Retreats are great for the grey days

A little trip with a bunch of quilters can be an uplifting thing. Such was the case last Thursday when I traveled through the snow filled hills of Kentucky with the Happy Heart bunch down to the 4-H Leadership Center in Nancy, Kentucky about 3 hours from Crestwood, Kentucky, where I live. This retreat has been going on for 12 years. It's a wonderful opportunity to stretch your creativity, get inspired and talk about sewing all day long, if you want to.

For a great retreat there are a few basic requirements, besides being with a pretty great group of ladies. You need good light and plenty of space. The lighting was pretty good, but, more natural light would have been better. You need tables for every person at the retreat, as we quilters like our stuff. You also need plug ins and a design wall would be nice. This is my personal opinion of what the basics are to make a retreat, and of course, let's not forget the the food.

I brought 3 projects to work on, 4 days of quilting you need variety. My hand quilting project is the Quiet Village.

I also had 1 design wall required project, I made a horse quilt wall hanging for my daughter in New Mexico. Then I had a bed quilt that is for our "stars" Christmas in July party.

I will show my horse quilt in it's completion later as my DD Chelsea might be reading this, hello Chelcio!!

Besides machines buzzing and fabric flying, we also had time to "roast" someone. The lovely Kathy has been up to some mischief as her best friend felt the need to give her a hard time all in good fun...can you say Pinky?

So the prescription for the winter blahs? Go on a quilting retreat. Hopefully it will be as nice as this one and you will have understood the camaraderie of quilters.

Thanks Yvonne!!