Back in February four of the Tuesday Thimbles and Thread gals all started the same quilt pattern together.  The pattern is a Miss Rosie’s called Cracked Pots.  We did our initial cutting – which took two days – in the studio and then carried all of the pieces and parts to St. Chrisopher’s on Seabrook Island for the TTT beach retreat.  We worked the entire time (Sunday – Wednesday) on our quilt tops and continued work at home three separate times.  This past weekend was our guild’s beach retreat at St Christopher and we carried our Cracked Pots back to the beach and we all managed to get them completed while there.

Each of us used a different colorway.  Each quilt is stunning!  In the picture below Sheila’s is on the top left, mine is the top right,  Frances’ is on the bottom left and Betsy’s is on the bottom right.  Betsy was the brilliant person who came up with the idea for how to display all four so we could get a picture of them all together.

Seeing Quadruple - Cracked Pots times four

Now to figure out how to quilt them!!  Kudos to all my Cracked Pot sisters – we did GREAT!!

Four of us worked on the same pattern/project at the St. Christopher TTT Retreat.  The pattern is called Cracked Pots by Miss Rosie’s Quilt Company.  We did all of our cutting before the retreat so we could just sew while at the retreat.  The center of the quilt is 25 Courthouse Step blocks.  We all have a slightly different color way.  For some reason I didn’t get a picture of my Courthouse Step blocks

Sheila’s Courthouse Steps blocks

Frances' Courthouse Steps blocks

Betsy's Courthouse Steps blocks

Going around the center Courthouse Steps is an small inner border of red and cream/light square in a square blocks.  We have those blocks done but not put together.  Then there is a row of house blocks going all the way around with star blocks in the cornerstones.  There are 20 house blocks total.  We didn’t get all of them done but all of us were over halfway by the end of retreat.

House Blocks for Cracked Pots. First vertical row is Betsy's, next vertical row is Frances', third vertical row is Sheila's, and the last two vertical rows are mine

Here is what a row of houses with the cornerstones will look like.

House rows with Star Cornerstones. From top to bottom rows, Betsy, Frances, Sheila, Karen. We are so enamored of the star blocks that we want to do an entire quilt with them.

Finally there will be another pieced border.  We have not begun to work on that.

We had a lot of fun working on this project together.  We were a bit concerned that it was going to be difficult.  We found the cutting to be the hardest part.  We jokingly said we would all be Crackpots before we were finished and that led to more silliness and calling ourselves “Potheads.”  What a hoot – the four of us range in age from 51 to 67!!

I’m already thinking of cool quilting patterns for the finished top and I think I’m going to gift this to my sister Carla in WV for her new guest house when I am finished.

The Tuesday Thimbles and Threads gals had a winter retreat at St. Christophers Camp and Conference Center on Seabrook Island from Sunday to Thursday of this past week.  We stayed in Jamie’s Lodge at the center – had the entire upper floor plus the meeting room for our sewing.  Our own covered deck and the view from our sewing room was of the ocean/beach.  The header of my blog is the sunset from Tuesday evening.  It was wonderful to get away and just sew sew sew with someone else fixing all the food.  Many of us took daily walks on the beach even though the temperatures were frosty and the wind was ferocious at times.  We brought healthy (for the most part) snacks and best of all…………..we had a grand and glorious time together.  Laughter abounded.  Side-splitting, pants wetting, wonderful laughter about the silliest little things.  The husbands did not understand any of it when we tried to tell them about it upon arriving home.  But we know that we added at least ten years to our lives from all the laughing.

Here are some pictures of projects from the retreat.  Four of us worked on the Cracked Pots pattern and those pictures will be in the next posting.

Maureen's Cottage Garden blocks

Joanne's Scrappy Batik Churn Dash

Judy's Charity Quilt

Every fall members of Quilters of SC travel to White Oak Camp and Conference Center in Winnsboro, SC for their fall retreat known as Pieceable Retreat.  I have been the chairperson of the retreat for the past two years.  We offer classes or you can do BYOP (Bring Your Own Project).  We have nightly programs with lots of door prizes and many of our state shops are there to vend.  This year we had Heirlooms and Comforts from Central, SC; Viking Says Sew n Quilt from Greenville, SC; Inman Quilt Cottage from Inman, SC; Stitches from Laurens, SC; Aiken Quilt Shoppe from Aiken, SC; and YLI Threads from Rock Hill, SC.  Each attendee receives a “goodie” – this year it was an Artbin project box with a QSC logo decal. 

We had some wild and wooly weather Friday evening, then cold and damp on Saturday, and finally sunny and bright on Sunday.  I carried my camera but was so busy with responsibilities and trying to work on some projects that I didn’t get very many pictures.  There were eight of us in one of the BYOP rooms – all of us part of the TTT gang except Sue who is a member of Cobblestone but has moved to Columbia.  Sue will be the chairperson of next year’s retreat along with her daughter, Jodi. 

Corky supplied all of us with cute Halloween table clothes for our workspace – really gave the room an atmosphere.

For your viewing pleasure…………..

I haven’t had a chance to post or take any pictures because I’ve been up to my eyeballs in preparation for the Quilters of South Carolina’s annual fall retreat – Pieceable Retreat - at White Oak Conference Center in Winnsboro, SC.  This is my second year as chairperson of the retreat.  This year over 280 state quilters will spend the weekend in classes and shopping the vendors.  We also will debut our Artfull Bra Challenge.  We have 19 teachers offering a wide variety of classes/techniques plus the ever popular BYOP (Bring Your Own Project).  Most of the QSC board members plus some teachers and a few others arrive today to set up and then the horde of happy quilters will arrive tomorrow – registration begins at 11 AM but they are always lined up and waiting way before that!

My van is packed to the ceiling – Corky is riding with me – I managed to get everything in without having to remove any seats – a major accomplishment.  Much of this is for the retreat – quilt racks for display purposes, door prizes donated by LQS, boxes from the printer full of programs, class and retreat evaluations, etc, and two full boxes of materials to pass on to the next retreat chairperson.

I managed to get three small office chairs and three small collapsible tables in so that Jolene, Corky, and I will be comfy and have some extra workspace in the BYOP room. 

I hope to have lots of pictures and a full report of a wonderful weekend early next week.  I’ll probably need Monday to just recuperate – plus I have a dental appointment.

It’s supposed to be rainy part of the weekend – keeping my fingers crossed that it misses us.