I was lucky enough to meet Valerie at a quilt guild a few months ago. She told me about another quilt guild a few miles north of Crossville and I am now a member at both guilds. I know, you're shocked, aren't you? haha Over the last couple of months Valerie has introduced me to dozens of women quilters and it's been such a blessing to start new friendships.
A week after I joined the new guild I received a call that a spot had opened up for an upcoming retreat and I was invited to come along. You betcha! So, that's where I spent 5 days this week...at retreat....in a huge cabin in the Great Smoky Mountains. It. Was. Awesome.
This was our first glimpse of the cabin as we drove in on Sunday afternoon. The porch wrapped around 3 sides of the cabin with plenty of space to sit and relax in the shade and cool breezes. Birds were chirping and squirrels were playing in the trees as we unloaded all our sewing paraphernalia and personal items for the week.
There was plenty of parking space available and we had all the peace and quiet we could want as this cabin was remote and at the end of the road. What a perfect place for a retreat.
The cabin had a great commercial kitchen which made preparing our meals much simpler for the 2 co-presidents of the guild. Yes! These lovely ladies actually cooked breakfast and dinner and desserts for us the entire week! How much more indulgent could it get?
And here they are.....Barb on the left calls herself the organizer while Bunny on the right is the creative half of the dynamic duo. There is no way anyone who follows them as president could outdo all the thoughtful gestures they bestowed on us. The food was home made and fabulous...and as you'll soon see, it was "themed" every night and became part of our entertainment. These two ladies are an awesome team.
Ummmm, yeah. How silly are these ladies? Julie on the left is Bunny's daughter and she was very much a part of the creative genius behind the week's events. On Monday night we had a Hawaiian theme for our meal. And of course, these ladies came into the sewing room to announce dinner was ready wearing these funny aprons. Then they proceeded to go around the room putting a lei around each of our necks.
Each morning as we crawled out of bed and stumbled upstairs to the kitchen for a much needed cup of caffeine, we were greeted with another special surprise gift for each of us. Above is my cute new drinking mug from morning one and my chicken pin cushion from morning two. On morning three we all got a jar of handmade sugar scrub to soften our skin. What a great way to have a memory from the retreat!
This was my table where I spread all my sewing goodies out and sewed for 4 days. Yes, that is a cappuccino sitting there in a red mug. I took my cappuccino machine with me to share with the ladies in case anyone else needed an extra caffeine surge to keep on sewing late into the night.
All the participants at the retreat (there were 24 of us) felt that these ladies had gone so far and above what was expected that we took up a collection so we could surprise them with a gift. Then we wrapped their cash in fat quarters of fabric and gave it to them on Tuesday just before we left to go hopping from quilt shop to quilt shop. Hey, it's not all about sewing at a quilt retreat! A girl's gotta add to her stash, you know? Hopefully they were able to find
something to spend their thank you's on.
So, Tuesday night was Italian night.....complete with lasagna roll ups, chicken cacciatore, garlic bread and tiramisu for dessert. Salads were served most every meal and we had more than enough snacks in between meals to keep up our energy for churning out those quilts.
Yes, you guessed it. Wednesday night was Chinese night. Aren't these girls hilarious? Spring rolls, fried rice, the best boneless beef ribs and teri-yaki chicken I've ever eaten. Fortune cookies and ice cream sundaes for dessert topped off the whole evening. What more can I say? It was fabulous! And the hours of sewing was fun, too.....let's not forget that was one of the reasons I went.
Sometimes you have to step away from the sewing machine and slow down and do a little hand quilting. The front porch had this wonderful creaking old-fashioned swing that was a perfect place to sit quietly and stitch.
All too soon it was Thursday morning and time for us to pack up and head for home. This was our parting view of the front doors as we pulled up and out of the steep driveway. I was really glad to sleep in my own bed once again on Thursday night. And Molly was so happy to see me after being gone for almost 5 full days.
I really had a great time with all the women who started the week as strangers to me, but felt more like friends when we parted. Thank you Valerie for introducing me to these ladies and for being my sewing and traveling partner. I'm so grateful you stepped up months ago and made the effort to stay in contact with me.
Can't wait to do it all again,
Debbie
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