Hi-Ho! Hi, Snow!

Shortly after my last note, I hit the road and headed to Findley Lake, New York and the Needle in a Haystack Retreat. On a nice day, the resident chickens are rather shy greeters.

The retreat is a beautifully refurbished dairy barn and the home of Judy and Jeff Fenton. Judy also owns Millcreek Sewing and Fabric in Erie, PA.

Inside, a sign offers a warm greeting for my workshop, the popular Stained Glass quilt from the ScrapTherapy, Scrap Plus One! book.

This is pretty sweet. How would you like to have your room inside the quilt shop? The Needle in a Haystack Retreat has it all! Sleeping accommodations for 18, plus shopping in the Outlet Barn on the second floor . . .

. . . and plenty of space to spread out and work on your project. Oh, and delicious meals, too!

You've heard of Quilt in a Day? But have you heard of Quilt-in-a-Stacking-Box? These neatly organized scraps and strips will be transformed into a beautiful quilt over the next few days!

Hyper-organization skills transfer to cutting, pressing and sewing! Do your work-in-progress projects look like this? (Mine definitely do not!)

Outside, it's cold, but sunny. Perfect weather to air a few quilts!

And here are the happy Retreaters! By the end of the weekend, we had many finished blocks, in all sorts of beautiful, colorful scrappy combinations.

Me, Judy, and a couple of toothy grins! Behind us: Barb's beautiful quilt center, ready for borders!

Back home for a day to catch my breath, then I was off to Maryland and a quick stop at Kelly Ann's Quilting in Warrenton, Virginia. Yes, it was snowing in Virginia. . . again!

Inside, let the quilt blocks painted playfully on the floor guide your footsteps toward fabric, fabric, and more fabric!

And here's the Kelly Ann's version of Chopped! Woot-woot!

After a quick dinner in Fredericksburg, I headed over to Material Girls Quilt Boutique in La Plata Maryland. The cold temperatures stayed outside, while inside, warm smiles and more Stained Glass quilts were on the one-day workshop agenda.

"Seams" like we all have "pressing" issues from time to time. Nyuk-nyuk!

Happy, happy!

Back in New York, a trunk show at Thread Bears Quilt Guild in Sherrill. And a photo opportunity for the local paper. The guild members made 85 Quilts of Valor! A quick break to snap a photo for the local paper. Nice job, ladies!

. . . . and the journey continues! Where to next? We'll see!

Happy Stitching!