Round 'em up!

It's been almost a year to the week ... I started this Cowboy quilt for Mr. Dancing Bear this time last year.  I attended the retreat at Quilting by the Bay in Panama City, and the guest lecturer/pattern designer was Pat Wys, and we were making quilts from her book Spotlight on Neutrals.  I chose the design Havenstone.  Geez, I always choose the ONE pattern that has a ga-zillion pieces; however, I had been collecting cowboy fabrics for a while, knowing that my cowboy needed his very own quilt.  So ... voila!!!  My quilt isn't quite as distinct in colors/patterns as Pat, but then again I used a boat-load of different cowboy prints ... and that turquoise blue just pops, doesn't it?

It is waaaayyyy too big to get an all-over picture (shall I tell you how I really really wish I could take decent pics?), but here are a couple to give you a sense of just how Yippie-Ki-Yay this quilt is!!  So a big thank you to Pat Wys and her tremendous book, Spotlight on Neutrals!  Hope to take another class with you soon!

Post Road Trip ... Love Road Trips!

Quilting Retreats are a real Treat!

I just got back from a quilting retreat in Panama City and it was wonderful!  My friend and fellow quilter Patsy Ruth and I made the trip from Marietta to Panama City, FL.  We got there late Thursday evening and had the best seafood dinner at Uncle Ernie's.  And then on Friday morning we shopped the store, Quilting by the Bay, which is a great quilting heaven.  It's amazing how much $$$$ can be spent in just 2 hours!  Oh yeah ...  and then we spent almost 3 days just sewing sewing sewing.   There were about 65 quilters sitting and stitching!  What a great time we had!  The staff at Quilting by the Bay really went out of their way to make this a great experience for all of us.  Thanks, Linda and Hubby!  Thanks, Sue!  Thanks, Kathy!  Thanks to all of you! 

Our teacher/retreat guest was Pat Wys who has a book that she featured at the retreat ... Spotlight on Neutrals.  I'm not a 'neutral' person ... my byline is "I'm not afraid of color ..." but I certainly appreciate the whole neutral movement.  Some beautiful quilts were being made using this book.  I took one of her patterns in the book, Havenstone, and adapted it to my own color scheme.  When it's done I'll post pictures ... it is just sooooo cool!  

Stayed tuned, cowboy!

Current quilt:

Last week I returned a customer quilt.  Dianna's sister made the top for Dianna for Christmas and I got to quilt it for Dianna.  I don't know the name of the pattern ... I called it Window Panes.  It is just so soft and cuddly!  The backing is a red tone-on-tone.  I almost used a green thread but thought it would look too Christmasy, so I used a gold thread and it turned out beautiful.  And of course I don't have a picture of the back.  Duh ...


Thanks to both Dianna and her sister for the lovely notes they sent me after the quilting.  So special.