By Diane Harris, HQ Stitch Brand Ambassador

I’m still savoring the images of the amazing show and tell we had at quilt retreat in Colorado a week ago. These were some talented women and I enjoyed seeing their projects.

Meredy’s miniature butterflies

Meredy from Hastings, Nebraska shared this miniature butterfly quilt. The black body patches finish at 1/4″ and it’s hand quilted. It’s a great example of small-scale fabrics in small-scale design. And notice how narrow the binding is. True miniatures keep everything in proportion. I consider this a real treasure!

Pam’s modern finish

Pam from Cozad, Nebraska brought this modern Prism quilt made of mostly neutrals with just enough color. I think it’s amazing. My eye really moves around this quilt and wants to keep on looking. The design is by Faith Jones of Fresh Lemons Quilts.

Jalinda’s tree skirt via Craftsy

This tree skirt has such interesting shapes! Jalinda from Colorado Springs made in through a Craftsy (now Bluprint) class, as I recall. I might have to put this on my must-make Christmas list.

I always hate the thought of covering up a tree skirt with presents, though. It might make a good four-block quilt! Have you seen antique quilts with four large blocks somewhere around 36″ across? This would be stellar in that setting.

A gifted denim bag

Jalinda also shared a denim bag someone made for her. I love the pocket! The lace trim is a nice contrast with the ruggedness of the blue jeans fabric.

Remember when jeans were called dungarees? Me neither, but as a child I read a book that used the word, and I couldn’t figure out what they meant! It might have been Pippi Longstocking.

Connie’s charm pack playtime

Connie is one of the lodge’s owners and I’ve always known her to make things in deep, dark colors appropriate for a lodge setting. She laughed about that and said that as retirement approaches, she wants to make things in brighter colors because she is done decorating a lodge! She made this little quilt by “playing around” with a charm pack.

Meredy’s embellished quilt

These brightly-colored batiks show up nicely on a black ground. Meredy embellished with beads and yarn for a happy finish.

Barb’s Kim Diehl quilt

Barb from Lexington, Nebraska works at one of my favorite stores, Prairie Point Junction in Cozad. For a number of years, she’s been in charge of their Saturday Sampler BOM. Pride and Joy, above, is a Kim Diehl design in Kim Diehl fabrics from a recent BOM the shop did.

It’s quite an accomplishment to have everything fit together nicely on this sort of project. You have to be spot on with your piecing all the way through. It’s a tall order.

Bright and happy and easy!

And just to show that you can never assume anything about someone’s tastes by seeing just one quilt, look at the contrast of this light, bright, easy quilt with Barb’s sampler. Quite a change of pace, isn’t it? What a pick-me-up to work on this quilt over a long, dark winter.

We had a nice time at the retreat. Everyone worked on her own projects and I did short teaching sessions here and there to cover basic fabric and color concepts. But since most of these women were experienced makers, I mostly let them do their own thing.

If you’ve never been to a retreat, you might consider it. When you get a taste, it’s likely to become an annual event. Sew much fun.