Turkey Tracks: Coastal Quilters’ First Retreat

Turkey Tracks:  May 15, 2016

Coastal Quilters’ First Retreat

It finally happened!

Coastal Quilters made their first retreat last weekend:  Mother’s Day weekend.

Our new board, headed by Lynn Vermeulen, got this event off the ground.  Basically, Lynn and board just “built it” and “they came.”

We needed 15 quilters to be able to have the guest house cook food for us, so some members got friends (wonderful quilting friends as it turned out–we adopted them all) to join us–and off we went to the Franciscan Guest House in Kennebunkport, Maine–the location of one of Maine’s sweet little coastal towns which are crammed with good restaurants, gorgeous vistas, and friendly people.   (http://www.franciscanguesthouse.com)

A group of Franciscans from Lithuania bought this 40-acre property in 1947 and built a monastery, a school, a Tudor-style “cottage,” and several outdoor chapels/grottos.  The link to Lithuania is still quite strong. The guest house is in the renovated school.  There is nothing fancy here, but rooms are comfortable, everything is spotlessly clean, the food was delicious and very fresh, and the big quilting room had lots of lights, great set-ups (lots of plugs, lights, design boards, ironing boards and irons, and a table that held coffee/tea fixings all day and all night.  We were walking distance to the town (a great pastry and coffee shop right on the corner with the best lattes I’ve ever had) and the beach, where I am told surfers were enjoying the waves.

We can hardly wait to go back and are reserving time for next May, AND some of us are looking to go back in the fall for a few days mid-week.  Can we get 15 to go so we have food?  I sure hope so!

We could start moving into the sewing room at 1 p.m. on Friday, so those of us who got there before (it was a short trip–a little over 2 hours) had a delicious lunch at Allison’s.  Megan is wearing the shirt she just made (dinosaurs), and on the left are Gail, me, and Mary.  The pics of the other table are terrible–I should be fired as a camera person.

Here’s our fabulous new president, who has agreed to another term–even though she has TWO weddings this fall and Christmas season.  (You can see the monastery in the distance.)

Lynn worked on this daunting, fun foundation piecing pattern that she designed:

Margaret-Elaine worked on various projects–among them one of our Farmer’s Wife blocks:

Becca also worked on various projects.  Here is one:

And here she is machine quilting another and making it all look easy:

Megan, as I said in other block posts, is working on an English Paper Pieced millifiore quilt–a complicated and daunting project.  She’s making real progress on it.

All the little “tails” you see disappear when the rosettes are joined.  She is using Anna Marie Horner fabrics from last year’s Alewives fat-quarter club.

Vickie also worked on several projects–among which was a colorful batik quilt:

Jan Corson worked on a table runner made from sewn/padded strips.

Jan’s friend Laurie worked on several quilts, but some of us fell in love with the “quilter’s friend/necessary” she made for herself and Jan.  Some of us (me included) asked her to make one for us.   (See Jan’s table runner strips in the background?)

Vicki’s friend Sherrie had a quilt that entranced us all, and she has very kindly sent us the pattern:

Moving to the other side of the room:

I worked on this Jacob’s ladder block–using 4-patches from my “parts department” and pre-cut 3 1/2-inch strips.  I came with all the units done, but the piecing was intensive, so I didn’t really get to other projects.  I did go home with this one “webbed,” but had to make 8 more blocks to finish off the pattern on either side.  They are all done now.

Gail was working on the most beautiful plaids–making a quilt of her own design:

Mary spent the two days hand-quilting this quilt and trying out different names for it.

Sharon worked on a back for a bright, modern, graphic quilt with lots of shades of green.  I missed getting a picture of it.  But here’s Sharon with a gorgeous pillowcase she was making.

And here’s a strip for another quilt like the completed one.

Linda worked on making selvage blocks–lots of them.  (You can see how much space we had in this photo.  That’s my machine back of Linda.)

The pile is growing, growing…

Jan Kelsey worked on several projects.  This one involves postcards her grandparents collected on a trip to Europe in the 1920s.  Jan scanned them and printed them onto fabric.  (Don’t miss her gorgeous vest.)

(This picture is a bit dark.)

Jan’s friend “Mac” worked on several quilts for grandchildren–each gorgeous.

Such pretty fabrics!

And I have by no means captured all the fun, work, laughter, and fun hours that we spent together.