Shipshewana Retreat 2015

My retreat was so much fun! It always is enjoyable to get away with no laundry, no cooking, no "mommmm" requests, and time to really dedicate to a craft.  I took several projects with me with the goal of making some good progress. A few of them were kits, and a few were patterns I've wanted to make a while. 

At this retreat, we all have a full 8 foot table to work on, and you can see the ironing board and cutting table that are along the outside wall. I pulled out all my projects and lined them up on the right side of my table so that I wouldn't forget all I brought! I always bring too many things, because there is always something that I either don't feel like working on or can't finish. 

I made lots of progress over the weekend, and laid out my finishes during our Saturday night show and tell - here's my little corner (you can click on the photo to see everything a little bigger) -- I'll walk you through all my projects. 

I started with the Christmas wall hanging in the front, adding a binding by machine. I'll stitch down the back side at upcoming meetings or while watching TV.  In the middle are three cross stitch projects that I had framed in Cincinnati (at Keepsakes). A friend who lives there picked them up and delivered them to me. I am so pleased with how they all turned out! 

On the right is a small wall decoration of a sandcastle. I still have to add some hand embroidery to this one to finish it, and then quilt and bind it. Moving to the left front corner is a fabric book, which will be a gift for my daughter's teacher's first baby who was born over the weekend. Behind the book is a Bendy bag. It was a really fun little bag to make - as are may of the Lazy Girl Designs. 

Two more projects that didn't fit on the end of the fireplace are Rudolph (with three dimensional ears and antlers) and my Christmas Tree/Star top. He has googly eyes that I will add once I quilt him. This one is about 15x18" and the face is paper pieced.

 The tree is a kit that I've had for many years, and it finished around 55" square. When I bought it, we had a blue couch...but we got rid of that a few years ago, so I will have to figure out another plan for this quilt...once I get it quilted and bound. Based on my previous retreat experiences, that won't be anytime soon! 

I started one final project before we left retreat - it is a small paper pieced card holder for Christmas cards. It isn't really far enough along for a good picture, so I will hold that until I can maek some more progress. All in all, it was a very good weekend for me. In addition to all the good work, we had an awesome dinner at an Amish farm, visited five quilt shops, and I made some new friends, as our group grew from 12 to 16. I am already looking forward to next year!