Retreat oh-nine

I have to apologize for my taking forever to blog the retreat pictures. Jeepers. Suzie is politely asking where in the heck they are! She could not be there and we missed her like crazy.

So here’s a little picture tribute to Suzie, who had better show up next year.

However, the rest of us had a smashing good time. Get ready for a long blog with a ton of pictures!

Arrived on Friday, October 2nd after quite the day at work.

 

We set up our stuff and off we go!

I brought this little tool bag my sister gave me for my birthday. I have to say it came in so handy-thanks Debbie!

 

I sat with Sheryl and Ardie. Poor Ardie. She had to put up with an awful lot from Sheryl and me. Plus the fact the the vibration from Sheryl’s machine was giving her tremors! Although Sheryl and I spent much time bickering about who was right about what, I have to say I have not laughed that hard in ages. And I was right about almost everything except the 1/4 inch guide. Who knew?

Her Royal Highness, Marcia, had to come and give Ardie the blessing of the queen. Or give her the extra patience spell to put up with us. I am not sure which.

 

Poor Jill was there too. She was pretty good at ignoring us and she was on the end so she could escape when needed. The unfortunate ladies behind us said we sounded just like sisters. Oh-oh…..

This year I helped out with the mystery quilt. I made the sample at home and the dogs really dug it.

 

Lots of the girls worked on this project at retreat and I thought it was really exciting. I hope they had fun with it.

But before we get into that, there were other things going on-

Connie did some pressing

 

Marcia did some announcing.

Of course we ate, and ate, and ate…..And when we couldn’t eat in the dining area we, of course, had a few things up in the work area…

 

We worked well into the night. Actually, I think this is early in the AM, but some people worked well into the night.

We scrounged up coffee because we need it bad in the AM-a kick start to sewing all day.

I had a carafe, but Sheryl bought a huge mug in the store there. It was almost as big as my carafe. It will become a legend of retreat 09.

           See that giant thing?

Here’s a close up!

   Seriously, it is like a 40 ouncer.

The weather was nice on Friday, but rained on Saturday which made it a perfect day to complete the mystery and all other projects.

So, this is how the mystery turned out.

This is the sample, resting by the fireplace after it’s busy week with the dogs.

Here’s one going together. Cool, huh?

 This one belongs to Lois. Very different fabrics. That’s what is so exciting about it, they are so unique.

Very cool.

Brights and darks make the transition in the Transitional Quilt.

And here they are all put together-

I love the feet underneath.

My camera doesn’t capture color very well, but this one had some great batik blends.

This one had the orange set in triangles which really showed off the pattern. It is also on a different diagonal, which is also really neat.

We called this the Florida quilt. It had fish and bright sunny colors.

And here’s the group. I thank them for making the mystery quilt so much fun. I enjoyed it a lot, and I hope they did too.

But wait, there were lots more people there doing lots more things. I took over 70 pictures. I can’t blog them all, dang it, but here are a few of the best.

 Connie wins the prize for overachieving. Look at all those pieces. We love you Connie!

Jill made this and I wish I could get the true color. It was more pink than this, but you can see the design and how cool it turned out.

These are fabrics from the 30’s or 40’s. They feel and look very different from what we work with today.

Very nicely done!

More pieces. These girls really know how to sew a quilt.

This one is very modern and cool. I wish I could think this kind of thing up.

I hope I am right about this, but I think Margaret made this and the crossings between squares will fray when washed.

Ardie finished Super Bowl quilt 09. The same quilt that is sitting on my project table. Hers turned out beautifully.

Sheryl made the embroidery Christmas wall hanging.

I like these two a lot. The one below is very asymmetrical.

Tulip Time came along.

 Of course, no retreat is complete without a showing from Gramma. I wish this showed the detail better.

I tried to blow it up a little to show off the hand work.

Last, but not least, well, I think this picture is pretty self explanatory.

In Marcia’s defense, she did not get crabby one single time. Weird. I was testing her but I couldn’t detect even the slightest amount of crabby. Marcia wasn’t crabby and Suzie wasn’t there-I was a little out of my comfort zone for a minute……

But we got back into the swing and here is our little group all together.

Whoo Hoo! I had to leave about noon to go back home and do homework. Bleech! I could have stayed another week.

I would like to thank the girls, Connie, Marcia, and Suzie, for making Retreat 09 possible for me this year. I can’t say enough good things about the Pine Needles staff and commitment to their customers. I think most people feel more like friends than customers and there are few places where you get that anymore.

So, am looking forward to next year already. I hope to be a little more organized than this year.

I’ll be putting more pictures up during the blogs to come-stay tuned.