Brown Bagger Projects from The Berkshires

We had a very small group this year at the Berkshires: Nancy D., Joanne S., Sally, Cheryl, Jean, Karen and me. Local friends, Kate and Cindy, joined us for a few days and Joannie showed up on Friday afternoon. We also enjoyed seeing some visitors: Monty (Kate's Mom), Sophia (Kate's three year old granddaughter) as well as Kathleen and her kids, Kellie and Eric. Kathleen and her gang are regular visitors to our Berkshire retreat. Kellie, who is now 10, usually joins us for some sewing.

Here's our silly group selfie: from left to right: Joanne, Sally (wearing the iron); Nancy D., Cheryl, me, and Karen. Jean is the white cotton ball in front.

Unfortunately Karen had to leave early on Saturday morning because her Aunt passed away as well as Cheryl and Jean who also left unexpectedly on Saturday morning when their dog Spencer got ill. Sadly, Spencer passed away on Monday morning. He will be missed. My deepest sympathy to all.

I drove up with Sally this year. She was nice enough to pick me up as well as pack everything that Mike had prepared the night before. Since my recent gallbladder surgery, I'm not supposed to lift anything for a month. The other Brown Baggers were equally wonderful and they rushed to help Sally unload the car once we arrived. Sally and I visited several of the stores from my Go West itinerary along the way. I promise to share some photos of the goodies in a future post.

I confess that all the crap in back of Sally's car belongs to me.
Not sure why Sally is smiling... she had to pack it and unpack it.
Thanks Sally, you were an excellent roommate!

There are several different ways to approach a quilting retreat. Some of the Brown Baggers brought a variety of different projects to work on and some brought a single project and worked on it until it was finished. I brought a couple of tops that were close to completion and managed to finish two that needed borders. My projects can be seen here.

Nancy D. was the most prolific of the bunch AGAIN! She put the binding on 14 Halloween table runners, quilted seven Christmas table runners and pieced two baby quilts. Nancy, did I miss anything? The table runners she made below are from Karen's original pattern called Cat Tales. I sense a Pug Tales version in the making even if I have to design it myself!

Nancy is all smiles after putting the binding on her 14th table runner!

These beauties are gifts for Nancy's book club friends.
Nancy, did I mention that I'm joining your book club???

Never too early to get started on your Christmas projects!

Sally and Joanne spent their week dedicated to some elaborate quilt projects. Sally was putting together her Christmas Pickle quilt (I'm not kidding, that's the name of the pattern).

Here is Sally's quilt. It is a real beauty in batik.
Sally has been bringing this project to our retreats for a couple of years.
I LOVE IT!!!! We ALL loved it!!

Joanne finished all 64 blocks for her Double Wedding Ring quilt.

Joanne's quilt grew and grew over the weekend. Fortunately Nancy D. brought her large design wall.

Here is Joanne with her box of arcs.

The quilt grew larger than the design wall. FABULOUS!!

Here's a close-up of the Double Wedding Ring block. Joanne used fabulous
Kaffe Fassett prints with a super cute polka dot background (also KFC).

Joanne still has to sew her blocks together. I can't wait to see this when it is finished!!!

Cheryl worked on two beautiful quilt tops also made with Kaffe Fassett fabrics.

Cheryl completed this top. Each block is like an individual miniature quilt.  GORGEOUS!!!

We all helped Cheryl layout her blocks for her second quilt
and she assembled all of her rows by the end of the week.
Next step, assemble the top! Also GORGEOUS!!!

The quilt shown above is from Livin' Large by Anka's Treasures.

Karen was hard at work designing some new patterns.
She sent me this photo. She was also working on another one that I don't have a photo of.

Jean worked on these graphic log cabin blocks.

Joannie was working on her Mystery Quilt project. I didn't get a photo. It has A LOT of pieces. The colors are red and aqua. It is very pretty. Kate was designing patterns on her computer for her company Kate Mitchell Quilts. She didn't bring her sewing machine. Cindy was also designing some new patterns that will be sold through Karen's company, QuiltLily Designs. I didn't get any photos, but I'll be sure to ask Karen when the patterns are ready. There was a beautiful cat wall hanging (looked like Morris the Cat), a Halloween Tree, and an owl pattern. Cindy does most of her work by hand.

Thanks to all my Brown Bagger buddies who contributed photos for this post: Sally, Cheryl, and Karen!

I've got more Berkshire stories. Come back soon! Thanks for visiting!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy