Retreat to move forward

      Retreats are sort of ironic. Sounds like going backwards, however a quilt retreat moves me forward. Last weekend, my guild held a quilt retreat at Stella Niagara in Lewiston, NY. It was a great bunch of women to work with. Packing is my nemesis. I hate it. It makes my brain hurt and my palms sweat. This time I tried to pack all quilt related items in a suitcase instead of a lot of carry sacks. All of that fit, but when I closed the suitcase, I could not move it. The suitcase itself was heavy to start with. So, I got out Suity, my daughter's first suitcase she left behind. Ria has always loved suitcases and traveling and packing. I still use her multi-page checklist for packing every year we go for a week to the Adirondacks. Everything fit in Suity, which was a much lighter case, but it does not roll well or have a telescoping handle.

Everything packed nice in here, but could not lift it.

Everything fits in Suity, but not so navigable

Everything I took

      I got the idea from my friends of having a common project to work on to build some fun and comraderie. This time, I chose a mannequin pincushion an online friend sent me for Christmas. I printed up the patterns, gathered supplies, glue gun, jelly jars, etc. and demonstrated to the women. Some women did not buy into early on, but eventually everyone made one and here is a shot of the lineup. Pretty neat.

      I worked on Sea Urchin by Judy Niemeyer and did not make much of a dent. I worked on a cross body bag I kitted up before I left, but one critical pocket piece was left on the cutting board at home, so it needs to be finished. I worked with two other women on a quilt raffle block, and finished UFO Dancing Star from the Square in a Square system. Just needs a border. Although that method has many benefits, I don't like it for the way I work, so I am selling the 4 books, DVD and ruler on ebay as soon as I can get it listed.

Work done by the women at the retreat. Snack table also. Got to have snacks.

     I was up working late as we have a large room open to us and the spring time change sort of wreaked havoc on my energy level from working so late. It is hard for me to stop sewing when I have opportunity. I wish I could find some more places to quilt retreat at such a reasonable rate.