It's a great day!

Oh my gosh - yesterday, there was a garage sale at Thimbles and Things which is the best quilt store around! And it's five minutes from the retreat house (Fireside Retreat). Customers of the store had brought in quilt related things that they no longer needed/wanted and it was up for grabs. Several of our group and we won't mention names to protect them left the house at 8:15 to get in line! The shop opened at 9 AM.

The weather wasn't all that exciting in the morning and our group was first in line. I was NOT in the group - just so you know!

Everything was so organized it was amazing, but that's Sue, the owner of the store who is THE best shop owner around. Of course, our ladies managed to find a few things. I was going to the store to get a pack of needles, but someone else had to go and they got the needles for me. Yeah! More time to sew!

I popped off to The Book Re-view (the used book store in town). Again, another amazing shop with extremely knowledgeable staff. I got rid of a number of books that I had brought in and I had a store credit of $36!!!!  I also managed to find a couple of elusive books on my list and several on DH's list. In total, it cost me $1.75 to buy 7 books! That was a great deal!!!!!

I just love shopping locally in these small towns. Hm - maybe I'll have to move here one day???

Ronda has been dying to get to my embroidery machine. So I showed her how to change the threads, load the designs, hoop the fabric and she was happy as a clam yesterday and got some Maple Leaf logos (that she purchased and we downloaded a while back) stitched out. I see she posted that on Instagram and was getting requests from people to do other logos!!!!  Hey - that's my embroidery machine!

Making good progress on my magazine quilt and hope to finish today. I'm also piecing a class sample and making good progress on that one as well.

We celebrated Earth Hour last night. Our retreats seem to fall on Earth Hour often and we've always celebrated in the past. So last night from 8:30 - 9:30, we had candles lit in the living room. We had the fire going and we shut off all lights and refrained from using screens of any kind. Some of the group was new to this concept and didn't believe how serious we were about the whole thing. We soon got them set! We played a geography game and it was loads of fun!  Another memory is tucked away from Fireside Retreat.

I had tea yesterday afternoon with CAFFEINE. That wasn't a good thing and I didn't get the best of sleep last night. I ended up moving to the couch so I could read for a bit. Had a few hours sleep and then got up. Started the fire (I'm getting very good at starting the fire). I see we have more snow this morning and it's very pretty outside. Yesterday we had snow and then we had rain so was surprised to see the white fluffy snow again this morning! I see Emma is out there with a snow blower and clearing the driveway. Ah - the joys of owning a rental property!

Did I mention that retreats are just the best? Well, they are. We're a great group and we get along just super. Susan had to leave early for a family event and now Vivenda is here to replace her. No shortage of finding someone to fill the spots. And the FOUR retreats for next year are booked. Did I already mention that?

No worries. Anyway, I've already got the first border cut and ready to sew on the magazine quilt so the moment that I finish breakfast, I'll be there. I'll fire up the embroidery machine as well so I can get some more embroidery done today. And NOT for Ronda!

On that note, have a great day!!!

Ciao!