Back again for another post about my fabulous retreat. First, I want to talk about how much we ate, and ate, and ate....you get the picture! This fabulous ice cream sundae bar was all thanks to Erica. She looked after all of us and made sure that we all were fed, had the appropriate paraphernalia for quilting and made sure that we are booked into the year 2525 (ha, ha) for our retreat! She is truly the Mother Teresa of the Quilting Retreat.
Now onto what else we did while we were in between breakfast, lunch, dinner and the countless snacks and ice cream breaks. We actually did do some sewing. Some of us more than others. For example, Justine was very prolific in making neo-natal quilts for the preemies at the local hospital. But she was also very much into creating pillowcases for all her family, friends, and passerbys...only kidding. But the pillowcase fever took hold on almost everyone else as well. I believe that Justine made 10 or 11 ( don't quote me) over the weekend....here is a picture of her stack to prove it.
Now again if this was not enough, Julee got in the mix and had her own stack. Yes, it is smaller than Justine's, but none the less it is a stack. Erica even got in on the act, but I think she only made 2 or 3. But these were for her new grandson for the next 2 or 3 years. She is working on at least one for each birthday until he is at least 35. Here she is modeling one of the pillowcases. I do have to say it was very fun watching these gals make them and boy did they have fun!!
Now onto the remaining few, Eileen, Diane, Joan, Maria, and myself were a focused group. We came with projects to do and did not seem to be sidetracked by pillowcase mania. Although, we did get some Saturday night Dance fever. We were listening to a great station that had disco music and we couldn't help but catch the dancing bug. Here is the proof....
We also regularly did our neck and back exercises, because as we all know sitting down at sewing machine for countless hours is horrible for your body in an ergonomic sort of way.
When we weren't doing any dancing or exercising, we regularly hear "I'm done" in the far back corner. Of course, that was our Maria checking off the completion of another Christmas gift. She had a lot done and here is her stash of gifts... Wonderful!! Some lucky people are the recipients of these meticulously crafted items. I'm sorry the picture is sideways, I don't know how to turn it...oops!!
Joan, sat quietly most of the time, but completed a phenomenal quilt , of her own design. It was quite an undertaking, but truly a labor of love. Although, this was her biggest project she worked on some smaller ones and also did a fair amount of consultations with the rest of us when we needed a valued opinion. Thanks, Joan!! Here is her wonderful quilt!
Diane was also very productive during our retreat and we might refer to her as our artistic quilter. She worked on quilted journal pages that were truly works of art. I believe she was close to completing 4 of them as well as working on a queen size quilt for her bed from lots of scrap in her stash. Some the scraps were donated pieces from the retreat. Take a look at her journal pages.
Not to be forgotten or left for last was Eileen, although she did arrive last for the retreat, but we have forgiven her. Even though her arrival was late she became very productive at cutting and sewing a new quilt of which I coveted all of the fabric, especially the Michael Miller Gabriella print. Love, Love, Love it!! Found 4 yards on E-bay, woo hoo!! Anyway, here is a glimpse into the making of Eileen's quilt....
After all was said and done, the Stitchin' Sisters had another great year and we are looking forward to another next year, with a twist!! We are doing a challenge...keep your eye on the blog this week if you would like to see what the challenge is and maybe you could try it at home.
Until tomorrow, enjoy!! Jackie
