Quilt Camp 2012

I - actually we - went to Quilt Camp last week in Iowa. 

Ready to leave home

Ray went along and rode his bicycle on some great trails. One morning he rode around Clear Lake and on toward Mason City - a total of 28 miles!

I got to quilt the week away at Country Threads along with friends - some new, some old! The first day I got to meet Jo from Jo's Country Junction blog. I've followed her blog for some time and am currently doing a Quilt Along with her each month.

Country Threads is just outside of Garner on a farm

with chickens, goats, cats, and dogs.

As in past years, we quilted upstairs in the barn.

But unlike any other year, there was construction going on at the house. It didn't really affect us - this is the view from up in the barn.

The little playhouse was still there and the chairs in the garden were wonderful because we had an absolutely gorgeous week!

I didn't take a lot of photos and most of the ones I did take aren't very good because the sun was so bright in the barn. 

The Illinois ladies minus me

The group was limited to 16 campers instead of 25 as in the past. It gave us a little more room to move around. We had one person from Wisconsin, one from Iowa, 2 from Minnesota, 2 from Texas, 5 from Ohio, and 5 from Illinois.

There were all kinds of projects being done. Everyone seemed a little more serious about sewing this year. Polly made these tiny little stars. I love them!

And this quilt required a great deal of paper-piecing!

Some weird things happened during the week. One of the owners had a death in the family, one of our campers had an allergic reaction and had to go to the ER, and the local lumber yard burned. Wow!

We took some time for shopping and eating too! The Illinois and Wisconsin ladies stayed at The Lodge in Forest City along with 3 of our husbands. We were about 15 miles north of camp. Every night the 9 of us ate together. We ate at Shooters Bar and Grill in Forest City twice - that's where we were on Ray's birthday and we'd definitely go back!

It was wonderful to spend time quilting with my friends made even better by the fantastic weather!

As I finish the projects I started, I'll share them with you.