Our 2015 retreat was held on April 23-26 at the Franciscan Guest House in Kennebunk, Maine. We had a small, intimate group this year--sixteen of our members were able to attend--and by a lucky chance, we had a very large space in which to sew. We may be a little spoiled now!
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| Mary's first real pincushion--the handmade swag was a hit! |
Nancy and Sue were among the first to arrive, and they brought a trunk full of swag, giveaway prizes, and treats to share.
Nancy, Sue, and Barbara made the thread catchers and the pincushions. Sue embroidered the name labels on her Bernina. The scrap packs came mostly from a large donation from Peg. And, of course, Aurifil kindly sent each retreat attendee a lovely tasting of different weights of Aurifil in my personal favorite pale gray shade, 2600. (And guys, honestly, I didn't know the M&M's were even in there until I unloaded the bag to take this photo, or they never would have made it this long!)
Nancy and Sue also found, purchased, and donated enough prizes to hold hourly giveaways on Friday and Saturday. Paula won one of the best prizes in the pile--a sewing heartbeat t-shirt!
Because our retreat weekend was so "late" in the spring this year (end of April, instead of end of March), we were much more able to enjoy the outdoors. It was still in the high 30's those mornings in Kennebunk, but there were walks along the beach and downtown to be enjoyed.
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| Walking back across the bridge to Kennebunk after dinner |
But we all know most of the action happened in the sewing room! Many people worked on their Modern Traditional Challenge minis for A Quilter's Gathering.
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| Judy's Spool Block-inspired mini |
I was also amazed at the amount of design work going on on the design walls. We had so much space at the Franciscan, everyone had as many design walls as they wanted. Many of our quilters took the opportunity to draft and refine their own quilt designs.
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| Kali's Simply Color quilt |
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| Jess's Kaleidoscope quilt, pieced from templates |
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| Mary's Tina Givens HRT quilt |
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| Judy, Barb, and JoAnne admiring Paula's work (on the left), Diane's work (pink, on the right), JoAnne's mini, and Barb's mini |
We also found much common and uncommon ground amongst us. We had a lengthy discussion on Tina Givens's designs, and confirmed that many amongst us are Lizzy House fans. Mary may even have predicted, like a fabric sorceress, the reprint of Lizzy's Jewels!
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| Laura's Meadow blocks, Stephanie's Lizzy House Cathedral Windows mini, and Mary's growing Wonky Stars mini |
I also noticed that those ladies who actually sat at their sewing machines (instead of spending their time at the snack table or walking around bothering people, like yours truly) got a lot of sewing done!
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| SueAnn at her Bernina working on Metro Rings |
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| Barb and JoAnne working into the night. Barb was last woman sewing on Friday night! |
Finally, Judy finished assembling the Kite Tails quilt blocks for our raffle quilt (pattern by Amy Friend of During Quiet Time) and we pinned them up on the design wall for a beauty shot. I'll definitely buy some raffle tickets for this beauty!
It was a great retreat. I hope we will be able to repeat it next spring!
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