I found myself floundering the past week as I was working through emotions on the loss of my sister. She had been sick for a while and although her passing was imminent, it somehow doesn’t seem real when it actually happens. To help clear my mind, I went to my 2 1/2″ strip box and began to sew. Mindless sewing can be so very therapeutic!

A few hours of sewing resulted in this scrappy Hospice quilt. I cut a backing from a pretty printed fleece and hung both in my flimsy closet to be quilted another time. Of ...

 So here we are at Retreat at the Farm. It's a LOVELY house and much larger than I expected. There are only four of us for the next couple of days which is just fine - we each get our own bedroom. Sometimes, it's a good thing to pay a little more and get more space than intended. I love it!!

It was an easy drive to get here - the traffic was great, and the traffic lights were synced, so slightly over one hour of travel time. I love that as well. 

And I'm happy to report that ...

The Spring Quilt & Sew-In has been cancelled.  Although it was definitely necessary to cancel this event, it has made me somewhat sad as I so enjoy all the amazing creative souls that come to the retreats.  We laugh, we sew, we share, we laugh, we shop and yes, we sew! Some I only see at retreat. Hopefully there will be a rescheduling at a later date, but more likely it will all need to wait until next year.

My last social sewing for some time took place last week at the home of a friend for 3 days. There ...

Spring Quilt & Sew-In has 2 spots available! Please come join in the fun & creativity!

April being not too far away, and the Spring Quilt & Sew-In Retreat, I prepped blocks for the charity quilts that the attendees will be sewing. The first block is for a quilt called Mid-Century Quilt. There’s a variety of blues and tans for the blocks and enough blocks to build a twin size quilt.

Thank you Pineapple Fabrics for donating the fabrics used in these blocks.

The next two sets of blocks are for nine-patch quilts. One will have various light neutral squares in the ...

Each year at the Quilt & Sew-in Retreats, the retreaters sew blocks that are then put together for Hospice quilts. This spring, however we’ll be putting twin size quilt tops together for another great cause – Snuggled in Hope Quilts. They accept quilt tops for volunteers to quilt and/or tie and bind. The quilts are then sent to Flying Horse Farms, which is a camp in Mt. Gilead, Ohio for children with serious illnesses and is part of Paul Newman’s Serious Fun Network Camps. Thank you to Kayla, a beautiful young woman who attends the Quilt & Sew-In Retreats for ...

Thirty very creative and talented women gathered in Blowing Rock, NC this past week for a very productive and fun-filled retreat!

We played games:

Made stunning quilts:

Charity blocks were sewn by all to make Hospice quilts:

There really was some serious work going on!

Show and Tell – always the main highlight of the retreat. SO MUCH talent!!

(There are a few pics missing that I will post soon.  Unfortunately I was taking pics from my I-pad and not my phone which was not a good thing!)

Thank you to our host site, The Meadowbrook Inn ...

Lots of prep has been going on here.  Saturday I leave for the mountains for the Fall Quilt & Sew-In! Even though I’ve been doing retreats for thirteen years, I still get a little antsy and anxious a few days before it begins.

Blocks have been prepped for the charity quilts from the bin of precut scraps above. There are a couple of layout possibilities for one:

And here is the layout for another quilt:

A bucket of blocks with instructions are available for anyone who chooses to complete one or more blocks. They then put their name in for ...

Whew! I’ve been gone for the last two weeks.  The first week I went to a sew-in with some great gals, came home on a Saturday, and left on Sunday for a week vacation with hubby! Some careful planning made it doable and it was all totally worth it!

First, the Sew-In.  A good friend planned this time for us at the same place where I have the Quilt & Sew-Ins – at the Meadowbrook Inn in Blowing Rock.  This place is like a second home to me so I was thrilled that we gathered there.  How convenient it was that ...