More Catch Up

 I think Avery liked his garbage truck quilt.

This is the view I had almost daily.

Everytime I walked into the house this one crawled or walked to me and wanted UP.

I made a new friend while I was in NC.

One of the guys that works at the campground we stay at has a wife that is opening a quilt shop.

The shop is called the Quilted Needle, in Pittsboro, NC

This is my new friend, Jackie.

I can't wait for the shop to open.

I am hoping I get to come back and teach some classes!

After my nanny gig was finished it was time to head out to KC for the annual Rejects Retreat.

I drove up to Ohio and spent the night with Kailie.

I *finally* got to meet Alex and the girls!!

The next morning we headed out to KC.

We made several quilt shop stops (of course) on our way to our hotel.

First we stopped at the Red Rooster.

What a great shop!!

Road tripping with my bestie!

We stopped at the Crimson Tate shop too.  

Kailie ordered from the Wooden Spool and we had to get there to pick up before they closed.

We slid into the shop 10 minutes before close!!

This was on the front porch.

Really nice shop.

I wish we had had time to shop, ten minutes is not nearly enough time!

How iconic is this picture of the Arch?

Chris found our hotel for the night.

It was the historic Fredrick Hotel.

What a neat place to spend the night!

Even had a resident cat that lived there.

We made it to the retreat on Wednesday.

The group went to Sarah's

This is an iconic place to shop.

Next year we are going to a new place in Lincoln.

I'm so happy I got to go and see all the great shops in KC.

Next up will be the projects I worked on.

~XOP~

Reject's Retreat 2022 Part 1

 It's that time again.  

Time to head out to Kansas City for the annual Reject's Retreat. 

 This year my friend, Kailie was joining us. 

 She and I decided to drive from MI to MO. 

 Hubby mapped out several quilt shops for us to stop at along the way as we progressed.  

He even put the times they opened up for us. 

 We started at Shipshewana. 

 Kailie had not ever been there. 

 First stop was Yoders and then Lollys.

Next was Betty's Quilting and Fabrics in Burnettsville, IN

The next stop was closed so we continued on the Chilothe, MO to spend the night.

We had a beautiful sunset on our drive there.

In the morning we went to Cuts and Bolts.  

They opened late and we just managed to catch them as we were ready to head out.

After that we were traveling on the the Missouri Star Quilt Company in Hamilton, MO\

This was the main shop.

Can you read the sign above us?

"Spends too much $$$ on fabric"

With an arrow pointing down, LOL.

This was in the Pennys building.

There are 4 shops inside there.

It was pretty incredible.

The iconic Hamilton sign.

There was a little Amish man selling fry pies near here too.

YUM!

Cheersing with our cherry fry pies!

On our way to the retreat!!

Next up our arrival and activities at the retreat!

~XOP~

More of the Reject's Retreat

 So...where did we leave off?  

Oh yes, the rest of the retreat! 

 First up was our trip to Sarah's in Lawrence.  

This is Traci modeling in front of the shop. 

This is inside the shop.

It was a great shop and one everyone should visit!

Paula found the cutest pineapple pin cushion!

After some shopping we went back to sew. 

 I managed to snap a quick selfie with Mel. 

 I may not have said it, but I missed these ladies so much!

Traci made the cutest pink elephant bag!

Just look at that flap! 

 I think it was my favorite part of the bag, but the peanut lining was pretty sweet.

We headed to Liberty and Angela Walter's shop, Quilting is my Therapy.

It was cool to say I have gone there but it really was not anything special. 

I enjoyed the other shops more, actually.

I did get this terrible photo of me and better one of my friends though, LOL.

The coolest thing, to me, were these angel wings!  

I have seen other people use them but never saw any myself.

There was the big pair you see me in above, and there was a little pair for kids next to it.
  OF COURSE, I had to sit down and take a selfie with the children's wings!  LOL.

Now on to talking about the things I was working on.  

My daughter, Shelby, drew a dragon in 2006. 

 This is the modified version of the dragon. 

 I wanted to make him into a quilt, BUT, did not have what I needed with me to actually do anything other than make the binding, SMH.

I made binding for another top that I finished while at retreat. 

 It is a Christmas gift, so I can't show the actual quilt top though.

This is a pic of the quilt top AND back and binding!!  
WOOT WOOT!!  
I sent this one to Liz to quilt for me as soon as I got back.

I bought these Kitty Corn fabrics to make a buffalo plaid quilt top at the KC Maker shop.  

This one is the Buffalo Plaid free pattern by the Empty Bobbin. 

 I can NOT believe how quickly it went together. 

 This will be for me.  

I am thinking that I will be adding the cat in the jack-o-lantern from the panel to the front of this one.

  I just ordered a back today, the same green kitties that are on the front.

The Knotted Thread has a bunch of this line packaged for backs (5 yard cuts).

If you are looking go check her out!

I finished a little bag also, but again, it's a gift so I can't share it right now.

No trip to KC is complete without having some BBQ.

We went to Jack Stack on the first night.

I had the brisket and turkey.  

Honestly, the beans were the best part of that meal!

I know, I know, turkey?

 But when it is done right it is the BEST!

This was more like lunchmeat.

I was pretty disappointed

Not everyone in our group loves BBQ 

(Who are you people?)

We went to another place called Q39.

It's a newer place but I have to say the brisket was the best I have ever had!

It melted in my mouth!

So for now, this concludes my trip with my buddies.

Never fear though, we are getting together again in November!

Traci owns a quilt shop in WI called Something Quilty.

She is having a retreat from the 3-7 of November.

Want to join us?

Give her a call!

I would love to meet you!

~XOP~

Rejects Retreat

 Oh My GOSH!!!!! 

 I used to go to a quilt retreat in California.

  I had awesome roommates.  

Things changed and we are no longer going to that retreat.  

So, we decided that we all still needed to get together and do a retreat, just the 5 of us. 

 We had it all planned for last year and then...COVID.  

So this year we tried again. 

 This was me getting ready to leave Detroit.

One of the women who lives in Kansas City, MO set it up for us at the KC Maker Studio retreat space.  It was the BOMB!  

I flew out to KC and our friend picked us up at the airport. 

 First place she took us was to the Fabric Chicks quilt shop.

  What a great shop!

We went to her home and met her dogs and her hubby and saw her amazing garden, 

then headed out to the retreat house. 

 Isn't it gorgeous? 

There were 3 floors and the sewing space. 

 Bedrooms were on floor 2 and 3. 

 My roommate and I stayed on the third floor and 

the other 3 stayed in 2 of the bedrooms on the second floor.

This was our sewing space.  The tables were fantastic and very sturdy. 

 We each had 2 tables and lots of lights! 

 I used the little machine you see in the bottom right. 

 Paula lent it to me.  

A little Tula Pink machine!!

Isn't it the cutest?
 

Directly behind me was the hallway leading to the restroom. 

 There was a fridge there and a coffee maker, microwave and snacks. 

 Also a big counter and another ironing station (there were 3 total for the  sewing space).

On the other side of the room was another little room just for cutting.  

There were 2 cutting tables with large mats and lots of lights in this room 

as well as another counter to set things on.

The house was great, the hosts were the best (they live there, Patti and Dana) 

and the sewing space was to die for!  

There was also a tv so we could watch movies while we were sewing. 
This is Mel and me at the studio.  

Patti just opened a quilt shop 5 weeks before we arrived.  

The space was pretty big and she had a lot of great fabrics!  

I have more to share but this is getting long so more soon!

~XOP~