06 October 2008

CQI Retreat 2008

I can hardly believe that it's been nearly a month since our Colorado Retreat for Crazy Quilters. Time just seems to get away from me lately. Anyway, I've got some photos to share with you all.

The retreat kicked off on Wednesday, September 10th. Some arrived earlier, some were still getting there. But we met up at Leslie's for a BBQ, meet and greet. (BTW, you'll notice a pattern here - we did a lot of eating. LOL.) The food was wonderful! The conversation fun and interesting. And before you know it, it was time to say good-night, at least it was for Lauri and me because we were driving in daily.

(L-R: Janet, Gerry K., Leslie)


(L-R: Cathy, Debbie, Lauri)


I did enjoy having the company even though it was a fairly short drive. And Lauri was the perfect house guest! I only wish that I had been a bit more organized and then maybe we could have gotten some stitching in at my house. Oh well........

Thursday we had a beading class at this Windsor fabric shop, which Leslie taught. She did a terrific job of setting up classes, shopping trips, you name it for us. Anyway, this was my first time actually "Beading" and I had a ball.



Friday we were off to the Denver Art Museum. Leslie, (and I believe) Mary-Frances set up a private showing of crazy quilts for us. And here we are!




Not only were the quilts unbelievably beautiful in person, it was so very cool to get to ask questions, take photos, and learn how they are cared for. Now I better understand how they manage to last for more than 100 years. Anyway, here are some of my favorite photos.











When the caretakers at the museum started to unwrap this quilt a roar of Oooohhhhs and Aaaahhhhs erupted from our little group. There was so much whimsy in the stitching of this quilt.










Although the quilts have been wonderfully preserved, there is still some damage to be found. This photo shows one example of that.



So it should come as no surprise that these quilts are meticulously cared for. We were cautioned a number of times NOT TO TOUCH. And we tried really hard not too. Debbie had the most difficult time with that, though. LOL.



Okay....back to quilts....
Obviously this quilt was made around or for Christmas, 1900.











Well, with a huge THANK YOU to the Denver Art Museum, the quilts go back to storage and we are off to lunch. (Here are just a few sights outside the museum)
Check out the horse on the giant chair in the second photo and the gigantic statues of the cow and calf. Fun stuff............



We had lunch at the Macaroni Grille before we headed off to do some shopping. Gerry K. and Cathy were busy designing our table covering with new and interesting seam treatments - in crayon - of course! It was really fun to just sit and gab with everyone. I especially liked THIS Macaroni Grille because when I ordered Chianti with lunch, they brought the whole bottle and said, "ENJOY!" Too bad I had to drive, I could have enjoyed much more. LOL.



Shopping was a blast, we wrapped it up in Niwot at the Berry Patch. That worked out really nice for me because I was about 5 miles from home!

Saturday, we were hosted by the RMCQ (Rocky Mountain Crazy Quilters) for a seminar and lunch. They are just a wonderful bunch of ladies. I'm looking forward to attending a meeting, and hopefully becoming a regular part of the group. Thanks Again!!!!



After lunch with the RMCQ's we walked across the street and attended a Brazilian Embroidery class. Way too cool. I love it! Now all I have to do is talk DH into buying me ALL the threads I need. LOL.

The class was taught by Christine Hause, and she did a great job. It was so easy....even for a lefty.



This is what I did :-) And of course I had to buy a book.





Next we were off to Jill's house for a button painting class (courtesy of Gerry K.) and a BBQ. Jill has the most wonderful yard, complete with a private little sanctuary.

I got a chance to meet Lauri's son, too. She opted for a quick dinner with him and his girlfriend since she doesn't get to see him too often.



(L-R: Gerry K., Debbie, Jill, Cathy)


My how time flew by. Here we are at Sunday already! The long drive finally got to Connie and she didn't make it in for the Chinese Auction/Gifty Swap. Jill wasn't able to make it either. But they weren't left out....we will let them take their turns and later Leslie mailed out their goodies to them. In fact, that's how each event went. If you couldn't be there, you were still included in what ever took place. That was really cool. Especially since I had to leave early one day and thought I had missed out on the Stash Dash. Low and behold, Lauri pulled up with a huge bag of goodies. We even got goodies from people who couldn't be there.

Anyway.....here's what happened. We pulled numbers to determine who would start. I can't remember exactly what order everyone went in or exactly what everyone got. But here's what I do remember. I was 4th and Gerry K. was last. Somewhere from beginning to end this happened:

Cathy got a beautiful handcrafted pincushion from Gerry K. Lauri got a lovely assortment of goodies in a pretty covered jar. Debbie's got a lovely collection of fabrics, silkies, laces, etc. I got the most gorgeous crazy quilted teddy bear (from Lauri). Leslie got a beautiful box with a CQ inlay (from Janet). Leslie tried to take Gerry K's chatelaine but that didn't fly. LOL.

Okay, back to the story......everyone was playing nice, taking an unwrapped gift and not taking anything away from anyone - until that is - when it was Gerry K's turn. She said that we just weren't being mean enough (LOL) and that she was going to do 'this' right. Sooooooooooooooooo, she took Debbie's gift. Then the SH**T was on and gifts started getting swapped all over the place. Luckily, I ended up with my teddy bear but Cathy lost the pincushion.

In the end we all had a good laugh and there were NO HURT FEELINGS. It was fun. And Gerry K. graciously made another pincushion for Cathy. But you have to love Cathy's expression when she had to give up her prize (see last photo). Is that priceless or what?!?!?!?









Well, we all settled in for lunch (go figure, we're eating again!) And afterward did some swapping of stash items, stitching, and gabbing. I think it was Cathy who brought the Embellisher and some of us had a try at it. It's really a cool little machine.



Later that day, and the last thing I did at the retreat was lace dying. This is the result of my first attempt. Not too bad, huh???? But I do see some room for improvement.



I really hated to see things draw to a close. It was so fun getting to know everyone, learning to talk like Debbie (from Maine), having Show and Tell, etc.

A special thank you to Leslie for all of her hard work and attention to detail. And a big, big, thank you to everyone attending for being so generous with your time and your stash!!! And also for the lovely gifts that were brought in greeting and introduction. I will miss all of you BUT I loook forward to the next time.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to read my post and drool over the photos.


And..................Until Next time...Happy Needling!!!

11 comments:

Kathy Raker said...

Wow, looks like a fun time was had by all. How exciting to see all those old quilts. It sure is hard not to touch sometimes. The book you bought, I also bought this book this summer. Bought supplies but haven't started anything yet.
Have fun!

Anonymous said...

Gerry, awesome pictures!! What a good little story teller you are, it felt like I was there all over again!! I am also looking forward to next year too! See ya then!!! Debbie (Maine)

Gerry Krueger said...

You did a great job capturing the fun spirit of the whole event. Lots of fond memories!!! Gerry K. and Fritz K.

Cathy said...

Gerry, you did a SUPER job of taking pictures and telling the stories! I'm really impressed. Maybe we should make you the official CQI Retreat Historian! And the laces you dyed turned out really nice! Hugs, Cathy

Mary-Frances said...

Waving Hi! Great account of the retreat...I wish I could have done it all with you gals! :)

Maddie Can Fly said...

WOW! That's some spider web isn't it? I'd love to make one of those wouldn't you?

Gerry said...

Thank you all for your kind words. It helps to have an easy to use camera. LOL. And I can hardly wait until next year.

About the spider web...there were a number of them on the quilts. Some were pretty gnarly looking!

Thelma said...

I really enjoyed the photos Gerry. You telling what happened was almost like I was there..maybe I can make it next year. Your halloween blog is so cute. I don't have any halloween things for my blog but wanted to let you know I have enjoyed visiting your blog.

Wilma said...

Love your report on the CQ meeting, what a beautiful old crazy quilts you got to see! Hope I get the chance to visit one of these retreats when visiting the USA in the future, sounds like heaven to me!
Hugs, WILMA

Gerry said...

Hi Thelma and Wilma. Gosh, it's so nice of you to come visit. You two should try to make the next retreat. Or maybe Wilma could host it and we could really get away. LOL. Huggles.

Cathie said...

What a fantastic time you must have had. There is no place more inspirational than Colorado (we go there every year!) Have you done anything with your embroidery skills yet?