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Joanna S. Rose has been collecting red and white quilts since the 1950s. For her 80th birthday, her family decided to give her something she has never seen: all of her quilts hanging together at once. They also decided to give a present to New York City: a free exhibition of these quilts at the Park Avenue Armory.

The results were stunning.

I admit, after my first loop around, I was pretty overwhelmed.

But then I made a second loop. And the next day, a second visit. And the third day, a third visit.

I could see how someone could get attached to quilts like these.

There was no way to choose a favorite or even a favorite style. I just felt a deep sense of admiration for all these women who did this craft before me and the countless hours that went into creating all the quilts in that room.

When I think about the designs of my own quilts, I tend to put more time into choosing the color and shades of my fabrics rather than being picky about the pattern. What was so moving for me, is that these quilts take color and shade out of the equation and show the strength of the patterns and quilting alone. Although choosing the colors is one of my favorite parts, I feel inspired to challenge myself to make a quilt with more limited colors.

Last February, my mom and I went to the Stockbridge Ramsdell house in Newbergh, New York for a two-day quilting retreat. The hostess cooks dinner on Friday, three meals on Saturday and breakfast and lunch on Sunday. We didn’t need to leave the house for the entire time and could truly focus on our quilting.

The dining room was cozy for our small group.

The hostess was really accommodating for special dietary needs and made delicious, healthy meals and delicious, not-so-healthy desserts each day. In the evenings, wine and cheese were served in the parlor.

The parlor had a lovely view of the Hudson River.

This is the view from our room on the third floor:

Downstairs, there is a porch with a large selection of fabrics for sale.

The inn-keeper is also a quilter herself and she shared with us some of the antique quilts she collects.

The woman who made this quilt of hexagons fussy cute each floral hex so they would match perfectly.

This was another hand pieced gem, but the quilter never finished her project and the inn-keeper intends to add the backing and quilt it herself.

This quilt is called a Crazy Quilt, which is a style of quilting I had never heard of, but dates the piece back to the late 1800s.

The quilting room is fitted with really bright Ott lights and of course plenty of daylight and that view of the Hudson.

After working with those lamps, I’m a convert. I was able to work a lot longer without feeling fatigued in such a bright work-space. As you can see, I am still surrounded by polka dots and snowballs as I continue to work on my Bounce quilt.

The inn-keeper is working on her own Dear Jane quilt and has just about a dozen blocks left to go!

My mom finished putting together a top she is making for her friend who will be retiring in the fall. She left the workshop just needing to add the borders.

One of our retreat companions was working on this beautiful flying geese pattern she designed herself. The square will be the center when she’s finished.

She was also working on her version of a One Block Wonder. It was so fun to work surrounded by design walls so we could quickly throw our work up against the wall and see how it was all coming out.

The other woman on the retreat had recently finished a take-off on the Trip-Around-the-World pattern and she was deciding whether or not to extend the zig-zags and what type of border would work well with the quilt.

I didn’t have anything to hang up on the walls in the end, but I was proud of my headway on the many, many snowballs.

When Elizabeth Hartman published this tutorial on the Dresden Plate, I knew I wanted to make one. I started out with a sheet I bought a couple years ago from Urban Outfitters:

I cut out wedges using the template from Elizabeth’s tutorial and sewed the wide part of the wedges together.

I don’t usually cut the thread after I sew each piece, but leave them all strung together like a kite tail so I can work more quickly.

I cut the kite tail and began arranging the pieces in a circle and ironing the point of the wedges. I used a chopstick to push out the point. My idea was to cut the sheet in a way that when the pieces were all put together, the pattern would form a circle.

In the end, I was not that happy with the way the circle came out, and I decided not to finish the plate. I love the colors, but the pattern just didn’t work with this design. I think what makes the dresden plate so striking is when you really allow each piece of patchwork to stand out. Each piece gets lost in the version I made. I was really happy with how it came out technically and the process took me just a few hours that I really enjoyed. At the Quilt Fest I purchased some fabrics that I think are better suited for the pattern:

I also purchased an acrylic template so I can alter the number of wedges and the size of the plate I’m working on. I’m still not sure what to do with the rest of that Urban Outfitter Sheet.

Last Saturday I went to the Quilt Fest of New Jersey and saw some beautiful things.

Each year Hoffman fabrics sends out a package of challenge fabric and asks contestants to use the fabric to make entries in three categories: quilts, clothing, and dolls. The dolls were phenomenal.

There were some really striking red & green quilts.

I just love these Santas.

Tea themed:

Detailed quilting on the border:

Many of Kaffe Fassett’s quilts were being shown. This is one I had been considering working on until I saw it up close and in person.

I couldn’t believe the detail that went into this ship quilt.

Not to mention the borders:

This quilt could never be done justice in a photograph. I have no idea how it was made.

I definitely enjoy looking at the patchwork quilts more than the art quilts, but I am drawn to anything witchy: