And Going and Going to Quilt Retreat

You know like the Energizer Bunny that keeps on going and going... Well right now that's me. I'm still on the move........

On Saturday the 15th I took off for a quilt retreat. The car was filled with projects, fabric, my sewing machine, food and whatever I thought I might need while at the retreat. Me and 11 others all met up at Las Fuentas Mexican restaurant in LaGrange for a quick early dinner and maybe a margarita. This is the 2nd retreat I have organized. The first one went off so well that everyone wanted another so I put together a 4 day 3 night retreat at Retreats by Margie in LaGrange. The place is clean, nicely decorated with lots of quilts, great views off the porch, great food and the owner Margie is an awesome person.

We arrived at the Retreat just after 5pm. Everyone started setting up and got right to sewing, laughing and talking. Some of the girls went to bed by 9 or 10 but there was a few of us up till 2am and back up by 9. Okay Okay so the first day I slept until 10:30. Sunday we had a full day of sewing and lots of sharing with laughs. Warning I may over load you with photos of retreat. 
This retreat we had 5 retreat virgins, 3 Donna's and 2 sets of sisters. What are the odds of having 3 Donna's in a group of 12 women. It became rather comical every time someone yelled Donna. Then it got to the point that none of them would answer until you put a last name to Donna. And there was no sibling rivalry between the sisters. LOL
Janet will love me I caught her under the table trying get things all plugged in.  






Caught the following pictures after I got my space all set up. Like I said beautiful views

 Caught the moon over the red house down the lane.






Okay now the sharing begins and the quilt tops start forming and get completed. I had such a hard time trying to decide which pictures to share on the blog so if you want to see all the pictures you can click Here but I have shared plenty in this blog post so beware.

Here's the first set of sisters Mildred and Mary Jane as they tackle their first quilt top.

Denise shares her completed pillow top. She completed 3 more before the week was over. 

 Denise brought her Mom Dolores to help with all her UFO's(unfinished objects for you non quilters).

 For some reason I didn't get a picture of the first prize winner Ellen for being the first to complete a project. But I snapped this one of our 2nd prize winner. This is one of our Donna's. Her prize was a gift certificate to Quilter Works and Charm for her scissors or whatever to identify it from every one elses.


Here's a up close picture of what the charms look like. My friend Cathy Going makes and sells the FOB/Charms

 Part of the picture is of the sisters quilt but the Dresden top beginnings belongs to Sandy. 

Lots of talent under one roof.








Ellen brought a bottle of Kinky to share with the group. We each had a shot. 
From Left to Right: Donna V., Ellen, Jane, Donna M and Denise.

I completed my 2nd quilt top for one of the quadruplets of our friends the Bells. I thought a bottle of wine was called for. I promised that any imperfections were not a result of the wine but purely a result of me.  





Here's the blocks Janet completed and will be using around some red work she has yet to do.













Monday little leprechauns popped in to decorated the kitchen and provided brunch for every one for St Patty's Day.

 

 Since I caught them in action shouldn't I get their pot of gold. hmmpf no Gold to be found but did find some yummy food and most of it was green. 

 Meet our leprechauns 
Jane, Ellen and our 3rd Donna C.

Jane and Donna are the 2nd set of sisters.

 Mary Jane and her sister Mildred completed the first top they were working on. Done with all scraps! Cool.








Here's a close up of my quilt. If you look closely you can see the little bumble bees that Donna M from 
Donna's Lavender Nest.  This quilt is for Trystan.
Donna took home quilt top #3 after I finished piecing it and prepped the backing. ahhh. One more quilt to go for the Bell quadruplets.

I call them baby quilts but they are more the size of  lap quilt or a twin size. The quads will be able to use these quilts for a long time. Or at least that's my intention. 

 Quilt top #2 for these sisters. They were unstoppable. This is called the disappearing 4 patch which they shared how to make. Can't wait to try it myself.
 


Donna M. finished a baby quilt. 

Meet the owner of the Retreat..... Margie. She came over and did a show of her Round Robin Quilts. This first one is adorable. What's a Round Robin you ask... Well Margie created the center medallion and each row after that was completed by a different quilter. She provided the center and all the fabric to the first quilter in a suitcase, box, basket whatever. When the first quilter is down with her row she passes it on to the next quilter on her Round Robin Team. I believe she said she had 5 on her team. 

Actually each quilter on the team creates a medallion and passes it to the next. They won't see their medallion again until the completed quilt is revealed. Sounds really cool but most of us at the retreat weren't sure we were ready for a Round Robin yet but maybe soon we can form a team with Margie. Don't give up on us Margie we feel more confident one day. 

I love the label on the back of this quilt. How cute! 

Here's our sisters Donna C and Jane.

Donna V with her completed top 

 This top is not complete but Donna M. will have it done soon. She couldn't complete while at retreat ...... She forgot some of the fabric. Oops but what she has is really pretty.


We decided to take a field trip to Giddings which was about 20 miles away to visit All Around the Block and Gerline's Quilt Shops.  Such fun. There was a couple of the girls who practiced self control and bought nothing but the did enjoy looking and touching all the pretty fabric.

Here's part of the group. Donna C. actually had to leave for part of the day for a Choir practice back in Temple and Denise was getting a massage. 
Yep we even had massages and facials available for any one who wanted to partake.
Left to right back row: Me(Carla), Sandy, Ellen, Janet

Front row Jane, Donna V., Donna M., Mary Jane and Mildred
 


Donna M. had completed the quilting and I did the binding technique during the retreat.  This quilt is for my step Mom in Missouri. I hope she likes it.



Here's a close up of the quilting and you can barely see the binding technique I used on it.  It's a fake piping technique that Donna V found on Pinterest.

Heres a somewhat closer look at the binding. You can just barely see the light green fabric peeking through creating the look of piping with the floral binding.

Here's the 3rd quilt that Mary Jane and Mildred put together. Wow.         WHOOP!     Gig'em Aggies. Yes I'm partial to maroon. All our money went there for 5 years. ;o)

 


Here's part of the group having our last lunch together.
Donna V, Ellen, Denise, Dolores, Jane, Janet and Donna C. We're now missing Mildred, Mary Jane, Donna M and Sandy who left early Wednesday to get back home. The rest of us stuck around till 2:30. And after that a few of us went into town and did some exploring at the gormet shop, museum and the fabric shop.

Before we left the retreat 3 of us surprised Margie with our ATC creations. We pinned them to the design board for her to find.


None of us wanted to leave. We were having too much fun and being sew productive at the same time.

So I have already booked another retreat for November. 

This Energizer Bunny is winding down. I may need some new batteries.

Until next Blog Adventure.....Quilting with a friend(s) will keep you in stitches.