A group of quilting friends and I headed to Lake City over the weekend. We made our home for two days the Dragonfly Dreams Retreat Center, recently opened by a friend of ours who used to belong to our local guild before she moved out of town. It was a glorious weekend getaway, and a time of real creative energy for me. I knew I would have the time, so I took Harald’s 40th birthday quilt (only a few years overdue at this point) and finally got all the piecing done.

Harald’s quilt top finally pieced together! Isn’t it lovely?

Once I got that done, I felt like a huge breakthrough had been made, and I could almost feel the flow return to my previously flowless creativity. One of the projects I turned to (after getting the binding put on a baby quilt I am making) was a French Braid quilt. I had bought the book and the fabric a year or so ago from Crystal’s Log Cabin Quilts in Grand Marais, a favorite quilt store of mine. I bought all these fabrics that reminded me of one thing or another about being on the north shore, figuring it would be a great tribute to have even the fabric come from there. I wasn’t sure I had done a very good job picking out the colors, but once I saw it going together, I knew I didn’t have anything to worry about.

A close up of one whole color run from my French Braid quilt. You can get some better idea of the color and pattern in this one.

This is what two of the four braids will look like, with the separator bands lined up on the design wall between them.

So I ended up getting more than half of the French Braid quilt done. I can hardly wait to finish it to see what it will look like!

I’m blessed to have wonderful quilt friends who are great to spend time with!