Retreat Day Two and pretty flowers, too!

Before I tell you about Day Two of our retreat, I have to share this picture of the beautiful bouquet that graced the table at my friend, Joanie's, for our Bible study group yesterday. These are all flowers and grasses from her gardens - and she has many gardens!!! In a few days, I'll share some more pictures that show just what a green thumb this woman has!! We are cooking up a plan to share our creative passions in a project that would combine my quilts, old and new, and Joanie's florals, fresh and artificial. And that's all I can tell you about that right now, so just imagine you have been sent this bouquet and take a deep breath and smell how sweet it is!!!

When I got home from Joanie's, I felt so energized that I finally got to some organized house cleaning and laundry. The "dust bunnies" were washed from the corners of the kitchen floor and the mountain of laundry (that's the part of going away that doesn't go away - laundry is still there when you get home) is now just a small hill. :-) In addition to flowers, Joanie had fresh huge tomatoes to share with all of us. We enjoyed them on hamburgers for supper and there is nothing quite so good as fresh tomatoes. Or at least until, I fix some of the sweet corn that is available now at roadside stands. I love summer for it's fresh produce because in a few months it'll be back to whatever is trucked in from the coast.

I had planned to post Retreat Day Two after supper but earlier in the day I had begun a little challenge that involved creating a tiny quilt from Tootsie Roll Pop wrappers. It was so much fun that I started working on it again and just kept working until it was finished. The photo of the little quilt will be posted on Blue Nickle Studios site on Friday. I'll post the link the same day.

Then today I pulled together a packet of 24 of my pincushion patterns that I sent off to Gudrun's World for quilters who lost items in the Iowa flooding. I don't even like to think about how I would feel if I lost my stash, my quilts, and all that goes with it! I picked up my grandson who will be here for the next few days and we enjoyed supper at his choice - Dairy Queen. There's a bit of calm now so here are the pics from the morning of Day Two.

One of the special things about Bonny's Retreat is that it is small and intimate. There are accomodations for eight (five is the minimum) and it is like stepping into another world as Bonny prepares special dishes and then serves them up on different dishes at every meal! It is too much fun! Here's what our breakfast table looked like. We dined on fresh fruit and a delicious french toast dish with syrup and I cannot remember the name but I can remember the taste. Excellent!

After breakfast, it was time to get down to work. Having "slept on the layout" of my blocks, I knew I didn't like the way they looked. So I asked the gals for help. Stephanie suggested I put the blocks with red and navy on them in the middle and I would get a better balance. It worked! I moved a couple other blocks to finish the "balancing act" and got busy sewing the strips.

Notice that the clock behind me says 10:30 a.m. and I have begun sewing the blocks together. Notice also that my sewing area is totally cluttered and looks like I have been there a week and I haven't even been there for 24 hours at this point! I have realized that I cannot sew unless I have clutter. Are any of the rest of you like this?

By the time we ate lunch at 1:00 p.m. I had finished sewing all the blocks into rows - enough to make those three quilt tops. You may remember that I posted about doing the embroidery on the animal and flower blocks a few weeks ago and mentioned that I was making three quilt tops - one for me, one for my sister and one for my brother. That first year I came to Bonny's, I cut enough blocks to make four quilt tops. I gave one set to my daughter, Collette, and she is about half done with her blocks, because, like me, she only works on them at retreats. The second year, I began sewing the blocks together and each year I finished a few more. Last year, I finally finished all the blocks except for the bit of embroidery. I was determined to get those tops sewn together this year. So, did I get them done? Wait and see.
More pictures of our sewing projects tomorrow after Jacob and I do some picnicing or painting or whatever we decide to fill the day with.

A little note for those of you who may want to leave comments and have difficulty with the Google sign-up - I have set up an e-mail address where you can leave comments, complaints, suggestions, etc. for my blog. So, if you want to sign up for the Giveaway (more items were added today) and have not been able to, please send me an e-mail with your name and I'll toss it in the bucket. I am not sure how other bloggers do their drawings but I am throwing all the names in a bucket and will have my husband draw the lucky winner. The new e-mail address is stitchinglegacy@gmail.com
Have a good day!!