Ahhhhhh…. a welcome sign we saw last week.  Home to Texas.  And what could be better than being back home, but being home and retreating with the JSS gals!

It’s retreat week!  And I’ve been told a certain someone in Kentucky is looking for more blogging.  As well as at least one person in Southlake.  I say, If you want to know what’s happening at retreat, maybe you should be at retreat?  But that’s just me.  Being mean.  And stitching.  And not blogging.  I’ve been a very willy-nilly blogger lately.  Oh, the grief I have to endure!

So this one’s for Phyl.  And Nancy.  And the rest of you restless souls.

Go look at Cookie’s Blog.  The end.

I’m such a meanie….

Here’s the snack table to entice all you retreat wannabees.  And this was very early on.  More has been added and devoured since this pic.

My contribution was a little Canada corner.  With my friend, Cathi’s Mum’s famous Butter Tarts.  And Timbits.  And chocolate loonies.

Here are my friends, Suz and Cookie, enjoying their butter tarts on the first night.  Smiles all around.

Projects have been started and have grown…..

Like this one by Patti……

….that late last night looked like this.  And I see Patti across the room right now stitching this quilt together.  It will be finished any minute now!

Here’s Madelyn in the very beginning stages of her beautiful sunflower…….

….that now looks like this.  Amazing, isn’t it?  All I can say is WOW.

Dorothy is working on this one.  Oh, my.

And this is how it looks now. Amazing.

Karen had lots of help working on this quilt. And there’s a story. Check back at Cookie’s blog later for the whole story. No pressure, Cookie!

Karen threw this one together this morning. Before half the group was even out of bed. That Karen is a speed quilter this retreat!

Because she also did THIS one! Slow down, Karen! You’re making us all look bad.

Suz has made some fabulous Christmas trees.

And now we’re all patiently waiting to see what she does with this fabric. Go Suz!

Sally is working on some fabulous applique. I know you’re surprised. Ha. If you are, you don’t know Sally.

Here’s more…….

….and this one too. Go Sally!

Cookie spent 8,743 hours sewing and pressing half-square triangles the first evening…..

….that have now turned into this cute Bear’s Paw quilt. And again, as I’m writing, this quilt is being sewn together and will be finished at any moment. Have I mentioned how amazing these gals are?

Peggy is working on this T-shirt quilt. That has since left this table, hopped up on the design wall and has two borders added. I can’t even take pictures fast enough. They are outdated before I can get them from the camera to the blog. Sigh.

She also made this wonderful fabric basket. Now we all want one. Bring on the jelly rolls! And a class with Pam.

Kay dropped by on Monday with the TVQG Donation quilt for 2014. She needed all our wonderful advice and support to add borders. Quilting is a group sport, don’t ya know?

Ever-smiling Cindy was working on her machine applique. I’ll have to show a pic of this one later. When I can get it out from under Cindy’s machine.

Here’s one of Judy’s. She has had others on the wall too, but I somehow missed pics of them.

News flash!  Although Judy would love to claim this quilt as her own, it really belongs to Peggy, who doesn’t mind that it was credited to Judy as long as it goes home with the correct person.  Peggy.  And the blog has no final say in whose quilt belongs to whom.  Just sayin’.

That’s because we appointed Judy “The Enforcer of the New Rules” here at the Compass Centre. And yes, there’s a story. Be sure to ask Melissa about it when you see her.

Guess who’s making this one…… you guessed it! Lani. Blocks from her New York friends. Including one made by Dorothy. Guess which one. (See earlier pic of Dorothy’s quilt.)

This barn is also Lani’s. But made by Madelyn. And waiting for surrounding barns. From a previous JSS exchange. We won’t say which year.

And this bed runner is mine. It’s made from the perinkle Inklingo collection. It’s coming along, but I really need to get back to stitching. My needle is calling my name. Needles just do that sometimes.

And I’m anxious to make more of these kaleidoscope stars using Inklingo. They are very addicting. Almost as much as Candy Crush. But when you spend time on your star addiction you have something to show for it at the end of the day. Not so much with Candy Crush. But that certainly won’t stop me from playing. Do not mess with my Candy Crush. I blame Sally. We need a 12 step program.

We had a visitor today too. And I thought I’d share.

After the nice photo op, some brave girls wheeled him back outside. Nice of him to land on a cart with wheels to make it easy for the transfer.

This is my motto for today. And tomorrow. And next week.

Back to stitchin!
Hugs,
Barb