Lessons Learned: Minnesota Retreat Recap

I just returned from the most wonderful weekend in Minnesota, a quilting retreat with nine other women from all over the country. There have been some seriously great quilting retreat recaps already posted, which made me realize how many pictures I failed to take. So I have shamelessly stolen politely borrowed some of those photos. Hope you don't mind too much, ladies!

Here are the lessons I learned in the last week while attending a quilt retreat in St. Cloud, Minnesota (in no order that really makes any sense):

1. It is important to go outside your box, outside your comfort zone. If anyone would have told me I would be attending a retreat with nine women I had not met in real life, and only a couple of whom I had a blog/email relationship with, I would have said, uh, no way. I am an introvert who works at home. For a reason. And travel alone? With a sewing machine for company? Okay. So my sewing machine was my beloved Bonnie. But still...Mark is from Minnesota and I always enjoy flying into Minnesota. Definitely the land of 10,000 lakes and lush green natural landscaping. Amanda Jean, her three kids, and Terri picked me up from the airport, and from that moment I knew I was in for a wonderful time. Was it possible that I had only met Amanda and Terri in person for the first time? It already seemed like we had known each other for a long time.

2. I suggest making sure your travel schedule makes sense. The itinerary to Minnesota was fine. Coming back? Not so much. I didn't leave Minneapolis until 1:15 p.m. on Monday afternoon, flew to Seattle and settled in for a six-hour layover, getting to Fresno about 10:45 p.m. With the two-hour time difference, which made it feel like 12:45 a.m. the next day, well, sometimes using airmiles can be overrated. But my ticket only cost $25 so I guess that's the trade-off.

3. You can get cool stuff at the airport. But why are sizes so confusing? The t-shirt on the right is from the Minnesota! store, and is an XL. The one of the left is from the Seattle and is a M. Am I the only one confused as to why the XL is smaller than the M? And yes, I do like pink. Thank you for asking.

 4. I took Bonnie in this roller case made for a sewing machine. But I don't think it was intended to be airplane-friendly. To roll it, you had to pull it the wide way, and wow, those airplane aisles are narrow! When I couldn't pull it, I had to carry it with the handles on the side. Very awkward. People looked at me strangely. I kept saying, "It has a sewing machine inside," but I don't think they really cared. While perfect for going to local sew-ins, I'll be looking for an alternative the next time I take Bonnie on a plane.

5. Being picked up from the airport by Terri and Amanda Jean, and spending the night at Amanda Jean's house, was amazing. I mean, seriously. You get to sleep underneath a quilt made by Amanda Jean (I stayed in her daughter's room).

 The light by the bed is on this little beauty. Ah, Flea Market Fancy--I love you so...

Plus you get to see all her quilts and other projects up close and in person. And watch her at work. (Hoping we're still friends after she sees that I posted this picture...). It's amazing what you will do to get your blog post up before you leave at 7 a.m. for a quilting retreat.

 (Want to see this block closer up? Check it out here.)

6. Temperature is a relative thing. When it is 90 degrees in Fresno, it means one of two things. If it has been 75 degrees, then everyone complains. If it has been 105 degrees, everyone is rejoicing at how cool and wonderful it feels. If it is 90 degrees in Minnesota, it is never a good thing.

7. Grubers Quilt Shop is overwhelming. It even says so right over the door: "prepare to be overwhelmed." 

They have real shopping carts, for goodness sake.And 10,000 bolts of fabric. Does that give you an indication of the hugeness that is Grubers? We were given a goody bag when we checked in. Inside it was a coupon to save $10 on a purchase of $50 or more. Gotcha. I feel lucky to have walked out of there only spending $60. Well I had to spend some money. You know--to save some money.


8. Sleep is highly overrated. Until you get home and realize you have work to catch up on. The retreat center had a great set-up.

A sewing room with plenty of space for everyone to spread out. And amazing things were created in this room. Doris did such a wonderful job of putting together a little spotlight of each person so I hope she doesn't mind me posting them here:

There was also a little kitchen area, three rooms that had three twin beds and another room with a single bed, and a great bathroom/shower room. Amanda Jean, Terri and I were in our own room. I can't remember the last time I have sat up in bed until 2 a.m. chatting and laughing. Two nights in a row. Like I said. Sleep is highly overrated.

9. Laughter is the best medicine. There is a reason for that saying. By the time Saturday night rolled around, after two days of nonstop sewing and talking, everything seemed funny. We could have been on Saturday Night Live, we were that good. Even pictures of feet seemed like a good idea.

10. The best lesson I learned was that you can never have too many friends.

(Front row: Toni, Shelly; Back row: Doris, Michelle, Rene', Terri, Amanda Jean, Mary, me, Stephanie)
We traveled from all over to spend time with each other: Wisconsin, Missouri, California, Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan, Georgia, Florida/Montana. People are always surprised to hear that I have close friends from blogging and emailing, and I know they are thinking "friends" with little air quotes around the word. Nothing could be further from the truth. We were ten women who shared a common bond. We laughed, ate, shared our lives, sometimes shed a couple of tears, were blown away by the creativity we saw, and were inspired by each other. I have strengthened bonds with those who invited me, and have formed new friendships that I know will be long-lasting. Thanks to you all. I hope we can do it again next year.

Look what just showed up at my house!

The new Denyse Schmidt fabrics from Joann's! Deborah went by yesterday to grab some, and went back this morning and the dots were already gone!

This magazine that I requested after I read about it here. I had to work and she was already going back to Joann's anyway. But they didn't have it at Joann's so she made an extra stop at Borders!

And as a bonus: we now each have a Cath Kidston mug for our coffee when we get together to sew!

Sorry. I can't stop taking pictures. They all look so happy together.

What makes me happy today: a good friend...who loves to quilt...and is on exactly the same wavelength as me.

Thanks, Deborah (and Miss Luella).

Here Come Da Judge (and misc. other stuff...)

Disclaimer No. 1: This post will be fairly picture-heavy, but unbelievably, no pictures having to do with actual judging. What was I thinking??
Disclaimer No. 2: I have blatantly taken all these pictures from Sharon's, Jill's, Katie's and Toni's blogs without their permission. But I know they love me. So I'm assuming they won't sue me.

We were in Shafter, California, this weekend so Mark could be one of five judges for the local competition of Distinguished Young Women. This was formerly called America's Junior Miss. I used to think it was like the practice competition leading up to Miss America or something. Definitely not the case. It is based on many factors: scholastic achievement, physical fitness, talent, poise, and self expression, and it was called Junior Miss because the girls were in their junior year in high school.

When Mark and I started having college kids over for Monday Night Football in 1996, eventually we found out we had not one, but two, former winners of the the Shafter Junior Miss competition coming to our house every Monday night.

(Jill, Shafter's Junior Miss 2001, and Jason)

(Toni, Shafter's Junior Miss 2002, and Peter)

Over the years, Mark has tried to convince Jill that he would make an excellent judge. She always laughed that off. (If you know Mark, I'm sure you are saying to yourself, "Duh, go figure...") Turns out there was an opening for a judge this year. Turns out Mark's wish came true.

He was one of five judges, and spent Friday afternoon and evening in an individual interview process with each contestant and then the program last night, where they judged everything else. He was well prepared, having carefully studied each girl's application, and then watching some DVDs from previous years, getting judging pointers from Jill.

This is an excellent program, and each girl is a winner. Maybe not being one of the girls who actually wins the title, but winning greater confidence and poise. Mark enjoyed being one of the judges, and if asked again next year he would definitely say yes.

While he was being all "judgmental," I got to go on a house tour of sorts. We stayed with Jill's parents. They have been doing a lot of updating (Sharon has posted a lot of cool pictures--check out her "home tour" posts), and this was the room we stayed in.

It felt like an upscale hotel. Thanks, Bob and Sharon!

Next up, Jill's brother and sister-in-law, John and Katie's house. They have done a lot of updating as well. When I read Katie's blog, I get a lot of crafty ideas,

decorating ideas,

and yummy recipes.

Finally, this morning, Mark and I stopped at Toni and Peter's house. I read Toni's blog all the time, too, and they have transformed their home as well. Seems to be a lot of that going on in Shafter lately. Toni has achieved the "look" I would love to have in my own home.

Toni also loves to cook so, like Katie and Sharon, she posts recipes that are definitely worth checking out (and she takes such beautiful pictures of them).

It was a very fun weekend. Fun to attend the competition and to connect with out-of-town friends we don't see nearly often enough.

Remember how I have posted some pictures that Mark takes while he is actually driving? I witnessed my first "drive-by (photography) shooting" on the way to Shafter, but I'll have to post it later (after I can find the cable to his camera...)

Finally, if you haven't had a chance to stop by and say hi to Carla and help her celebrate her first blogiversary, please do. And you still have time to come back and comment here for a chance to win a pincushion.

Tomorrow (hopefully), a sneak peak at what I'm working on...

Happy birthday/blogiversary to my sister!

Have you met my sister, Carla, from Lollyquiltz? Well, she isn't my real sister, not from a biological standpoint. However, as we have gotten to know each other a little better, we have decided that perhaps we are sisters separated at birth. SO many similarities!

*We were both born in the same year. I would say which year but I didn't get her permission--and she is a teensy bit older so I need to respect that. :)
*We will both be married for 38 years this year.
*She went to college in Kansas. I went to college in Kansas.
*We both met our husbands in college.
*We both have red hair.
*We absolutely adore our grandchildren.

*We are both quilters. Which binds us together (yes, I could not resist the pun...) for sure!
*We are both hexie obsessed.

(Carla's hexies, organized by color and lots of them are already sewn together!)

(I have quite a few more than this, but they are not sewn together yet).

*We are both doing a quilt based on a Kleenex box. The same Kleenex box! (Imagine our surprise when we discovered that little odd fact...)

 Carla's is almost done:

Mine, not surprisingly, is still living in my head:

I attribute her progress on the hexies and Kleenex-box quilt to the fact that she is older. That seems reasonable, doesn't it?

She has a tremendous sense of color.

And I'll admit to being a bit envious of the beautiful backdrops she uses for her quilt photography.

To celebrate this auspicious one-year blogiversary, we are giving away one of my selvage pincushions, appropriately named "Four Seasons." Head on over to her blog and do some reading. While you're there, you'll notice that Carla has some awesome tutorials, so for a chance to win the pincushion, check out the tutorials on her sidebar, and then come back and tell me which one you would like to try first. The winner will be chosen  on Sunday, 6 p.m. PDT. Want an extra chance to win? If you can guess (in a separate comment) which one might possibly be MY favorite, well, you'll get a second chance to win. Happy reading, everyone. And happy first blogiversary, Carla!

Slip Slidin' Away

WARNING: Lots of pictures!!

*sigh* I wish it were last Thursday. Because then I would be on my way to the mountains for a long weekend of quilting and spending time with my best friends.

It is not at all unusual for there to be snow during Quilting in the Pines. Last year, I called my post "sewing in a snow globe." It was pretty much like that again this year. With one big difference. It turned treacherous to get back and forth from our cabins to the sewing room. We had snow, then it warmed up and turned slushy, then it got really cold and froze. So underneath all that pretty white snow was a layer of deadly slick ice. For the first time, we used the services of the resort SUV and driver to get us back and forth because it was just too dangerous to walk, even with snow boots. One poor lady slipped and broke her wrist in two places!

This was the view from our sewing table:

This is only about one third of the total sewing room:

And our little section:

Jennifer always makes the cutest placecards for our group. Deborah didn't like the picture Jennifer used so we tried to take sneaky pictures of her all weekend. Next year she will not be allowed to cover up her picture!

This year I didn't take many of pictures of other quilts, but this one definitely caught my eye. Super cute and lots of fun embellishment.

Here are some of the "challenge" quilts on the walls. I was standing there looking at the other quilts and someone said, "Oh, look. Someone used the fabric labels." Um, did you mean "selvages?"

Every year, we friends keep our challenge quilts totally secret from each other. When they are on the wall, we try to figure out which quilt each of us made. This year, other than mine, because my friends obviously know about my total obsession with selvages, none of us could figure out who made what. Everyone did something completely different than her normal "style." It was fun.

This was Dotty's:

And Jennifer's (she was in a three-way tie for third place. Way to go, Jennifer!). It had so many cute buttons, and I know she loves buttons. But it was machine quilted (by someone else), and Jennifer always does her own quilting on the challenge quilts. Very sneaky, Jennifer...

Jennifer spent most of the weekend working on her "gaggle of geese" because it was just so time-consuming, but also very cute and cheery.

Dotty seemed to work on a lot of different projects and accomplished a lot of different things. She even made two quilts from my Charm Parade pattern. The fabrics reminded us of Easter eggs.

Last year I was working on a quilt-along by Randi of Fresh Squeezed Fabrics. There is a basket in the sewing room where you can throw scraps you think someone else might be able to use. Well, someone did use some of my scraps and made this cute pincushion last year. This year she was sitting at the table next to us so I snapped a picture.  (Note to self: please finish the quilt because the fabrics are awesome and the pattern is great...and it's been a year.)

Are you wondering what I worked on?

While I had great intentions of working on Single Girl, the first two days I worked on Popbeads:

I'm so glad I chose Flea Market Fancy. Interestingly, not a single person blinked an eyelash when they saw that I was using FMF (FMF, people!!!!), on which I spent a virtual fortune slightly more per yard than the going rate.

I'm making two separate Birdie Stitches quilts (Central Park and Hoopla) and my thinking process was that if I had all the blocks made ahead of time, it would be easier to get the embroidery done. All the quilt blocks are finished and ready to embroider!

Sometimes odd things happen when you have been sewing for so many hours and it is 10 p.m. on a Saturday night. Dotty ended up sewing the right side and wrong side together on this block. Oops.... (Why is that non-bloggers think we bloggers take some "odd" pictures? Yeah, I don't know the answer to that one either...)

While we were having snow in the mountains, this is the kind of "snow" we have down here in Fresno. The orchards are in glorious, sweet-smelling bloom. (I asked Mark if this was a "drive-by shoot" and he assured me that he stopped the car this time.)

Sewing and friends: the perfect combination.