Where did April go?

It feels like forever since I have blogged.

You've seen posts that had been pre-scheduled, 

for projects that I had been secretly working on...

but I really missed my sitting down and deciding what to "blabber" about.

April is a month of quilt retreats for me.

Needless to say...I "LOVE" the month of April.

It started here, in Lancaster PA.

I absolutely love this part of the country.

The weather was a mixed bag...

But the spring flowers were in bloom

The charm of Lancaster (Intercourse) to be exact, gets me every time.

It's the buggies that are used by the Amish.

They are just so fun to see.

We visited lots of quilt shops in the area, but I had to share this photo.

Unfortunately it's not the greatest, but in their window, they combined a 

"Stonehenge" panel with the "Labyrinth" pattern to make an absolutely gorgeous quilt.

❤❤❤❤❤

We took a trip to the Farmers Market one day...

I'm not to sure about some of these meats, but my hubby remembers

Scrapple, growing up. He turned up his nose at it, when I showed him the picture.

LOL!

I just love looking at the displays of produce.

But...I got the giggles with this one and just had to share it.

Viagra tea?

hahahahahaha

We did do some sewing...even some ripping.

Lesson learned...do not go out the door and say, feel free to finish up anything you see here.

Especially with me in the room.

I took it upon myself to stitch outer borders to Mary's quilt.

OK, in my defense, I used a big basting stitch!

It was worth every minute of it, when she got back and saw it.

I'm still giggling over it now, and I can not share the photo of her response!

LOL!!

That border print ended up on another project too, I do believe.

For some strange reason, my machine cord disappeared during the week?

Oh, it was just unplugged!

Remember that blue border print, it will be showing up here later this month.

(winky winky)

If your ever in need of accommodations in the area, I highly recommend this place.

(now that we have it reserved for next year already that is)

LOL!!

Is this just gorgeous? We found it on VRBO.

It sleeps 15, has 3 bathrooms, 5 bedrooms, on 3 levels. A washer, dryer

 and lots of things for families with kids. Ping pong table, Foosball table, toys, swings, sandbox.

There's a picnic table and fire pit in the yard. The list goes on and on.

Oh and best yet, there are 10 leaves for the kitchen table, so you can seat an army at it.

:-)

It was nothing short of perfect for our retreat. 

While we were on gorgeous farmland...

We were just a little over a mile from the center of "Intercourse".

The sprawling back yard had such beautiful views.

Oh, and the trees...they were all in bloom.

Darn wind did a number on them while we were there though.

;-(

We were even treated to a Robin building a nest,

 from the window where we had set up a cutting table.

Yep, I still hear the clip pity clop of those horse and buggies going by and

can hardly wait til next year!

There is just something about these ladies...

(minus one, because we forgot to take the photo before she left)

I just love em!

til next time...

Keep on Stitchin'

Retreat Reflections 2016

It's been almost a week that I've been back from the New York quilt retreat. I've been looking thru photos and reflecting today....

Sharon...

The best darn retreat organizer on the planet.

This girl thought of everything, and I do mean everything.

From supplies we might need to games and prizes, 

even change so we all had tip money throughout the week.

Games...

For some strange reason, they thought I would be the ringer

who knew all the answers...

Ha, you can see that was not the case!

But I did manage to come out of the week, with some great prizes.

:-)

Patterns...

Lots of quick little one page patterns that are perfect for retreat projects!

Sharon also provided us all with these "retreat survival bags"

Socks, slippers, snacks, puzzles...

The hair elastics are for our spools of thread and bobbins.

Boy, do they keep your loose threads in check!

OK, not everyone got the memo, on their use!

:-)

I can still hear her asking, if we thought she was pretty!

We stayed at the Country Inn and Suites just outside the Elmira

airport for the week. We had a meeting room to stitch our hearts away in.

It was a little small, but fine for the 4 of us.

Projects, projects, projects...

This was a mystery project for us.

It's from FreeMotion by the River's blog

You can find it right 

HERE

This is what happens when the "teacher" doesn't bring all her strips with her!   LOL!!

Great way to "save" the project though.

I have to laugh to see that with the exception of Mary, we all did a 

great job of hiding behind our projects.

Shame on us!

Sunflowers are from Pie Plate Patterns

I shared a little "ultimate" scrap busting.

A week worth of stitching with friends...

...yielded some fabulous projects!

Too many to share in one post.

If the week couldn't have been better, I got the greatest gifts from the girls.

Could they have pegged me any better?

Ann, who couldn't join us this year, stopped in to visit and bring gifts!

We missed her so much during the week.

Mary knit these socks for me, after my drooling over the ones

she was working on last year!

Gail made us all thread pretties. These pop onto the spool pin on your machine to dress things up a bit. 

Whew, those are little stitches and oh so cute.

Yep, they are the greatest!

I wish there were not so many miles between us.

Once a year is just not enough.

There's lots more to share, but that's for another day.

Keep on Stitchin!

Quilt Retreat

There's nothing like getting together for a quilt retreat with friends.
Last weekend we beat the storm and made it to our cabin at the YMCA camp, just as the first flakes started to fall. Not lucky enough to get the cars unloaded before we got good and wet though!  LOL!!!

We woke up on Sunday morning to 17" of that infamous

Colorado Sunshine.

You just have to love these spring snowstorms.

They do create some beautiful photos!

As inconvenient as these storms may be, we really didn't mind. We were hunkered down for 4 whole days with nothing to do but stitch to our hearts content! 

None the less, it was exciting to see the sun trying to peek

thru from time to time!

:-)

The weather was such, that not much was around in the wildlife department. No moose, bear or elk, but this little chipmunk 

sure enjoyed the snow!

Deb was always looking out for us. She did a 

great job of keeping our deck and stairs cleared.

Joi, got her "Bloom" quilt finished.

There is a fun sew along over at

"Bee in My Bonnet" 

You can read more on that right 

HERE

Shona finished her two+ year project of restoring this beautiful

"Cathedral Window" quilt for her friend Kina.

What a labor of love.

Deb and I worked on our our Amy Bradley Camper Quilt blocks.

We had way too much fun with these. I'm doing mine on denim and in the QAYG method. Deb is using the standard quilt method.

Since we both are making these as quilts for our campers, we are adding an extra row. Everyone put their heads together and we've come up with some great ideas for holiday campers to add into the mix!

Coming soon...

:-)

When we were not stitching, we were enjoying incredible meals that everyone brought!  This was Joi's, hubby Vic's famous spaghetti meal!

Thanks Vic, it was truly the best!

There is really nothing better than good friends, good food and a few drinky poos, to make for one raucous time. I can't remember when I laughed so much. Oh the power of girls of any age getting together!

And on that note, I have been released to return to work.

"Paroled", as I like to refer to it!

LOL!!

I went and got fingerprinted yesterday...just to make sure I'm not on the America's most wanted list. 

You know... they need to make sure I didn't go "too" crazy when I was incapacitated!  tee hee

But crazy enough, my vacation starts next week!

Yes, it's another quilt retreat. Yahoo.

I get to see my NY girls in just a few days.

I'm all practiced up for a giggle fest, so you better watch out!

;-)

Keep on Stitchin