February 7, 2012
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My Orca Bay and Sister’s Sewing Retreat
How do I begin? I’ve just uploaded over 60 pictures of our annual Sister’s Sewing Retreat but I’m going to begin my post with the
Orca Bay Mystery Quilt. Today I can link into Bonnie Hunter’s blog and all the quilters who made this amazing quilt. Check it out and see what quilters from around the world did!
It was fun working with my sister Julia on this mystery. We made a few changes like swapping the black background Ohio Star blocks with the neutral background Stars. This made the dark diagonal sashing stand out a bit more.
Every year I look forward to the week I’ll spend with my mother, my sisters, my sister-in-law, and nieces and nephews.
But this year I missed my father so much! I just kept on thinking I’d hear him walking to the edge of our sewing room with his oxygen tank rattling , coming over to check out what the women in his family were doing!
This picture was taken two years ago at our retreat when Father was still with us.
…and now to this years retreat.
After sewing for 9 days straight I was able to finish piecing the wedding quilt I’m making for my youngest son Timothy and his soon to be wife Diana!
I’ve been wanting to experiment with machine Trapunto for a long time now and thought this would be an excellent quilt to do it on since there is so much white background.
With machine Trapunto you put double batting in the motifs and then machine stipple fairly close to puff up the design. I had so much fun with this sample piece and can hardly wait to get started on the quilt.
Here is a close up.
Here’s what my sister Sheila’s basement looked like for these nine days!
Lots of Berninas
Lots of Sisters
Lots of Fun!
Around the corner there is another part of Sheila’s basement.
It’s not just women and their sewing machines.
Sheila and Sanford’s two sons, Ryan and Caleb were busy.
I heard words like, crankshaft, metal shavings, locked-up, etc.
There’s even room for a pool table and a few men!
Come back later for many more pictures. We’re tired now and need to get some sleep!
You can also check in on these other blogs for more of our time together.
Comments (13)
All I can say is WOW!
Polly, that wedding quilt is beautiful! Red and white are among my favorite colors. The trapunto sample is wonderful! Can’t wait to see it on the quilt!
looks like fun fun family time!!
gotaluvit!
loved this post aunt polly wolly!!!! the quilting you are going to do for timmy and diana’s quilt looks beautiful!!! and i love the picture of you sisters w/ grandmother at the top
such a special family we have! (also, love the picture of Brighton and i…i would have never known you took it lol)
Amazing quilts, and great family times. Do you all sell any quilts? I’m getting married this fall and would love to have a nice quilt to give my wife.
Wonderful!
What a great family time, and all that creativity in one family — just wonderful!
So interesting to see everyone’s creativity!
Love the pictures as always and the sleeping tired pictures were just what I needed to get me into bed. Good night.
Such a beautiful post Poly. Lovely wedding quilt, I am eager to see it when completed. Your pictures are great, looks like yet another grand and fun time with your family!
What a wonderful place for a retreat and so nice to have it with family. I’m sorry for the loss of your father, but I’ll bet he was there in many memories. It’s amazing the difference the dark blues make in the quilt, the two are beautiful but different. Your quilting is awesome.
Awesome Family time. Something that is sorely lacking in society these days. love your orca quilts I have just about finished mine. giving it away for a wedding quilt. And I love your Tapunta stitching. Sorry to hear about your father. Mine has been gone for a long time and I still miss him.
Thanks for sharing……
Elly