the retreat

I was fortunate to spend a weekend with this group of lovely ladies! We talked, laughed, ate, and of course, quilted. Warning- this is the longest post I've ever written!

I arrived Friday at about 11:30 and set up my station. I was right next to a window with awesome natural lighting and a nice view:

and we had a great lunch of minestrone, salad, and homemade focaccia. All the food was made by Tara, innkeeper extraordinare. :) Afterward, our instructor, the fabulous Amanda Jean of crazy mom quilts, talked a little about thread, needles, making quilt sandwiches (pinning vs. spray basting) and other tips on quilting. Then we got some time to work on our individual projects, so I pieced my placemats, which I'll show you later because I *love love LOVE* them!

Friday night after dinner we had a scrap bag free for all. Everyone brought a gallon ziploc full of scraps and we dumped them out on the kitchen floor... and the frenzy started! We turned that pile over and mixed it up and threw scraps around, trying to root out the good stuff from the *ahem* not so good and I haven't laughed that hard in a long time! I also returned home with twice the scraps I left home with, having caught scrap fever (you didn't really think I was destashing, did you?).

Did I mention the fabulous goody bag? There were coupons to local fabric stores, soaps, lotions, and lip balm all made by Tara, a great key chain, a cool pincushion, a magnet, a fat quarter, and a nametag (also all made by Tara... she was a very busy lady in the months before the retreat!), all for me!

There were several ladies staying at the inn, but since I live just 20 minutes away I went home each night, which was great because I got to see my hubby. So I showed up on Saturday morning for breakfast and Amanda's next workshop, free motion quilting. It was so nice because I really didn't know what I was doing when it comes to free motion, so it was great to hear from a pro! We started by practicing doodling on paper with a marker...

and then had a partner hold the marker while we moved the paper to simulate what happens when sewing...

and as you can see my second doodle was a little more spastic than the first. :)

After a demonstration, we got a chance to go practice for ourselves, so I did some free motion quilting on my fall pot holders.

Not too bad. I did a little meandering stippling, and some wavy lines, and one poor potholder got a mishmash of techniques and is definitely unique, ha ha.

After lunch on Saturday we had more time to work on our projects and splintered off into little groups to shop and such. I went with Amanda and Tara to a fairly new fabric store in the area and an adorable yarn store just down the street from the inn. I bought several fat quarters and a copy of One Yard Wonders.

I also started piecing this little table topper on Saturday afternoon... I've since finished the piecing and need to start quilting. Yay for red and aqua at Christmas! The best part? All of this fabric came from the scrap frenzy! Special thanks to Penny and Amanda Jean for showing me how fun scraps can be!

Saturday night I had dinner with my hubby... but woke up Sunday morning thinking about quilting and piecing and binding, which is a switch because normally I wake up thinking about school. Definite improvement. :)

Sunday's workshop and demonstration was about using a walking foot while quilting. This was one of the reasons why I bought a new sewing machine... my old one didn't have a walking foot and I really wanted one for the retreat. I'm so glad I did! I hadn't ever used a walking foot before but it was so much fun... way less stress (for me, a beginning quilter) than free motion and my first walking foot project turned out FABULOUS!!

I  pieced some placemats on Friday afternoon and quilted them with my walking foot after Amanda's demo... I absolutely love them!

Sunday morning was also prize day! There was a slew of prizes, so much so that everyone won something! Unfortunately, I didn't win this gorgeous quilt, but I did win this great bundle of black and white fabrics. I was happy, too- I was eyeballing this very same line at my local quilt shop a few weeks ago!

Sunday afternoon, after a yummy lunch of chicken pot pie, I also had time to finish (except for the hand sewing of the binding) another changing pad for a pregnant friend,

plus Amanda helped me redo my quilt along quilt sandwich because I hated the orginal backing. Here she is talking to her hubby on the phone while taping the backing to the table. (Come to think of it, not sure if she knew I took this picture. Hi, Amanda! I took your picture!)

I also had time to finish the ugliest brown table runner EVER. I have decided I don't like anything about this project, and it will be relegated to the Dark Hole of Ugly Projects. I'm not even going to finish hand sewing the binding. I'm chalking it up to practice.

Everyone was so encouraging and friendly! I really enjoyed getting to know new people and hearing about techniques, strategies, and creative ideas. It was also so nice getting to meet Amanda, whose blog I've been reading for quite a while... she is SO NICE in person! Not that I expected anything less. :)

Amanda Jean on the left, me on the right. She knew about this one. :)

Probably should have made this a two-part post, but I was so excited to share! Thanks for sticking with me to the end. :)

What a great weekend! I can't wait for next year's retreat!