Atwood Lodge Quilt Retreat with Sew Deja vu

Arriving at Atwood Lake

A short one hour drive from Kent is the lovely Atwood Lake and Resort where I spent the weekend at a fabulous quilt retreat put on by our local quilt shop in Stow, Sew Deja vu.  Thank you, ladies from the vu, for picking out such a lovely place to sew, eat, sew, relax and sew some more.   My little red car found the way with a little help from our GPS.  Barbie, my friend since forever, was right behind me.  

This is a rather long post with lots of pictures;  if you are new to reading blogs, click on any picture to enlarge the photo.  Enjoy!

Room with the vu

We had the ballroom with the best view and we were with the vu.  How great is that!

Morning of the first day

By afternoon, the room is full of sewing machines and colourful fabric.  Let the fun begin!

Make new friends,  QBee's . . . 

Keep the Old Friends, QBees . . . 

Retreat Projects:

Barbie's Strip Quilt

Fabric from Australia

Australian Design

Ben Ten Quilt - Every Quilt has a Story

Ben Ten Backing

Sister Charlotte

Our retreat would not have been complete without the added humour and blessings from Sister Charlotte.  Her quilt became a coat of many colours and we all requested the pattern!

Happy Endings:

I am so thankful to Sew Deja vu for the time and energy spent to make this retreat the very best!  Thank you for giving us the opportunity to meet new friends while we expand our art of quilting.   

"Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams." ~ Ashley Smith

Easter-Topia

Easter-Topia Play

Toria and Zoe present the story of Peter Cottontail and the Easter Bunny.

Place: Grandma's Living Room

Time: Saturday at 12:30 12:55

Ticket Price: $.25

Raffle Winner: Grandma Cheryl

Walk by the Cuyahoga River in Kent 

After the play, the cast and audience strolled down by the Cuyahoga River to enjoy the spring sunshine.

Small Signs and Wonders!  Can you spot the turtle?

I Spy . . . Spring Flowers & a Quilt

It's 45 degrees and sunny in Kent today - finally the crocuses are blooming and it almost feels like spring. Time to run to the quilt shop, fill up the gas tank, grab some groceries and take some pictures before the next round of snow which is in the weather forecast for next week.  Uhhgg!

Future daffodils!

I spy a quilt on the board

Since I have tons of I-Spy material now, it's a perfect time to a make a birthday quilt for my grandson Jordan who is going to be seven in May.  I already had lots of squares cut, so that's a good start.  Today, I found a great backing material at Sew Deja vu, our new local quilt shop.  Best of all, it was on sale!  

 

Think Spring!

Quilting Day with QBees

International Quilting Day

What a great reason to head south down to Sweet Peas and Possum, or better known as Miss Carol's Studio, to quilt with my QBees; Carol, Barbie, Michelle and Gina.  The weather cooperated, a little snow up here when we left, but dry in the south.  

Projects - Flower Power for Spring!

Barbie is the quilt!

Collecting flower material for over a year!

Gina's Wedding Quilt for her Daughter,

As usual, there is a story behind this quilt.  The bridesmaids in the upcoming wedding will be wearing white eyelet lace dresses adorned with different color bandanna s.  Part of the material in the quilt is from real bandanna s and the white eyelet lace is the border.  The corners and center squares are denim - for the groom.  As you can guess, this is going to be a country style wedding - how fun! Her daughter is going to love this Quilt!

Miss Carol's Gift

Miss Carol made this gorgeous Quilt of Valor for a young man in Afghanistan who is her son Nathan's friend.  Nathan is also in Afghanistan and we are all praying for their safe return!  I couldn't help but notice the precise and lovely workmanship in this quilt.   Beautiful!

Michelle's Kaleidoscope

Michelle is working on a quilt using this cool kaleidoscope pattern.  She was telling me how "easy" it is and I said, "don't tell me, show me!"  Now she has to give us all a class on how to stack and cut the material to get this awesome pattern.  

My projects

I was finishing up a backing for my Jack-of-Hearts Mystery Quilt.  Miss Carol helped me piece a backing and is going to do the quilting for me.  I can't wait to see it done!  

My most modern quilt ever!

Pieced Backing

Stack and Whack Place Mates

Floral backing - could be reversible

Four Fat Quarters - mix and match or stack and whack.  These are fun to make!

I made these for my lovely neighbor who shares her quilting magazines.    If you want to try the pattern, I have placed it below. When it says bring two up, bring up one and then the other.   Hope you can read it okay.

Happy 75th Birthday, Mom

My sister-in-law, Michelle, made and quilted a family wall hanging for her mom's 75th birthday.   The wall hanging includes black and white pictures of her and her five siblings at a young age and then, in the middle, a picture of them all grown up.  What an awesome, heart-felt present!  Her mom is going to love it!

Cleveland Art Museum

New perspectives at the Cleveland Art Museum

Sunday was a fun day at the Cleveland Art Museum with my family.  It has been years since my last visit and they have made some amazing changes to help the technological generation meet and blend with the old school of art.  The new Gallery 1 is fabulous . . . 

Zoe loves the giant touch screen wall of art that is like a giant I-Pad.  At a touch, it moves, enlarges, gives descriptions and locations of the art.  You can dock your I-Pad and  plan your visit.  This only shows about one fourth of the wall.  

Same wall with art enlarged.

Another interactive wall - draw a shape and the art that matches that shape appears.
  

This picture reminded me of how quilters put together little patches of material to make an image. It was all in pixels.

Lots of Quilt Patterns in this picture!   Flying Geese, for sure . . . the clouds are the quilting pattern.

Zoe made shadow art

Lunch was in the atrium.  It felt like a summer day!  

Zoe found her Knight in shining armor - sorry you are blurry, Zoe.  This is when my camera had issues and the battery gave out.

It's Groundhog Day Again!

Happy Groundhog Day

Today, a snowy, cold day in Ohio, I'm sure that groundhog did NOT see his shadow.  Could that mean an early spring for us?  Let's hope so!  It's the perfect day to watch an old movie and do some sewing.

What could be better than another go around with Bill Murray in the movie Groundhog Day.  You can watch this trailer clip and it will bring back the memories again and again and again . . .

Ultimate Holiday Site from the Hallmark Channel

Everyday a holiday!  I like that idea and love the site above for finding the wacky holidays.  The nice part of this website is that it gives a short, fun synopsis about each holiday.  For instance, here is what it says about Groundhog Day:

"This meteorological rodent tradition began as Hedgehog Day in England. Early settlers brought the tradition across the Atlantic, but it turns out there were no hedgehogs in America, so they had to settle on the lowly groundhog. To make matters worse, our groundhogs apparently sleep later than their hedgehogs, so when it comes time for the big day in Punxatawney, PA we have to nudge Phil awake to tell us whether we'll have 6 more weeks of winter. Hedgehogs would never need nudging."

Look what you can buy on Amazon!  Click here for a direct link.

Stay warm and think spring!