Retreat, retreat, retreat!

 Recently we nine had our fall quilt retreat at the beautiful Inn at the Rustic Gate.  We love this place, the innkeepers, and getting together twice a year here to stitch, reconnect and share what we love. I can't imagine retreating with people other than these or anywhere but this Inn.

 This was our 10th anniversary and PH sent along two bottles of champagne to help us celebrate. In the fall we had five days here.  Five days of pampering, five days of unbelievable meals, five days of peace and quiet, five days of plush, oh, and five days of non-stop sewing if that is what you want.  This year Chef Sharon made a special anniversary meal for us on Saturday night:  beef tenderloin (it was so big I thought it was a brontosaurus tenderloin), mashed potatoes, squash, salad, rolls and a cake she makes for us every year that we adore.

We always hope in the fall that we will have weather that allows us to sit outdoors on the porch for awhile.  This year we had two afternoons where the skies cleared and the sun came out.  Not everyone brings hand work but those of us who covet nice weather in the fall and know the days are numbered do.

 

 And we all know that even if you wear two pairs of glasses

 you can still have those "dammit" moments.


After dinner on our last evening we have show and tell.  This year we had everything from reworked family heirloom quilts to challenges to door hangings to Christmas trees to rugs.  Me? During stitching time I sit in the corner in my chair with feet propped up hand quilting whatever quilt is currently waiting.  I am within one and a half squares of finishing the crow quilt that is hanging over the railing in the first picture. 

This year we are trying something a little different for a sharing project.  We were to bring a piece of pottery, a dish, a cup, a whatever that means something to us.  We put it in a brown paper bag and sealed it.  Then we chose a bag and revealed the piece within and read the note that we included telling why the piece meant something to us or why we chose it.  

 I picked Vicky's bag and this little red truck was inside.  Vicky collects Christmas village scenes and this truck was the first that she bought because it reminded her of her dad.  By next fall I will have made something that reflects the truck, and in Vicky's case, Christmas.  It has to be no more than 72 inches in perimeter.  If I make a square that's 18 inches square but it can be smaller.  Or rectangle. Or circular. 

So now we keep in touch and about four weeks before our spring retreat we will start getting and sending emails that say simply: "Retreat, retreat, retreat!"