Quilt Retreat Finishes!

I was invited to speak on free motion quilting at a local quilt retreat this weekend in Cheyenne, but it sounded like so much fun that I decided to participate in the retreat as well.  I love to quilt with ladies and since I have a husband, a son and a male dog, it doesn't happen very often in this house.  The retreat was sponsored by Rambling Rose Quilt Shop out of  Cheyenne Wells, Colorado.

As a participant, I needed to make something for a gift exchange.  I was looking forward to this and used all three of my main skills, piecing, free motion and embroidery.

First, I made this approximately 18" wall hanging using Cindy Needham's The Ultimate Stencil for the center shape.

While I was finishing up the wall hanging, I got this mug rug going on the embroidery machine.

Deb, the mother of the owner of the quilt shop,   picked out my gift:

When I was wrapping the gift, I grabbed a used piece of foam board to mount the wall hanging on so it would look good when opened.  I didn't pay much attention, and this ended up on the back of the foam board:

I think I had made this when I was teaching a group of kids and needed to get them focused.  If I recall, they got quite rowdy.  Anyway, the back of the foam board ended up being the life of the party.  

During the retreat, we had the opportunity to purchase a fat quarter pack and make the 10" super fancy folded star potholder featured on Moda Bake Shoppe on September 8, 2011 and designed by Mari from Not Only Quilts.  Here is a group picture of the ladies who chose to make the project:

They all turned out different but beautiful!  

I agreed with everyone else, that the project was too beautiful to use as a potholder, so I turned mine into a trapunto wall hanging for my sewing room.

This photo allows you to see the trapunto a little better:

And this photo picks up the quilting a little better:

I got home late Saturday evening; we had a bunch of kids over for a Bible Study Sunday evening.  Isn't this an awesome sight?

Everyone wondered why in the world I would take a photo of a bunch of shoes, but I was so incredibly blessed to see all these kids wanting to learn about Jesus.  Life is good!

I'll be linking up this week with http://myquiltinfatuation.blogspot.com, http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com and http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com so join me in the fun and see all the creativity!