Retreat Report - Final Notes

Many of the quilters wore their quilty tattoos for the week and a few of them had their husbands wondering when they got home!  

I didn't get much sewing done during the week (I was pooped after the my marathon sewing day on my Black & White challenge.)  

Rose Mary and I had agreed ahead of time that we would work on the "Tropical Breeze" pattern using the same line of fabrics.  She started on hers the day I was sewing on my B&W, so I should have been fore-warned with all the muttering and complaining I heard coming from behind me.  I (fearlessly) started working on mine and ended up having this guy show up at my machine.  (That's what happens when someone notices that you have to "RIP IT!")  After watching for someone else to pass it along to, I ripped very discreetly after that!  

I did manage to get some of the center parts of the blocks made, but I eventually gave up, too, deciding to work on it at home instead.  Besides, I didn't want to miss anything that was going on!


It was wonderful to have two massage therapists lined up to help out with those tense muscles that come from sewing too long.

Of course, the years that Becky can't make it to retreat, her sister makes sure she is there in spirit, as well as in Barbie form, and SHE had to have a massage, too!

We had a lot of really great Show and Tell throughout the week.  Here are just a few...

I had such a sweet Secret Quilter who spoiled me with all these gifts.

I came home with 27 adorable pillowcases to donate to Children's Hospital in St. Louis.  This is a very generous group of quilters participating in all kinds of different charities, so I am grateful to them for helping me out with one of my favorites.

That pretty much sums up our week.  I hope you have enjoyed reading about it as much as I have enjoyed sharing it.  If you STILL haven't seen enough photos, or you want to see more of Show and Tell, you can see them on My Flickr page.

Retreat Report - Part Three

Our retreat theme this year was A Garden Party complete with a white picket fence and our very own Mother Nature.  

Throughout the week we were encouraged to attach flowers to the fence with notes which would be used in Saturday night's entertainment.  Some of the notes were encouraging......

......and some were, well, not so much!

(At first glance you may think this is genuine praise, but a picture is worth a thousand words, as they say!)

Beautiful hats were the order of the day at the Garden Party.  Rebecca's was complete with a garden hose.

Debbie, JoAnne and Robin's were true works of art.

Angela wore her Garden Party pearls.

And leave it to Julie.  Not everyone can pull off a chicken for a hat!

If you think the hats were creative wait until you see some of the dresses!  Cat......

  








Mary.....

and Rilla came appropriately dressed for a Garden Party.  

Marcia thought it was a Gardening Party and she came dressed appropriately, too!

Mother Nature read our notes from the fence and her Helper Bee provided commentary.  

 

We do have a lot of fun at retreat.  We laugh a lot, we play a lot, we sew a little. And we enjoy being able to spend time with really good friends.

Retreat Report

It doesn't seem possible that three weeks have passed since I was packing up the car and heading to St. Louis for our annual Clara's Quilting Cottage Retreat.      It was so great to be able to spend some time with these lovely ladies, most of whom I met online over the last ten years or so. 


It's been difficult to break down the 300+ photos I took and decide which of them to share with you, but here goes!  We were asked to wear animal prints on Welcome Night as a special salute to Faye who loves all things leopard (and giraffe, and zebra, and snakeskin and............ Well, you get the idea!)  












Debbie really got into the spirit with her pedicure!

Rilla came to Retreat prepared to "deal with it!"

Julie came prepared for.......well.......I'm not sure what!

It was great to see my roommate, Faye, again.  We have been roomies since 2005 except for last year when she chose going to her daughter's wedding over quilting with us!   I know, Right?? She gave me these awesome gifts!  Don't you love the purse she made for me?

Show and Tell involved some great quilts and also some great stories.       Like Gayle's.......

.......and Eve's.

Some of the gals played "strip poker" with Julie again this year, and she won ALL the fabric strips, as usual.  They should know better by now.

In addition to all the fun and shenanigans, some did actually sew!

Faye made a great start on her "Swoon" quilt.  You can read more about it HERE.

Next time -- the Black and White and One Other Color Challenge and some of MY sewing!

Retreat Report -- Part 3 -- Works in Progress

There was a whole lot of creating goin' on!  I am friends with some very talented gals.  The projects they brought to Retreat to work on or share with us were gorgeous.  And several really beautiful quilt tops were actually started and completed during our short time together.


Faye showed us
her Cafe Au Lait blocks.

Jan worked on her 

Jan Krentz Lone Star.

Rita put together this cute baby quilt.

Bert finished on her Chocolate Stars.

Mary got a cute Halloween 
quilt top assembled.

Julie completed
this quilt top....