My gosh, I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted but it's been a particularly busy time and time is something I just don't seem to have lately.
This weekend I went on a much anticipated and planned for quilt retreat. Call it Mental Health Day. Call it anything you want but this place is in a stunningly beautiful setting. The weather
was perfect, the colors at or just past peak. We laughed, stitched, laughed some more. The only bad part for me was being there just Thursday evening and Friday. I had to leave Saturday morning for a trip to my newest granddaughter's christening that afternoon 3.5 hours away. But for the short time I was there ...

Part of the wonderment of this place, The Inn at the Rustic Gate, was the food. We had requested an ethnic meal one of our evenings and chose Polish because the proprietors are Polish and our chef Sharon is a master. So, we had kielbasa and kapusta (sauerkraut)

and golumbki

and pierogi - all made by hand, mind you.

There were groans of approval and appreciation and we waddled out of the room when dinner was over. After all of this wonderment there was dessert, too. Sharon feeds us well. We found this place last year and booked it again for this year on the spot. As we gratefully pushed back our chairs I made the remark that for a weekend, WE get to have the wife...someone to cook wondrous meals and make our beds and let us do whatever we wanted. Someone else commented this was OUR deer camp! Whatever we call it, we had a good and much needed time together.

This is the Christmas tree skirt Friend Marilyn finished for her daughter-in-law.

Sally does beautiful work. The navy blue/white snowflake design is gorgeous. I'm a real fan of navy and white.
One year ago, just after our retreat weekend, Val's parents both passed away within three days of each other. Her father flew planes so she is making a quilt for herself and her siblings and the airplanes are from her father's shirts. I love the starry sky they're flying through. Val is a meticulous quilter and this will be a treasure.

What did I work on this weekend? I had a pile of flying geese to make so I sat next to a good window and stitched geese. I'm making a border for a quilt and I had 64 of them to stitch together. Knowing I wasn't going to be there the whole weekend I took a small project - and still didn't finish them all (remember, I stitch by hand.)

Friend Marilyn finished her day with a toddy, popcorn and a book.

I know I'm behind on Snappyfriends and I don't know what the next set of 'assignments' is, but I'm working on catching up.