Retreat report

(I guess I should explain that I always go to the retreat with my mom, and my aunt has been going for the last several years, too. Lots of family togetherness!)


Thursday

We got got here about 3:30. The other day I said in my journal that the dragonflies were swarming - well, up here it's the love bugs that are swarming. They're EVERYWHERE. (To the point of being gross.) (I've gotten curious, so here's the skinny on the damn things. They're actually a species of fly. Who knew.)

We got all set up and it was after 5 by the time I finally started sewing, but I still got 12 leaf blocks made - not bad.

I wrangled a room by myself - it's called "Siptak" for unknown reasons. It has a bed that is literally the same height as my belly button. I don't know how much higher that is than a normal bed, but it appears to be extremely high. I almost feel like I'm floating in the middle of the room. I just hope I don't fall off.


Friday - after midnight

We got up and had breakfast and took off for Austin early. My mom had fussed a little bit about driving ALL the way to Austin, but she stopped once we got there because she really liked the quilt shop (which is actually called The Quilt Store) a lot. She ended up spending a ton of money. I only spent a little bit, but since I'm very broke it was probably more than I should have! I bought 2 batiks (1/2 yards), a sale fabric that was sort of reproduction-looking, and a fat quarter. SHE bought 6 yards of batik, a couple of yards of 108"-wide toile, and... a couple more things that I forget. All of that batik - hers, not mine, that is - is for a fabric exchange that we're both doing, but she bought all the fabric she will need for every month through December. I'm waiting until later to buy October's fabric, even. She is also doing 2 sets of fabric (5" blocks, but you need 44 of them, which means you do need close to a yard) to my 1 set, though, so she had more to worry about.

Anyway, we just ate lunch and came on back to Round Top. We got back about 2:30. I got 18 blocks made after we got back, so that's pretty good.

One woman sitting near me spent a good bit of time this afternoon teaching another one to knit. (Darn knitters are everywhere.) The first woman claims to be a beginning quilter but she also pulled out a couple of quilt tops that are damn gorgeous, so if she's really a beginner, she's one of those incredibly overachieving beginners.


Saturday - after midnight

I was just thinking it over, and I think I have made around 50 blocks total, which is not as many as I hoped I'd get done, but it's still not bad.

Mom won a door prize at dinner yesterday, which was a gift certificate to the quilt shop in Brenham. So after lunch today we drove back over there so she could spend it. (Brenham is only about a 20-minute drive from Round Top.) Of course, I spent another $10 or so that I REALLY couldn't afford, now, because no matter how broke I am I can't resist the lure of fabric. This shop (Stitch Haven is the name of it) is not nearly as big as the quilt shop in Austin, of course, but I always like going there. They have cute stuff.

The big event of the retreat on Saturdays is the show and tell segment of the program. (As a matter of fact it is the ONLY program - there are no other planned events at this retreat other than meals.) Everybody comes over to the main house and brings whatever they've been working on so we can see. It's everything from finished quilts to partial blocks to, well, knitting. There's always some fabulous stuff. (The pictures going up are mostly from that.)

Oh, also, I got talked into doing an exchange. It's not a really terrible one, though. It's a particular block (Indian Puzzle) in fall batiks, and I have to do 12 12" blocks by the retreat next year. Not bad at all. (An example of a terrible exchange? - meaning terrible in terms of the amount of work required - here's how I got my triple 4-patch quilt: we did sets of 20, at least 1 set per month and every other month we did 2 sets. So you had to make either 20 or 40 blocks EVERY month. I think it went on for 8 months or so - I know we ended up with something like 260 blocks. So 12 blocks in a year is a piece of cake.)


Monday

Nothing much ever happens at the retreat on Sunday. There's a brunch and everybody does their little bit of cleaning and packs up and goes home. You don't actually have to leave right after brunch but most people seem to. I barely even said goodbye to anybody except my aunt. (I'll see most of them next Monday at quilt guild, anyway.)