Back to Bonny's Retreat........

I have much more to share about our weekend at Bonny's Quilt Haven. It is just THE BEST retreat! The thing that makes it so unique is that there can only be a maximum of eight guests. There were six of us and I think that's the perfect number. Another thing that makes Bonny's retreat unique is that she does all the cooking and each meal is an event in itself. There are different dishes, napkins, centerpieces, etc. for every meal!

This is the start of our day on Saturday morning. That's Sharon, Arlis and Laura preparing to eat the delicious breakfast Bonny prepared. There was that huge bowl of mixed fruit and sausages and on our plates is a blueberry German pancake hotdish. Syrup was optional but it was so good who needed syrup!

After breakfast we got right back to our sewing. This is the design wall where we posted our projects as we got things done. There's Laura's Halloween wallhanging and below it is a wallhanging that Sharon is making. She spent all of Friday evening cutting out the intricate pieces for it. It is going to be so cute. The blue and white blocks are Stephanie's project and above it are some small sampler blocks that Arlis was working on. The 30's blocks are ones Collette did last fall but we wanted representation from all of us. :-) Many of you may recognise the purse panels that are Nanette's purse pattern. More on that later. And way up in the corner are my embroidered blocks from Gail Pan's Christmas BOM (they are so sweet and if you scroll down on my sidebar and click on her block, you will find all of them). I didn't do them at the retreat. I started them a little over a week ago and got one done each day. I loved the blocks so much that I had to bring them to share. A discussion came up and we wondered what word will be on the final ninth block. "Comfort" was the word we think she might use and "Rejoice" was another choice. I'll take a close-up photo and post tomorrow.

My daughter Collette was so happy to have time to cross stitch. She enjoys that more than quilting but also loves to crochet........and craft..........and cook.......we just love to have fun. :-)

Stephanie is working on more blocks for her blue and yellow quilt. Wait til you see how cool it looks.

Here I am getting ready to do add the batting and backing to the purse panels so I can machine quilt them. Unfortunately, my walking foot sounded like a robot walking across my machine and it just wasn't working right. Sooo, I had to put that project away. There's other stuff in this picture that kept me busy and I'll get to that later, too. :-)

Before we knew it, it was time for lunch. Look at this gorgeous centerpiece that was at our table.

And then there was this delicious meal! I don't mean to make you hungry but oh, was this good. That's fresh cucumbers and onions for salad and then tomatoes with fresh mozarella cheese and some German style potatoes. It was that Chicken Pocket on the plate that really had us all saying "Oh, this is soooooo good!" Bonny said that it's just Pillsbury Crescent rolls (two for each pocket) filled with a chicken filling (there was cream cheese in it) and then McCormick's "Crustins" sprinkled on top. It's grocery day for me so I'll be picking up all the fixings so I can make these!
And as if that wasn't enough, there was this blueberry/peach cobbler with ice cream that melted in your mouth. We all ate every bit of it!

After a meal like that, we decided to take a break and go "into town". After all, we were in Hutchinson, MN and it's home to Lynette Jensen's Thimbleberries Studio and shop. We had all received a gift on Friday evening from her shop - a fat quarter, a pattern, a "come-back" coupon and her latest catalog and we wanted to say "Thanks".

This is the front of her shop...."Main Street Cotton Shop"..........and
here's a view as we entered..........

and here's a view from the back of the shop. We wandered about, in and out of the fabrics and we all bought a little something . Then it was time to head back to Bonny's. Well, that was our intention but we found another little shop to stop at and that's where I'll begin tomorrow. :-)

Have a good day!

Sandi