I got home from Quilt Camp late yesterday afternoon after a delightful four days in Prescott.  My hand cooperated most of the time, and so did my ankle (though I noticed on the ride home that it was swollen and my ankle had actually disappeared.)  Over the course of the four days I saw some phenomenal quilts being created - which of course meant that I got a 'few' more ideas for quilts.  There were also some Newbie quilters working on some more basic patterns, though their work was amazingly precise for only a second quilt!

The food was good, and of course we all had brought a 'few' yummy snacks to share so there was never any danger of going hungry. The only real downside was that the mattresses on the beds did leave something to be desired.  I had been warned beforehand and so had brought a thermorest pad with me... but unfortunately it turned out to have a leak in it, so it was pretty useless.  Yolanda snapped this candid of me while I was moving in and (in theory) letting my thermorest inflate.

Yolanda and I planned to be early arrivals (after stopping for a yummy lunch at Zeke's) so we could help Colleen and Stephanie set up the room before everyone else arrived at 2:00.  However the two of them had been quite busy (as usual) and there was very little left for us to do.

Displayed at the front of the room were various projects made for Saturday night's auction.  There were several I would not have minded taking home with me, but bidding on those particular items was fast and furious, and quickly got too rich for my blood.  (I did win one bid and come home with a cute mug rug.)

This was where all the magic happened.  

That's my quilt on the design wall by my machine; 

I shared my table with Nancy - from Kingman!

We had 3 ironing stations and 3 large cutting tables that were constantly in use. Often there would be a waiting line, even though a number of women had brought their own cutting mats and tiny irons to use at their tables.  Which brings me to a story, Bana.  I know you think 'one of your children' is accident-prone, so when this happened to Kathy I figured that it would make a great story for you.  

Kathy came up to Colleen to see if she had any aloe vera in the first aid kit (nope, and nobody did, though we all have some at home) and she ended up having to run into town for some.  Seems she was leaning over to do something and forgot about her iron - and this face burn was the result.  It doesn't look too bad in this shot, taken shortly after the incident, but it definitely darkened up later.  

I'm happy to report that my only 'injury' occurred when I was trying to stuff my sleeping bag back into its stuff sack Sunday morning.  All I was doing (!) was holding the sack with my left hand while (in theory) the right hand was doing all the work stuffing the bag into it.  But just trying to grip the sack with my bad hand sent shooting pains down my thumb and past my wrist, at which point I abruptly stopped.  I spent the next few hours letting it calm down (and then "letting" Yolanda do the stuffing for me when it was time to pack up after lunch.)

There were a couple of dozen ladies attending and I met lots of new friends (camp was through Nimble Thimbles, a group to which I don't belong, so before camp I only knew 3 of the attendees.) On Sunday morning we hung just a fraction of the projects, and the one on the lower right is one of mine.

Between visiting <g> I actually got a bunch done: made a gift for Mom's upcoming birthday (my first attempt at that type of project); whipped up a set of 4 placemats trying out a new pattern (Saturday afternoon we shopped the 3 quilt stores in town, where one store show-cased them in preparation for an upcoming class next week); assembled a bunch of blocks (made last year) into a charity quilt; and added borders to a small quilt I made several years ago.  Of course I'll post pictures... after I take them!  

Lily sent this picture from a quilt store (not sure if she stopped in to look for something for me, or has started crafting) along with the following 'commentary': They don't have a pattern of the month but they do have some aptly named thread. Note that "superior masterpiece" is under Lily, not Alex :P 

In a few I'm off to Scottsdale to pick up our taxes.