Back from the Retreat

I actually started this post several days ago but got interrupted or sidetracked, or something.  :-)    In the meantime, several ladies have posted pictures of the Crazy Quilting International Retreat, so I will include a link later so you can see theirs, since my pictures are incomplete.

We kicked things off with a Meet and Greet on Wednesday evening, and got to see the quilts that are being put together by Leslie from the blocks donated for Hearts & Hands for Sendai.  They are gorgeous, and you can see some of them here.

On Thursday morning, The Fabric Fairy visited us, filling many tables with fabric, lace, buttons (with the help of several friends).  She was shaking in her boots as she looked at the starting lineup of all those ladies with scissors in their hands, about to run for the stash.  And wouldn’t you know it, they were eyeing her lovely brocade getup costume ensemble, drooling over the fabric!  It was a good thing she had wings on to help her get away….

ahem.  HYDRAULIC wings….

The cabin we stayed in was beautiful, spacious, light and airy, and had everything we needed.  And even with all these ladies, we didn’t come close to running out of toilet paper.  Don’t laugh…. it happened last year.  :-(        So, below are the ladies enjoying the Stash Dash.

L-R: Juli, Sharon, Josie, Connie, Michelle, Martha, Helen, Sandy and Heidi

L-R:  Sarah (my sistah from another mother), Gerry K, Diane, Janet and Laurie

Claudina (in back) and Holly.  Such fun ladies!  and troublemakers

Helen T (in rear).  On the couch:  Heidi and her mother, CQI member Pam Watson, all the way from England!!

L-R: Holly, Leslie, Colleen, Juli, Sharon, Josie

Hazel, Colleen and Josie

Lovely Rick-Rack flowers made by Sandy.  Aren’t they to die for?

The above picture was taken from one of the patios outside the cabin. Isn’t it gorgeous??

When Diane and I drove to Colorado from Utah on Wednesday, Sept. 21, there were no signs of fall colors.  But when I returned home the following Sunday, September 25, these are what the hills around Park City, Utah looked like:

 

Sorry I don’t have much to say about the Retreat.  I was just tired and happy to get home. But Janet gave a great account of the activities and had some great pictures (and thanks, Janet, for letting me use the picture of the Fabric Fairy).  Visit Janet’s Blog  for a complete recap.

We Are Having Great Fun!!

Diane arrived safely on Friday night and we all got settled and had a good night’s sleep.  Then on Saturday morning we visited two great estate sales up in the hills of Salt Lake.  Both were in very nice neighborhoods.  On the first one, we ladies hit the jackpot, and on the second one dear Bruce found some treasures.  I will save pictures of the booty for another post.

Anyway, Saturday afternoon we stitched and sorted stash.  Diane wanted to go out and get some grapes from our arbor to munch on, and we ended up harvesting all the green grapes AND the concords.

We had so much (and there are more than half left on the vines) that we went around and shared with neighbors - five other families.  And THEN we decided to juice the concords, and ended up with several quarts of grape juice (which we may bring to the Retreat).

Today, Sunday, we visited JoAnn’s fabric store (BRUCE wanted to go, so we tagged along).  True story - he needed foam paint brushes, a new glue gun and glue sticks.   Diane bought some beads and I got a quarter yard of some lovely embossed velvet.

When we got home in the afternoon, we had a visit from a green thing.

OOOOOOPS………..  wrong picture.  Here is the green thing that visited:

The Fabric Fairy!!!!!!!

She just dropped by for a moment to make sure we had all the stash in order for the CQI Stash Dash at Estes Park Colorado.  She will fly back to officiate at that time.  Anyway, she flew off to help Shari Jensen in Colorado gather stash donations for the needleworking fire victims in Bastrop, TX.  Shari has been very busy!

After Bruce barbecued steak for dinner, Diane and I did some more stitching and gathering supplies.  Now we are off to watch another episode of the Tudors and drool over the costumes.  To say nothing of the actors

We will hopefully be able to check in again after tomorrow.  We are having lunch with my friend Bev and then all going to the Humanitarian Center to find more stash.

Until next report….