Quilt Retreat Weekend - Part 2

Sleep came easily this week - and usually early - but it's taken a while for me to mentally process through everything that happened last weekend and then turn it into something coherent that people might want to read.

I don't know how successful I will be at that - but here goes.

I forgot a few things from Day 1 - driving through Columbus, OH in heavy traffic and construction with the GPS in my lap (the suction cup kept coming off the windshield) after 14 years of being away - the gorgeous spring colors of everything in bloom as I headed North to South (although I had to retreat to earlier spring on the way home) - Jill texting me as I arrived at Fabric Shack about 45 minutes before they were going to be there to be sure I was going to be ok waiting (waiting in a fabric shop - gee - what a hardship) - and the glorious glorious peanut butter pie. (ok - so I mentioned that in the first post, too... but it was REALLY good).

Shopping with the gang was wonderful - it was fun to see what kinds of fabrics caught other people's attention, or what they were on a quest for. I already had most of my selections stacked and cut - although looking at things through their eyes helped me find a few other treasures. I don't have pictures of all my purchases - one I can't show yet as it is for a special project and I don't want the recipient to see it - but will try to show some of them soon.

Luckily for me, Jill decided to ride shotgun with me for the rest of the evening. After 8+ hours of driving I was beginning to lose all sense of direction - plus it was nice having someone to talk to in the car after 8 hours of just me. After a buzz through Best Friends - we hit WalMart for some sword fighting (foam), snack snagging (mmm - Strawberry Cream Oreos and Licorice Snaps), dinner buying (pizza) fun.

We all then piled into Jill's house for the evening -and I finally got to meet Max and Maisy - Jill's dogs. Pizza's popped into the oven, and we all settled in to a variety of projects to get ready for the retreat. I wasn't much good for anything other than sign making and taking dictation - so I left the sewing machine and hand needle and scissor operations to others.

The best part? I took "delivery" of the quilts that Jill machine quilted for me - and we did a bit of show and tell. They turned out MARVELOUS! My intention for the retreat was to finish up the binding and get that attached - but I only managed to get the bindings made (Sunday) and the quilts trimmed (Friday). There are some pictures of the quilts out there from our show and tell session - but not on my camera. I will have to go picture hunting. (update - one quilt is now completely bound and just waiting for a label)

We finally faded around 1:30 AM - Jennifer says I was finishing my sentences very......very.....very.... slowly - but by that time I had been up for nearly 21 hours. The dogs snuggled in with me -right up until the moment Jill's feet hit the stairs to head up, and then they were gone.