Oh I did enjoy myself

Well. I'm back from a wonderful little retreat! It was just like a mini vacation. The weather was less than desirable, but it just made it that much easier to stay in and sew instead of going out and enjoying the scenery and wildlife. However I am getting ahead of myself...it occurred to me the other day that in all the pics I posted of my little sewing studio, I neglected to show you where the "business" end of the sewing and quilting gets done. This lovely little number was a birthday gift last year from my wonderful husband; and I am thrilled with it.

Ok, back to retreat fun. We had a wonderful time. The drive was a bit tricky getting there with the freezing rain and sleet, but once I parked my vehicle Monday morning it stayed put until we left on Thursday afternoon. It was just the three of us for the better part of four days. We kept our meals simple, with a quick clean-up and then back to the machines. We stayed up until 3 a.m. each morning, sewing, ripping, talking, watching Walton re-runs, listening to music, being entertained by the local " furry nightlife", and even snacking a bit(healthy snacks of course). Off to bed at 3 and most mornings up and at it by 8. Some mornings my machine was fired up before the coffee pot. This was such a treat and I didn't want to waste a minute of it.

Here is a bit of the view from the windows in front of our machines. Nice huh?

Here we are, hard at it, notice the dark outside the windows. That didn't stop us though,we came armed and ready to quilt...lots of OTT lights and lamps gave us easy viewing even in the wee hours. (This is a funny shot, because in reality , the one ripping did more sewing and the one sewing, did more ripping)

Want to see some of what we worked on?

this is one of the projects that came to the retreat in a tin can and left completed. The blocks are a result of a tin can exchange we (the Tuesday girls) did a while back. Some of us have yet to finish, but Cam was determined to get her blocks together before doing anything else; so We worked away at that. I say we, because I came up with the ideas and Cam had to do the work...lol. She was a trooper tho, and even though it meant ripping back a FEW times to get the math part of things correct, she persevered and finished it. Looks great eh? Way to go Cam!

Sorry the colors are a little washed out, they are really much brighter and vibrant in real life, but you get the idea.

NJ worked away at finishing her queen sized Taffy Treats quilt, and I have to say I heard a very big sigh of relief when she put the last border on it. Looks great though, and then she plugged away at the next project in the line-up. A Kansas troubles table topper...

What did I do? Well I worked for 2 and a half days at a ghost project...I can't show it to you because it is a secret for our upcoming guild retreat in 3 weeks. But I will say it is done, and I am pleased. After getting that monkey off my back I started a baby quilt for a new baby we will be welcoming into our family in March sometime. It is a pattern from Moda Bakeshop http://http//www.modabakeshop.com/2009/03/pinwheel-baby-quilt.html

I added a dark border around the pinwheels though and I think only a few prairie points staggered around the border...I'l l adjust as I go along.

and now; on this the coldest week of winter so far, I have spring like pictures to show you. Becasue I was not going to be home through Christmas I didn't bother with planting an amaryllis this year, but when I arrived back in January I come across a bargain in one of the grocery stores clearing paper whites and amaryllis; I thought oh why not! Well they chose a wonderful week to bloom...pretty eh? My little touch of spring in sub-zero weather.