Haines Junction Quilt Retreat

Last weekend my buddy Janet and I went to Haines Junction for the fall quilt retreat. HJ is about an hour and half drive away from Whitehorse and I was looking forward to the drive in the beautiful fall. Instead it snowed buckets the night before and everything was white as far as the eye could see. Luckily it hadn’t snowed yet in the Village and I could take some quick pics of the mountains before it did so.

When I got there I quickly set up. We had great tables and beautiful views. The lady in blue is our local (and only) quilt store owner, Ruth. She is a hoot and a half. (see no snow? This was Thursday)

 

The Convention Center is a beautiful building with these cathedral windows.  (see the snow? This was Friday)

      

And here is the rest of the Center where we are lucky to work out of. Upstairs is the Village council chambers.

      

The Beautiful view of the Kluane Mountain range on Thursday. It started snowing about an hour after this pic was taken. These mountains are fabulous in real life..

                                                                               See the snow here?

We had to bring a present of something we liked but didn’t use. I brought this—a bag from Peru and a homemade journal.

 

My little girl Ripley came with me for a day, then hubby picked her up and took her home. She loved it with all the ladies. This mess is, unfortunately, mine. I am a totally messy quilter and am always embarrassed when others quilt with me. This is what happens when one gets spoiled by a big quilt space. I have yet to add the binding to this quilt, but Ripley loved it. Its for my house, so I don’t care if she sleeps on it now or when its done.

   

So many fun and interesting things to see at retreats. Our area seems to be Bernina country and quite a few people use them. I loved this Bernina—look at the foot pedal! LOL

 

A lot of people work on quilts started elsewhere and finished at retreats, so it has become a habit to put all the finished tops and projects in the gym for bragging rights. Most of these tops were finished in the 4 day retreat! Aorry the pics are so dark—it is a big gym.

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I was happy to finish my baby quilt top with some hand dyes, and the wall hanging—mostly hand dyes.

   

That silly hat I am wearing is a something we had to wear when prizes were being done as it was like a Chinese Auction where you could steal someone else’s prize if you liked it.  The hats looked like chef’s hats, and I had to make it my own. In the background is my friend Janet. Below is someone else who had to decorate their hat. See the snow? See how obsessed I am becoming showing you the snow?

 

It was a fabulous retreat and I can’t wait until next year to return!