Quilt Retreat Projects
Here are the projects I was working on at the Ucross quilt retreat. I made sure I had several different things to work on. I started with some blocks I’m making for a block swap with other ladies in the “Buffalo Quilting Gals” group here. Some of the women wanted to exchange small bits of focus fabric for others to use in blocks for them. These are the blocks I made for that group, which we call the “Focus Group.”
Others wanted no color scheme in their quilts, so we used any fabrics from our stash, and that group was affectionately called the “Scrappy Group.” Here are some of the blocks I made for them:
Once these were all finished I started on a new table runner that has natural elements in the fabric:
Finally, I started working on a new lap quilt. I love this fabric — Sanae by Moda.
It was a very productive three days at the retreat, and fun to hang out with other quilters!
Fun Quilt Retreat Pics
Wyoming quilt retreats — you never know what you’ll come across, like this crazy setting for the ironing board.
It was also funny to see the use of the bed frames and mattresses that were leaning against the walls. They were quickly converted into handy design walls.
Every once in a while we took a break to “show and share” quilts we’d completed previously, and to eat a great meal prepared at the ranch house.
Not to mention the snack food that some people tempted us with.
One of the service projects the ladies were working on were chemo caps to donate to our local oncology unit. This dog statue modeled a few of the caps throughout the three days. It was a great weekend, full of laughter, good food, new friendships and skill-building. I will definitely go again next year. On my next post I’ll show you some of the projects I was working on at the retreat.
Quilters are Fun
Here are more photos from the Ucross quilting weekend. This is the building we sewed in, and it worked out really well for us. It’s a nice facility.
There was a large central area, but some of us were working in actual motel-type rooms. These are the ladies I quilted with — Cathy & Jean.
Cathy was working on a quilt she had begun nine years ago, but had set aside for all these years. We were really excited to see the finished quilt top on our last day of the retreat. It’s beautiful!
Here are the ladies working in the large meeting area.
There was a lot of laughter from these ladies throughout the weekend; everyone was having fun.
Deer On the Run
Cathy and I left our sewing machines at the quilt retreat long enough to take a walk down the road. We were admiring the beautiful scenery around us — hills, trees, deer, horses — when a huge commotion suddenly grabbed our attention.
I wasn’t sure what was happening, but someone was yelling, lots of animals were running, and you could hear a mad scramble of fear. We turned around and saw a deer running across the road and someone was yelling at the deer, or so I thought. As it turned out, they were yelling at the dog that was chasing the deer. It bounded across the road and over the fence.
Then it continued through the field of horses, startling them.
This caused a stampede of horses, as they were all frightened.
We watched helplessly as one of the horses went skidding across the ice and fell on its side. Finally everything calmed down again and we made our way on down to the sign and back, but I was worried about that horse. Later we wished we had told someone about the horse falling down; what if it hurt its leg or something? He may be nursing some sore muscles for a few days, poor thing.
At any rate, it certainly was a beautiful, warm day with the sun shining and we were glad we took the time to take a walk!
Ucross Quilt Retreat
We had a great time at a quilt retreat this weekend. It was held at The Ranch at Ucross, a beautiful old ranch not far from Buffalo. We were able to work on our quilts for three days straight — no cooking, no cleaning or laundry, no errands to run or work to do. It was great. Here are some scenes of the ranch area:
Doesn’t this look peaceful?
This is the main ranch house where all the meals were served.
Most of the women stayed in rooms near these, but my friend, Cathy, and I chose to drive back and forth from Buffalo each day.
We felt so privileged to be able to spend some time at this beautiful setting!
Jazz Inspired
We had a good time at the Kinzer Jazz Festival in Casper. I accompany for four choirs in our high school and two of them perform vocal jazz. The festival was an opportunity to compete, listen to other groups and improve our skills. Here are some photos from the three days.
This is the Treble Choir:
Our mixed vocal jazz group is called the Balladiers:
Here you can see one of the girls taking a scat solo in the song “Mr. P.C.” Note the upright bass in the rhythm section at the far left. This song featured our bass player in improv, and he did a great job.
Five of our students were selected for the All-State vocal jazz group, including our bass player.
The evening concert featured the New York Voices, and it was wonderful to see them perform. As a bonus, the Balladiers were chosen to work with them in a workshop the following day, as an example for other schools to watch. It was amazing. It was like having four adjudicators all at once, each of the highest caliber. Our students came home really inspired and ready to step up to the next level. We have two more jazz festivals to attend and a jazz concert in our own community later in the spring. If that isn’t enough, they will also be preparing music for the district music festival, including group and solo pieces. Finally, several of us are involved in the spring musical, “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.” Busy but fun!
Samurai Squares
Here is another quilt I made last spring. It’s a pattern called “Samurai Squares,” from Cozy Quilt Designs. I used Hemming House fabric from Moda, in shades of blues, browns, teals, brick red and cream, with black for the accent color. The quilt is composed of four different block patterns; can you pick them out below?
It was quilted very beautifully by my friend, Virginia, as you can see below:
Relief Efforts Continue
I have come across only a few examples of my Word of the Year so far, but these quotes are really good ones. My word is “Refuge” this year.
Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of the children of mankind! In the cover of your presence you hide them from the plots of men; you store them in your shelter from the strife of tongues. Blessed be the LORD, for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me when I was in a besieged city. – Psalm 31:19-21 (ESV)
These are the verses I read at the time of the Philippine flood that destroyed Emjay’s home. It was a great comfort to me, and I shared it with her. She truly was trying to make her way in a “besieged city,” but the Lord had provided refuge for her and many other families in the Compassion project.
Another verse that came to me at that time included:
“Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan, I will now arise,” says the LORD; I will place him in the safety (refuge) for which he longs. – Psalm 12:5 (ESV)
Our Compassion partners are continuing to reach out to the community in their great need. Please contribute here if you would like to make a difference for many needy children in this crisis.
Here are some recent photos of the relief efforts that the Compassion-assisted church is continuing to make in the community.
My beautiful Emjay is on the far left of the photo above, shovel in hand!
A Paradox
This is the third and final excerpt from the book Hope Lives, by Amber Van Schooneveld.
I love the paradox of Christianity–God lends his unimaginable power to those who would be the least in this world otherwise; the poor, the widow, and the orphan. On the surface, it looks as if those trapped in poverty have absolutely no power to effect any change whatsoever; they’re helpless. And I, too, can feel absolutely helpless and trapped in inaction when faced with the paralyzing facts of poverty. But Christianity is at home with helplessness. According to the Norwegian theologian Ole Hallesby, the great ingredient for prayer is helplessness. ”Prayer and helplessness are inseparable,” he says. ”Only those who are helpless can truly pray.” Hope Lives, pg. 122
Watch for regular posts about this book at Compassion Family in March!
The Greatest Poverty
The is the second excerpt from the book Hope Lives, by Amber Van Schooneveld.
I, too, am embroiled in a battle. All of us are. For while there is a poverty of too little, there is also a poverty of too much. Satan can squash souls by making them believe they are insignificant and alone. But Satan can also entwine and imprison my soul in the poverty of too much.
I don’t always feel rich, but I am. And riches are an equally potent, if not more potent, weapon to ensnare a soul. The poverty of too much can freeze my heart. It can deaden compassion. It can paralyze hands. Mother Teresa saw an awful lot of poverty–horrible poverty–and still decided this was the greatest poverty: ”to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.”
I am in the greatest poverty, a poverty of my soul, when I eat my fill and lounge on my couch, while thinking only fleetingly of others not as materially blessed as I have been. My poverty is real when my love is deadened, medicated, frozen by too much. And my soul is maybe in even more danger than those in the poverty of too little. Hope Lives, pg. 109
Hope Lives
This week I’m focusing on an excellent book I read some time ago. It’s called Hope Lives — A Journey of Restoration, and it’s by Amber Van Schooneveld, in partnership with Compassion International. It has 25 daily readings, including several questions and journaling opportunities.
The back cover explains that the book is a “five week journey of introspection and prayer [that] will help you…”
- discover what keeps you from engaging in global issues
- explore what Scripture really says about the poor
- understand the true nature of poverty
- draw close to the poor through prayer
- respond to God’s voice as he speaks to you about poverty
My friend, Jill, will be focusing on this book each Thursday in March at her excellent blog — Compassion Family — and will feature several guest writers, including myself. Check out her blog today for a free giveaway of this book!
This week I will share some excerpts from the book, starting with this one:
I think of how Jesus lived. I’ve heard a sermon on what a busy man Jesus must have been. I’m not so sure about that. He had many demands pressing in on him from every direction, but he wasn’t busy in the same way we are. He wasn’t running from meeting to meeting or from practice to practice. He very well might have spent many nights sitting with a group of friends over dinner, lingering for hours and hours, just talking about life. By today’s standards, that might even be called lazy and self-indulgent. But what mattered to Jesus was people–listening to them, loving them, and helping them. He was busy with the slow work of taking time to care for people. He was never too busy to stop and help someone. Hope Lives, pg. 30
Dogs on Quilts
I have made several quilts now in these past three years since I started. Today I want to show two that were made from the same fabric, with completely different outcomes. I picked out this fabric not only because I liked the dogs on it, but also because of the colors and quilting motifs. Take a look and you will see what I mean. Most of the dogs are lying on quilts (click to enlarge the images).
This is called a “Crazy Quilt.” You begin with an idea in the center and then start adding strips in a “crazy” manner all around until you’re able to cut the size of square that you want. I had so much fun with this, trying to be creative with color choices. I also added interesting decorative stitches along the edges of some of the fabrics.
In this way, I was able to quilt as I went along, adding strips between each block, as you can see on the back.
When Robyn saw the fabric I had chosen for this quilt, she said, “Let’s get more of it and make Stack ‘n Whacks!” What in the world is that? Well, it’s an interesting design concept that she taught me. You pile up duplicate sections of the fabric on top of each other and carefully cut out six sections that are exactly the same. Then you put them into kaleidoscope type formations that can be pretty hilarious if you’re using dogs.
We both made our own quilts and they ended up looking quite different because each of the triangles can be turned in three different directions to give an entirely different look.
We laughed a lot as we came up with funny patterns of legs, heads and tails.
I definitely want to do another “Stack ‘n Whack” sometime. To get an idea of how the fabric looked when we started, we put a patch of the original on the back sides of our quilts. I love learning new quilting techniques from my sister!
Sheep Fold