A Spring Tradition

Springtime brings many traditions and expectations.  I wrote last time about the tradition of new clothes for Easter.  The approach of spring brings anticipation, too...especially here in Georgia...of sunny, warm days and beautiful trees and flowers bursting forth to show their splendor.

Another thing I look forward to in the springtime is our annual quilters' and scrapbookers' retreat.  I line up some of my quilting friends and Jodi gathers a few of her scrapbooking buddies and we retreat for the weekend to the Charlie Elliott State Park for a couple of wonderful days of fellowship and creativity.

The facility is perfect for our needs.  There is a large conference room where we can work with plenty of room.  One wall of the room is all windows and looks out onto the wooded acres beyond.  The other wall is carpeted (really) and we can pin our finished quilt tops on it so that by the end of the weekend we have our own little quilt show.  There is a large porch on the window/woods side that is perfect for gathering for meals or a quiet time in the morning. 

There are motel-style sleeping rooms in attached buildings to the left and right of this workroom.  Our weekend starts at 8:00 a.m. on Friday and ends at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday.  Allowing for individual schedules, we gather as soon as we're able and stay as long as we can.  I won't dwell on the year that Jodi had to turn around and go back home because her house was on fire...or the year she had to make a stop at the emergency room on her way because Savannah broke her arm.  I'll just focus on the good stuff.

Within our group there are, besides friends, usually one or more sets of mothers and daughters.  This year was especially fun for me because Savannah (no broken arm this time!) came, too.  So we had three generations attending. She brought her scrapbooks and was tickled to be part of the group and be able to spend the night.  On Saturday, one of her friends came with her mother for the day and that was fun for her, too.  I told Jodi she would probably never be able to go to retreat again for many years without Savannah coming along.  She said that was fine with her. It's fine with me, too. :) 

This is a great group of ladies.  Most of us have been doing this for many years, but we seem to add a few "newbies" now and then.  That's always fun, too.  This year, as with all the other years, was not a disappointment.  We had fun, ate well, enjoyed each other and our surroundings and got a lot accomplished.  And I've already made our reservations for next year.  So the week after Easter 2014, we'll be back at Charlie Elliott enjoying springtime in the woods and getting lots of inspiration and finishing up our projects.  Want to join us?  There's always room for one more.