MY JOYFUL JOURNEY RETREAT #6

 After much preparation and planning, the recent Joyful Journey Retreat #6 is over. It was very successful, with 16 happy attendees, Wednesday to Sunday:

Red Rooster Retreat Center is in Crane Hill, AL, about an hour and a half from my home. Good GPS helps to find it:

You know you are there when you see the Red Rooster:

Here are the best things about a Retreat:

1. The FRIENDS--6 new quilters joined us this time and immediately felt welcome and part of the "Tribe". New friendships were formed. Old friendships were renewed.

2. The FOOD: any meal I don't have to plan, prepare, serve and clean up is a great meal to me. Just a few of the meals I indulged in:

At home, I might have one glass of wine a week. Here I drank the bottle--with a good bit of Sprite to offset the not-sweet-enough-for-me bottle I brought. No rotary cutting after imbibing...

The Menu board was fun to read in line for our meals

Chicken Broccoli Cheese in a delicious dough

Chicken Chimichanga with all the usual fixings for Mexican night

Breakfast--my favorite meal of any day

TRUTH: I came home up 8 pounds--thanks in part to dessert at every meal, which I rarely have. And I ate my weight in homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies that were worth every calorie--thanks, Kathy and Sue! It took 5 days at home, back on track, to get rid of those pounds.

I did power walk every day. The terrain is very hilly, and really steep in several places. An hour and a half of Hill Work, had me burning lots of calories. The day I did the most hill work my fitness app said I climbed 47 flights of stairs--most days it was 30 flights.

The first day was chilly so I was bundled up:

3. For me, the TEACHING. I want to spend my days teaching what I have learned as a quiltmaker over 40 years to those who want to learn. Most of the attendees opted to learn to make the Lone Star from the pattern Oh My Stars, completely optional. We spent the first full day on that and everyone got a star done:

My big one, 97" square, still working on the binding--Kris can attest it's heavy!

My small sample-- enough to learn the block. We also did an optional Tiny Star Swap, each of us got 60 stars to use as we choose later

Student Stars after day One--great job, everyone!

4. For everyone, the TIME AWAY from our usual daily duties to just be creative. The rest of the week everyone kept "pedal to the metal", getting projects done or farther along. Here are just a few of projects that we got to enjoy:

Suzie is working on English Paper Piecing, which she claims not to enjoy...

But she kept going--many of these little blocks were done. The book is Alice's Wonderland Sampler Quilt

Lori attended her first Retreat ever and was the first to hang a quilt over the rail--Two For One she started last year in a class I taught locally--I am teaching this next week in Austin TX and the week after at Empty Spools Seminar in CA

Cyndi's quilt inspired by Laurel Ridge just blows me away! 

Julie got her star done

Julie finished her version of Charming Sampler, the quilt I designed and taught at our FIRST retreat, March 2020. It has become one of my most popular workshops chosen by guilds all over

Julie really worked hard to get the first Quadrant of Full Circle done--this I taught to 6 willing "testers" at our Retreat in 2023. She is designing a lot of the arcs with a Pittsburgh theme--can you see the 3 Bridges that cross the 3 Rivers in Pittsburgh? Amazing work!

Glenda was the newest quilter. She chose to learn how to set in the star with Y seams when everyone else learned the "easy" way. 

Glenda also wanted to learn to bind a quilt herself. And so she did!

Janey, Suzie, Cheryl

Conna worked on a long time project--only borders left to go!

Sue made this for an Air Force Veteran--the rank insignia and the name tags are from the veteran's uniforms--sure to be a well-loved gift!

                                                 

I tried to get photos of everyone:

Cyndi, Kathy, Lori, Sue

Susan, Beverly, Suzie, Maureen

Lisa got her star done!

Cheryl was at our first Retreat in 2020 then family life stepped in. I was thrilled to have her back. Here is the photo we got this year and at the first retreat.  We have held up well!

The Over the Railing shot:

All in all, it was a great 5 days. Lots of laughter, learning and love. Plans for next year are fluid at the moment. These wonderful women will get first chance of signing up for the next Retreat. And the waitlist is growing for any spots that may open. Who wouldn't want to escape from the day-to-day to sew to your heart's content?!

Let's quilt.

Barbara