Blog Pick of the Week, a peak at my Stitcher's Angel project, and the retreat photos begin!

This is what I was doing a week ago this day.........getting ready for the retreat but I couldn't tell you all about it because of the eleven friends who came to the retreat, nine of them regularly read my blog! The retreat was wonderful, as it always is because we are able to step away from the busyness of life and into the quiet halls of Villa Maria and just enjoy time with each other and time for lots of sewing! Now that it's over I can tell you what we did and share some of the photos. Interestingly, I took about 150 photos so it is going to take some time to decide which ones to share.

The first photo you see is empty baskets waiting to be filled with goodies. You already know that I made fudge, plus I filled little Halloween bags with candy corn, some with candy kisses and others with tea, hot chocolate and cappucino mixes. I set up an assembly line to fill all the goodie bags and here's what they looked like when they were filled...........

Each basket also had the little Halloween pattern I shared last week, plus a packet of fabric, some scented candles and, of course, shampoo and soap from my husband's travels (this has become a joke-he travels a great deal and these items came from the Formosa Regency or something like that - he likes to "contribute"). Sometimes I am up really late getting "last-minute" things done but I had stayed focused on retreat stuff and managed to remember almost everything that I intended to take. Notice, I say - almost - you'll find out later what I forgot, but it wasn't my pj's this time.

I'll be back Friday morning with the details of the arrival at the retreat last Friday, our dinner and some of Friday's sewing fun. And oh, was there a lot of laughter!!!

Here's a peek at the front doors to Villa Maria. For me, it's like taking a short trip to some place in the woods in Europe. Just a lovely place!

So, Monday of this week, I had to catch up on some sleep, some laundry, a little housecleaning and unpacking everything and putting it away. Then Monday night, I had to get serious about my Stitcher's Angel project. I had a hard time figuring out what to make and changed my mind more than once! Then when I was reading my secret angel's blog, I read a bit about her kitchen and thought, - I know what I am going to do......... and here it is..........

I had this Debbie Mumm panel that was originally to be a calendar so I "fussy cut" parts of it to make a totebag for sewing projects and then made a matching pincushion and needlecase to go with it.

Here's the back of the bag, the base of the pincushion, and the inside of the needlecase. Plus, I tucked in a really nice, sharp pair of embroidery scissors.

A close-up of the pincushion and needlecase. I appliqued the little teapot on the front.

I wrapped it all up in a piece of fabric tied with rick rack, inserted this little card I made to match and took it to the post office and it is on it's way to ......................can't tell, but the address is under the card and you just can't see it. :-) So one swap done, and I think I have five to go. One of those is the Cottage block exchange and I am almost done with my blocks. I am not making just 12 as most are because I want a large quilt so I am making two of each block for a total of 24 blocks. I only have the sky to do tomorrow and they will all be done and will go in the mail on Friday morning (thank goodness because that is the final date to send - nothing like being right "up to the wire"!).

So, today I got so busy sewing cottage blocks that I forgot to post my Blog Pick of the Week so here it is..........ta da........it's Teresa at DiddleDaddleDesigns! She was my partner in the Gratitude Swap that some of us participated in a few weeks ago. More on that when I post about the retreat message I shared.

Time to turn out the lights and keep those bedbugs at bay. Hee hee! There's a bedbug story coming soon.................

Night all!

Sandi