Lights Out! and Finding Our Rhythm for the French Braid Quilt

Retreat time has become one of the favorite outings our group likes to do.  The idea of an extended "play time" with friends and fabric is just too good to be missed out on.  Well, at least that was to be the idea, except for the fact that the storms that are passing around our area hit our favorite place to retreat, Pieceful Haven, in La Grange, KY.  There was only a 2 day power outage, but for quilters that's pure disaster.  No electric, no irons, no sewing machines and only the light of day to work with for a few hours, until there was no joy on Tuesday.  I was packing up my car and walking out, when there was a huge hoop and holler from inside the house and yes, you guessed the lights were on.


Well, most everyone had gone for the day.  Our generous host, Cheryl Kuprion, offered us another 2 days in June, but, we could stay and sew on Wednesday, as long as we wanted.  


So here are some pictures of our abbreviated retreat, soon to be attended again in June.

More Happy Heart Retreat Pictures

Did I mention we were at the 4-H Leadership Center? Would you see this art work in any other hotel?

This was my first year in attendance and I learned there is some ongoing joke about chickens.

The ladies that have been attending for a long time really know how to decorate their areas. This is the lovely Vivian with her opossum and basket.

The generous spirit of the quilters was very nice to see.

Overall most of the ladies were busy getting UFO's done. We did have a project taught to us as a group, but it went really quickly and we were able to put our headphones on and sew.

Yep, the winter is more easily spent when it's broken up with a bunch of quilters.

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!!

Go on a Quilt Retreat...it's lots of fun

The best solution for the grey Kentucky days, besides a Caribbean cruise, is taking a quilt retreat. I did that the last couple of days. Inside is bright and shiny while outside was a typical winter day soupy grey.

Pieceful Haven has lots of elevated tables for cutting-no breaking your back bending over. There is enough room to baste quilts and spread all our quilter stuff out. Cause you know we quilters like our stuff. It's probably a rare quilter that operates it a minimalist house.

Taking my trusty Pfaff 1475 I spend the day with like minded quilters that can appreciate the sound of a smoothly operating machine and the laughter and dancing-yes dancing, we had some good music in the background.