MARY LOU'S RETREAT-Come and Join us for a whole lotta fun!

Laura Webb who comes to story quilt workshops with her Sister Charlotte has imagination, creativity and she is FUN. The quilt above is about her Grandson, isn't it wonderful?

Laura gave me the story behind the quilt above and it shows how one can tell a perfect and happy story in a wonderful and whimsical quilt-so lovely and sentimental!

She says " The second one is the house that I started when we were in
Florida at the class on building houses. It is the story of my years
in Spain. I went to Spain with two children and came home with
three. Notice the cute stork. My kids remember the shepard with his
sheep along with our trips to the beach. We had to go on a curvey
road through the mountains to get there. There is also a silver
Christmas tree which was the only sort of tree you could get in Spain
in the mid 60's. "

Here is Lisa last year in her tiara going to town....

 After a couple of people went home we took this nice photo...note the REAL tiara's each student gets when they come...they are so cool and we all love wearing them...well there is a shy girl or two but most of us just laugh at ourselves and the fun of wearing a tiara with our jeans. One man asked us "were you girls all homecoming queens or something?" We all laughed at that one. :0) More fun.

We always do an evening shopping spree at the local shop in Coeur d'Alene-here is the beginning of my stack....beautiful fabrics at this shop and lots of them!

Lunch on the last day before we go home....

For those of you who wrote to ask questions here are the answers. You fly into Spokane International Airport (I am not sure about the International part but that is another story)-it is a nice airport and I spend alot of time there.

As for hotels there is a Hampton Hotel at Liberty Lake which is a drive to Post Falls but a nice place and they serve breakfast. There is also a Red Lion (Templins) in Post Falls one mile from the Art Center. It doesn't serve breakfast but we will be offering granola, fruit, muffins and coffee every day. The first year I had my retreat it was more money and I included the hotel which was a place in Post Falls that I have NOT named. There are three such places and do not stay at any of them...they are not suitable for a nice stay, honestly. The two I have mentioned are safe bets and if you are an adventurer there are great places in Coeur d'Alene Idaho which is not that far from Post Falls and also Spokane Valley. There is a place on Indiana in Spokane Valley that I hear is quite nice. It is three stars instead of two like everything else is. If you have more questions on this, let me know please. Marylouquilts@aol.com

Mexican Food for the Students....getting to know one another

Building a Quilt canvas of color and design for a GREAT story quilt. I have had some questions again about the retreat. The retreat is held at an art center called the JACC. It is the Jacklin Arts center in Post Falls Idaho between Spokane and Coeur d'Alene. Great location and a quilt shop that is wonderful is close by and there are four right across the border in Spokane Valley as well as at least four more in town.

Hotel is your responsibility (I have suggestions) and food is on us! Where we sew there is a chef's kitchen and each year I have a great cook to make us both lunches and dinners plus a snack table with lots of things good for us (fruits and vegies) and not so great for us (chips, nuts,gorp, candy etc. :0)

Here is Wendy on a pasta night we had with Miss Laurie as the cook.

 Above is Miss Laurie trying to get a moments rest.....
Below, Laura Webb did this darling quilt about how she and her husband met on a plane going from Hawaii...wonderful story and wonderful creativity. Laura is hooked on story quilts and you can meet her if you come this year. She is flying in from Texas.

 Above is the view from the kitchen to the classroom.

 More jovial photos of fun people getting to know one another.

Lunch at the Davenport Hotel

Dawn's drawing about her cute daughter in law

Dawn's background quilt canvas ready for the story to go in the middle

A fun flower we like to do because it takes up alot of space and is whimsically awesome

Burrito and Taco night....my favorite

Terry Below is smiling because of the great fabrics we found! Terry was a great addition to the retreat!

Cutting and sewing and Inventing and Laughing and Thinking and Creating!

Below Susan shows just how creative and inventive she can be!

Below is the motto for our retreats!

Quilt done by Val on the right below-darling-sorry it is fuzzy

Eilene gets to know two new friends....

Sandi's drawing and story for her quilt-in the middle of the quilt canvas. We do the quilt canvas first to set a color pallette and then we can have our story go onto the top and into the borders...it makes it perfect for unity

Laurie and Eilene contemplate dinner and then dishes

The quilt below is a story quilt about Charlotte and Laura when they were little and in dance lessons- GOOD news, Charlotte and Laura will be flying in for the retreat!

A beautiful quilt canvas ready for applique in the middle once it is sewn together

Sandy's story quilt about her daughter's 6th birthday

Everyone is outside on the patio eating a lovely lunch (above)

-We are really lucky this year as two of the ladies who will be here have done lots of quilts and they are knowledgeable and FUN and sisters and offer lots of support and laughs for the class. Tina who will be cooking for us is a fabulous quilter who has done story quilts and lots of other quilts. Mari who is coming has not only done story quilts (wonderful ones of her kids) but she has been the main person for the block swaps in the chatroom and she has made a series of great quilts with the hoochy mama blocks. We also have girls coming who have and have not taken classes so no matter what you will be prepared and have lots of fun and learn loads. You will never look at fabric the same way again I promise you.

Quilt canvas's sit and ready themselves for the fun stories....

Molly works on her story quilt about the night she and her husband had their first date

Above, Lisa puts the story in the middle of the green quilt canvas you saw earlier here (above) on this blog

Aija remembers a cruise with her adorable Grandchildren

Pasta Salad for Lunch

Above is the infamous huckleberry milkshakes everyone loved to buy in Coeur d'Alene- they are fabulous!

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Don't forget that the day before the retreat begins, we can go to the Farm Chicks Show in Spokane-thousands of people drive and fly in to find antiques and collectibles and sewing things from the past-pretty wonderful! You can google it and maybe google images "Farm Chicks". All in all we plan on having a fabulous time with girls from Washington, Idaho, Florida, California and Texas...come and join us!

Set up and Farm Chicks is June 3rd and the retreat is June 4th-8th.

$600. for a fabulous time you won't forget!

Going to Paducah? You can purchase this quilt!

Before you read this, please read this note I just got from the maker of this awesome quilt!

"

You know how you feel about the way people pronounce your last name? I feel that way about the many ways people spell my last name. I just looked at your blog, and there is a huge TYPO of my last name. It is KOLF. " So now here is what I said earlier! I am sorry Carol.....

I have never put the same thing on both of my blogs ever. But I decided this was so cool I would show it to both groups. I cannot get it to load straight up on this blog however. Nuts! Carol who made this quilt took a flower power quilt class from me and just ran with it. Now it will be shown at Paducah and for sale. I think it is terrific and hope it inspires you to make your own Flower power quilt, buy the book, take a class and just have fun with flowers...and bees and butterflies and fun things!
     ALSO on another topic, you can see Linda on the side here with her tiara. I wanted to tell you girls who are coming for the Mary Lou Idaho retreat that I have ordered real tiaras for us and hope that some of you might join me in wearing it to the Farm Chicks show if you come in the day before. Stay tuned, I have photos of both the Farm Chicks show and my other retreats. So fun.

Do you want to Make BUTTONS for your projects? LOOK AT THIS!

http://scissorspaperwok.com/2011/07/18/how-to-make-clothing-buttons-from-shrink-plastic/

I am working on this throughout the week....hope you might try it too....so fun and not expensive.....goes well on our projects don't you think?

A Story About Childhood from my Cousin Carl

I don't write that much on my blog but I wanted to share this as it reminded me of my childhood. My cousin who was the shyest most innocent kid in the world when he was a kid is still sweet and kind of naive. I am crazy about him. A family friend who had LouGerigs disease just died as did his wife. This couple was like an aunt and uncle to their family and we will all miss Bud and Bernie alot. Bernie was my Mother's best friend in gradeschool. Picture this.....I sure can, it made me smile. How about you?
Carol wrote-
I will never forget a time in 5^th grade, a kid, Greg, was told by another kid, Larry, that I took something from his desk. When in fact Larry took it. Greg let me know he was going to “beat me up” after school. So when the bell rang, I high-tailed it for my bike in the back of the school. But it was to no avail as Greg caught me. There was no convincing Greg that I did not take whatever it was. So the fight was on. Just as I was about to stop his fist with my face, my only defensive maneuver at the time, a teacher came around the corner. He stopped the fight, and sent us up to… Da da daaaa (insert theatrical music tones here) the principal’s office, the all powerful Mr. Nowell. Bud listened to my side of the story through my tears of embarrassment for being in trouble; “I DIDN’T DO IT!” and Greg’s side; “Larry told me Carl took it.” That was all it took as Bud said, “Carl, you can go home now.” So Bud knowing me and my parents, I didn’t have to convince him, he knew I was innocent. Wise man.
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I remember being blamed once for taking something and it was weeks before the girl who blamed me for taking it, found it in her room. Thise things stay with you for a lifetime don't they? I think as a child we all want to be honest and do the right thing and when circumstances happen, it lasts and stays with us. Don't you think?

Nagela's Mother Does it AGAIN! Amazing and FUN!

I talked about my friend Nagela in Brazil and her adorable and beautiful and talented Mother who she calls "Mommy." So sweet. These two ladies too my Crazy Cat Class and went back to their room on the ship we were on (Panama Cruise) and they hand pieced a cat quilt.
This week I got this wonderful photo of a new cat quilt that is machine pieced and it is beautiful. whimsical and happy! Who doesn't love being happy and making happy things? Any child in the world would get this adorable quilt! It is fun to know that brazilian quilters love whimsy too!

Knitting Room- Would a Quilter Have a Room Like This?

If YOU haven't taken a Mary Lou Class You Don't Know What You Are Missing

The quilt above was made by Laurie Latta. She had many good ideas with the Flower power technique and made it into a Flower Garden story. (ALL with Mary Lou's fabrics too by the way)

De my California friend was working on a story quilt with a flower border and look at the darling flowers and great colors she came up with. These make wonderful borders for story quilts and if you are taking a story quilt class this year, I have new handouts!

I did the quilt above with all kinds of pots and flowers and one crazy and fun bird...color and pattern and whimsy make these wonderful and fun to hang

I wanted to share these pretty Wyoming girls and their flowers from a workshop

A lovely flower and smile too!

The birds and blocks were done at my Story Quilt class in Post Falls Idaho last year by Dawn Tonoli. She did a wonderful and whimsical story about her daughter in law for a gift and in the meantime she worked on this also and was deciding if this would become a border for a story quilt or a quilt in itself....the birds are in the Flower Power book and we work on them in the story quilt classes and on day two of the Flower Power class....so much fun!

Where there are birds, there are bees! Note the pieced leaf on the right of the bees...we discuss stratas and how to make more OOMPH and originality in your quilts as your inner artist comes out to play.

Look at this beautiful and happy group of Flower Power ladies...all different and all so much fun! I LOVE seeing what is invented in this workshop...they are so pretty and whimsical and fun!

The ladies above were at the Museum in LaConner when I taught there. Some of the class had gone home and so I quickly got these girls to pose before anyone else left...so pretty so bright and so happy!

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I wanted to show you what my backyard looks like and why I can't wait to do Flowers next week on the Washington State coast! Bring on the bright colors and the fun! All I have to do is make it through the pass as the guild said they didn't know who could pick me up from the airport so I am driving five hours over there. Crossing my fingers.

And finally, thank you to those of you who have signed up for the workshops this year. I heard that we have 18 signed up in West Virginia for the five day story quilt class at Cedar Creek...what fun! I am teaching story quilts in California this summer for Wacky Women,Cedar creek West Virginia in April, Madeline Island in October,

 and finally for my own retreat in Post Falls Idaho in June (we are connecting to the Farm Chicks show in Spokane). My plan is to use some of the old pieces I bought at Farm Chicks last year and to show what you can do for a great story quilt using old embroidery, linens, old fruit tablecloths and fee sacks as well as other pieces....sound cool? It is! Check out my schedule for contacts at Marylouweidman.com