MY FAVORITE THINGS

Joan has challenged all members of CG & GQC to blog about our "favourite things!" (She's a Canadian hence the spelling of "favourite"!!)

These are a few of my favorite things......

1. My sewing machine: a Pfaff Creative 7570 (To quote Joan because I couldn't have said it better myself "sewing (and quilting) is my most favorite hobby"), and a few of my sewing/quilting accessories!

2. My doggies:That's Sydney (4) resting her head on Lacy (12)

3. DARK Chocolate: Any kind of DARK chocolate will do, but I especially love Dark Chocolate with Raspberry Filling:

4. My African Violets: I get my love of African Violets from my grandma, a very wise, godly woman with a heart of gold.

5. My collections: I have always been a collector-I love collecting: Precious Moments, cats (here are just a few of my cats that I have pretty much in every room!) pictures, scrapbooks, fire memorabilia(previously written about here), you name it! My friend Susie says I have too many collectibles. Recently I have begun to believe she may be right! So now I am only collecting "fabrics!"

6. Our RV: love to go "camping-RVing" and traveling in the RV, or by air, or by sea!pictured with my hubby, Nick, our doggies and my Highlander.


"....Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into springs
These are a few of my favorite things!"

ANOTHER GREAT QUILT RETREAT

FEBRUARY BROWN BAG RETREAT

We had so much fun at our Brown Bag Quilting Retreat at
The Creation Station Fabric and Quilt Shop located in Buellton, California.

This cute quilt shop is owned by Patrick, here cutting fabric inside the store,and his wife, Dawn, here in the classroom/retreat room. As you can see the walls of the retreat room are all painted with wild flowers growing everywhere. The floors are also painted with grass, flowers, rocks and more. Even the bathrooms are decorated so creativelySo inspirations abound...We drove up to Buellton on Thursday and met our friends the Nances at the
Flying Flags RV Resort in Buellton, where we stayed for the weekend in our RVs. Lynn and I head over to the Retreat Center at The Creation Station by 7 am-wait in line
(this year in the POURING RAIN) and then sew and quilt from 8 am on Friday
till whenever that night (we were there till 10:30 pm). The guys hung out at the RV Resort, playing cards, etc. (They had plans to go fishing-but couldn't since it rained all day
Friday and Saturday). We returned by 9 the next morning and quilted till 12:45 am.
Returned on Sunday morning by 8:30 am and quilted till the end of the retreat at 3 pm.

Retreats are such a great way to get a lot accomplished, starting and finishing quilt tops, and other projects, finishing UFO's and WISP's.
I finished the quilt top for my soon to be grandson (due in May) and made
the 20 blocks for my niece's queen size quilt. It is so much fun sewing with other women who love sewing and quilting as much as I do. Retreats are inspiring and educational--as we share ideas and projects. Meeting up with friends I don't get to see often enough is the best!

I'm in the middle between my quilting buddiesLynn on the left and Nancy on the right.
(That is Lynn's gorgeous quilt made of hand dyed Batiks in the background!)
Nancy is also the hostess with the mostest for all the Brown Bag Retreats. Yes, that's right, she gets the privilege to attend all 11 Brown Bag Retreats held each year at The Creation Station---
a lucky lady for sure!A few more of our quilting friends, l to r: Una (that's a long "u" na, for those of us who often say her name wrong!), Barbara, and Carolyn.
As you can see they are all busy working on their quilts so time for looking at the camera!

At the Brown Bag Retreats, named for the "brown bag" of goodies each quilter receives on our individual 6 ft sewing table (each quilter has a 6 ft table all to herself!). We have a pot luck dinner on Friday nights. Saturday we are treated to a homemade soup and salad bar, soups made by Patrick, and homemade breads made by Nancy. YUMMY!! (My favorite soup is his Baked Potato Soup-it is the best!!

As I mentioned, The Creation Station hosts 11 Brown Bag Retreats. I'm so excited because I am attending 4 this year, returning in April, July and September! Can't wait for the next one!

February To Do Projects

Off to a Quilting Retreat

We're heading to Buellton, Central Coast, California in our RV. We'll be camping for the next few days with our great friends, Lynn and Rick. While the guys do what guys do, Lynn and I will join our friend, Nancy and others and will be quilting till the late hours on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Creation Station Quilt Shop's Brown Bag Retreat!

So, here's what I plan to work on while at the retreat:

1. A baby quilt for my grandson, Micah, due mid-May out of these cute fabrics:

2. And, for my niece, Amalia and her new husband Rick, a queen size quilt similar to this "Flyboy" quilt I made for my friend, Bill;
this one will be made with several shades of golden tan,
dark reds/burgandys and black.

(If time permits and I finish both tops, maybe I'll make a couple of table toppers for my bedroom nightstands.
But....I doubt it!)

We are really looking forward to meeting up with our friends Thursday night. We haven't seen them in quite a while (they live in Redding about 12 hour drive from us) ! Then bright and early Friday morning Lynn and I will head over to the retreat! Can't wait to get quilting!!