CQI Retreat

I'm just going to show a few of the pics here and if you click on one of the pics you can hop over to the Flickr group and view the whole stream from there!

After our "short" two hours of trying to drewl on the gorgeous quilts at the museum, we were off to lunch. We landed at Macaroni Grill and Gerry and Cat commenced to start re-creating some of the seam treatments that they had seen at the museum! SUCH fun!

We then started our shop hop! This is a couple of pictures of Allyn's Bridal Shop! Exquisite fabrics and laces can be found here! There are nooks and crannies and rooms ALL over!! It would be sooo easy to spend the entire day here! Then we caravaned over to the Bead Haven and then zipped off to the Berry Patch in Niwot, CO. This store is THE store for ribbons and braids. Its said an RMCQ friend signs over her paycheck to them regularly! LOL!!

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The Group at Denver Art Museum

The Group at Denver Art Museum
Originally uploaded by cqiretreat

Finally getting back to trying to post the pics of our wonderful retreat! Here we ALL are in the conservation storage room..... we're having a challenge getting our "Lauri" to cooperate on the photo front! LOL!! From left to right, Connie, Leslie, Mary Frances, Debbie, Gerry K, Gerry H, Cathy, Lauri (the BRIGHT RED FACED ONE) hehehe, and Janet!!

Retreat cont.

The Group at Denver Art Museum
Originally uploaded by cqiretreat

Finally getting back to trying to post the pics of our wonderful retreat! Here we ALL are in the conservation storage room..... we're having a challenge getting our "Lauri" to cooperate on the photo front! LOL!! From left to right, Connie, Leslie, Mary Frances, Debbie, Gerry K, Gerry H, Cathy, Lauri (the BRIGHT RED FACED ONE) hehehe, and Janet!!
This is a pic of a late 1800's tea cozy from Scotland. It is pieced in silks, embroidered, padded and lined. This was a special treat the Head Curator thought we would enjoy!! Its just fascinating! SOOOO hard not to touch anything! LOL!!

Here Debbie is looking thru a reducing glass! Quite a handy little gadget! When you look at something, like all the breast cancer blocks laid out, it allows you to "see" what needs to be moved for a better composition! GOT to find one of these gems!

Retreat Pics cont.

These are a couple of more pics to hold ya for a few hours! The eye candy that everyone has

been sharing has been great! Here we are at the art musuem looking at a couple of the wonderful vintage quilts! The top pic was actually made in Loveland, Colorado and it appeared that the stitcher had a BLAST working on it! It had an incredible variety of stitches and colors on it. Enjoy! I will try to get back here later when I don't have to compete for puter time with dh!

More Retreat Fun!

On our shop hop journey, we passed a shop called Two Haute! Well.....heres a pic of our Two Hot retreat chics! LOL!! Gerry and Debbie were THE funniest ladies and we all had a wonderful time teasing Deb about her accent!

Here is a pic of ALL of us in the conservation room below decks at the art museum....left to right is Connie, Leslie, Mary Frances, Debbie, Gerry K, Gerry H, Cathy, Lauri (QUITE red in the face, she's a bit camera shy) and our Janet! Here Debbie, Gerry, Gerry and Cathy are examining one of the quilts.

The quilt below was made by members of the Plymouth Daughters Congregational Church, Arkansas City, Kansas. The Plymouth daughters made this quilt as a farewell figt for the wife of the postor, Mrs. George T. Nichols. They presented it to her upon the family's departure for Denver, where Reverend Nichols assumed the position of pastor at the Berkeley Community Congregational Church. Each member of the Plymouth Daughters took the name of a virtue treasured by the Founding Fathers of Plymouth Colony (Mrs. Nichols was Patience). The names are embroidered onto the quilt pieces. Other names are those of non-members who contributed to the project. (That must be Mrs. Clap!) LOL! The virtues that were listed are Thankful, fidelity, winsome, harmony, glee, symphony, courage, wisdome, hopeful, content, unity, advance, delight, sincerity, peace, freedom, simplicity, advance, efficiency, desire, victory, grace. Hopefully I got all of the virtues. This was a really neat quilt to explore with all the stitch variations, etc.

This quilt was made in the late 1940's to early 1950's, Loveland Colorado. It was comprised of silk, cotton, synthetic fabrics. The black sashing sparkles with embroidered start and sets off the blocks of dress fabrics from the 1940's. A dog, cat and a key are amoung the many motifs embroidered on the more plain swatches. The individual that created this quilt simply had a wonderful time with it. It was apparent thru the variety of stitch variations, colors, etc. The back was fascinating in that there is a chain stitch that follows both sides of the sashing thru out the quilt.

I will stop here for now. Stay tuned for more pics!

Colorado Toast to CQI Friends

Last week was our first annual kick off to the Crazy Quilting International Retreat! Here are several of us, toasting with Colorado Peach Wine (provided by Janet) to our wonderful gathering! From left to right is Gerry Krueger, Debbie Quirion, Cathy Kizerian, Leslie Ehrlich, Janet Popish! My fur kids enjoyed the extra attention....as you can see, Koda is in the thick of it here!

Here is a pic of everyone, inclusive of my hubby who decided to act a bit like a clown AND Debbie getting a little love from one of my other 4 legged kids, Boogie! LOL!!!

Gerry K and Debbie are a hoot! Before she left home, Debbies sister in law she could be killed by axe murderers or something.....and Deb showed her a pick of Gerry! After hearing the story, I HAD to show off the antique hatchet I have and Gerry/Debbie decided they HAD to have a pic of Debbie being attacked by the crazy hatchet lady!

Here everyone is gathered on my patio while we get dinner prepared! It is SOOO very special to finally be able to meet everyone!

Here is a pic of Cathy K, Gerry K and Debbie stitching away while we wait for everyone else to arrive!

Once gathered together, Cathy shared how to make these folded flowers and folded ribbon border and ribbon leaves.



Here the gang is gathered around the table (Connie, Gerry H, Lauri, Cathy, Debbie, Gerry and Janet). Connie shared her thread storage method while Janet looks on; and Lauri, Gerry H and Connie are enjoying their stitching while we all chat!

Debbie, Gerry K and I had gone to a couple of thrift shops prior to everyones arrival. Here, Debbie is modeling her find.... a satin halter top, red lace (low bust top!) and lace paints that made her feel like a creature out of the cq lagoon! LOL!

Here is Gerry modeling some of hers while she works on a needle book!

Amongst the many activities that we planned, we had a stash dash! Here, Cat is communicating with Jill on her stash preferences!! LOL!! You remember that call Jill? You fussed about how "fuzzy" the connection was! VBG!

Other activities included a private showing of 5 vintage quilts at the art museum, a lecture by Paulette Reading on quilt restoration, a brazilian embroidery class, beaded embroidery class and button painting class. Many many techniques were shared and everyone left with heads full of information and hearts full of friends.

Stay tuned for more pics as we continue to get the loaded!

September Stitch Shenanigans

Folks are starting to arrive....we'll start taking pics shortly to share and lots of stash is rolling in! Its looking like this will be a great beginning to what we hope will become an annual event!! We are missing everyone that could not join us and will do out best to share as days go by! Stayyyyy tuned!

Peacock RR - Wendy's block

Wendys block
First, Andrea
second, Cathy
Third, Susan

and the completed block , last to stitch was Cheryl

Peacock RR - Susan's block

Susan's Block
First to stitch was Chery
second, Wendy
Third Adrea's additions

And last but not least, Cathy's work, and the finished block

Peacock RR- Cheryl's block

First to stitch was Wendy

Second , Andrea

Third Cathy
And finally, Susan finished off the block.