Rustic River Retreats

http://www.rusticriverretreats.com/

 

 

I spent the last five and a half days

with seven of my best quilting buddies.

Eight of us have been gathering in the fall

for the last several years.

Most of us met through Longarm Machine Quilting.

No, we don't bring our longarm machines to quilt.

We bring our regular sewing machines and sew quilt tops.

This is our first time in a new location.

I'm just gonna show you instead of tell you....

 

We had a gorgeous Indian Summer all week. 70 degree temps in late October. Wow!

Add caption

The Grand River is not far down the path here.

It's a nice long driveway! Some of us took a walk every day.

Ironing Boards were set up out here...as well as the snack table.

 

We quilted in the 24' x 30' Event Room.

The full length windows on three sides were a dream.

It was very well lit and spacious,

a much larger workspace than our previous location.

 

 

There were 3 big lights (above) that lit the room up at night.
We had a cutting table station, ironing stations, a wide variety of music.
What more could you want?

 Oh Yeah... Food.

 

 

Besides the junk food and snacks...

some of the gals brought crockpots of soups....

or chicken salad sandwiches...

beef brisket sandwiches...

pulled barbeque chicken sandwiches....

and we visited two different wineries at two mealtimes.

 

All in all it was a restful quilting vacation.

No anxiety. No worries.

Wonderful.

Can't wait to do it again next year! 

 

Art Journal Every Day

 I wanted to catch up a little on posting my

Daily offerings.

It's been so busy I feel I haven't had my hands messy enough!

 One reason I had so many deadlines the last few weeks

is because Quilt Market is taking place in Houston right now.

Another reason is that I had a quilt retreat to attend.

I just returned from this 5 day sew fest.

I got a lot done and feel relaxed and ready

to tackle the busy-ness of the upcoming holiday.

And Yes, I still managed to doodle in my Daily.

 I'll post more on the retreat later....

but in the meantime...

 

Happy Arting.

Happy Quilting.

(insert big smiley face here!)

 

Love ya!

Oh No!

This is my rendering of the second Fall Fearless and Fly challenge.

These were the prompts to choose from

and maybe you can tell from looking at the black page that I chose #1 & #2!

It is hard to use black to start with!

Headline Prompt: Taking a Chance: When did you take a chance or a leap of faith? How did it turn out? What did you learn?
Color Prompt: What color do you like least? Use it!
Quote Prompt: "Don't refuse to go on an occasional wild goose chase -- that's what wild geese are for." Anonymous

Go over to Artists in Blogland to see all the entries:



http://artistsinblogland.blogspot.com/2012/10/fall-fearless-and-fly-second-challenge.html

 I started out really pondering over all the risks I take,

and all the chances I take...

then I started thinking of all the risks I passed on because I was afraid...

all the times I said no.

Well my advice is don't do that.

Shoulda.

Woulda.

Coulda.

Don't go there.

Don't dwell on what Could Be.

Dwell on the Here and Now.

It's all about Choice. 

 I found this Dick Van Dyke photo in a newspaper article this fall.

My gosh I love that guy!

And his facial expression is just classic!

 Anyways...

Thats what I got this week.

Have a great one!

And No Regrets!

Second Floor Challenge

 

 

 

 

 

Disclaimer: I never start with white cardstock. Not ever.

I used to use it ALL the time when I scrapbooked.

It never occurs to me to use it in art journaling.

I'm not sure why.

 So I began with white cardstock and spread gesso over a stencil.

I loved the example Julie used for the challenge.

 http://balzerdesigns.typepad.com/balzer_designs/2012/10/second-floor-challenge-10-white-cardstock.html

The white on white was fabulous.

But I am a color person and I had to spray some color on.

This is still a big challenge for me because I NEVER start this way.

I never start to design the components of the spread seperate from the page.

I looked at it awhile and didn't really know where to go...

Because I NEVER start this way!

What the heck, I got a circle punch out and cut the whole page up.

 I hated to throw away the scraps so I cut little triangles.

I auditioned the circles here and there with different color backgrounds.

It needed something really pale

because I wanted to highlight the circles even more. 

 

What I learned from this:

First- I actually do better with deadlines.

Granted this Second Floor Challenge was a self imposed deadline.

But I have had so many quilts to quilt for deadlines

that I had to juggle my day back and forth from quilt to journal.

But it worked and probably helped the quilt fatigue.

Second- This spread is not nearly as color intensive

as my usual work... but I like it.

It was a super duper hard challenge

NOT to use my normal color pallette (brights).

And I wouldn't have naturally tried it on my own.

But I am going to keep working on it.

Third- This is a message to myself....Start Today.

 

Be Brave and Challenge yourself today!