Quilts, Quilts, and More Quilts

This past week I attended my first-ever Quilt Retreat. I joined my sister, five of her girls, and about 250 other women at Ruby's Inn just outside Bryce Canyon National Park. This is serious quilting -- Mormons have to be among the best in the world, and these women are the Best of the Best. It's an experience just to watch these women check in. They bring their sewing machines, ironing boards, power steam irons, cutting boards, rotary cutters (they even have medical help on hand for those who inadvertently cut off their fingers), and multiple storage tubs filled with quilts, fabric, sewing kits, etc. If I were a scout master in Tropic or Panguitch, I would certainly haul my boys to Ruby's Inn for a lucrative fund raiser. These women would pay big bucks for a strapping fourteen-year-old to haul all this stuff in and out of the hotel.

I took a class on Wool Applique. The wool fabric used for this design costs $65.00 a yard. This is not a cheap hobby.

Never before have I seen so many beautiful quilts, eaten so much pure unadulterated chocolate (I didn't realize until I became enlightened at the retreat that you really can't quilt without chocolate. I'm completely educated and compliant now), or done nothing but stitch from early morning until the wee hours of the next morning without feeling a single twinge of guilt.

Meet the May sisters who entertained us with their delightful quilting experiences. They were extremely funny, but they couldn't hold a candle to the Judd sisters and their quilts and experiences. If we can just come up with the costumes for next year, we could put together a trunk show that would knock the thimbles right off their fingers!