Just got home from my guild's annual spring quilt retreat a couple of hours ago. We have two a year--one in the fall, and one in the spring. I've only been able to make the fall one once because I travel frequently that month and it too often falls on the same weekend I'm out of town. I have a much better shot at the spring retreat--this is my second time making that one. It took me a couple of years of belonging to a guild to even decide to go to a retreat. Once I started going, I realized what a tremendous benefit they are. To be honest, it's not so much how much work I get done--if I had a full, uninterrupted weekend of quilting at home I could probably get more completed because there wouldn't be the constant, "Oops...I forgot to bring thus and so." On the other hand, there's no motivation like 30 other whirring sewing machines around you, people immediately on hand if you get stuck and need some advice, and lots (and LOTS) of chocolate and laughing. Not necessarily in that order.
I'll post pics later of what I did accomplish, but I'm heading out of town for business tomorrow so I have to quickly unpack and repack. Sadly, my quilt retreat paraphenalia probably won't get unpacked at all until I'm home again. Fortunately, this is a short trip--just gone one night--so it won't be long before I'm able to put my sewing room back to rights.
I did just want to give a quick shout-out to my guild, though--Woohoo, Canal Country Quilters!--because they were wonderfully gracious and game to let me interview them for the podcast series. I didn't get to everyone this weekend--after all, I was there to do other things--but I had great conversations with several people and am looking forward to being able to incorporate them into future episodes. So get ready for "Quilters Like the Rest of Us!"
Sandy's blog on quilting, life, and sundry.
