Day 1retreat with Mary Lou Weidman

Sunday afternoon we were able to set up our sewing machines to be ready for Monday morning. I arrived shortly after Mary Lou and Tina and took this picture showing the individual work spaces waiting to be creative.


Tina in the kitchen preparing some almond poppy seed muffins, coffee and fresh fruit to get our day started on a healthy note.


Tina sharing the apron our friend Molly gave her I keeping with our Parisian theme.


Mary Lou showing us a quilt she made with demo blocks from teaching.


Another demo block creation, I like the fish on the pot on the left.


In no time we are set up for lunch.


Is this not a lovely chopped salad?


Basil and strawberry water to enjoy.


I didn't take a picture of my morning project which was creating some numbers and letters to be shown later. I laid out my bird blocks from a swap and have decided to add black in the missing spots. I plan to add some appliqué to the piece. But guess what, I left all my spare bobbins at home and had to go on a search, luckily I did find an open shop, the Husqvarna dealership is closed on Mondays.


Time for dinner, chicken in white wine, garlic and mushroom sauce.


Some green beans with almonds, garlic bread and lovely green salad.


Is that chicken not looking delicious?


End of day and Wendy has a Christmas cow under way.


We have three newbies, Janine, Carol and Cyndi learning how to make hoochy mama blocks for the first time. I think these are Carol's.


Love the contrast in Janine's blocks.


I think these are Cyndi's.


Mari who acts as our swap mistress is also working on her birds, but adding some wonderful flowers.


Cathy has her frame ready and was working on a drawing of her granddaughter seeing lightening bugs for the first time. I forgot to take a picture of her sister Judy's quilt that she is making for the Monterey Bay Aquarium but I will first thing tomorrow morning, it is looking wonderful.


Here is as far as I got with my bird blocks lots of room to add some surprises.


So the end of the day came quickly i didn't get a picture of Sandy's cow, she and Wendy are sharing a design wall and she took it down without my noticing, so stay tuned for two other great quilts tomorrow.
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On the road again to Post Falls, Farm Chicks sale and Mary Lou Weidman retreat!

Saturday evening I arrived in Post Falls and this was the view from my room over the Spokane River.

 Sunday morning with our aprons and tiaras we met up at the Farm Chicks sale.

 Here is most of our group, missing from the picture are Tina, Mari and myself.

 The sale is huge and has something for almost everyone.  Pictures do not do it justice, there are people everywhere, some for the second day.

 I loved this artists whimsical designs, I can't put my hands on her card right now, but will look for it and credit her when I find it.

 Lots of vintage quilts for sale, some with price tags, others you had to ask and the price varied depending on who asked.

 The sign says it all, love the rabbit.

 I like the hand lettering on this sing.

 Take your choice beef or pork?

 I like this woman's designs, she does all the carving and painting herself.  She does not have dogs, but will carve to your description.  They are all signed. I believe her company is called Crow's Feat.

 This thread box came home with me.

 Take off the lid and see the container with some vintage spools and a centre storage area.

 Two wing drawers swing open for storage.

 The thread box is made by Mokelite. Inc. from San Francisco with a patent pending.  It appears to be a Bakelite style of material.

I love anything with a bright lemon colour or motif on it and I could not resist this pitcher.                              

 After the sale we went out to Rancho Viejo in Post Falls for dinner.  To Mary Lou's right is Mari in green and Judi on her left.

 From left to right, Judi's sister Kathy, then Charlotte and Sue on the end.

 In the purple is Debbie, then Laura Charlotte's sister and I'm in the aqua sweater.

 Tina is in the green sweater, Dianne, and Linda finish off our group.

 Day one, everyone setting up and getting their workspace organized at the Jacklin Arts Center.  This is the third retreat I've attended here with Mary Lou.

 Mari is working on her heart swap blocks, Sue has her blocks from last year ready to help her decide how to frame her story.

 Mary Lou talking with Tina as she prepares lunch for us.  What a great cook Tina is.

 More work, but the room is pretty tidy.

 Tina finishing off our lunch boxes.  Not the take out boxes, they housed the Chinese Chicken salad and served as our dishes!

 I want some of that palm tree fabric that Laura and Charlotte bought quite some time ago.

Lunch is served.  Sorry, no more pictures for the day, I was busy tracing my applique designs onto freezer paper.  I got almost all of them done the first day onto fabric choices tomorrow.

Mary Lou Weidman's Out of the Box Retreat was held in Post Falls Idaho last week. The first evening we went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. Here are Molly and Mary Lou toasting their Margaritas.Note the multiple instructions to Push the door to exit...after those drinks you need the directions!

The artwork in the restaurant was lovely. I have a soft spot for Calla Lilies.

This piece was just lovely.

The next day started with show and tell of some of Mary Lou's quilts.

We saw some quilts that have been published a a peek view at some newer ones.

The new ones I can't show you but they are great.

Seeing the quilts in person you see details that are missed in books. The quilt below won't load correctly so please turn your head to enjoy it.

Here is everyone gathered around Mary Lou as she shows us how to make one of her hoochy mama blocks. Techniques from these blocks help you with her style of quilting.

The blocks with the yellow background I made several years ago during another workshop. The flower and bee were the first of the new block from this workshop.

Mary Lou's friend Laurie Latta made this quilt for Mary Lou's Flower Power book. I love the little buttercups at the bottom of the quilt.

Sally who was visiting from California celebrated her birthday with us. Wendy made a "cake of cream puffs" with a candle on top for Sally to blow out!

The cake stand is just adorable, it comes in 3 pieces.

After our first day of sewing we made a field trip to Bear Paw Quilts in Coeur d'Alene where many bolts of fabric were cut.

Several of us shopped from other people's selections, it made for an interesting process. The two gals waiting on us did a wonderful job.

Thanks goodness I didn't have to restock the shelves after we were done. Penny surprised Mary Lou with these lovely coloured glass bottles for her bottle trees.

Here is Mary Lou's new New Mexico quilt inspired by her visit this year. The details are amazing!

Mary has taken several classes with Mary Lou at Asilomar and here are some pictures of the quilt she is working on. It will be spectacular when it is done.

I love the snail and the frog on it. Mary has two sons that I'm sure will treasure this quilt.

The clothesline with the birds sitting on top will be very cute.

This is Pebble who owns Orange Bee Quilt Shop in California.

Penny lives just outside of Vancouver Washington.

Kathy helps Mary Lou with her website orders and was lots of fun this weekend. She was our go-for gal and sat and stitched along with us.

Sally was another of the Southern California gals.

Here is Mary from California whose quilt in progress was shown above. Notice that many of the gals have tiaras on from Mary Lou

A busy workroom with pedals to the medal we are in the basement with lots of great natural light.

Lots of creativity buzzing around the room

Mary Lou sharing some new knowledge with a brand new quilter. We had two new quilters in our group.

Molly and Mary have both taken several classes from Mary Lou.

Molly's completed quilt top that she put together at the retreat.

Doesn't this bird have wonderful feathers?

Slowly over the weekend my blocks became more.

Here are some exterior pictures of the Jacklin Art Centre. The original church built in the late 1890's.

From a different angle.

Inside looking through one of the lovely arched windows.

One of the lovely stained glass windows found inside.

Two birds having a serious conversation.

A bird with a cheddar background.

Several birds, stars and monkey wrench blocks.

A bird checking out the housing in the neighbourhood.

A very tall robin made by me.

A bird with tail feathers that are 3-d and it's potential housing.

Two very interesting long legged birds. I love the curled headfeather on the right one.

A dragonfly I made.

Molly, Mary Lou and me infront of my blocks.

Bear Paw Quilts in Coeur d'Alene from the outside.

Bear paw prints leading to the door.

A view from the second story of the shop.

This guy is the mascot of Coeur d'Alene.

Driving back along I-90 I stoped in Ritzville and found this shop.

Isn't this building interesting with the witch hat roof?

This is Wildflower Quilt Shop and Liquor Store; one shop stopping for him and her!

Isn't this an interesting old sign?

The skies heading towards Snoqualmie Pass started to look very threatening.

This was snow falling on the pass ahead.

I also encountered some rain and hail on the drive home. At times the wind was gusting up to 60 m.p.h.!