March Retreat

My previous experiences with retreats have been with small groups sponsored by the local quilt shop or mini-retreats with some of my quilting friends.  But this last weekend I was lucky enough to get a spot at a popular retreat that was something quite different.  There were 91 of us!  We were spread out in the ballroom of a state park lodge with another group of quilters in a smaller room across the lobby.

The organizer is a former quilt shop owner who has been doing this for ten years now and who seems to have mastered all the organizational details.  I arrived around dinner time on Friday because I had to work, but when I got there my place was all ready for me and I was seated next to a group of my friends.  There were stations for cutting and ironing strategically placed around the room, and there seemed to be a never ending supply of snacks and drinks in one corner.  It didn't take long for me to get myself unpacked and ready to sew. 

It's an amazing experience to be in such a large group of creative, busy people. During breaks in my sewing time it was wonderful to wander through the sewing area and see what everybody was working on.  I think part of the fun of a retreat is being able to meet and talk to so many like-minded people.  No pictures, I'm afraid, because I forgot my camera, but I'm going to post a bit about what seemed popular later this week.

The main thing I wanted to work on was my little basket quilt.  I won eight blocks in a guild BOM about two years ago and I had made a few more to be able to bring it up to a nice baby size quilt.  After I evened up the blocks, it went together very easily.  This little quilt is very dear to me because most of the blocks were made by guild friends.  I plan to have the individual block makers sign the label.

The other project I brought along were some leftover nine patches from the 1800's doll quilt that I worked on last month.  I had plenty of bits and pieces left to make another doll-sized quilt; all I needed was a soft double pink or dusty rose to use in the setting blocks.  I was able to score the perfect fabric Saturday during a trip to one of the local shops.   I've got all the fabric for the setting squares cut out and sewn into half-square triangles; I just need to find a few minutes to assemble the top. 

I even had time to get started on yet another project that I've been mulling over for a while now.  No pictures yet; I'll post some after I've made a bit more progress.

Have a great week!