Last weekend I was lucky to go to part of a quilting retreat taught by Joe Cunningham and organized by Patricia Belyea of Okan Arts.
We met at a quiet retreat center on the Hood Canal where we had a good workspace, good living space and good food amidst beautiful scenery.
In front of a warm fire (and under the watchful glass eye of a ruminant) we looked at quilts made by participants of the retreat. 
Here are a few of those quilts. Everyone’s quilts were amazing but most of my photos are too fuzzy to share.
Susie Wolcott –
Seda Terek –
Barbara Hassenrik
Geoff Hamada –
Jennifer Rhoads –
One day’s assignment was to quilt a sentence of three words, at least 36″ wide. Joe showed us slides of quilts with words on them. I don’t have copies of the slides he showed, but I found these images with a similar feel. 
After we looked at the slides we were set free. Everyone attacked the problem in a different way. Joe Cunningham is a great teacher. He inspired us and got us rolling on our own projects. The projects were engineered to allow the unexpected to occur. Joe helped us when we wanted help and let us steam ahead unimpeded when that was desired. The environment was kind and friendly. Joe even played the guitar for us.
Here are some of the letters and sentences (in progress) that people made.
Laurie Wilkey pieced this. 
Susie Wolcott’s letters were put together to spell Mush Head Day.
Janet Hasselblad wrote this:
Sara Goss added a pieced demonstration of her idea.
Lynn Haia wrote about her dog Tallulah and his toy Bluey.
I wrote WHY ? and WHY NOT. I pieced the letters with fabric cut from a patchwork skirt that had been sewn by my Great Aunt Marjorie Powell..
Why was the retreat so fun? A good teacher, thoughtful planning, a beautiful place, and the pleasure of meeting interesting people with common interests, all of us working side by side. The feeling of the retreat can be best summed up by a quilt from 1874 which says: From every quarter flowing joyful crowds assembled round and spake with exalted zeal.
…Just substitute sewed for spake.
p.s. Here is a link to my blogpost about Wordwatching at Books Around the Table. Please stop by!
