Retreat, Snow, and Flying Time

Geez, guess it was last week that we had our annual "get over the holidays" retreat. Always the first part of January, just to give everyone a breather ( I'm not saying what the breather is from, I'm just saying breather :) )
I couldn't go up until Saturday morning, and for the first time my buddy tirane93 got to go, too! We had a great time, there was 14 of us!

Well, ya'll know that at retreat you ALWAYs eat well, right!?! I thought I would start this post off the right way and show you some of the snacks that we induldged on Saturday. Yuum!! Homemade cookies, homemade brownies ( they were the bomb!), chips, candy - and ok, yes, there was veggies and fruit - if you eat a bite of fruit then you can go back for M&M's !

This doesn't count the delicious lunch and dinner we had - and OH MY homemade apple pie,, I'll go anywhere for that apple pie!

busy busy people. three people were finishing up Judy Neimeyer projects - I'm so impressed! I have one of her patterns that has all the pieces done, but I just can't quite get to the layout!
Another Featherweight user - you just can't beat it for a great straight stitch. I had mine with me, too!

Now for some works in progress -- this is one of the Judy N. quilts,, all oriental fabrics. Just beautiful!

isn't this lovely! I think she decided to make the inner border a dark green, instead of the yellow. I should have gotten a picture of that. I like the green much better than the yellow. It really worked well with the fabrics.

This is one of tirane's projects. Don't you love the colors!

This one was already finished, just needed the binding. Same pattern as the one above with the yellow binding - a great versatile pattern!

A great stack and whack -- the inner hex is the main theme of the fabric - look close! She said it started out as a small baby quilt and just kept growing! I understand!
I want to do this one - and I've a ton of black and whites!
And this one is just fun! A great way to use up some stash. Isn't it great to see such different things being made! Almost like our own private quilt show - and everyone a winner :)

This is the one I worked on. I bought this as a kit back in 1997 in New Mexico on vacation. I liked it then, but when I was working on it, I was questioning my decision. This is what happens, isn't it - we like it several years ago, but our tastes change and UUGGGHHH. I'm still thinking it will be a good charity quilt.

So where does the snow come in at?? Saturday morning was absolutely beautiful, in the 50's or 60's and sunny, just wonderful. But the weather guy kept saying that we would get rain and snow on Sunday. Ok, no problem ( and this IS Texas where the weather changes hourly ) we can go up on Saturday and come home Sunday before the weather gets bad. Saturday late afternoon, someone sees a weather report on the phone and it's now moved up to Sunday early morning! Yikes! I do not like to drive in snow and I really don't like to drive in rain -- so tirane and I came home about 10pm Saturday night. We were chickens. Here me cluck :)

I woke up about 4am Sunday morning to a good rain - and it rained until about 1130 that morning - then is snowed - it snowed until about 4pm ( I think we got about 4 inches ). I tell you, I was real glad to be in MY bed, in MY house that morning.

Love my retreats,

Love my warm bed on a cold rainy snowy morning better!

The second day of a new year

(photo from Flickr - ::big daddy k:: /Rich)

It's a chilly Sunday morning, even the dogs stayed in bed late - husband is still asleep and I'm lost in blog-land.. catching up, reading, oohhing and ahhing. I just love mornings like this when it's quiet, and peaceful. When a cup of hot green tea and my thoughts are my companions.

I see that a lot of resolutions are being made, a lot of resolutions to NOT make resolutions, a lot of UFO challenges, clean up the sewing room promises -- well, you get the idea.

Not ME!

Hadn't thought about whether I was gonna or not gonna make a resolution

Hadn't given a short thought to those UFO's ( after all, if I really really liked what I was doing, wouldn't I have finished it back then?? )

The sewing room is always a mess, it will stay a mess, I give up trying to organize it. There is just way to much stuff ( spelled c.r.a.p ) for it all to fit into my little room (( lol, that little room is 11 x 11 and also houses the computer - see, little room ))

Me - I'm going to sew when I want to, watch TV when I darn well please ( I have become addicted to Netflix instant watch ), browse the internet for hours on end, enjoy my grandkids when I get to see them and pet the dogs on a very regular schedule and take them for long walks.

My husband,, hhmm,. should I pet him,too, or take him on long walks?

To all of you with big plans - I applaud you and will cheer you on with loud applause of enthusiasm. I will live vicariously through you.

As for me,, well, I'm lazy, I'm happy with no pressure to produce, I don't want to meet a challenge in my home hours ( getting to work everyday can be a challenge! ) I don't want to compete or agree to deadlines.

I FINALLY figured out that I will NEVER live long enough to make all the quilts I want to make or use up all the fabric that I have bought. ( did I really say that??! )

I want to love and be loved
I want to enjoy my friends
I want to be a couch potato without guilt
I want to sew when the urge strikes


Wonder what thoughts the third day of January will bring?