Mini Retreat!



We had so much fun at our little mini-retreat at my friend Susan's house.  It was so nice of her to open her house up to us so we could have a little sew-in at little cost, just gas to get there, food and the shopping expense.  hehe...sometimes that shopping can be bad but we were all good girls.  :o)

 

Susan shared the first quilt she ever made.  She was just in high school when she made it.  We all thought it was a pretty good job, not only for a teenager but the fact that it's still together!!  It's a crazy quilt and it's tied with yarn in the corners. 

 

 

Here is a picture of me, Susan and Neena.  (Nice hairdo, huh?)  We all went through school together and Susan was the Maid of Honor at my wedding.  That's a whole lotta years of being friends!!  It's so fun that we all quilt, stamp or do something crafty.  It allows us to spend time together while enjoying our hobbies.



 

This is a shot from upstairs, where the ironing board was.  After pinning the borders, I would go inside and sew them on.  Then I would trek upstairs to the ironing board.  I did this for 4 borders, 2 sides at a time......that would be 8 times!!!  Repeat a few more times for the backing and the other projects I took.  It was quilting aerobics!!!  :o)  Oh, the lady seated on the left is Judy. She's a nice lady that worked at Disneyland with Susan but recently retired. Lucky duck!  



 

Michael and Nicole made a delicious dinner Saturday night.  Michael is the girlfriend of Susan's son and Nicole is her daughter.  They made Sopes or Mamelas.  They are a corn masa patty cooked and then you raise the edge to create a little dam to hold all the goodies on.  We put beans, carnitas, a little potato and green salsa.  Mmmmm!!  Since we were retreating, we cheated and bought the meat and salsa from the little Mexican market.  It was all delicious!  Especially the margaritas!  hehe  And yes, we still sewed straight seams and no one sewed through their fingers.  ;o)

 

Did I say yummmmm?

 

This little block might look familiar.  I made it when I was at the retreat in Indiana.  I was going to just make a little table topper but Judy said it would make a nice pillow.  I had it pinned and all ready to go so I just went ahead and quilted it and then did a backing with a slip cover type opening.  I just need to buy a pillow and I'm set.  A UFO no more!

 

Susan had her hubby pull the ping pong table out before leaving for his guy weekend. This thing was a god-send!!! I pinned one border on the floor but knew that wouldn't be good for my back. This was ideal. I had to fold the middle of the quilt over so I could measure and pin the borders but that was no big deal. That big beast on the left is Dooley, the sweetest HUGE dog you ever want to meet. This picture gives you an idea of how big he is but his head is down. When he is standing tall, he's probably chest height. Makes you want to get a saddle! lol 

And here is my two year old project, Jared Takes a Wife. My sister Isabel and I took the Bonnie Hunter class at Road to CA a couple of years ago.  Of course, hers has been done for a while.  She made a little bigger than lap size and quilted it herself.  I pretty much procrastinated because I needed a place to spread this out (ping pong table to the rescue!!).  I added enough borders, it gives me the 'drop' I needed so it would cover my bed.  I'm checking into longarm prices to see if I can have it quilted.  I just don't think I have it in me to do it on my Juki. 

 

Here is a close up of the borders.  I didn't follow any pattern and hope that isn't obvious by looking at the photos.

 

I have a couple of craft shows I'll be doing with my daughter so back to the sewing machine for me.