Retreat Report

Ages ago, my mom and I booked this weekend to go to the St. Jude's retreat (same one I went to last year), but found out a few weeks before that it had to be rescheduled. We weren't available on the rescheduled date due to my commitments with Judy L's visit to our guild, but we weren't willing to give up the weekend since we'd already made arrangements (my husband willingly agreed to keep the kids all weekend). We had to do a little finagling, but came up with a Plan B.

I worked on cutting out projects last week to prep for the retreat and got the rest of my Judy L. quilt cut out, a new quilt for my MIL, and a table runner. I only remembered to take a picture of the table runner though!

We headed east on Friday morning and stopped in Oldenburg for lunch at a great old pub, then kept on going (with a quick detour to Pohlar Fabrics) to Cincinnati.

We checked into our hotel, set up, and were sewing in about 20 minutes. Jill came by that evening to hang out with us and we got to see a couple quilts she just finished, catch up on all the latest news in her life, and watch her knit some really soft socks. We sewed and chatted quite late then collapsed after she left. I woke up too early on Saturday morning, and made myself trim up my hst's before I could shower or eat breakfast. Here they all are nicely trimmed.

We sewed until our late checkout then headed out to do a little shopping (mom with the squirrel in front of stop #1) and eat lunch at a great pizza place. We hit one more shop after lunch and met my cousin at The Container Store (oh, my, what a great place -- I wish they'd open one in Indy). After shopping, we went to Julie's apartment for the remainder of our retreat. She was a little amazed at all we brought in, but handled it very well when we took over her dining room!

We didn't even realize it was dinner time until she mentioned that she was starving! She took us to Green Papaya, a fantastic Thai restaurant. Julie and I both devoured our Pad Thai, and I had to take a picture of my mom's Pineapple Fried Rice!

After dinner, we went back to sewing until late in the evening (or was it early in the morning?). I finished a quilt top for my mother in law sometime on Saturday evening and just have to add a final border, which I hope to find in my stash.

After that, I decided to work on one of Lois' UFOs and got the borders on this quilt.

Sunday morning came too quickly and I woke up with a headache. Took some Tylenol and was able to recover after some donuts and a great Chai Latte from Busken Bakery (OMG - yummmm). I got the top pieced and borders on the second Irish Chain quilt of Lois' (it is about 1/3 the size of the first one). I think it still needs another border...what do you think?

Last project before we packed up was continuing to work on my Judy L. blocks. I got two more complete blocks done and several units of the companion block made. I am hoping I can get the companion blocks done if I sew a few hours in the evenings this week.

We sadly packed up our things (but not before mugging for a few pics with our gracious hostess), and headed back to Indy. It was a very fun weekend, and boy did we eat well!

The kids were excited when I arrived home last night and we all stayed up too late, so I am off to bed after I finish this post. I think Mittens is glad I am home too!