Valentines Day Mary Lou swap,Mary Lou's Retreat Projects (some), Empathy vs Sympathy what's the diff? And Mary Lou Retreat INFO

I have a block swap room as many of you know and this month we are working on (what else?) hearts!
Michele is Johnny on the spot and has hers done already.
I picked these colors and thought they would look cool and the one of our girls in the group (Deb) sent me this photo from Pinterest (no name, I am sorry, hope she see's this).

Our blocks will be scrappier and we are swapping 16. So either we need to put wider sashing in for a nap quilt or make it a story quilt or use other blocks to make it bigger.

There are so many fun things to do with hearts and I love this little quilt I made for the bedroom of a Grandchild. It is nice seeing words and words that contain afirmations are great especially LOVE. Hearts are almost like words, right? This quilt is in my book I did with Mel Mcfarland called "Out of the Box with Easy Blocks." There is an alphabet just made for words in quilts! Two styles! You can order the book here and get prizes in with your order! Marylouweidman.com
    Don't you just LOVE reds and pinks this time of year???
The darling quilt below was done my my friend Kathy Collins. I love her work.

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My daughter snet me the neatest thing on the difference between sympathy and empathy.
It is well worth taking time to see and you can skip the ad at the beginning too! You won't regret taking time to see this and it will make you a more thoughtful person too. Something to really think about in the New year!
http://lifehacker.com/this-video-explains-the-difference-between-empathy-and-1487494909
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I could not believe my eyes when I saw the jackets that the USA is wearing...are you kidding me? And they make fun of quilters! Sheesh, could they have gotten more on these if they tried??? This is funny and I thought at first it was a joke. Guess the joke is on the atheletes. Yikes..
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 Mary Lou's Retreat is staring to fill up and we have many awesome things planned for you in a brand new facility that is only a few short miles to four different quilt shops. YES four. Miss Tina will cook for us again and we have fun extras planned. The theme is Christmas in June and I will have all kinds of patterns for Christmas trees and wreaths and some small projects for ornaments and ideas of ornaments with kids for when you get home. We are hoping to plan a cruise on Lake Coeur d'Alene for the day before the retreat and then we will go to Mary Lou's favorite shop there and then to dinner at The Coeur d'Alene hotel for those who want to. Hope you and some girlfriends might like to come. We planned this for later in June so you teachers can come and not worry about your schdedule.
More info at Marylouweidman.com

Above -"lunch is ready"- French onion bread and anti pasta salad ala "Miss Tina -brownies from the oven for dessert...Below Miss Tina takes a break with strawberry basil water

Below is just one of thw wreaths we will offer along with a large Christmas tree 

Just one tree sample-now the figures all have faces, buttons, crystals and embellishments 

Ideas galore!

Perhaps you would like to do a pieced ornament tree...come and get the directions for a fun one of a kind tree with sayings pieced in like "JOY" or your family name 

Mary Lou went to Germany, France and Switzerland  and got many image ideas for trees and wallhangings. She will be teaching this class at Asilomar in 2016 and plans to use this as her first workshop. Trees, angels, little gnomes, beautiful ornaments and loads of other ideas will work well for making lasting quilts to be kept in the family or outside of the family for years. SO many good ideas and we have them for beginners and the well seasoned quilter. :0)

Hope to have your come and have fun with us and we hand out tiaras, makings for ornaments and all kinds of Christmas related ideas for winning one of a kind quilts! And, we won't be cold!