Mary Lou Weidman retreat days 4 and 5

At the end of day four Sandy from Davis California had almost finished all her hoochy mama blocks for her frame.  She is using 1930's fabrics to honour her grandmother's memory.  She was a traditional piecer and Sandy likes to try things "Out of the Box.

 Sandy from Bozeman Wyoming is working on finishing her blocks after approximating how big her centre block will be.

 Lynette has a great start her frame.  Notice how she used her flying geese to make a flower stem!

 Dawn from California has a wonderful whimsical piece happening!

 Lissa has all her blocks ready to sew together.

 Sue from Idaho is having fun making hoochy corn, Idaho potatoes and hoochy mama blocks.

 Nancy from Newport Oregon has turned her flying geese into a forest!

 Dawn from California, what a lovely lady to meet, she is part of Mary Lou's yahoo group I belong with and participated in the bird swap.

 Sue from Idaho make some lovely glass beads, sorry I forgot to take a picture.

 Sandy from Davis, California another member of our yahoo group and bird swap.

 Wendy has been a close friend of Sandy's for almost 30 years.

 Heather owns the Charm Shack in Oregon and Val teaches for her and they were both at the retreat last year.

 Lynette from Redding California owns a new shop called Wild Iris. Doesn't she have a great smile?

 Our friend teacher and inspiration Mary Lou Weidman with a bowl of cherries!

 Wendy was our amazing chef and also offered words of encouragement and suggestion when we were stumped for ideas.

 Our merry group under the rainy skies of Post Falls with tiaras and smiles saying good-bye to Nancy in the white jacket who had to leave us early.

 After sketching my idea and getting a few suggestions from Mary Lou I got it enlarged and looked to see how it would work with my blocks.  Now to get everything to fit together and decide on the centre and borders.

 Sandy got her top together and started to work on her story sketch.

 Val started working on a second story quilt depicting her empty nest.

 Aija's fabric choices are coming along nicely.  Notice the sailing ship she has added under the palm.

 Every day Mary Lou gathers us together and sparks some ideas and creativity.  Here she presented us with three drawings.  We started with the lady in the centre then the rabbit and then the cowgirl.  Our goals were cut out the images without drawing them first.

 Here are our efforts.  Interesting to see what we accomplished!

A bit closer looked at the rabbits.  Some have a few interesting additions to design!

 And finally the cowgirls.  Not too bad! 

 This is Val's first story quilt of when she became engaged.  Under the drawing was a much smaller version that she has already appliqued.  She is going to redo the piece with the larger image.

 Aija\s piece with a new design detail, the sailing ship has become a cruise ship!

 Dawn's master pattern for reference for her applique.

 Dawn's needle turned applique is coming along nicely.  Love the colours in the hat.

 Sandy from Davis is going to applique the birds to her background and then add some details to bring them all together.

 My top is together awaiting some applique.

 Sandy from Wyoming standing beside her top ready for applique.

 Lynnette has a big question mark as to what her story will be.  Love the inner border.

 Oops! Aija decided to change the colour of her palm leaves.  Thank goodness for her fellow quilters for some new fabric choices.

 Dawn's progress by day's end.  Well done!  Ready to fly back to California.

 Sandy's son holding the WCU banner from the Duomo in Florence.  She is below with her scarf blowing in the wind.  Later her husband was added holding the camera and taking the picture from an adjacent bell tower.

 Lissa standing beside her self portrait

 Wendy is piecing the blocks and then her friend Sandy will do the applique in the centre to gift a friend of theirs.  Sounds like it will be a fun piece.

 Sue standing with her blocks, love the striped evergreen she designed.  They will frame a story about her family and their home.

 Three Sandi/Sandys and a Mary Lou!

 Sorry to say that's the end, time for a road trip home.  Now to prep the applique and start stitching.

Thanks to everyone that made this a lovely retreat, to everyone for all our fun fairy gifts.  Laurie thank you for some wonderful food and Mary Lou a great big thank you for all your guidance and encouragement, wit and wisdom.  Hope to be here next year.