Retreating Again

It’s the start of our October “Sisters of the Cloth retreat”. The trees are just past their peak of color and the rain is dripping on the pond. Yet it is beautiful ~ and stitching with dear friends is such a blessing!

By the time I arrived April was busy piecing.

She’d already laid out many strips of “Cabins Under the Ohio Skies” blocks. She bought the kit a few years ago for their king sized bed.

And by Saturday the borders were on! Stunning!

Jo brought show and tell ~ a green and white quilt she just competed. She’ll have it on display at Primitive Gathering’s “Red, Green and White” quilt show in Larsen, WI. The show runs November 16 – December 22.

Sandy’s show and tell was a large pillow she made for their family room. It’s filled with a pillow she’s had since a teen that was wearing out. She put a zipper in the cover just in case she wants to take a trip down memory lane.

Mary Jo arrived about 3 minutes after I did and we both were set up and sewing quite quickly. She is working on a quilt for her son.

Mary made two delightful shirts on her new serger.

Cathy is working on a quilt for her bed ~ and making it up as she goes along. Wow.

Laura was good at shopping (aren’t we all?).

She also pieced some lovely blocks and three delightful sheep (here and at the top of this post):

I’m excited about my retreat project. A few weeks ago my daughter-in-law handed me some fabrics and said. “Remember Brad’s quilt from when he was a kid?” I said I did (this is the quilt on his bed when he was around 8).

As a matter of fact, I’ve borrowed it a few times when I’ve taught classes on the bricks and mortar pattern, but I’d never seen it out at their home. Betsy continued: “We love it and fight over it on the couch each night”. How wonderful! I get it. The back is flannel and it’s been washed a lot ~ so it’s super snuggly.

Then she asked: “Would you make us another in these colors?” I was thrilled. Now I know what to make them for Christmas. So, when I began packing for retreat I pulled a bunch of scraps in black and tan to go with hers. Then I looked at the pattern and decided gold would work in the mortar (red on Brad’s quilt), but it really needed another color for the center and cornerstones to show (the blues). I texted Betsy while saying to myself “I hope she picks green”. And… she picked green 😊. Now I had my palette.

I started in cutting bricks right away and had the top done Saturday morning:

It’s ready to quilt ~ on my Sweet 16 at home.

No retreat is complete without giggles and excitement, and we had both this time! The excitement began before I arrived on Thursday. April got up and started the water in the shower to wait for the water to get warm. At one point she redirected the water to the shower head and inadvertently bumped it, causing the magnetic connection that held the head in place to disconnect… and it became a water spewing snake. The head bounced off the tub, the wall, April, and all the while she was trying to catch it. In the end both April and the entire bathroom were sopping wet!!! I wish I’d been there. It must have been exciting.

Fortunately she was kind enough to pose so we can truly appreciate her adventure 🤣:

The following morning Sandy and Cathy were the first ones down in the sewing room. As Sandy sat down she saw something run along the wall and thought we had mice. As she got closer she realized it was a chipmunk. Yes, a chipmunk! Being the quick witted, swift moving quilters that they are, Sandy ran and closed the door to the rest of the house while Cathy opened the door to the outside. They did a magnificent job of herding that little critter back out to his home and family. Whew!

Since they didn’t take the time to snap a photo, they agreed to pose for us:

Please don’t worry. No animals were harmed in the making of this blog post. Rather, I found some wool in the scrap bag and fashioned our new mascot from it. Meet Chippy:

Oh, I forgot to mention that the warmish rain from Thursday gave way to temps in the 30s and 40s. Guess winter is making it’s way into Wisconsin. But we were warm, cozy and very blessed to be together for another wonderful retreat. Time to head home 😊.