Quilt Retreats in 2012

Nancy, Lynn and I have been quilting together now for years.  All 3 of us have been sewing all our lives.  You might say we are "passionate" about sewing/quilting, and so it was a natural progression to become quilters.

To further our love of sewing/quilting, Lynn and I attend 3-4 Brown Bag Quilt Retreats every year, put on by The Creation Station; and Nancy is the Hostess with the Mostest at these retreats. It's two and a half days of uninterrupted sewing, starting at 8 am on Friday morning.  We sew till all hours of the night, and return bright and early on Saturday and Sunday mornings to sew some more.  The only drawback is we have to quit sewing by 2 pm on Sunday, because the retreat ends at 3 pm.

Those who don't quilt cannot understand how we can sew so long. In fact, we've been asked the foolish question, "How many quilts do you need?" It's not about "need." It's about the creative process, the feel of the fabrics, the beautiful prints, and doing a hobby we love!! But those who don't have our passion, do not get it at all.

This year we attended quilt retreats in February, April, June, September, and we have one more (YEA!) in November. We are doing a Round Robin with 3 other quilting friends and we exchange projects at these retreats.  It's been fun deciding what to make for each quilter, what colors and fabrics to use from their individual box of fabrics. Since there are 6 quilters we decided to go round a second time, so we are in year two of this Round Robin.

While all the projects are becoming beautiful eventual quilts, Nancy's project has taken on a life of its own!! It started out as an applique project, each of us to make her an applique block. She provided us with a book of ideas (flowers, cat, fruits), and her only request was that we didn't do any of the fruit appliques!  Now, Nancy loves cats and owns two black cats, Max and Emma. I made her a cat applique block and started a simple story to go along with the block. The rest, as they say, "is history!" (More on this project later, but for now you can see the pictures from our Round Robin at my flickr page.)

The April Retreat was Extra Special! It was our 1st (soon-to-be annual) Private Retreat at Nancy's Condo!!  We spent 5 wonderful days sewing together in Nancy's living room. We each had our own

sewing tables and sewing machines set up, 

a cutting table station, (in the background, some of the blocks Lynn and I made at this retreat for our block swaps.)

Nancy and Lynn putting up our Design Wall, and an ironing station. 

It was truly the BEST retreat ever, 3 BFF's, 3 Amigos spending quality time together in the comfort of our friend's home. We didn't have to get dressed and drive anywhere.  We pretty much sewed all day in our pj's, while we watched movies, or episodes of "Gilmore Girls," or listened to music, something we can't do at a Brown Bag Retreat!

We spent one afternoon doing a little fabric browsing (and maybe a little buying) at the cute Old Town Quilt Shop in Orcutt. We also did a bit of wine tasting at a local vineyard.

 From left, Lynn, Nancy and Nancy's daughter, Elizabeth. (sorry this pic is so fuzzy)

You can see more pictures from my 2012 quilt retreats this flickr page link.