Weekend Retreat Report

My Mom and I spent a wonderful weekend at a Quilt Retreat in New Hampshire. Not only did we have a good time, but we also managed to get a lot done. And, as a bonus, we were completely inspired by the talented people around us.

The retreat was held at The Inn at Mills Falls, on Lake Winnipesaukee. Our rooms all had fireplaces, and balconies overlooking the lake. It was so amazing to wake up to this view.

 

The classroom was a large conference/ballroom. We were set up mostly two to a  table, with a big, communal cutting table in the center. That was the site of many discussions, as we all sought advice or offered opinions on projects at  various times throughout the weekend. At some retreats, everyone makes  a specific project, or learns a specific technique. We chose a retreat where everyone was working on their own individual projects, so there was a lot to see, and to comment on, and learn from.

In that last picture, you can see this month's UFO hanging from my sewing machine. Across the table is my Mom, also called Sue, by people she hasn't given birth to. On the right is Jane, the owner of Quilter's Way, the shop that sponsored the retreat. We called our table "The Cursed Table". I managed to lose the free motion foot to my machine, only to find it in my accessories box (where I swear I had already looked three times) after searching the trash cans very thoroughly. Not fun, but I can now say, unequivocally, that different quilters have very different ideas of what an unusable scrap is.

Mom managed to lose a large section of her project, only to find it later at the ironing station. What can I say? Strange things happen when you sew from 7:30AM to Midnight.

And "what about Jane?", you may ask. After all, she was at The Cursed Table also. Well, she spent the weekend sewing and unsewing a broomstick skirt, interspersed with bouts of sewing "Snoballs From Hell". See them?

Actually, it's going to be quite nice when she's done, but that is a lot of octagons. She designed it using the shop's Kit Designer, which allows you to design a quilt, and pick out the fabric for it. The Kit Designer calculates yardage, you pay for it, they cut it, and either mail it to you, or you can pick it up at the store. It's a pretty cool feature for a quilt shop to have. You can check it out here. Meanwhile, I'm going back to work on my almost finished UFO.