Gimli Quilt Retreat

I spent this last weekend in at the Lakeview Resort in Gimli, MB for a quilt retreat.  My friend and business partner Kathy had been encouraging me to join for the last couple of years, and this year it worked out.  Kathy and I took this opportunity to work new samples of our latest patterns for our Canadian pattern distributor QuiltSource Canada.  QuiltSource Canada supplies quilt stores with all kinds of wonderful quilty goodness including fabrics from Lewis & Irene.  The fabrics used in the Simply Dashing sample above, were from the Bumbleberries line and they were rich in colour and very nice to work with.  Thanks to our friend Renee for the assist in holding up the quilt top while Kathy found just the right light!

I always bring my little Singer Featherweight to retreats and it brings me much joy every time I use it.

We also made some samples of out Roundabout place mats and runner using the Bear Hug line from Lewis and Irene.  We had a lot of fun putting different combinations together before we settled on our favorite.

On Friday evening Kathy and I held a trunk show of quilts made from our Highway 10 Designs patterns.  The majority of the quilts are twin size or larger, so when you put about 50 of them together, the piles get large quite quickly.

We held the trunk show in the dining room right after dinner.

Our friends Janie and Renee folded our quilts as we talked so there was a nice display for everyone to see once we were done.

On Saturday afternoon, Kathy & I taught a class on our Roundabout pattern.  It was a fun group that ranged in experience and age.  Our youngest participant was only 12 and she had her project completely finished later in the day!  Her grandma and great aunt also took the class, and it was so nice to see family members passing on their love of quilting to another generation!  Here you can see the wonderful variety of fabric choices some of our students made for their projects.

I am never sure how many projects to bring for a weekend of sewing. Highway 10 Designs accomplished a lot (and had a lot of fun), but I only had a little bit of time left to start my personal project of an Atomic Starburst quilt.