What's good for home, is good for the retreat

And one more day about the retreat.  Seriously - if you ever get an opportunity to go on a sewing retreat - DO IT!!!!   It is just the best therapy ever.  No need to worry about home, the dogs, the significant other, the kids or whatever your worries are.  It's like running away from home and if I could figure out how to do it on a permanent basis - well I would be tempted!   I'm going to sorely miss that month in PEI!  When June comes, I'm going to be dragging! 

Here's some more show n tell. 

Lynn made excellent progress on her disappearing 4-patch blocks. 

Disappearing 4-patch blocks

Carol popped by for a visit one evening.  We had a great opportunity to catch up the latest and she brought binding to do.  She has been contemplating the purchase of a sewing machine with a stitch regulator. Hmmm - after looking at her quilt that she brought to stitch the binding - I don't think she needs a machine with a stitch regulator!!!   Of course, she is mathematically minded but even then - she doesn't need it!  Don't you agree????   That quilting is amazing!

Amazing quilting by Carol!

Susan got this great I Spy quilt completed.  So very cute and I'm sure the recipient is going to love searching for all the things in the quilt.  Oh shoot - should have told Susan to make a list of the items and put it on the label on the back.

I Spy quilt - DONE!

I think I mentioned that I borrowed Susan's die cut machine.  I have held off for months - OK years. But these snowflakes intrigued me. Let's just say that the first couple of snowflakes were NOT successful.  Oh don't get me wrong - the snowflakes came out just fine, but it was not a fun process.  However, I did learn a lot of things and perhaps I could be tempted at some point to get a die cut machine. But it's big, it's heavy, the dies cost a lot and where do you store the darn thing?

Learning how to use the die cut machine

Lynn finished up this modern quilt.

Lynn's modern quilt

And then a miracle happened.  Ronda is taking a monthly class with me as she has on several occasions in the past.  While she does get some of the quilts finished, she is notorious for not getting the homework done on time. Well, you could have knocked me over when I realized that she is completely UP TO DATE with her homework.

Ronda's homework for Vintage Moments

So for the rest of you in my classes, do you see where the retreats come in handy?  You get to actually get caught up!  That is super exciting - very proud of you Ronda!!!   Now, how many more retreats do we need to book so you will be ready in December?

Against my wishes, people brought junk food and I'm a sucker for junk food.  So yes - I ate all the chocolate covered almonds. (and they were good, but my waist line is protesting!)

Goodies

How many of you have been in this situation? You need a bobbin but you don't have an empty one. You could empty one, but that's too much trouble.  Hey - I could just wind more thread (different color obviously) onto this bobbin.  Well, that's what I did and this is what happened.  At one point, the sewing machine picked up BOTH threads and well - I had to rip out that line of stitching.  I removed ALL the threads from the bobbin (like I should have at the beginning) and wound the bobbin with just the proper color and restitched the line.  GRRRR!  Ah - but what is life without learning experiences. Let's just say that I'll never do that again!

Oooops - two bobbin threads were picked up!

Now here is an example of one person makes something and the rest follow along.  Tish had made Lynn a key fob and of course, everyone got on the bandwagon and four more of us (if not more) made these for our keys. I think we wiped Fabricland out of the hardware!!!

Key fobs - can you guess which one is mine?

I'm not sure how this happens but I'm perfectly happy to throw my stuff all over the floor.  Why?  No idea - it's like my brain is going so fast, it doesn't have time to be neat and tidy.  I do it at the office, I do it at home and I do it when I'm at the retreat. Fortunately, I was in the bedroom right across from our sewing area, so it was easy to whip back and forth as needed to get stuff. Ah - just crazy!!!!   But FUN FUN FUN!!!!  And that is the ultimate goal for any retreat - heck for anything quilt related. If it isn't fun - it isn't worth doing!!!!

My messy part of the room at retreat

On that note - there is a bit of a mess to clean up in my office and well no time to clean it up, but some stuff has to be shipped out (oh god - I hoard cardboard boxes for shipping - but I'm using them up!).

Best to get on with the day!!!!


Have an awesome day!!!!!


Ciao!