Retreat Sillies

Posted on October 19, 2010 by Barb

Just a few silly things to start your morning today.  From silly retreaters.  These gals really know how to laugh and create laughter.  You can’t be depressed around this group!

 

Newbie Linda fits right in.  And her Secret Sis gave her this fabulous seasonal tiara.  So her Secret Sis gets a big shout out for a great secret gift!  Newbie Linda wears it proudly.

The Compass Centre is on the cutting edge of new electronic gadgets these days.  Apparently there is a brand new, super charged hair dryer available on the market that has the shortest cord imaginable to man.  Or woman.  And I had a terrible time trying to dry my hair after my shower yesterday.  But a picture is worth a thousand words.

As you can see, I was having a very hard time drying my hair with the really short cord!  But I kept a smile on my face through the whole process.

Thank goodness Pat came to my rescue!

Here she is demonstating the fancy schmancy hair dryer cord.    This is how it was when I tried to use it.

Voila!  Instant long cord!  Apparently retractable cords are the newest thing in hair dryers.  Not.  Just to me, I’ve been informed.  I haven’t bought a new hair dryer for a very long time.  It is good to have retreats so I can catch up with the rest of the world.  You probably all knew about retractable hair dryer cords.

Suz was extra cute when she put her clothespin on her hand towel when we arrived at retreat.  We use these to identify whose towel is whose.

So I decided  to follow suit.  New names are the norm for this group.  Blast from the past: Remember our introduction to Bon Qui Qui?

Pam had a little trouble with this block today.  But perhaps you need to see the way it was supposed to be?

Much better, Pam!  I’m sure it was just because she was laughing so hard that there were tears in her eyes.

And that might be because one retreater forgot a very necessary item of clothing when she packed her things for the week.  A particularly sensitive, needed article of clothing.  So one of the other retreaters stitched a replacement for her.  Way to go retreaters!  These gals are so resourceful.  It’s unbelievable.  Really it is.  You’re going to love these next pictures.

And I do believe you need to see the back side too.

Sorry for the blur.  Apparently the photographer was shaking with laughter also.  As well as the entire room.  In fact, I’m sure you heard the laughter all the way to the DFW area.  Which is at least 90 miles away.   These gals can keep a person in stitches.  Quite literally.

One gal wrapped it all up with her Secret Sis gift to Sue H yesterday…….

I think we all need one of these to hang on our doors at home and remind ourselves of all the laughter.  So cute!

More to come – with lots of food and quilt pics too.  Stay tuned.

Hugs,
Barb
P.S.  How ’bout those Texas Rangers!   Woo Hoo!
P.P.S  This pic is just a personal one for Susan and Sally.  Look how organized Suz and I are this time.  Cool, eh?

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Secret Sisters

Posted on October 18, 2010 by Barb

Secret Sisters were a hit at a previous JSS retreat so we decided to do it again this time.  We all brought little gifts to pass on to our SS, not knowing who it would be.  Last night we drew names after we got here and the fun began!

We all came to retreat with little gifts for our SS, not knowing who she would be.  I know that I had a really fun time searching for fun things to give.  And I know these gals.  I bet they all had fun too.  And they are so sneaky!  They have really kept the secret in Secret Sisters.  At least so far.  I plan to try to catch a few of them.  Perhaps I’ll make it my mission to see if I can find out every other gal’s SS before the end of retreat.  Then I’d know mine.  Process of elimination and all.  I can be sneaky too.

So I thought I’d share the gifts that I’ve been able to photograph so far.  Just to make you jealous that you aren’t here too.  Especially Sally.  She’s going to really be unhappy when she sees these pics.  Susan too.  I’m really not trying to make those gals feel bad that they aren’t here.  OK, maybe I am.  Not really.  Well, maybe.  Am not.  Are too!  I love arguing with myself.  It’s tough to miss a JSS retreat.  It has to be a really good reason.

Jules got this cute ornament – in an equally cool box!

How about these cool gloves that Pat got?  She actually put them on the wrong hands on purpose to show that you could use them for quilting.  The “bones” have little grippers that work great for moving fabric under your machine.  A double duty Halloween item!

Linda got these warm seasonal socks.  Nice fashion statement with the sandals, Linda!  I bet we’ll see a lot of Fall/Halloween things before we reveal our secret selves.

Pam got a cute tiny cutting mat.

How about this cute little “Take a Break” ball by Madelyn’s machine?  The tag has a Doctor’s Hand Strengthening Tip on it.  But there’s a caution too.  To not use it while experiencing hand or arm pain or fatigue.  How dumb do they think we are?

Here’s the other side:

I’m considering this my motto for the whole retreat.  (See trunk pics from earlier today.)

Patti got a nice seasonal candle.  Very appropriate!

And Kay got a sweet container of buttons with hugs attached.

I got a very nice Ranger Red cowgirl hat.  I might even have to wear it during the game tonight as I cheer the Rangers on.  GO RANGERS!

Suz got the Gift of the Day.  Davene even tried to steal it!  Here’s what it says on the other side:

And here’s Madelyn showing you how to use it:

I even got this cool picture with my camera looking through it:

Cool, eh?  OK, OK.  We apparently are very easily entertained with small things.  It’s an easy-to-please crowd here!  Don’t give us any grief.  Or I’ll have to start saying, “I guess you had to be there.”  Just go with the flow, people!  And realize there are a bunch of wild and crazy women here.  ‘Nuff said.

Lani got this fun scarecrow.  Didn’t I tell you there was a seasonal theme?

Davene’s sweet picture frames….

Tracie got this nice “warm vanilla sugar” hand gel.  It smells good enough to eat!  Are your hands really clean if they smell good enough to eat after washing?

Sue G got holiday kleenex and a lint roller.  She has cats so this roller will come in very handy!

I also found this cute polkadot notepad by Betty’s machine.

There were a few other things too.  Sue H got a cute picture frame but my photo was blurry and I meant to take another but forgot.  As far as I can tell everyone only got one gift so far.  And if the other gals’ SS bags have as many items as mine does, we’re going to have to step up the giving or we’re going to be here until two weeks from next Thursday.  It’s hard to get these gals to leave their sewing machines.  I plan to go to the bathroom more often today.  To give my SS plenty of chances to leave fun things by my machine.  Or on my machine.  Or in my machine.  Because it hasn’t been turned on, you know.  Poor Janna.  She’s reading this and praying that I’m working on her T-shirt quilt!

More stories to come!  Soon.

Hugs,  
And GO RANGERS!
Barb

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This One’s for Susan

Posted on October 18, 2010 by Barb

Please refer to Susan’s comments from the blog post earlier this morning.  If you care.  I assume that most of you do not.  But Susan is my friend and I cannot leave her wanting.  However, Sue H says that I should tell her that’s the first rule of theater.  “Leave them wanting more.”  Sounds good to me.

So this blog’s for Susan.  And quite frankly, she is banned from ever staying home again.  And by the way, Susan, Pam says you owe her $100.  Please send money as soon as possible.  Really.  You owe her.  You better call her to find out why. 

Here are the answers to all Susan’s questions:

  1. On their chairs
  2. Food
  3. No
  4. Yes
  5. Quilts – it’s a quilt retreat, silly
  6. Tracie, Jules, Debbi & Linda and yes
  7. Suz made my waffle today.  She thinks she’s still a newbie.  And she’s a really good roomie.
  8. Don’t hold your breath – I really need to get some sewing done too!
  9. Pics of lunch and dinner will be on the blog sometime.  Maybe a week from Tues.
  10. Nine-patches & circles

Because I don’t think it would be easy for the rest of you to refer to Susan’s questions and understand the answers, here they are from her comment this morning:

Where is everyone sitting? What did everybody bring for dinner last night? Did anyone have red wine with Coke in Linda’s honor? Is Karen drinking beer? What’s everyone working on? Who are the newbies, and are they doing good newbie things? Making your waffles? Barb, when I get home from Dallas later today, I hope there is a triple-long blog detailing all that I am missing. Including a pic of what’s for lunch and dinner. And what Suz is working on.

And while you’re at it, Susan.  Please call Sally and tell her 5 a day might be a little much.  I really will have to leave my sewing machine at home.  But this is #2.  And might be history making.  The only time I’ve ever posted without a single picture!

Wait!  Can’t do it.  Here’s a picture in answer to #10:

Hugs,
Barb

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Let the Retreat Begin!

Posted on October 18, 2010 by Barb

Thought I’d post a few Random Retreat Pics for your enjoyment today.  Because I know you are waiting with baited breath.  And although I’m not sure what baited breath really is, I don’t want you to have to wait with it too long.

For those of you who have never been on a quilting retreat, I thought it might be important for you to see what our packing looks like.  The important things that it’s necessary to bring along.  And the size of the piles of stuff.  Cars have never been so weighted down.

This is my trunk before I picked up Suz.  Or maybe I should say before I picked up Suz and Suz’ stuff.  As you can see, I really wondered where her stuff was going to go.  It appears there is not a lot of room left for her things.  Unless she wanted to give up her front seat and be a hood ornament on the way.  So that her stuff could come along.

I should point out here that if the first evening is any indication, I could have left most of this stuff at home.  Really.  I could have just brought the camera and the laptop and been just fine.  But I suppose it was good exercise to load this all up.  And then unload it here.  And load it back up on Thursday.  And unload it at home again.  Just in case I actually wanted to turn on the sewing machine.

This is the trunk after Suz’ stuff was added.  We’re pretty good trunk packers, don’t you think?  And I don’t think we could have put one more thing in there.

This is the back seat.  And proof positive that we couldn’t fit anything else in the trunk.

Remember I was going to show you the important stuff that we brought along?  I must admit this is the first time a TV has ever come along.  We normally go on these retreats to get away from those things.  But this time there was one very important difference.  I’m a new fanatic, remember?  Please refer back to the blog on October 9th if you’ve forgotten about my fanaticism.  Or just continue reading.  It will all make sense in a minute….

Here’s my friend, Suz, sitting next to me in the retreat sewing room.  And you can see on the screen why it was important for us to have a TV along.  Wouldn’t you know that the timing would be such that our dear Rangers would be playing all three days of our retreat!  And we have to watch!  And cheer!  And wear our new Rangers’ shirts!  GO RANGERS!  Because after all Suz and I are fanatics.

Remember I told you about the snack table and all the food involved in retreating?  This is just 1/2 of the snack table.  My friend, Karen, brought the Cape Cod Sea Salt and Vinegar chips.  She knows they are my favorite retreat snack.  I love her.

Here’s the other half of the table.  Because it was absolutely imperative that you see all the snack foods.  And this is the somewhat healthier half with apples and dark chocolate pomegranates..  We’ll see how fast they disappear.  The apples, I mean.  Because I’ve already put a pretty big dent in the pomegranates. 

They accused me last night of spending too much time grazing at the snack table.  But I was doing blog work!  How could I report on the snacks if I hadn’t tasted them all?  I mean really?  And I’m happy to report there was not a bad snack in the bunch.   So far.  I’ll taste the rest later and let you know if I find any bad apples…..

Two of the gals at retreat had these cute little sunflower bookmarks stuck in their spools of thread on their machines.  We inquired about them because they were just so cute!  Well, lo and behold, our dear friend Sally gave them to these gals from Kentucky!  “What?” we all said, “Where are ours?”  So we had to call Sally and give her what for because she didn’t send sunflowers for the whole class!  How dare she give cute gifts to only two of the retreaters!  We did our best to make Sally feel extra bad that she wasn’t at retreat this time.  Just because she didn’t send one for us all.  I bet Sally is at home right now, making sunflower bookmarks for all of us.  She might even be driving down here as you read this to deliver them.  She’ll not forget the rest of us ever again!

Here’s a brief picture tutorial from Pat on how to make a really cool pillowcase……

OK – if you can’t understand all the steps from the pictures, you’ll just have to get with Pat for a private class.  I tried to write an explanation all along the way and it didn’t even make sense to me and I was there!  So just call Pat.  Or leave a comment on the blog and Pat will schedule a personal class just for you.  Unless you live in Italy or something.  Wait!  Maybe Pat would like to come to Italy to give you a personal pillowcase class.  I’ll be sure to ask her.

The Newbies all made us something for our workspace and Karen found a really interesting way to display hers.  It required a very short video for you to get the full effect.

Karen’s Sewing Debut Video

And after everyone had gone to bed, I found this box near one gal’s sewing machine.

But you need to see what’s inside…..

I’ve eaten a lot of carrot cake in my life and I don’t think I’ve ever seen one quite like that.  I can’t even see a single tree nut like they warned us about!  If I was a bettin’ woman, I’d bet that was a brownie with big chocolate chunks in it.  I very nearly took a bite to see if it was carrot cake.  But I think I’ll just wait and let Madelyn leave a comment about this one.  If it’s carrot cake, I definitely want the recipe.

Up next:  Secret Sisters

Hugs,
Barb

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All My Bags Are Packed…..

Posted on October 17, 2010 by Barb

I’m ready to go!  Well, sort of.

 

My sewing things are packed.  And a radio for listening to our beloved Rangers as they whoop those d*** Yankees.  Notice the laptop bag where it can’t possibly be forgotten.  After all, it’s the most important part of retreat.  And the camera bag.  Important stuff.  For a blogger.

However there are no clothes in this pile.  I might just be wearing the same clothes every day.  And sleeping in them too. 

But the most important stuff is packed.  Laptop, camera, radio and a few hundred sewing projects.  Which I’ll never get to because I’ll be too busy blogging.  But at least I get an A for trying.  If only I could sew and type at the same time.  There are two sewing machines buried in the pile too.  Not that I’ll turn them on.  But I’m prepared just in case.

Let the retreat begin!  Well, in a few hours anyway.  Stay tuned.
Barb

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