Every September for the past eleven years, I have packed up the car and headed to Northern Michigan to beautiful White Birch Lodge for Gwen Marston’sBeaver Island Quilt Retreat.

 

 

The days I spend there are about friendship and quilting.  Gwen has created a truly incredible environment where creativity flows for all of us.

 

 

Each retreat, Gwen inspires us with a commanding body of work that she has created for the retreat theme and this year was no exception!  Medallion quilts abounded …

 

 

And no surprise, this one was my favourite!

 

 

A number of us who have been coming to BIQR for years commented about how the retreat is where we start our creative year.  It is a place for us to renew and to experiment … oh and did I experiment! On a recent trip to NYC I once again saw the work of Jackson Pollock.  I remember reading about how he would stand on a step ladder and splatter the paint onto his canvas.  Having an ample supply of berries on hand and a length of white fabric I tossed the berries and stitched them where they landed!   Stitching all of the berries on was a lovely way to spend my time at the retreat because I could move around and sit and chat with people as I stitched. I auditioned some parallel vine borders, but they came off so fast I did not get a picture!  Carol did though!  This is the audition with a sawtooth segment.  There might be a call back for them later, but they didn’t stay on either.  I will keep you posted on it’s progress!

 

 

So much happened this week in addition to stitching!  Mike gave us a water ski show (no wet suit!  brrrrr!).

 

 

And somebody at the lodge was very creative building this chair!

 

 

I will be back next week with more to share about BIQR!

Happy Stitching!