The Old Lady, the Rockstar and Isoceles Triangles

 Last weekend, I attended a quilting retreat at Berryhill Inn in South Boston Virginia.   I had chosen this as a retirement gift to myself to celebrate.  It was a very good choice.

Organized beautifully by Kathleen at Salem Stitches, the retreat was small, casual and so well designed.  A mix of a beautiful environment, good company, good food and quilting.   My good friend Susan and I drove up on Thursday, checked into the resort and set up our sewing areas.

 

We each had our own large table with terrific lighting and a power strip for all our devices.   We worked on our own projects Thursday afternoon and evening as well as all day Friday. 

I worked on sewing scrap squares together for my North Carolina quilt.  I love anytime I get to work alongside other stitchers. There is an instant connection and sense of community. Even though the group included experts and novices we enjoyed learning from and getting to know each other.  

As you can see from the work below, there were some amazing quilters in attendance. 

Such fun and topped off with a daily cookie break at 3pm and each morning we discovered gifts from the quilt fairies! Really cool quilting notions just appeared at our sewing stations overnight.

Saturday morning, we met the featured designer, Giuseppe Ribaudo or Guicy Guice as he is known on Instagram.   He is a quilting rockstar and fabric designer based in Maine.  He is also super nice, super knowledgeable and a generous teacher.  Unfortunately, he uttered the words "isosceles triangle" in the first 30 minutes of class.  I had to google it surreptitiously, it sounded vaguely familiar from high school.  I thought I might need to fake a stomachache to get out of quilt class!  Giuseppe taught us how to design modern medallion quilts.  I got totally gob smacked by learning how to make wonky flying geese.  My non medallion from class is below.  Titled ""It Is Too Early for Math" or "Giuseppe Is Not the Boss of Me"

Just to prove I was listening I also made this mini-Medallion when I got home and used the skills learned in class.  It is titled "Summer Heat".

There were some stellar medallion quilts designed.

I would highly recommend attending one of Kathleen 's retreats if you have the opportunity.   It is a wonderful time of being spoiled with treats and unexpected gifts.  I also would suggest taking a class with Giuseppe.   He is my favorite kind of instructor, very knowledgeable but also super flexible and allowing students to follow their own instincts.

Above all remember...