The retirement life of a quilting icon...

I neglected to mention the Rail Fence quilt below is the result of one of the first quilt lessons on "Weather Creek Quilts." A relatively new Google group I've joined. There is a slight charge to belong to the group, $60 per year (cheap at only $5 per month!) The proceeds go toward the children's shelter La Causa.

My own sister works as a counselor in children and family services so I'm familiar with the great need of children's shelters.

Trudie Hughes, the group owner of Weather Creek Quilts, is a familiar name among quilters. She's a retired quilt shop owner who's written 14 quilt books, many patterns and designed the rulers I've used for over a decade. It's the only brand ruler my local quilt shop would carry! My very first quilt was from one of her books. The Scrapaholic quilt is now available as a single pattern. I still have it in my living room and it's been well loved, let me tell you!

I'm a fairly experienced quilter but I'm going through the group lessons from the beginning. If there's a more accurate or time saving method of doing something Trudie knows how to do it! I hope to learn all the tricks she's willing to share. This isn't a chatty group but rather more of a classroom setting.

This week we're making a mystery scrap quilt. I have my blocks done but I won't post the photo because others are still working on it. It's really been a lot of fun to put together!

I've heard some quilters recently comment about being bored in retirement. I suppose retirement is just like other stages of life... it's up to you what you make of it. Trudie makes 25 quilts a month... and donates them. What an amazing inspiration!