It’s retreat time again. The gangs together and we’re having a great time. We set up the “sweatshop” right away (LOL); And started stitching, talking, laughing and catching up.

On Friday we quilted in the morning and then headed to our usual first stop – Sandy Creek Quilts in Lodi. After making our purchases it was time for lunch at Fitz’s, and for our group photo of ~ the Sisters of the Cloth (we now have a name 😊).

Next we visited two shops in Portage, WI. Cathy and Jo stumbled upon the Welcome Home Sewing Center during our last retreat, and the rest of us were anxious to check it out.

I can see why it’s called a sewing center, but in my opinion it’s really more of a very nice quilt shop ~ complete with fabric, notions, and a beautiful tin ceiling.

Diane is the owner

along with her husband Tony, who is the sewing machine technician.

They have bolts and bolts of fabric to check out!

Then it was time to go down their lovely blue stairway to visit the classroom and the bargain basement fabrics.

I highly recommend a visit! It’s not far from Milwaukee or Madison and I’m positive it’s worth the trip.
Next ~ two blocks down the main street we found a bead shop.

It is hands down the most amazing bead shop I’ve been in.




I’m in the midst of a beading project now. I’ll be posting about it soon. This visit made me want to get back at it. But I wasn’t prepared for beading at this retreat, so it was back to Cattail to play with the projects we brought along, and our new purchases.
My project for the retreat is a lap quilt I’m making for my cousin’s daughter’s wedding in August. A few months ago my cousin Lisa sent me this swatch with Kyle and Carly’s color choices.

I chose some fabrics for their quilt while at Missouri Star in March, but wasn’t sure what to do with them. When I got home I needed to rummage through one of my UFO bins for a different project, and stumbled upon a disappearing nine-patch class sample.

I’ve always loved this piece. It leans a little more towards the blues than the seafoam greens in their pallette, but the cream and rust color fabric I’d bought in Hamilton looked great with it. I decided it was so lovely I had to put it in Kyle and Carly’s quilt. I figured it’s just a snuggle quilt, so the colors don’t have to match their living room exactly.
While in Paducah I pieced the new fabrics into blocks to add top and bottom, and turn my UFO into a rectangle. I then purchased a yard of Cherrywood hand-dyed fabric for the borders, and I was very happy with the top.

I layered it with Minky™, took it to retreat to quilt, and Thursday I started quilting the center with concentric diamonds.

After continuing the quilting lines from the center into the border, I decided to turn the back to the front to make a binding, and sewed it down with a serpentine stitch.

And I got ‘r done!

The Minky™ along the edge tends to make it a bit wavy, but it’s delightful to snuggle under and ~ with a lap quilt ~ that really is the point. I hope they’ll like it.
It was another wonderful retreat. Can’t wait to return to Cattail in October!
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And, since I’m sharing retreat projects, I can’t resist including a photo of my nephew’s little girl, Breen. I worked on her quilt at our winter retreat (click here to read a post about the quilt), and presented it to her on Easter. Her mom, Alex, just sent me this photograph and note:

“I can’t tell you how much we love this quilt. It is stunning. We use it every day. Lately Breen seems to be mesmerized by the design – it’s perfect for a baby! Thank you so much!”
What a joy it is to be able to share our gift of quilting with the people we love!
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PS Thanks Cathy, for making each of us a Sisters of the Cloth pin cushion. They look so cute lined up at the top of this post!