Using “jelly rolls,” the fifth annual Elsah Fall Quilt Retreat will focus on the technique of quilt stripping, beginning with two-inch “strips” used as the basis of new strip pieced quilt patterns. Friday, International Quilting Teacher Karel Owens will share ideas and techniques from her years of quilting experience, interlaced with a humorous presentation in her program “Still Stripping” at the Elsah Civic Center, 51 Mill St. Badasch is an avid quilter, becoming hooked on the craft just a few years ago when she reluctantly tagged along with a friend to the annual American Quilter’s Society Festival in Paducah, Ky. The two began arranging the retreats as a way for those who enjoy quilting - or would like to learn to get a jump start on a quilt and to learn something new no matter how long they’ve been engaged in the craft. They are both also enthusiastic book readers, but felt reading was taking time away from quilting, so they devised a way to do both by listening to books on tape while quilting at the same time.

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