I love camping

No, I don't love sleeping in a tent.

I love Quilt Camp.

We stay in quaint motel right on Lake St. Croix, the decor in the rooms is strictly Up North.  The view of the lake from the banquet/sewing room is priceless and there is a bar.  

My kind of camping!

The packing up for this trip is pretty crazy.  

I take EVERYTHING!

The car is full, barely room for suitcase, mostly just sewing stuff.

This trip I made a list of the projects I had hoped to work on.

1. Sew flannel Brick by Brick lap warmer 

2. Cut Brick by Brick out of corduroy 

3. Sew place-mats out of autumn leaves fabric - DONE

4. Sew zipper bags out of Wisconsin fabric for graduates - DONE

5. Sew napkins out of Crayola fabric

6. Sew American Flag quilt kit

7. Cut & sew mail sack out of musical fabric
8. Cut & sew mail sack out of Coors fabric

9. Sew tortilla warmers - DONE, but...

10. Bind quilt for my bed - BINDING SPLICED / PRESSED AND READY TO SEW

11. Un-sew borders on Coffee Time quilt 

12. Sew napkins to make place-mats - DONE

13. Sew Danish Hearts table mat

It doesn't feel like I got much done when I look at my list, 

but there are a fair number of finished projects in the pile.

 My friend Mary has had a project on her list for several years.

A friend had asked Mary to make a bell pull out of the logos on golf shirts of her departed husband.

Last quilt camp, Mary did the bell-pull and it turned out so nice.

Mary's friend was over the moon and immediately asked Mary to make one for each of the children.

So, this camp, Mary worked on 4 more bell pulls and they are sweet and sentimental.

We all felt like we knew this man a little from handling the shirts.

Mary cut off the logos and I cut off all the buttons.

I'm going to try to adapt this idea to baseball cap logos and see how that works.

Mary and the golf shirt bell pulls.

 One of my projects was to make 2 placemats and 2 napkins for a gift.

I had some fabric that I liked and thought would work well, Mary had a pattern.

Mary made a set while I worked on another project, but I wasn't crazy about her pattern.

Difficult and not the look I wanted for this fabric.

On Saturday afternoon we took a walk to the little quilt store in town and we found a wonderful 'quilt as you go' pattern that was exactly what I needed.

Lots of little pieces and exact cutting is so important.
I actually had to recut one of the stacks as I must have been distracted and was off by 1/2".
Of course, this was cause for some un-sewing to correct my error.

The pattern was written for 4 place mats, so before I knew it, I had cut enough fabric.

So, instead of 2, I made 4.

It will make for a nice set with the 4 cloth napkins I made.

I'm quite pleased with the place mat project.  Some of my best sewing to date.

Mary and Sharon and I all bought the same quilt kit

It is a flannel subway tile type of pattern.

All the flannel looks like old wool, very retro and cozy. 

I had mine at the last camp and had cut the fabric.  

Mary and Sharon did their cutting at this camp.

We had thought we might sew them at the same time, 

but my place mat project was more important to me.  

Mary and Sharon made good progress on theirs and now I'm anxious to work on mine.

Mary is very particular and spent a lot of time with color placement.
It is good to have design walls to work with before sewing.
I likely will not spend much time on layout and do more of a random placement.

Sharon's version.
My kit had slightly different patterns of flannel, so it will be fun to see them all when finished.

With graduation nearly here, 

I decided to make some zippered bags for gifts.

The fabric is from a Quilt Shop Hop from last year, it has names of Wisconsin towns and other Up North themes.
These are fun to make, I'm going to get going on a few more to have on hand.

I ordered little sewing kits to put in the bag 

and will also include a small credit card sized multi-tool in the kit.  

A gift that will work for both the boys and the girls. 

I also tried to make tortilla warmers, not my best work, no photos 

and I'll be reworking those after thinking about it for a few days.

Packing up to come home is easier than the packing to go.

Kristi, the retreat owner, gave us each a starter impatiens as a table favor.  

She also has a greenhouse.

It is a sweet little plant and the first bedding plant of the year for me.

Table favor Impatien, lovely pines in the background.

On the way home I tried to drive in to check on the Sandcastle.

Most of the snow had melted and the roads were clear, but there was mud.

I got within about 5 miles of the cabin before I faced a low spot that was not worth the risk.

The road was soft even on the parts that looked dry,
this mud-hole was beyond what I wanted to drive through.

So, I retraced my drive and headed back to paved roads.

A quick stop to see Craig and Mary Jo in Gordon seemed like a fun idea.

They were gracious hosts, offered me one their prized Yuengling beers, (bootlegged from America's oldest brewery in Pennsylvania) and stopped what they were doing to visit for a spell.

I gave them a show-and-tell of my finished items and they seemed to like what I had made.

Then it was head-for-home time.

One stop to pick up beer and then home to unload.

Each time I go to camp I reorganize my stuff and get a slightly better system.

This time was no different.  I repacked a bit, decided how I want some things to work, and ordered a small desk chair from Amazon to add to my kit.

The set up at this camp is a little wonky in that she doesn't limit the number who can come.

This camp, the banquet room we sew in was a little smaller because the motel owner has a corner for storage and that had grown in the off season.

The tight fit wasn't my favorite set up and it made for too close quarters for chats between only Mary, Sharon and I.  Some quilters talk A LOT more than we do, so that can be a little bothersome.

But, all in all, we had a great time and it was fun sewing with Mary and Sharon and the others.

The food was great and like I said, the location is a beautiful place.

Spring has come to Rice Lake!

While I was gone over the weekend, most of the snow went and I can see my yard again.

I can finally put away the Christmas candles that have been stuck in the ice all winter and my beloved daffodils are up about 6 inches.  

I can't wait to see flowers in the yard!

I'm ready for Spring and hope it is a nice longgg summer.

We are signed up to go quilting again in the Fall though and I'm  already looking forward to it and planning my project list.

I love camping!