Refreshed and restored......

 

 

......after a fabulous five days spent at the retreat at Bryce Canyon.  We left in adverse winter weather conditions, but it takes quite a bit to stop the plans of determined quilters.  Our last forty five minutes were white out conditions.  We arrived to forty mile an hour winds and a 30 degrees below wind chill factor.....we were happy to get our multitude of stuff unloaded and then settled in for good times with good friends.

 

 

Isn't this a cozy picture of Leslie hand quilting an Irish chain quilt?  The wind was howling outside that first evening, but she was cozy with the quilt snuggled around her.  We were sad though, because she only had one full day with us and then she needed to leave, because her husband had emergency surgery.

 

On the way to Bryce Canyon we only stopped at one quilt store because of the weather, and it was Broadbent's in Lehi, Utah.

 

We were in a bit of a hurry because of the weather, so I did not take many pictures......but I always find the Trip Around the World a great pattern for a quilt.

 

We had one day of free sewing time before the actual retreat started.  We always try to come early to have a day just to relax and sew.

 

This bright and cheerful design was what our friend Trudy Johnson from Saint Louis Mo. was working on.  We usually only see her at this retreat every year.....and needless to say is one of the high points for us......to spend time with quilters we only see at this time each year.

 

This design is called Tea Party by Wendy Williams from Australia.

 

A close up of one of the flowers.

 

 

Bonnie Quiggly, our friend from Park City, Utah was sewing up these wee churn dash blocks......a favorite of mine.

 

And, Bonnie's sister Pat was working on the blocks from my design, "How Does Your Garden Grow?"

 

This was a sewing roll that Bonnie has made.....so cute!  A place to store her various scissors which she brings with her.  We quilters make all sorts of nifty things to carry our supplies in.

 

"This is the beginning of a new day.  You have been given this day to use as you will.  You can waste it or use it for good.  What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it.  When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever;  in its place is something that you have left behind.....let it be something good."  -Author unknown