Catching Up On Easy Street

I've been cutting and sewing the last few days and have finally caught up on the Easy Street Mystery Quilt over at Quiltville, Bonnie Hunter's web site.  Bonnie is posting a clue every Friday for 6 to 8 weeks.  The 4 patches with the grey are from week 1, and the purple flying geese are from week 2.  I've even done the extra credit and have cut the rectangles that will be used in a future step.

I'm using the colors that Bonnie recommends:  purple, lime green and turquoise along with the grey and the black on white backgrounds.  I'm a bit concerned that there are no warm colors in this quilt, but since Bonnie recommended these colors, I decided to go with them and see what happens.

I've also started decorating for Christmas as you can see by the afghan in the background.


 

Thanks for stopping by for a visit today!

Caryl Schuetz AQS Appraiser Lecture and Quilts

On Thursday evening at the Dear Jane Retreat, we were treated to an interesting lecture and slide show about quilts during the Civil War by Caryl Scheutz, Certified AQS Appraiser from Indianapolis.

After the lecture, Caryl showed us 5 of the antique quilts from her personal collection.

You can find Caryl at www.quiltvalues.com

Interesting borders on this one.



The table is in a bad spot, but if you look under the table you can see that one diagonal row in this quilt has the baskets upside down.

Just love this Princess Feather.

This is Caryl in the following two photos, but sadly I only got photos of her back.

A quilt made of signature blocks with no signatures.

 

Thanks for stopping by for a visit today.

Retreat Wrap Up and A Few Quilts

On the way out of town after the retreat, I drove around and took photos of some of the places that we visit in Shipshewana, Indiana, while we are at the Dear Jane Retreat.  Everything here is closed on Sunday, so the town is eerily quiet.  Shipshewana is located in far northern Indiana about 7 miles from the Indiana/Michigan state line.

This is the Farmstead Inn where we stay and sew during our retreat.



Here is the Visitor's Center.  I love the wooden quilts on the building, and it makes me wish I had a barn.



This is Rebecca's Arts and Antiques.  Rebecca sells antique quilts, unfinished antique quilt tops, quilt blocks, baskets, and lots of other great things.





Yoder's Red Barn Shoppes.

Yoder's

Yoder's has a new electronic sign.

Here is the gazebo in front of Yoders where I've spent some nice time visiting with good friends.

More wooden quilts.  These are on the side of Yoders.



The Blue Gate Restaurant.

Davis Mercantile, the building that houses Lollys, Jo-Jo's Pretzels, Kitchen Cupboard and lots of other interesting shops.

One of the Lolly's entrances.

Morton Street Market.

In the center is the Garden Gate, also known as The Cupcake Place.

Antique store.

More antiques.

I don't know what this is, but I love the building.

Country Elegance.

This is across from the Blue Gate....can't recall the name....but, they always have a nice Christmas display.

D'Vine - they have great yarn.






An outdoor shop with lots of interesting things for sale.  

Here are a few photos from show and tell on Friday evening.
The room is bright white with lots of lights, so my photos never turn out looking great, but you can still see these wonderful quilts.

This is Edyta Sitar's Common Bride made by Tracy




This is a wedding quilt that Kim was working on.



This one is by Judy.  She took Roll Roll Cotton Boll, Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt from 2010 and added sashing.  Very striking.





I don't know the maker of this quilt, but the applique' is gorgeous.




A beautiful Dear Jane top.  This one belongs to Pat.



This one is beautiful.  Sorry, I don't know the name of the maker.



Another finished Jane.  Also, do not know the maker.

This is an antique quilt purchased by Theresa at Rebecca's Arts and Antiques shop in Shipshewana.



This is a part of the Just Takes Two quilt by Donna.  I love it done in shirtings and repros.  The patterns have been released every two weeks by Brenda and Gay.




I know the subject of my post says retreat wrap up, but we had a nice lecture on Civil War quilts one evening. Another evening we had a jelly roll race, and I want to share those in another post.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!  

My Stop on the Holiday Lane Blog Hop

Hello readers and welcome to my stop on the Holiday Lane Blog Hop.

I'm excited to show you what I've done with the free Holiday Lane pattern created by Jill at Jillily Studios.  Thanks to Madame Samm at Sew We Quilt for sponsoring this blog hop and to Pauline at Quilt-N-Queen blog for being our cheerleader and organizer for this hop.

Jill's Holiday Lane pattern is so versatile, and since I love to decorate for Christmas I couldn't wait to sign up for this blog hop.  I really had fun with the pattern.  As soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to make it into a table runner for my kitchen.   I had some Christmas prints that I wanted to use, so I made the rooftops and shutters from different fabrics than the houses.  I hand appliqued' the trees, windows, and all of the snow on the rooftops and embroidered the windowpanes.

I really wanted to decorate the houses, but this year I not only have a new grandson, but we have a new cat.  And, both of them like to put things in their mouths.  So I decided to save all of these goodies and maybe in another year I can use them.  

I also used two of the houses and made this pillow to cover a 14" pillow form.  This was my first venture into piping, and I really like the look.

The table runner can also be used as a bed runner along with the pillow to add a touch of Christmas to a bedroom.  

I could always add a hanging sleeve and my decorations and make my runner into a wall hanging.  

Thanks Jill for a fun project!

I hope you will hop on over to visit the others taking part in today's Holiday Lane Blog Hop.  

Monday November 26

Living Life One Day at a Time

Polka Dot Classic

Sophie Junction

I'm Keeping Busy

Sunshine Quilting

The Treehouse

Petit Design Co

Nun's Quilt World

Ellison Lane Quilts

From This to That

Mary on Lake Pulaski

Luann's Loose Threads (you are here)

Till We Quilt Again
13 Woodhouse Road

Thanks for stopping by for a visit today!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Dear Readers

I have a lot to be thankful for and among those blessings are those of you that stop by to visit my blog.  Some of you I have met and others I have gotten to know through email.  I'm thankful for each and every one of you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Other Shopping at Shipshewana

Hello readers.  I hope you aren't getting tired of my posts about our Dear Jane Retreat in Shipshewana, Indiana.  I'm back home but want to share a few more photos with you.   I like posting photos from the retreat for those that weren't able to come this time, for those that have never been there, and for those die hard quilters who sat in the sewing room most of the time and actually sewed!

This is the Kitchen Cupboard.  It is in the same building as Lolly's Quilt Shop.  I go here every day to get a latte'.



Jo-Jo's Pretzels.  The big attraction here is the pretzels that are made right on the spot.  It is just heavenly warm dough.  They not only have regular pretzels, but they will coat them with cinnamon and sugar or parmesan cheese.  They also have soup and sandwiches, and these pretzels are the best.

The Lang Store sells quilts, pretty stationery and figurines among other things.

The Cuddle Store in the basement of the Davis Mercantile Building.  This shop is full of Cuddle which looks and feels like Minke.  

The Farmstead Inn where we sleep (a little bit) and sew (sometimes).  This is the room we pass through on the way to the sewing room.

Another little room at the Farmstead to sit and sew and visit.

The Cinnamon Stick over in Middlebury, Indiana.  This is the Vera Bradley room.



I had never been to Cinnamon Stick before, and it is a cute shop.

Everything in town is decorated for Christmas.




This is the sewing room.  There is some sewing going on, but it looks like most people are out shopping or eating.



Thanks for visiting today!