I met some wonderful women at the CITR Retreat I went to last year. Like minded individuals who practice what I want to preach. They have their own animals, love to can, dehydrate & generally preserve their own food. Here's a lovely picture that J took of a quilt top in progress.
Since the CITR Retreat isn't being held as a whole anymore, a few of these women decided to do their own thing & I decided to join them. I have never quilted in my life & didn't get a chance to this time but I did get a quilt top & back built. I was proud of myself considering I haven't even taken my sewing machine out of the box in about 10 years. And, that was for simple curtains for heavens sake. But, one of the ladies posted a beautiful picture of a quilt that I thought I would love to make. My colors weren't the same as what she posted but I had some really cool material I had purchased at an Estate Sale & thought it would work great, and it did!
The retreat was in VA & was associated with a Threads Run Through It Quilt Shop. It is out in the middle of nowhere & was a wonderful place to be for 4 nights & 5 days. They offer a house to rent to do your sewing & is easy access to the shop which has the most amazing fabric choices. The house beds were covered with quilts from the shop & had matching sheets & luxury quality hotel towels to use. Here are a couple of pictures.
I went to my friend's house in SC first & spent the night before heading to VA. She & her husband have a wonderful property located in a rural area & is just beautiful ... the house, grounds & her. In addition to the beautiful & well maintained property, she has several dogs, cats & a couple of horses that she & her husband absolutely adore. It was a pleasure visiting them.
All the women attending were most helpful, patient & kind with the newbie sewer among them. I even learned a few new terms along the way, but messed up a few more. Anybody out there know what a "Fat Quarter" is? I didn't and kept calling it a "Fat Bastard", one of my favorite wines. They got a kick out of it at my expense which was just fine. The lady at the quilt shop (Lori) kept trying to teach me the correct terminology since I was obviously so uninformed.
These women were awesome & very determined in their work. There were 5 of us & three of us all had the same first name (Debbie) which got kind of confusing & humorous as the days went by. Most of them did several projects & all were most beautiful.
Also, there was a very inspiring young lady there who is amazing in her own right. She is the 19 year old daughter of one of the Debbie's & loves all the same things we do. I swear she is a 30 year old in a teenager's body. She made this amazing quilt top which the shop owner quilted for her before we left!
We sewed & sewed but also went on an afternoon trip to a dairy goat farm & then into 'town' to buy T-shirts & then the 19 year old saw a restaurant that she had been for a special birthday celebration recently. It was very very good with Martini's & Cosmopolitan's to boot. The chef/owner had just come back from the coast & had a wonderful grouper dish. Sorry, no pic. Also, had a wonderful coconut cake & key lime pie that was to die for!
Anyway, it was a most enjoyable time away & I am now thinking about what I want to do for next year!
