elk and using just fabric I'd gotten in the Stash Dash, I pieced myself an Estes Park Retreat block to work on. Here it is just getting started, and I'll post more photos of the progress soon!

Colorado Retreat, part 5

The Chinese auction is always a favorite part of the retreat. The idea is that each person brings a CQ gift (worth approx. $25, but with CQ, it's hard to gauge a dollar value) that can be either stash or tools or a hand-made item. They are wrapped so no one can tell what is in the package until it's opened, and all are placed in a pile for all to see. Numbers are drawn to determine the order, and the first person chooses one and opens it. Much oohing and ahhing commences, and then person number 2 takes a turn, BUT they have the option of stealing the gift from number 1 or opening something new. This continues, with gifts being stolen a maximum of twice before being declared "safe". These photos are all out of order, and I didn't get photos of everyone, but here is a sampling of the fun:

Here's Helen, Josie, and Connie having a closer look at the tea cozy Diane made...

Gerry H opening a gift...will she get to keep it? Probably not!

Me opening a gift. I think I was declared the winner of the "most stolen from" award (which doesn't really exist), but I must admit I did a bit of stealing myself!

Kerry...

Me again...

Holly, the first to get to call Lauri's magnificent CQed teddy bear hers. I promptly stole it, even though I knew it would be stolen from me. Sure enough, Helen snapped it up and being the 2nd stealer, got to keep it.

Helen, Connie, Pam, Sandy, and Shari....


Josie....

Me again....
And Connie finished....

Colorado Retreat, part 4

As part of the fun prior to the retreat, we were invited to join a challenge round robin, in which we were offered one of two fabics; either a pink/yellow design or a blue/green design. We were NOT allowed to see the fabric first, we just chose by the color description. I chose the yellow/pink, which turned out to be this:

Others got the blue/green, and within a RR group, we could expect to work on both fabrics.

After we received a fat quarter of our chosen fabric, we were to choose a certain number of additional fabrics to go with it, and a trim or two, and send all of this along to the next person on our rotation. That person added a few more fabric choices and pieced the 16" block but did not embellish it. The blocks then made the remaining rounds (theoretically 4 other stitchers) who embellished the whole block. All the blocks would be revealed and returned to their original owners at the retreat. Well, it didn't exactly work out that way, but that was the plan.

I don't remember whose block is whose for most of these, but I do recall working on this one. I added the dyed lace motif, the loopy gimp trim, and the spider and web.

These next 4 I didn't work on (there were 2 groups in this RR).




I did work on this one, adding two 3D butterflies, a ribbon rose spray, and some seams.

This is the one I pieced for Rebecca. She wasn't able to come to the retreat, but her block will be sent to her.

I didn't work on either of these blocks.


On this one, I did the little embroidered fan, some seams on the large fan blades, the ribbon work pansy and the swirly embroidered vining around it.

This block is mine! It was pieced by Gerry H, and beautifully embellished by Kerry, Nancy, Colleen, and Rebecca.

Oh, and this fella made an appearance in front of our cabin one day, bugling and lazily chasing three lovely ladies (elk ladies, not human ones).

We were also visited by a coyote, who brazenly walked down the sidewalk in front of the cabin and around to the end, where he made himself at home on the patio. I'd seen him walk by the dining room window and thought, "I wonder whose dog that is....it sure has a bushy tail." Then I got curious and walked out of the living room door (which was standing wide open!) and around to the patio. One look at that narrow muzzle and yellow-eyed face and I knew that wasn't a dog. I shooed him away, in a funny high pitched voice, but he left reluctantly (gave me a "well, if you insist" look) and sauntered over to the cabin just up the hill. He was definitely not frightened by humans, which might eventually be his downfall.

Colorado Retreat, part 3

We spent a lot of time just chillin'....stitching and visiting and sharing techniques. Here are Hazel and Kerry....

...Diane and Lauri....

Michelle, Juli, Josie, and Sharon (behind the lamp)....

....and Holly, Gerry K, Sandy, and Claudina.

Colorado Retreat, part 2

We were in an 8 bedroom cabin in a most beautiful mountain setting. Here's the dining area, which also doubled as a stitching area and classroom:

One end of the huge living room:

And the fireplace at the other end:

Here are some of the views we were surrounded by.

Colorado Retreat 2011

I'm back home from the retreat, and it was so much fun! We began on Wednesday evening with introductins and show and tell. Then on Thursday morning, we had the Stash Dash! Loads of donated fabric, trims and buttons were up for grabs. The Fabric Fairy got us started:

Isn't she a vision? I hope she doesn't notice the gaping hole she eventually had in the back of her gown. I mean, who could resist that lovely green brocade??? Not me, uh, I mean not someone with scissors in hand.

Diane pointed the way to the heavily laden tables, as the scissor-wielding stash seekers milled around like impatient pirates ready to pillage a pile of pfabric!

Not everyone was cut-throat about it, though. Here are Hazel and Pam, vowing to share scissors.

Going to the CQ retreat!

I've been working on some painted images to use in CQing. Since we'll be in Estes Park, Colorado, which is full of elk this time of year, I tried a few different views of bull elk.

And a couple of owls.

Some gold finches.

And assorted wildlife.

These are painted on cotton or silk patches, ready to be pieced into a CQ block. I think I will offer these for sale at the retreat. One of the images (and I'm not saying which one) will be part of my Chinese auction package.
I also got to see what Lauri is doing for her package, and let me tell you, one of us retreat goers is going home very happy. I predict the rest of us will be happy also, but SOMEONE is getting something very special! And that's all I'm sayin'.