Thursday, July 7, 2011

I had an amazing week.  This was the week of the annual retreat of the Israel Quilters Association.  For the second time the retreat was held in Jerusalem, making it easy for me to attend.  For great pictures of the retreat and the vendors who were in attendance, visit Etty over at the Quilters Corner.  The first day started out with a tour in the Old City of Jerusalem.  As we entered the Old City, we noticed this man who was probably on his break from work...

We had a nice view of the Tower of David...


We were going to a guided tour of the Hurva Synagogue.  This arch was erected years ago, and stood as a reminder of the original synagogue, which had been destroyed many times over.  The last time it was destroyed was in 1948.
The arch which served as a reminder of the destroyed synagogue
The Hurva Synagogue
This beautiful new synagogue in the Old City of Jerusalem was recently completed.  It is an exact replica of an ancient synagogue which was repeatedly destroyed over the course of hundreds of years.  Can you see the arch on the side of the building?  The commemorative arch I showed you a picture of was made to look like the arch on the side of the synagogue. We took a tour of the building, which is magnificent inside and has a gorgeous view from the top of the domed roof.  My batteries ran out in the middle of the tour, so I don't have any pictures from the inside.  What a shame, as it is so lovely, with murals on the walls and a soaring ceiling. Don't worry, I'm going to go back for another tour, with my husband and some fresh batteries. Then I'll be able to show you the whole thing.     

The Western Wall


Shula, one of my quilting friends.  Look at her adorable bag!  All the fabrics are connected with sewing.  I love those little sewing machines on the front!
My friend Sara and I took a class in Hawaiian quilting.  Our teacher, Darlene, was excellent.  By the end of the day, we had our designs all cut out and basted to the background.  I'm think I'll add some more designs around the sides, as there's plenty of room.  I don't know that it came out looking that Hawaiian--it's more of a mandala, I guess.  But it looks okay to me. You can see it on the right side of the photo.
Quilts on the line.  The one on the right is my Hawaiian quilt. 


Tessellating Pinwheels-finished!

And something new...these are some scraps left over from my Dresden Plates quilt.  I decided not to throw them away, but to make a little string quilt out of them.  Isn't it going to be cute?

4 comments:

Andi said...

What a wonderful weekend.
Makes me miss Jerusalem ... and warm weather!!
Andi :-)

Roxanne said...

What a fascinating tour of Jerusalem you had. I really like your Hawaiian quilt. Thank you for sharing it with us.

Sara Fiedler said...

Wow a chock filled blog entry. I too really enjoyed my tour of the Hurva.
You Hawiian is really nice. I feel like doing my over from scratch because I'm not fond of my design. We'll see. I love what you did with your scraps!!!

Quilting Corner said...

Thanks for the tour. The pictures turned out great. The quilts are lovely and those kids are so adorable.
Fondly,
Etty