Sew Beachy Part 2

The retreat continues.  There was so much to post I needed to break it into several parts.

We left off with Friday night.  

Now I will go into the rest of the retreat.  

This shows our sewing space in the garage of the 10 bedroom house.

 I was working on some more of my Ocean Wave HST's

Like a dum dum I forgot my Clearly Perfect.  

OH NOOOOOO!!  

So I borrowed some tape and made a poor man's version 

(yes, I hate drawing lines that much!)  

Worked like a charm too!!

We had a little shopping at Super Buzzy.  What a great shop!  Cutting took a LONG time though.

Next up some of us went to Roxanne's (my roomies and me!)

Traci and Mel having fun!

Look at all that Kaffe!!!!

I'm pretty sure if you want Kaffe and they don't have it you are SOL, just sayin'

She also had some cute painted vintage machines for sale

 Of course the green and white one was a favorite of mine.

This was such a cute shop!

Jamie of Made by Jamie was at the retreat and taught us to make the New Clutch Wallet.  

Isn't she so cute?

This is my wallet.  I LOVE it!  Thanks again Jamie for all your help!!

This is the inside.  

Group photo of everyone that made a wallet.  

It appears that we were well stocked with alcohol too as you can see in our fridge.

There was a silent auction and raffle baskets too.  This will go toward next year's deposit.

We played a rousing game of LRC, but I didn't get any photos of us playing or the loot pile.

The sunsets were so gorgeous every night.

The sun reflecting back toward the house we were staying at was amazing on Sunday night.

I wanted to go for a walk on the beach on Sunday night.

Mel and Traci joined me and we met up with Peggy when we were almost back to the house.

Mel, me and Traci

Several of us being goofy.

Later in the evening sunset.

This is 2 of the 3 Pam's that were at the retreat.  We had so much fun together. 

 I wish she lived closer.

Darla, Traci, Mel, Me and Paula.  All my roomies except for Darla.

Darla was the organizer of this entire adventure.  

Thanks for a great time and I look forward to doing this again sometime!

Sew Beachy Part 1

I was invited to a quilt retreat in Ventura Beach, California. 

 I gave this a lot of thought as not only did I need to pay for the retreat, 

but had to come up with a way to afford the airfare.  

It's not always easy on one salary, but we figured it out and I booked the trip.  

Mind you, I had only met one of the folks that would be going, of the 25 invited, YIKES!  

I knew *some* of them from Instagram.  

The ones I knew I really liked so I decided to do it.  

Fun and scary all at the same time.  

I wanted to fly out a bit early and that's where my friend Ana came in.  

My FIRL, Traci, was flying in from WI and was renting a car.  

I flew in to LA at night and she picked me up.  

We drove to Ana's and spent the night before heading to Ventura Beach and the retreat. 

 It is a little terrifying to fly with your sewing machine though.  

We headed out on Friday morning and drove down Hollywood Blvd.  

Traci had lived in CA for a few years and knew how to get around the city, which was fantastic.  (Thanks again, Traci, for being the driver!).  

She showed me some of the famous things before we headed out to LAX to pick up another person, Paula, flying in from Kansas City.

I saw the Hollywood sign.

Corner of Hollywood and Vine

Capitol Records

Ripley's Believe it or Not

Mann's Chinese Theater

Once we picked up Paula we headed to a quilt shop called Sew Together.  

The trees outside were yarn bombed!

 It was a cute little shop with LOADS of modern fabrics.  Decisions, decisions!

We drove by the Getty Villa

Made a stop so Traci could rest (a little kitchy place Traci wanted to stop at)

Then it was time to stop for lunch.  Ollie's Duck and Dive.  

This is Traci and I enjoying our lunch with Paula.  

Traci is the only person I actually knew before going to the retreat and we had only met once.

When we arrived at the retreat house (Saylor's Sandcastle) and 

looked into the garage, this is what we saw.  

All 25 of us would be sewing in here and those windows?  They look right on to the beach!

Our table consisted of me, Traci, Paula and Melanie (not here yet).

We had the most beautiful sunsets each night.  This was the first one.

I met some amazing women.  Left to right, Susan, Pam (applique teacher and Susan's sister), 

Jamie (our wallet instructor, Made By Jamie) and Darla (our hostess).  

These women are epic!  

I am so glad I got to know them in real life.  I'm pretty certain I will be life long friends with them!

I loved that there were three Pam's at the retreat!  

This Pam and I became fast friends!  Everyone was so nice.  

I have lots more to share but this is already pretty long so more tomorrow.

~XOP~

Finally A Finish I Can Talk About

As you may remember, I was in California for the past week.  

I went for a quilt retreat, Sew Beachy, 

(more about the retreat later) 

and stayed with a friend that I used to work with

 (until she moved to California).  

Many years ago, I made a quilt for the U of M quilt raffle. 

 Proceeds went to in need families that were patients at the university hospital.  

One of my first big quilts was won by my friend.  

She called me up 6 months or so ago and told me that her quilt had been loved to death and 

would I consider making her a new quilt?  

I asked my two friends at work that I quilt with if they would consider helping.  

As it turned out one was in the hospital at the time we needed to get this done, but upon her release made a few blocks for the quilt.  

My other friend did most of the stars.  

I made some stars, the squares, put the top together and then bound it when we got it back. 

 I carried it on the plane when I flew out to Cali & was able to present it in person to our friend Ana.  

First of all let me say that her reaction was priceless!  

Anyone reading this that I have given an quilt to or if you receive one in the future, 

please take note that THIS is how you should respond to receiving a quilt from me, LOL.

This is how I presented it to her, all rolled up.

We used Tula Pink's Free Fall 108" wide for the back.

Reading the label

THIS, this is how everyone should react!  

Thanks, Ana you made my day!

It's a bit embarrassing but this is the well loved quilt

 (which for the record she would NOT let me throw away as she loves it still).  

It reminded me of my daughter's "si-si" 

(well loved blanket).

Here are a few photos of the entire quilt so you can see what it looks like.  

Fabric is Canyon by Kate Spain and the pattern is Sara's Star by Sweet Jane's Quilting & Design. (Just in case you need to make one too!)  

Note, we did make ours larger than the pattern.

Oh dear friend, you made me so happy to gift this to you!

Thank you again for hosting me during my stay, but don't expect a new quilt every time, LOL

I am linking this finish up with Crazy Mom Quilts.

More about Sew Beachy soon!

~XOP~