Forest Road Retreat. Part One

Oh my goodness - we're having a blast at this new retreat house. And I'm having fun blogging on my new iPad that I bought a while back. I love it, except I didn't realize the battery was so low so now I'm tethered to the wall with the short charging cable and typing on the sideboard in the dining room. I love the keyboard on the iPad except that the R is sticky!  Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. But so much nicer than the other keyboard on my computer at home.

Ronda and I hit the road pretty early yesterday as we were hoping to arrive at the house by 9 AM and it was almost a two hour drive from her house. I may have to exchange this keyboard - while spellcheck is fixing most mistakes - it won't add the R to were if I get wee,

We had heard that there was snow along the way and we weren't looking forward to that. We're on the 407 and it's starting to look petty hazy. No - we've just started!!  But we were soon past that little weather zone and it was beautiful and sunny the rest of the drive. We are right in the middle of cottage county and 10 minute walk from what looks like a gorgeous beach - Balm Beach. OK - we didn't hit the beach yesterday but we did see it down the road on the way in. We hope to make it today. It was a tad chilly yesterday so no walking. We also noticed that there is a rail tail (Tiny) near here and that would be awesome to go cycling.

The house is pretty cool. The huge back window in the kitchen faces the forest and there's a comfy chair right in front of the window to contemplate life as you watch the wildlife! It's situated on a dead end street in a small cottage subdivision. We managed to get the car unpacked and all of stuff into the house. I only had two bags of projects, but I had my backpack, my overnight bag, my food bag, my sewing machine and my purse so still lots of cap to carry in. But no problem.

Oh I should mention that on the way here, we stopped at Tim's. Well, we stopped at one of those big gas stations along the 400 so we could get gas and Ronda wanted breakfast so while she was getting gas, I was in Tim's. She got gas faster than I got service in Tim's and I was only second in line when I arrived.  But I had a decaffeinated tea and it was just fine. No sugar! I'm thinking that with the steeped tea, the hot hot water and the steeping time that the tea gets bitter because it gets burnt and hence I need something to mask that bitterness and wanted the sugar. OK - the R key seems to be unstuck now. Yeah!!!

We had a good chat with the others that were already here - they came from Ottawa and so had arrived the night before. Let's say that we're here at the invitiation of the owner of the retreat house - so Kim is here and she invited a variety of her friends from various places to enjoy the inaugural weekend. Thanks KIM!!!  So far, we're having a blast.

After our chat and getting to know the others, we got set up downstairs in the sewing room and we were off. I had brought two bags that were mostly prepped so I could get them finished and the idea was to use them to put my finished projects in. Bag number one got done - that was easy - basically sew the two fronts together, two linings, make the handles and sew it together. I even brought the plasticore bottoms so when I say these bags are done - they are done!!  I had to quilt the second bag, stitch the handles, make and sew on the pockets, but that bag is also done and it's already been claimed by Ronda. Like I needed another tote bag.

I have another quilt that is make with big half square triangles. I got all the half square triangles sewn and pressed, but I forgot to bring my 9 1/2" rule so I can't trim the darn things. No worries - that's in the bag to take home as I can't go any further on that one.

I made a table runner as well. Remember - everything was mostly cut and prepped. But I hadn't paid a lot of attention to the cutting process because I was short of two pieces of fabric while I had two extra of another one (I thought that might happen), so with the exception of two long side borders, the runner is done. That will take no time to finish when I get home.