Such a Sweet Retreat

 What a treat to have our first real retreat in over 2 years! Our “Seven Sistah’s” group was hand picked (by me) nearly 10 years ago and we have been doing our best to gather as a gaggle whenever we can. Our first official retreat was in June of 2012 in a wonderful facility in the mountains of Rangeley, Maine. We met there for four years before moving to a location that was closer to all of our homes. Some of us had conflicts that year and we needed to be more flexible. In 2019 we met at the Vermont Quilt Show instead of our annual summer retreat. And, of course we all know what happened last year!

 So… needless to say we were so excited to have an actual retreat again. Thanks to Fotini for finding this fabulous cottage on Wells Beach, Maine. We all decided it was so well laid out for our needs that we booked it again for May. 

 This was cozy room on the first floor. I like to bring my own quilt and pillow whenever possible. I even had a little sofa so I could applique and not wake anyone up (I am a very early riser). 

 Tina and I brought only hand work, so we took over this comfy couch that has electric recliners at both ends – wow! Tina was finishing up all sorts of little goodies. 

I was simply doing hand applique of my “Bird’s Nest Soup” blocks. I went up to the second floor to take these shots as Susie Karen helped lay it out and then turn the blocks over to get a feel for how the back will look. 

Back

 Kathy pieced these delicious blocks. I see one of these quilts in my future. I adore it and it uses up a lot of 2” squares! 

 Susie Karen worked on her challenge and then went with Fotini, Charlotte and Kathy to the Portsmouth Fabric Company for some retail therapy.

 Fotini worked on some holiday masks for the British Goods store she works in. Somehow I missed taking a photo!

 Charlotte finished her little challenge and then worked on the most amazing Double Wedding Ring quilt (sorry my came out very blurry – I must have been too excited!). Then she pieced these blocks together. We figured that they put that big black thing there for us to hang our finished tops on, but later discovered that we could watch our British comedies on it! 

 We all had fun stitching along, but Karen, won the prize for accomplishing the most! She had a few blocks that her aunt had given her and she had fun laying them out finishing 4 little quilt tops. Good job! 

 We usually set some sort of a challenge for ourselves. This year we were to make seven “Inchie” quilts that measure 2” square. As usual, I finished mine only last week. However, amazingly enough, I wasn’t the last one to finish. Karen, Susie Karen and Charlotte all finished theirs on site! I was blown away at the creativity of this great group. From left to right: Kathy, Fotini, Susie Karen, Karen, Charlotte, Tina and me. I think I am going to stitch them all together and make a mini potholder quilt to commemorate our fabulous weekend! 

 Hope you get some stitching time with friends this week too.