Quilting in Vermont

Last Monday was my birthday and I was amazed when I found that DH had actually been listening to me when I was talking about the various gadgets that you can use for spinning. He had gone out to White barn sheep and wool  and bought me a Niddy Noddy (used to create skeins of yarn after you have spun them) Who would have thought it. DSC01597

As a token of my gratitude I knitted him some socks (my first pair) I started off with two circular needles and knitting both at the same time but by the time I got to the heel I decided to just knit one at a time using the magic loop method.

DSC01598 I don’t think he was as impressed with them as much as I was, but then again nothing compares to his beloved Marks and Spencer socks.

Wednesday I drove up to Vermont to begin a quilting retreat. The GPS in the car decided to have some fun with me and took me up the 9W to Ticonderoga with the intent that I should catch a ferry over Lake Champlain. It would have been a pretty stupid thing to suggest normally but as the ferry only runs in the summer it was even more ridiculous. I ended up with an extra hour of driving at the very least, my only compensation was the lovely scenery as I drove around the lake on my way to Vergennes.DSC01601 I quickly got settled into my room at the Strong House Inn and went down to the purpose built sewing room to introduce myself to the rest of the group. There were 9 of us in total all being led by Alison Dea Bolt ( also know as “right off the bolt” from her articles in Quilters Newsletter and Keepsake quilting)

DSC01611 As you can see they have a great  sewing space there and we quickly settled in for an intense round of sewing interspersed with many food breaks and a shop hop around the local quilt stores on the Thursday. All of the group produced some great work and some (Cathy and Patti) were extremely prolific and obviously worked in sweat shops in a prior life. Alison has been working on this quilt for nearly two years, it is all paper pieced and it is very intricate, a really stunning design.

DSC01681 Just the borders to get added and it will all be done. A true labor of love.

I was still trying to catch up on my Patriots in Petticoats but I did manage to squeeze in two very small blocks made with my Debbie Tucker Lemoyne Star tool, this ruler works on star bocks from 3 inches ( the size I tried ) all the way up to 12 inches. There are full instruction with the ruler but also there is a great you tube video that takes you through the process step by step.

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What a difference a day makes – this is the view from the sewing room on Thursday DSC01623 and here we are with completely different view on the Friday DSC01643 Thankfully we only got a couple of inches and by the Sunday and my return trip home; all the roads were clear and I was able to enjoy the scenery once again on my way back ( minus any detour to a non existent ferry)