Jo Morton Retreat

This post is a belated report on the Jo Morton retreat that I attended on Sept. 23-25. I am really slow in getting this on here so here it goes. My friend, Betty and I left on Thursday, Sept 22, to drive to Nebraska City to join some of the gals for a get acquainted dinner. (that was nice) I think most of the time, there were about 22 gals in attendance and we gave our undivided attention to Jo, (most of the time) beginning at 8:00 o'clock on Friday morning.  She showed us how to back-baste applique on a small Rachel's Reel, we learned how to hand piece a little bow-tie block and we English paper pieced a small flower. I had not hand pieced much at all and I find that I really enjoy it.



This was everyone's Rachel's Reel's





Everyone's Spool blocks

 


My little pile of "stuff".

 

My little hexie flowers



  Salt Cellar Pincushion, a gift from Elaine P. at the retreat, nice!!



Every technique we did would be a great "pick up and take a long" project. Kathy Hall, from Andover Fabrics, joined us and worked right along beside us. Kathy talked to us one morning about Andover Fabrics and showed us some things she had been working on. Beautiful things!! Kathy was a delight and I am so glad that I got to make her acquaintance. We had lots of show and tell and got to see every ones progress on our lessons. Breakfast, lunch and dinner were served every day right at the retreat center and that was nice, no cooking and no dishes to do. After dinner, we could sew some more into the evening, if we wanted. TJ Lane came one day with her silver jewelry, thimbles and lots of accessories, they are really beautiful.  I've had one of her thimbles for several years and it's the only one i wear and guard very carefully, lest I misplace it!!  And on Sunday morning, Stephanie Grace Whitson came and gave a presentation with quilts and her new book, Home on the Plains, Quilts and the Sod House Experience.  



The Book



I love this book!!  She co-authored this book with Kathleen L. Moore..Stephanie's coming was a bonus highlight for me as I have been a fan of her novels for many years. She has written many books and I love reading her stories. They are very inspirational books and I recommend you read one of her books, I'm sure you will love them.  All in all, the whole retreat was a great experience and we met many wonderful people, we had a good great time and hope to go again sometime. Jo is a very easy going, low key teacher but gets the lesson across to everyone and is most willing to help, if you need it. Can you tell, I really enjoyed the retreat?




Stephanie's Botch Handle quilt

 

Sew until next time, have a "Stitches" kind of day.