Quilt Retreat "Sew & Tell"...

If you guessed it was me from the previous post, you were right! 8-) Complete with my 2 pairs of glasses on my face... Sadly I could not avoid it when I got my new glasses... 8-(

I tried for us to have a hat night on Saturday, but only 4 of us brought one... It was short notice after all, so we shall try again next year! 8-)

This, our second retreat, was held at the CSE (Catholic School of Evangelization) in St.Malo once again. They run summer and winter camps there, youth retreats, studies, and all sorts of fun things... They are open to having other quilting, scrap-booking, knitting, craft groups book a fun weekend at their facility. Church retreats, and maybe even family reunions... If you are interested in rental info, you can email me and I will give you the contact info...

This is the dining room with all of us having our breakfast. Some dressed, some in pjs and housecoats still... We also used the dining room tables for doing our sandwiching...





We had our workshop set up in the facility's chapel. We fit 20 of us and our supplies in there very comfortably, and we are thinking that 20 would be our limit for future retreats also. The only thing we would change in there for next time, is the addition of one more 8' table for more cutting space... 8-)

This is, from left to right, our weekend host (DD1 - cooked for us at our Feb retreat), who was also guiding the kitchen staff through the gold plan weekend menu. They did a wonderful job!!! The little one is a weekend volunteer (14 yrs old). The girls were all very pleasant to be around... 8-)

This is our whole retreat Nov 2008 group! We all had a wonderful time!!! Didn't we ladies!?! Some are already anxious for our next one in February... The countdown is on! 8-)

This is A's machine embroidery Redwork that she put together into a quilt top... I think she had it sandwiched before leaving... Her first retreat.










This very first quilt (table topper) was made by our Dw's sister C. She is very new to quilting, and has been bitten bad by the bug!!! She joined us for the weekend and had a great time... The next 2 photos are of her accomplishments of the weekend... First retreat.















This is Dd's WIP from the weekend. The original pattern is much bigger, but she only has a small space for it's final destination in her porch. Here she was preparing for the applique pieces...









Dl did some more work on her Christmas bed quilt, to which Vf insisted that it was to be a tablecloth for "her" dining room... 8-)











This is also Dl's. Her Mexican Star that she had together in no time, and A did some for the hand stitching on it for her... I have this pattern. Perhaps it is time for me to tackle it too...









This is a closeup of Dp's Stack and Whack. She had a great fabric for this, with a 12" pattern repeat...






And here is the whole Stack and Whack quilt!!! Wonderful isn't it?












This is Jm's creation for a family member's Christmas gift. I believe this may even be her 5th... And here the start of another. A disappearing 9-patch... As well as the racer quilt top. I believe she had it sandwiched well before she went home... Jm is just whipping these up so fast!!! Unreal!








Poor Jm (Yappy), she had developed a bit of laryngitis the Friday morning before she came to the retreat, and with Saturday's forced talking, she was completely mute on Sunday. This was an airmail memo to me... 8-)







Here are some of Kh's (QGB) BOMs that she was working on at some point... No photos of anything else she may have worked on... It's hard to keep up with everyone there when you are nose to the grindstone with your own projects. Here is Kh doing camera war with me... 8-)






Here we have L's quilt-as-you-go WIP. She has a lot of little blocks happening there!!! 8-) She also made these cute wineglass coasters... This was her first retreat also.














Ls sewed this quilt top together, sandwiched, quilted and attached the binding before she left the retreat. A Christmas gift for her 9 year old grandson...




















This is one of Noreen's first Mesh Tote Bag made for a fund-raiser for children in Africa who have been orphaned because of HIV/ AIDS, and for the Grandmothers who care for them. All proceeds go to the Stephen Lewis Foundation: Grandmothers-to-Grandmothers Campaign.
There are over 200 Grandmothers Groups in Canada. Noreen's group is "Grands 'n' More Winnipeg". All work to make life better for the AIDS orphans.


This is the giraffe fabric used on the second tote. Isn't it awesome?







This small wall-quilt is Pg's. She pieced and attached her boarder, sandwiched, quilted, and attached the binding on Friday night! Also a photo of the sleeves on the back. Notice that Pg put 2 small sleeves on? That way she only needs to use 1 nail for hanging it... Would you believe I didn't get a shot of all the Hop-Scotch blocks she made for the rest of the weekend!?! Duh!! Sorry Pg!!! I will snap a photo sometime soon I hope... 8-) The blocks are in pinks, white, and black. A gift for her 10 year old grand-daughter at Christmas...


This here is a quilt that Sd finished up her binding on. Although you can't really make it out (not the greatest photo), the fabrics were really nice... Her first retreat.












This is Sw's cheater panel "I Spy"...?... or is it "Eye Spy"? At any rate, Sw is a new quilter, and this was the perfect item for her to try her hand at machine quilting... Her first retreat also. 8-)









This is Sy's little "Jingle Gift Bag" that she made, and she even did a quick tutorial for it at our insistence... 8-) Thanks Sy!!! She did some applique tracing, made a pot-warmer and place-mats that I didn't seem to get a photo of also. Thanks for the little tute Sy!!! Another first retreater. 8-)


Here we have Yn's Chair Caddy that she completed this weekend, and a tote bag. She also put together a Jingle Gift Bag...


I seem to have missed taking photos of what some other ladies were working on... Sorry ladies! Perhaps we should plan for an "official" Show and Tell after lunch on the final day of our quilt retreat? Next time!



I managed to FINALLY get my ruffle on my whole-cloth. I still need to rip out the gathering stitches and clean it up of all loose threads. Once a wash it, and I stuff a pillow in it, I will consider it my final UFO finish for Finn's Challenge. I shall see if I can get another one or two UFOs done before year end also... 8-)

I had my 3 final 2006 BOM packages along for the weekend, but only managed to do this one. I had forgotten a special ruler at home for the next block, and the instructions were less than perfect (big time) for the final one. Too noisy to figure it out there, so I tucked it away to do at home... I did manage to get a lot of my HSTs done... 8-)










The fur-girls were majorly excited that "Mom" was home... this morning after their soak in the sun they were getting worried when I was unpacking all my stuff. Fear of Mom leaving again I think? 8-)

After about 2-3 hours of discussing our weekends and picture showing, DH spent the rest of the evening like this in the living-room. I turned out all the lights and went to bed around 9:30pm, and left him there... And I had a darn good sleep!!! 8-)

This post took quite a bit of my time, and it is time to walk away, so I will be catching up on your blogs tomorrow... Promise!!! 8-)

That be it for the retreat photos! I hope you enjoyed them!