Day 2 and 3 of Mary Lou Retreat; Happy First Day of Summer

Penny started on this top when she came to the 2011 Mary Lou Retreat in Post Falls and brought it along to share the finished piece with us.

 Mary Lou has many wonderful story quilts and this speaks to the one of her Grandma who lived in B.C. and used a wood burning stove in her kitchen.  The details and story are quite wondrous.

 I made a side trip to JoAnn's looking for some linen but came home without.  Nothing really sang to me.

 In 2013 This is where I left my bird swap top.  I liked it but something wasn't right.

 In October 2015 I took it along to my Harrison Hot Springs Retreat and moved the bird on the right and also added some borders for the next step I'd planned.

 This picture is cropped but you can see something happening but the strips are too wide.

 I'm liking this mix of widths better.

 We always have a mid morning teaching session with Mary Lou and she was sharing one of her portrait ideas and showing how if you cut up and resew a fabric it makes for an interesting design.

 Love these hoochy blocks around the border.

 Thanks to Tina I got a quick picture of my plan before it fell off the wall and onto the floor.  The fabrics along with the design wall were just too heavy to stay up.

 Mary also chose to use the floor for her design wall.  She found some lovely red work embroidery that she did when her 16 and 18 year old sons were younger and incorporated them along with Dresden plates and Dresden butterflies for a baby quilt.  Tina does some lovely machine quilting and Mari wanted to finish it to pass along while they visited.  They both live in the L.A. area and were talking how long some of the commutes can take to visit.

 I realigned my bias strips and opened the door wider.  I added a perch for the top bird to sit upon and two water and feeding cups.  Now the challenge will be to hand stitch everything down in a timely matter,

 This is the sketch I drew a few weeks ago that I planned for my bird cage.  I think I've recreated it quite well don't you?

Dwyta's piece is coming along nicely it is based on a child's picture done when he was about 6-8 and is about 16 now I think.  She is using wool for her applique.

 Jan's border blocks are growing in number.

 I'm not sure whose these were.

 Sandy from California is working on a flower block swap.  She did the large purple cone flower I did the small turquoise one.  I loved the way the cheddar set off these blocks.

 These are Penny's collection of border blocks.

 I think these are some more of Candy's.

 Here they are laid around a potential background fabric.  A small border will probably be added.

 In 2013 Sandy started depicting this quilt about her Grandma who was a traditional quilted.  Sandy is the little girl holding her Grandmother's hexagon grandmother flower garden blocks and Grandma is shocked with the hoochy style of quilt blocks.

 At the end of the day 3 Dwyta's piece is looking good!

 One more day of retreat to share with you and then some shops and the road home.