JOURNAL OF WILLOWS AND EARLY BLOOMS WORKSHOP

Wednesday, March 10

Today I'm headed for Country Sampler Quilt Shop in Spring Green, WI. I will be part of their Willows and Early Blooms 4 day workshop. I'm really excited because I was here last fall for another gathering and had loads of fun. Jeanne Horton, shop owner, packs so much stuff into those 4 days, I know I will be coming home with my head swimming and trying to remember everything that happened. I left late morning and started out driving in fog. The fog never lifted and after I crossed the Mississippi River it got worse. Glad I was driving during daylight hours. However, it got pretty bad. I thought about stopping and taking a photo, but was afraid I might get hit by a car. That's how bad it was.



After arriving in Spring Green I went directly to the Hill Street Bed & Breakfast. I had never stayed in a B & B before, and I must say it was quite nice. I did not realize, however, until I checked in that there was no TV in the room. Oh dear; those of you who know me well know I can't fall asleep without a TV going.....I'm very anxious......

After unloading I drove over to the shop to check in and pay for my meal. I am so disappointed; I took what I thought was a great shot of the quilt shop, but when I tried to download it, I realized I had actually taken a video shot which will not download. Everyone is meeting at Jeanne's tonight for a 6:30 Meet and Greet and buffet lunch.


Jeanne has the most gorgeous house a mile out of
town. This is what was waiting for us; an absolutely beautiful presentation. The designers
that were teaching the classes were there and we
had a chance to get to know each a little. At 8:30
I headed back to the B&B and it's a good thing I
had GPS on my truck as I couldn't even see
the intersections until I was right on them, let
along seeing the street signs.

Back to my room for an hour of working on my
sampler. I did fall asleep fairly fast; I must have
been wore out from the tense driving today.

Thursday, March 11

Jeanne has an absolutely awesome School Room. It's a separate building next to her shop and has everything you need. Wish I had a sewing room like this. It has huge long cutting tables, walls decorated with quilts and tulips in the crocs.

This table in front was loaded with all the finished projects we were going to be working on.







We each got our own Easter Basket filled with what we would need for the day. Along with a generous helping of Easter Candy.


Stacey Nash Primitives was our instructor and our project was a primitive needle drum with velvet carrots on top. We had more fun with this project. It consists of dying a finished cross stitch piece with dye made from black walnuts. The needle drum is stuffed with sawdust, then dyed, then baked in the oven. You would swear the item would be ruined. It's black when it goes in the oven, but comes out with a slightly aged appearance. The carrots were made of velveteen, stuffed, then scraped with scissors to remove some of the nap.


The project looks like it could be a hundred years old. What do you think?

We broke for supper then came back and worked on a primitive covered paper mache box with a cross stitch picture inside.

Didn't break up until 9pm. It was a big day.

Of course, tonight I could not get to sleep. I stitched on my sampler alternately with reading until I finally drifted off at 2am.


Friday, March 12

Today we worked on a wool applique' bag. The class was taught by Linda of Chessie and Me (A cross stitch designer). Another day of laughing at ourselves and each other. We decided to age some of the wool for the flower petals the same as we had done with the needle drum. One of girls tried a shortcut of drying in the micro wave. However, she baked for too long and the wool ended up burned. We still don't know for sure, but many speculated that there could have been a fire in the microwave oven. We laughed all day about this and I threatened to publish pictures on my blog, but Judy was such a good sport, I'm thinking I won't do it.

We had dinner at Arthur's. The most unbelievable fish fry you could ever have. If you're ever in the vicinity, you have to go to Arthur's. Tonight I slept like a log. I was so tired, I couldn't even work on my sampler.

Saturday, March 13

Today we worked on cloth Easter eggs. They were assembled by hand and filled with sawdust. Then decorative stitches done on the seams, dyed with walnut dye and baked in the oven to make them look old. Most of us did not get these done because in the afternoon we learned how to make paper May baskets and cones. We will finish when we get home and I'll post a picture of them on my blog.

We were a small group but I left there feeling like I had 10 really close new friends. Posted below is a picture of the group. Those of you who visit my blog; I hope you enjoy. Thank you so much for all the memories and I hope we get to meet again in the future. Keep in touch.


Back Row L to R: Marlene, Stacey, Marian, Jean, Julie (hidden), Linda

Middle Row L to R: Vicki, Carolyn, Barb, Jeanne
Front Row: Connie Missing: Judy (she refused!)