Spring House Retreat

Staying at Spring House Retreat involved a lot of FIRSTs. 

We had the cat wrangling incident -- more on that tomorrow. We were ten people, which is the largest group that we've ever had and I wasn't sure if I would like it. Too many conversations at the same time, too crowded, too noisy, etc. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised and YES there were times when there were too many conversations going on at the same time but I was in the corner and I just tuned them out! Actually, it's not the number of conversations that drives me nuts. It's when I'm in a conversation and someone starts another one with someone sitting beside me or tries to engage me in their conversation when I'm already engaged with someone else. 

I might even be a culprit myself so I'm going to be mindful of that going forward. 

But too crowded? Nope -- it was never crowded. I decided to stay until we were forced out of the house! Check-out was 3:00 PM and I figured -- why not stay -- it was a beautiful day, no need to rush home and so I continued to sew. The others left one by one and there were three of us at the end. 

I had to search for the light switch for one set of lights and put out the last of the garbage and then, by 3:03, I was in the driveway on my way home. People talk about needing bigger cars, but I managed to put my bike in the back of my car, my sewing machine, SEVEN quilt sized quilts that need quilting, my steam press, my food bag, three bags of project stuff and my clothes. Oh -- and three boxes of thread and my office backpack. I could easily see out all the windows! If you are smart, you can put a lot of stuff in a small car!

Spring House Retreat

There was a picture hanging in the bathroom of a house that we think was the start of this house. And as I was leaving, I think I confirmed it. The wall between the kitchen and the rest of the house is massive so I think that was the original brick wall, meaning the original house was the kitchen and the primary bedroom. Then it looks like they built a second story, and then at some point, the single story sections were added. I would say the house had at least three additions, but inside, all looks seamless. It's a beautiful house. 

And there's plenty of seaitng area outdoors if you want. The veranda on the front, the fire pit area under a big tree at the front and a back patio! And never mind all the room inside! 

Oh -- each room has a sign outside the door and we staying in this room. The flying geese room, which was wonderful. A tad chilly for my liking, but wonderful because I had flannel PJs with me. While I was at spin class, I realized that the decorative cushions on the bed had FLYING GEESE on them. Shoot -- I should have taken a picture. I bet the other rooms had cushions on them to match the room name!

Our bedroom

I picked the back corner to sew in and I was able to unpack all my stuff and put it on this shelf. The top shelf had some books on it that belonged to the house and my thread boxes were on the next shelf. I couldn't even use them, since I had forgotten to bring stabilizer! A lot of that stuff on the shelf was my tools to do applique and I never got there. 

I unpacked my stuff!

I took two projects with me -- my Tula Pink Butterfly and Green Tea and I'm happy to report that I made significant progress on both. 

When I got home, I put the butterfly blocks on the design wall. Oh dear, I made a couple of goofs when putting the blocks together and I'll be doing a bit of switch-a-roo as I continue to work on it. 

My butterfly quilt

I managed to almost get all the pieced blocks for Green Tea done, which is huge, but I didn't get a picture of those. I hope to put that on the design wall later today and I have a LOT of applique prep and stitching down applique to get caught up!

I got everything unpacked and while unpacking came across two small bags of half-squre triangles that needed to be trimmed. I finished trimming those last night. 

Half-square triangles trimmed

And I had a few that were created from the butterfly quilt, so they got trimmed as well. 

More trimmed half-square triangles

There was one more bag of half-square triangles, so I will trim those another day. 

Well, I guess when I fell off my bike that I fell harder than I thought. Betwen that fall and that darn tree, my arm is NOT happy. I've using cold compresses, and any kind of ointment I can find to try and get some relief. Tea Tree ointment seems to be the best, but I just WANT TO SCRATCH. But I'm behaving myself and not touching it. OK -- occasionally, but not hard. 

My irritated arm

Hopefully, this will pass in a couple of days before it drives me mad! And I must have bruised that arm, but it's internal as I've not seen any bruising yet. It's very weird. I've become more sensitive to insect bites over the years. But that's why you have AfterBite!

I cranked out another 30 KM early in the morning yesterday -- that was another first at this retreat. I NEVER cycle on the last day, but since I was staying so late -- it was almost like another full day of sewing. 

And that's it for today -- I'll share the cat wrangling story tomorrow. 

I'm off to spin class. 

Hve a great day!

Ciao!