Mystery Quilt Fall 2011 Retreat

Back on the 25th of September I participated in the Mystery Quilt Fall 2011 Retreat in Airdrie offered by Prairie Quilt Mercantile.  What I love about this store is their approach to fabrics, as well as the beautiful patterns they design and display.  This Mystery Quilt Retreat is especially interesting as you get to pick out your fabrics a few months in advance, the ladies tell you how many fabrics you need, and you pick your favorite and then so on until you have the number of fabrics required.  They then cut these fabrics for you and organize them, and when you arrive on the retreat day, you follow the instructions along with all your pre-cut pieces and not until the very end do you know what your quilt will look like.  For a person who hates surprises I found this kind of scary, but also exhilarating (there was no way for me to get a sneak peak...).  At each table of 4 there is also someone is appointed to the pressing of seams and cutting strings, so all you have to do is sew all day.  By the end of the day your quilt top is complete.   This quilt is queen sized.  I chose a cranberry red fireside fleece for the back and it was quilted by Melinda at Sewing with Class in Stoney Plain (as are most of my quilts).  During my recent three weeks off at Christmas I was able to get the binding sewn on, and then the hand sewing of the binding done (all 368" of it - hand cramps!).   Currently it is sitting on the guest bed downstairs, as I could not quite replace it for my kaleidoscope quilt.  Now, here's the exciting news, the girls from Prairie Quilt Mercantile will be bringing their spring Mystery Quilt Retreat to Sherwood Park on the 16th of June 2012, which means I do not have to face the QE 2 highway in early spring (terrible mountain snow storms have been known to happen at that time of year) just to get my mystery quilt fix!!!  Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy