Week #3 of Hubby's Retirement

For Week #3 of hubby's retirement, I vamoosed to Maple Grove, KY for Runaway Retreat. The original buildings date back into the 1890s or earlier. The Sit 'n' Sew was spacious and the bedding was adequate. After all, how much time do we actually spend in our beds?? The food was fine and the selections were enough to suit probably everyone. The plus side of that is we didn't have to cook or clean up.

The ladies I went with were wonderful and the other 101 ladies at retreat (yes, that's right! There were 107 of us although some were commuters) were hilarious and friendly. Over all I had a good time and would surely consider going again.

Probably the highlight of  retreat was the class I took on Thursday. It was Machine Applique with Alice Ridge. What a delight! She was very prepared, patient, and never lost her sense of humor. She promised to teach five methods of applique and she succeeded: skinny stem, raw-edge, turned under, fusible, and window fusible. All in her class loved her and I'm pretty sure she got glowing recommendations for next year. Hopefully she can come up with some other classes and/or techniques since, besides the class she taught us, she also taught New York Beauty.

While I didn't get my project 100% completed, here's a picture of my accomplishment, front & back. Isn't the back pretty too?

Sorry about the tablecloth showing through my background. It's a cloudy day so indoor pictures are a must. Blech!

I also worked a tad on my embroidery project. If you'll recall, this is a Kathy Schmitz pattern called Be Mine. The only chance I had to work on this was Thursday evening after class and dinner & program. My sewing machine and supplies were packed up after class since I had to take it to a classroom and didn't want to set it up again at Sit 'n' Sew. Looking forward to finishing this one off soon.

My main project for retreat is a pattern by Cluck Cluck Sew. It's called Simplicity and you know what? It truly is! The pattern is written clearly and includes pressing directions. All the pieces go together perfectly and there is only one square's seams that have to matched up even though it looks more complicated than that. Can I say it again? Simplify!!!!

I'm using a variety of Kansas Troubles fabric lines for the color and the backgrounds were received in a fabric swap many moons ago at a Todd Hall Retreat. This is a picture of four blocks -- I actually sewed up 24 with 15 more to go! I feel like I made a lot of progress on this one!

After I got home yesterday afternoon, read a few blogs, and unpacked a bit, I picked up my knitting to relax a bit. My Lady Claire socks are coming along. I'm working on the heel flap. There were three ways to go with it: Simple Heel, A Little Bit Fancy Heel, and a Decorative Heel. I decided to go middle of the road with the Little Bit Fancy choice.

Today is the first day of Fall and it actually feels like it today. Took Gracie for a long-overdue walk this morning and it was only 59 degrees. Loved it and so did she! Welcome back, Mom!