Hen House Quilting Retreat at the Quilt Barn in Kimberly Went OUT of Business A Couple Years Ago

I have not made updates to this blog due to the quilting retreat, and the Quilt Barn quilt shop, in Kimberly, Idaho, went out of business about three years ago.  They started out with a pretty good thing in an old building in downtown Kimberly.  Our first quilting retreat there was awesome. The next year they closed the old building retreat and moved it into a metal concrete slab building out back, but they failed to move their appointments over on the same dates they were reserved for at the old location.  So, we could not come when we had planned.  We had already put down our deposit.  They really wanted us to come to the new location, so I let our group vote on it.  They wanted to go anyway, so we had to make our reservation for November, because naturally October was all booked.  We had originally booked for the second weekend in September.  We got there and it just was not the same.  It had concrete floors, and those hard plastic folding tables that bow in the middle when you cut.  The kitchen/dining area was bigger and so was the bathrooms, but everything else went down hill, including their attention to us.  We were across the alley and they never came to see what we were making or if we needed anything.  They really ruined the good thing they had built.
     Since then our quilt group has grown from seven members to twelve. We have our own quilting retreat every quarter, at the club house in the subdivision of one of our members.  Instead of over $125 apiece for a three day weekend, it is $25.00 for the entire weekend for everybody.  We each pitch in $5.00 to attend, and the extra funds goes into a pot to help purchase the club house a new refrigerator.  We get to go home each evening and sleep in our own beds, then in the morning go over again and play all day.  The nice thing is we save all that driving time, and if we have to go feed a friends dogs, we can, and then come back!  It is local, cheap, and we can do it every quarter instead of once a year.
   I am leaving this blog up, because there are some lovely photos of Kimberly, ID, on it, and those are timeless!

Fab Stack N Whack Received as Gift

You know that fabulous stack n whack quilt top that Phyllis was making at the retreat.  She got it finished last Fall.  Breathtaking. I love it.  She has her reasons . . . she gave it to me for Christmas.  As soon as I parted the tissue, I knew what it was. I could not believe anyone could give me something so wonderful as a gift.  I don't believe I deserve something so special. But Phyllis does. I am going to get it quilted and make it even more special, as a quilt top is not a quilt. Thank you, Phyllis, for giving me something so wonderul.

   I made a mini quilt that grew a little as I added a couple borders, so it is not so mini, yet not so very big. I made it with the colors that Phyllis likes. She is so wonderful, I know she will like it!  It is a Valentine's Day gift. Yes, a red, white, and blue Valentine's Day gift. 

I finished my Route 66 wall hanging. I sewed a sleeve on the back for hanging.  Phyllis finished her stack and wack fab quilt top. I need to get a photo, as it is fabulous! I kid you not!
We divied up the fabric we purchased at the Quilt Barn, but only two out of six of us have finished our quilt blocks for our group project.  I will be starting mine after Thanksgiving. I promise!  At our last CONFAB, we drew a name for who would be responsible for piecing all the blocks together once they are all done. That was fun. I can say no more.

We arrived at the Hen House on Friday, September 7th.  We were so excited!  We moved in all our sewing/quilting supplies, food, and personal overnight belongings.  Except Cindy.  She brought a car full of everything anyone could possibly need for a fab quilting retreat, except her own personal ovenight belongings.  Big grin.  It was so nice of the owner's husband to make us each a Hen House T-shirt.  That way Cindy had something else to wear.  But who needs all that when you have quilting to do?

Meanwhile, Phyllis had made some incredible stack n'whack blocks and proceeded to dazzle us all.  She put them on the design wall and moved them around and added stunning blue triangle blocks in between.  She got over half of her quilt top pieced together while at the retreat.  Carol made progress on several things, but not like that.    

Be sure to scroll clear to the bottom of this blog to view all the photos.  On Saturday morning, Cindy and Carol took a refreshing walk. Found the local market and bought Cindy a toothbrush and on the way back Carol took a photo of a cute kitty on a window ledge enjoying the morning air.



Carol's wavy landscape wall hanging.


Mary and Cindy make the coolist wavy landscape things. They make jackets, vests, wall hangings.  Mary gave me an in-service on how to make one of the wavey landscape wallhangings.  Thank you, Mary!   I am really pleased with how it came out. I just need to quilt it and bind it.



Mary put up her die-cut triangles to make an eye-catching pattern.

 Wow! Knock your socks off originality!  That Mary really knows how to dig into something new!  It is contagious. I had her show me how to use that die-cut machine, and it really saves a ton of cutting time when you are cutting blocks for piecing or designs for machine applique.  I can hardly wait to see her quilt when it is finished.  The best grandson quilt I have ever seen, and it is not even finished yet! 

Daria worked diligently on her dainty bow-tie quilt.    It is lovely.  On Sunday, we rather had a pow wow at lunch about making a group quilt that we could donate. We all like this bow-tie quilt so much, that is the pattern we decided on.  When we went to check out we all agreed on a main fabric of which we later all got a small piece of, so we can choose two fabrics of our choice to make two block each (that may be three blocks; I can't be expected to remember everything).  The good news is, I discovered two absolutely smashing fabrics in my very own stash, so I can feel fiscally responsible when making these blocks for our group quilt.  Way to go Daria!  Thank you for figuring out all the dimensions and fabric amounts, too!  Thank you Confab team!