Oh, Colorado!!

Have you ever witnessed scenery that just about made you cry? Put a squeeze on your heart and made it feel like it was hard to breathe?

Okay, maybe that was the ALTITUDE, but really, BREATHTAKING does not do it justice!

I returned last night (getting home about midnight) from my visit to Lyons, Colorado, where the Colorado Quilt Council held their fall retreat! The Venue? Peaceful Valley Ranch. I have one thing to say....this retreat was NOT LONG ENOUGH to get in as much of this as I needed! :cD

But first...before the scenery....comes my arrival!



I was picked up by Lori at the Denver airport, and off we went to go have lunch with the staff at Quiltmaker Magazine. What a treat. I love going there, if you have a chance to visit Golden, call and stop by, or just stop by! There is always a display of quilts in the lobby, and everyone is great and welcoming!

We talked about "STUFF"

We talked about the possibility of taking all the scrappy blocks that I have done for my "Addicted to Scraps" column and putting them all in one volume in a future book along with FULL QUILTS (Yes, this means I'm going to have to do some serious sewing!)and how fun that would be.

We talked about the new issue of "100 Blocks" by 100 designers that is due to hit news stands in the next several weeks. WEEEEEE! I have a block in there, and I'm so excited for this issue!

We also talked about future issues of 100 Blocks and my mind is whirling on that.....

We talked about a KING SIZED quilt I'm sending off for a future issue this week...

All kinds of exciting things going on!



And then, since we were so close....Lori took me HERE!! You might have to turn your head sideways...it's the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum!



They have moved since the last time I visited. This time there was a display of antique basket quilts, and they were fabulous! Of course, I also made a beeline right to this display in the gift shop:



$1.00 Fat Quarters! Oh, there were some old favorites in there, and yes, I had to do my duty and support the museum, so several came home with me. They also had their own line of fabric there, and I bought a couple yards for good measure. :c)



I spent the evening back at Lori's house where I was loved on by her two golden retrievers! A home cooked meal with Lori's fantastic lasagne couldn't have been better after a long day of traveling, and we topped the evening off by roasting marshmallows and making s'mores in the firepit off the veranda.

Friday began our trek up to Peaceful Valley Ranch, and I'll write more about that next! Suffice it to say that my Colorado Adventure had begun, and I needed a good night's sleep before we could launch ourselves into the weekend!