Catching up on stuff.......

That's right, catching up on stuff is what I have been doing. That includes catching up on some sleep, too. :-) Going to a quilting retreat is as close as you can get at my age to the slumber parties we had when I was a kid. (I don't know why they were called "slumber parties" as almost nobody did any sleeping!) I had lots of stuff that I took to the retreat that needed to be put away and I'd do a little of that and then I would sit down and start working on some of the projects I took along. Imagine that?!! There was laundry that needed to be done and just a bit of cleaning so I got that out of the way and this afternoon I just sat and stitched. It was lovely listening to the rain on the roof. Rain is my favorite sound in nature. I just didn't realize that while I was enjoying the rain, only an hour away there were severe storms and a tornado blowing into the Twin Cities! Never would have imagined it as it never got really hot and humid like it usually does before storms. But the good thing in all of this, is that no one was hurt, although lots and lots of trees came down. Our son lives not too far from some of the streets that were hardest hit but no damage there. More thunder and rain rolled through tonite and once again I was in my sewing chair so I could listen to it patter on the roof. :-)
Instead of sharing retreat pictures right now, I'm going to interupt them with pics from the Prior Lake Quilter's Birthday Party that I went to on Monday evening.

It was good to see old friends and there was lots of Show 'n Tell, too. I only took a couple of pics of that and neither turned out well. We were all having too much fun "oohing and aahing" over stuff and so I wasn't paying attention to my camera settings. oops!

I got the rest of these right, though............That's Arlis, one of the original members of the group that was formed in 1987. She gathered together bits and pieces of info into a little "history of the Prior Lake Quilters". We all enjoyed it and leader, Wallace, said that Arlis did such a good job that he was going to nominate her for Historian. :-)

There was a huge birthday cake and punch and flowers at each table. They were the best smelling carnations! All those who had been leaders during the groups 20 years were given a vase of the carnations. That meant I got a vase of flowers and they still smell just as good now as they did that night!

Wallace is lighting the candles...........

and then those who had been leaders (there are more gals on the other side of the cake), were told to blow out the candles. Do you suppose we were wishing for fabric!! :-)
Things got really exciting when it came time to draw the winners of the "Birthday Bags". Member Pam brought this idea to the group. It works like this.............each month, any member can bring a bag or basket of fabrics, pattern, kit, whatever that can be given as a prize. Beside each prize item is placed a small empty gift bag. Members must buy a "ticket" for 25 cents each (no limit) and then place those tickets (with their name on them) in the bag next to the prize they want to win. The money raised is used to fund programs for the group. Clever, huh?

There were more than twenty great prizes that were given away and as you can see above, it brought smiles and laughter when winners were named. Some of us got really lucky. That includes me! I won three prizes and a couple other members did, too. I only bought $3.00 worth of tickets so felt I was really lucky! I realized I haven't taken a picture of what I won so can't show you the goodies. I'll get to that tomorrow. And it's back to the retreat tomorrow, too. More rain is expected here on Thursday. I'm going to work on my BOM blocks so instead of sitting to stitch, I'll be sorting through my wool to find just the right fabrics for my blocks. It's only going to be in the 60's here so that is just the right cool weather to get me in the mood to work with wool!

Have a great day!

Sandi