Annual Retreat

Back in April, I wrote that Jodi's house fire was the same weekend as our annual quilters' and scrapbookers' retreat at the Charlie Elliott Wildlife Center in Newborn, GA. That is such a wonderful facility and we have such a good and productive couple of days...everyone really looks forward to it. Jodi and her scrapbooking friends congregate on one side of the large conference room, and my quilting friends and I take over the other half. Since the fire was on Friday, and on Saturday Jodi had literally nothing but the shirt on her back and the overnight bag and scrapbooking supplies she had in the car -- and there was nothing she could do about the fire until Monday -- she did come and join us for a couple of hours. Understandably, she couldn't really concentrate on her books or get very creative...but she did sit with friends and sort through her pictures and then get a good night's sleep. The last few years, this has become a family affair for some of us. And when she was there, that made two mother-daughter sets. Here's Jodi and me with Deanna and her daughter, Jill.

Deanna is one of the Batty Babes quilters and last year she brought one of her sisters with her to the retreat. They had such a great time that this year her daughter and all three of her sisters came! She and her daughter came from North Carolina...one sister from South Carolina, one from Texas and one from Arizona. Her son lives here in town, so he came out and joined them all for dinner one night. By the sounds of all the laughing, I'm pretty sure they'll all be back again.

I don't have enough space here (and it's kind of a wrestling match to get some of the pictures on this blog) to show all the wonderful quilts that were created this year, but here are a couple of projects that were in the works. I was working on my 2010 Christmas quilt. Each year I draw a family member's name and somebody gets their own Christmas quilt...until everyone in the family has one. We're down to only Jerry or Jeremy to get this year's, so I decided to make a large red, green, gold and cream flannel one with a simple geometric design. Nothing "frilly" for either of those guys. I also started a pretty one called Hunter's Star that will match my living room very nicely -- provided that I can get it finished before I remodel the living room again!

Ardis, Robin and Liz were all working on a project that several of us tackled this past year. It was a mystery quilt (more on that later) that was designed by a friend of ours and published in McCall's. Here's Liz working on some of her blocks. Ardis' color palette is pinks and browns, Robin's is oranges, corals and aquas, and Liz's -- as you can see -- is red, cream and blue. They will all be the same but yet so different. It's going to be fun to see them side by side.

Amelia makes some of the biggest quilts I've ever seen and after she finished piecing this one, the only place to display it was by wrapping it around this room divider!

So here are the statistics: 27 women, 11 sleeping rooms, 1 big working room, 1 sit-down dinner, 1 buffet breakfast, the rest of the time sharing food for meals, treats, etc. Lots of working, lots of laughing, lots of eating, lots of sharing ideas, lots of appreciation for each other's artistry and hard work...and just a few games of Rummikub before turning in each night. We even made a new convert to the game this year...Jennie. It's just great and we're

looking forward to next year already!!