Weekend Retreat

I attended a knitting retreat (or Knitting Camp as they call it in Italy)

Relais Villa Pomelo
Novi Ligure
Piemonte

What a beautiful hotel.

One of the hallways at the 4-star hotel

The hosting group is called Cuore di Maglia and the members knit items for premature babies.

This is a bag I made a few weeks ago for storing my yarn.
My friend gave me a heart to add to it because the
main part of the logo for Cuore di Maglia is a heart.

We spent the weekend eating well (of course! we are in Italy)...

...and knitting and staying up till 3 in the morning like at a sleep-over party.

A hat I knit to be added to a care package
for the premature babies
that weigh from 500 grams to 2500 grams

One of the speakers at the event was a paediatrician from one of the hospitals.

Items our Verona group made.

She talked about their facility and the families we help.

photographed from the publicity of Cuore di Maglia

Why am I part of the group? Because I want to show the parents there is someone thinking of them. The babies are well taken care of but who is there for that mom or dad.  I want to show some support, let them know someone is thinking of them and sending 'good vibes' their way. I am so glad I can do a little something. The hospital staff says the care packages of hand knitted sweaters, hats, blankets and booties are really appreciated by the families. It feels good to know that.

photographed from the publicity of Cuore di Maglia

Mini Me

I read in a magazine about a fun idea.

Make a mini version of a baby quilt you've made and offer that mini one to the child on a birthday.

front view of the doll quilt

It would be a quilt for their doll!

the quilt back

Love that! I've made it already and I am giving it to her for her 1st birthday.

I embroidered her name on the back.

Click my friend's baby quilt to see the larger version.

Blue Star Quilt

detail of the blue-star quilt

detail of the blue-star quilt

Machine pieced, hand and machine quilted, blue cotton scraps, 2005

I used all my blue scraps to make 12 floating stars and 6 connector blocks. It is approximately a single bed size.

This quilt was bought by a Polish-Canadian who sent the quilt to Poland as a gift for a new baby. I am sorry I did not photograph it entirely before it went off to make someone happy. It was really beautiful and interesting with all the variety of blues.

When I first started getting my work "out there", an established artist advised me to get all my work professionally photographed. I didn't take her advise and really do regret it now.