Lone Star

Last week I managed to cross another UFO off the list. The Lone Star is quilted, bound, washed and smelling heavenly.  Pulling a crinkly new quilt out of the dryer is my favorite moment in the quilting process.

I used a mix of fabrics - mostly of the French General variety and a couple from JoAnn's, including a Denyse Schmidt (yellow). The back is from a cotton sheet set I found on clearance at Target...you'll be seeing more of it soon.

The quilting is a bit random in places (made it up as I went along), but I love how it looks on the back  - like a giant, lime green, polka dot snowflake.

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Now, let me tell you the story of how this little lone star came to be...

Last month, my cyber friend, Des, invited me to a quilt retreat with this group of talented (and hilarious!) ladies, none of whom I had ever met in real life. I only knew her from the internet. Scary, huh?! I had a complete out of character moment and decided to be brave and go.  Shocking.  I can be a bit anti-social, so this was a big step for me.

(view from the back porch)

The retreat house was in the middle of Idaho farm country with no neighbors in sight.  It was beautiful...until I had to drive down the dirt road and park in the pitch black of night to get cell phone coverage, then it was just plain spooky. Country dark is a whole lot darker than suburban dark. I couldn't see a thing.

There were a lot of lone star quilts and triangle star quilts in the works, so I jumped on the bandwagon.  I rarely use patterns, so following detailed directions was a little tricky for me.  Fortunately, Kathy was there to help me navigate - she is a lone star super-hero.

 I bet this front porch never looked so good!

They were definitely not lonely stars.

My Soul Blossoms quilt found a Soul Blossoms friend.  I guess you could say they are soul mates.
(both made from jelly rolls!)

Amazingly, these quilts look even better up close. These ladies know how to work a long arm!

I had such great time!

Branching out of my stubborn comfort zone to meet new people and make new things was a good thing.

The food was good too!

And the neighborhood...

Pretty cool - as long as it was light outside.