Triangle MQG weekend

Two weekends ago I had the pleasure and privilege of teaching a workshop at the Triangle MQG‘s annual retreat at Wrightsville Island, North Carolina. It was early March and 80 degrees when I arrived with the guild’s president Michelle, so basically our setting was paradise.

There were about 20 members in attendance, and they were just the warmest group. Our ballroom, despite having no windows, was bright and full of personality.

On Friday night, we sewed and played a trivia game. My team won, and it was a total team effort. We called ourselves the O.G.s, because when we were asked to think of a team name, somebody said, “Oh jeez.” We got some black and white charm packs (I have ideas for those) and a pattern from Carolyn Friedlander.

On Saturday morning it was time for me to teach my workshop, Incorporating Curves in Modern Quilt Design. Going into the weekend I knew that there were some talented quilters in the bunch, so I tried to customize the curriculum to quilters of all different experience levels. I talked about design elements and qualities of quarter circle blocks (I didn’t realize how rusty my public speaking was–after a few stutters I really got excited and into more practically-applied material). I encouraged people to design their own quarter-circle projects and showed them how mine developed. Then, I showed them how I glue baste my blocks and blend them into one another when piecing. Finally, everyone started sewing. They made some truly beautiful pieces.

Many students used much-loved Alison Glass fabric.

Lunch by the water was followed by more sewing and a group dinner. I worked on my big stitch blocks and added three to my collection (it’s grown even bigger since then). I’m very excited about where this quilt is headed.

On Sunday morning, I took a walk on the beach with my friend Ginny. there was a front rolling in. It felt so good to feel the sand between my toes.

And just like that it was over, and I was back tucking my boys into bed on Sunday night.

I want to say a public thank you to my North Carolinian friends for a fabulous time. It was literally a breath of fresh air. They were wonderful hosts and I really enjoyed every part of it. Check out #trianglemqgretreat on Instagram for more examples of student work and pictures from the weekend.