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 - Part Two

Our Challenge for this year was to make a "Black and White and One Other Color" quilt.  Normally I put off this kind of thing for a long time, so I thought I was way ahead of the game when I started my project at a Nancy Odom workshop last November.  She taught her quilt "Stars are Gathering." 

If you know me at all, you know I did not do it in those colors!  I decided to add green and use it for my Challenge.  Actually it was more like Green and White with a little bit of Black Challenge!




I had all the components made and and organized waaaaay back in November, but I didn't get it out again until I got to the retreat on the first day.   I sewed like a fiend and finished the top (except for the last border) about 15 minutes before the reveal.  I could not have cut it any closer than that!

This was a popular challenge.  There were 23 entries!  I couldn't name a favorite (mainly because a lot the gals read my blog!) but Jan's was very cool.

Debra made some beautiful placemats and a table runner.

I really like the pattern Debbie used.

Faye's was Black and White with Red on one side......

.....and White and Black with Green on the other side!

Shirley made a back pack without a pattern!

And leave it to Eve to use orange!!

One afternoon we held all the challenge quilts over the balcony at the Retreat Center to take photos and it was quite a sight.

I don't want to give anyone quilt overload (like THAT'S possible!!) Next time I'll tell you about our Garden Party.

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!

Searching for Inspiration (Or WHERE has my mojo gone??)

This week it was brought to my attention by my #1 Fan (that would be you, Faye) that I have not blogged in three months.  Well, that is because I have not been in my sewing room in 3 months.  I have completely lost my mojo!  Or maybe I have just been busy with other things.........

Being near my grandchildren has had a serious effect on how much time I spend sewing.  But I am having a great time! 


In March Hubby and I took our grandsons to see The Harlem Globetrotters.  

We also went to Seattle to visit our son for a few days in March.  I was able to visit a few quilt shops while we were there.  This one was Esther's Fabrics on Bainbridge Island.  Of course I HAD to buy something so I got fabric to make pillowcases for Children's Hospital in St. Louis.  

In April I went to the AQS Quilt Show in Paducah and this is ALL I bought!  I didn't even break out the credit card.  

One day when the boys were here I taught Gavin how to bake bread.  He LOVES kneading dough!!      

We've been to Aidan's ball games........

.......and Noah's ball games.

We get to take the boys out to eat once in a while....

....and to the park.                           

I did a lot of volunteering in the boys' classrooms.  That was SO much fun!  And I got to see Gavin's Chorus performance....

....and Aidan's Kindergarten program.

Now that school is out we have been to the pool a few times, too.

I am worn out just writing about everything that has been keeping me from my sewing room!  

SO!  I am leaving in the morning for a quilting retreat with some very special friends.  I have projects cut out and ready to go.  I will have no excuses if I don't get any sewing done this week!  Hopefully, I will have something quilty to blog about when I get back.  (But, really, doesn't it look like I've been having fun!?!?!?)