Finally, he returned the light to the Earth. All the animals and they were happy. But Crow was very sad. He cried because his once beautiful feathers were now blackened and, instead of a rapturous song, he had only a croak for a voice.

Today, if you look closely at the feathers of a crow or raven in just the right light, you can see all the colors of the rainbow reflected in them. The rainbow still exists!

My little cabin in the mountains is the setting for the annual Hawks Aloft Quilt Retreat. We gather there each winter to attempt to stitch the quilt top in one weekend.

This is by far and away our most popular event of this year. The cabin can sleep 14 people, with some sleeping on the floor, and that's exactly how many we have each year!

It's a cozy event, kind of like a nice warm sweatshop! All the stitchers are squished together in the living room near the old wood stove.

This year, our youngest stitchers were Olivia Rodriquez, age 10 and Rhianna Roberts, age 12. Neither young lady had used a sewing machine before coming to retreat! This was Rhianna's second year at retreat. She is now an avid sewer, designing and making many of her own clothes.

The guys like to come to retreat too! Meet Steve and Ed. We call him Eddie the Ripper! Guess what his job is! Not only does he remove the paper, he precisely measures and cuts all the fabric pieces and prepares little packets for each block or border the quilt. It makes the process go so much faster.

Steve is one of our old timers and has been coming to retreat for over 10 years now. He's an ace stitcher and our official photographer too!

By early afternoon on Saturday, we had finished the center of the quilt top. This year's design was inspired by a wonderful piece of oriental fabric by Hoffman Fabrics. All the other fabrics were selected to complement the focal fabric.

Of course, one of the main attractions of retreat is the camaraderie and togetherness. By late Saturday afternoon, when only a couple of quilters could sew, the rest adjourned to the tiny little kitchen for appetizers and libations! We shared a laugh or two.

I am proud to say that by 7 p.m. on Saturday night, the entire top was complete! We dined, chatted, picked up paper, and watched Rango, the movie.

The next morning, most of us gathered on the deck so Steve could take the official photo.

Many thanks to the 2013 Hawks Aloft quilt team:

Front row (l-r) - Laurie Marnell, Sami Sanborn, Steve Elkins, Debbie Caffrey, Anita McSorley. Back row - Cynthia Figueroa-McInteer, Ed Chappelle, yours truly, Chellye Porter, Mary Chappelle. Stitchers not shown: Lizzie Roberts, Rhianna Roberts, Olivia Rodriquez. Other contributors include Donna Barnitz and Michele Hymel.

Kris Vierra of Kris' Custom Quilting did the phenomenal quilting. The binding and sleeve and a label are now on the quilt, and it made it's debut at the Monte Vista Festival of the Cranes. Here is a better view of the amazing quilting.
You can purchase your raffle tickets ($1 each or 6/$5 on my website or at the Hawks Aloft website and scroll to the very bottom of the store page.