Today was day THREE of our five day retreat and I can honestly say that the 17 attendees are making the most of the time.

There were a bunch of finishes…..

Rosie made this quilt for charity….

Carol Ann finished this modified log cabin….

Judy finished this super happy quilt…..

….and Sara added this happy fabric quilt…..

Sue finished this flannel quilt for her brother……

I started the morning making backings for the two quilt tops that I finished yesterday and then turned to the Angela Walter’s Quilt-A-long that I was FOUR weeks behind on…..

….more about that tomorrow on “Free-Motion Friday”……

AND….there is another day and a half left at the retreat….HOORAY!!!!

Tuesday was a stormy day at the retreat but we pretty much didn’t care!!!

I did get out for a quick walk after breakfast and enjoyed these blooming bushes……

Inside work was going at a steady rate with a table runner finished by Sherry…..

…..and Chris finished this fun apron…..

I had a great day and was able to finish two quilt tops for twin boys!!

I started with paper pieced elephants and giraffes from Margaret Rolfe’s book, “A Quilter’s Ark”….

Once they were finished, I had a fun time selecting various widths of fabric strips to add to the top. I would put up two or three strips and then everyone would weigh in with what they liked!! It was a quilt made by committee!!

The second quilt went faster since I had already developed the “formula” that I was going to use!!

It was a good day’s work!!!

Our guild retreat is held at the Georgia FFA-FCCLA center which is about an hour drive from home. It is a wonderful place to retreat!!

We stay in hotel type accommodations….

and have this entire “cabin” for our group=…..

We are served three FULL meals each day and while they are sometimes rustic, they are always good!!!….

We have an amazing room to sew in and each have a 9-foot table to use, along with any other add-ons that we bring with us!!….

Our fearless leader always brings a couple of ironing tables and two cutting tables and it could not be a nicer set-up!!!

We got off to a crazy start as the Tornado warning sirens started blaring just as we were unloading our cars!! But being good quilters, we did not let that deter us for a single moment and we were all soon happily working at our tables, oblivious to the weather going on outside!!

There are always a few people who get things finished quickly, and these two were remarkable…..

Sherry finished this machine embroidered wall hanging…..

Linda finished quilting this wall hanging (that she started at an earlier retreat)……

It took me a while to figure out what to work on first, but decided on two baby quilts that I need to get done. Of course, I forgot to take photos before I came back to the room, so you will have to wait until tomorrow for those!!

Now for a good night sleep to get ready for a LONG day of creativity tomorrow!!

Today, I am leaving for a FIVE-day quilting retreat. It has been cancelled twice in the past year and I am TRULY ready for this creative time away!!

It is a “bring your own project” retreat and I have had a hard time deciding what I wanted to work on during this time. Consequently, I have taken most of my studio….at least that is the way it feels.

I packed the car…..

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….and then realized that I don’t have my suitcase in yet!! And don’t you love my “portable” design wall in the photo on the right??

So this week will be brought to you from the quilting party…..