Crabapple Hill Retreat!

It was a wonderful 3 days!  I left home at 5:30 am on Friday. The weather was mild, warm and no rain.  This is what I saw when I pulled up to the Crabapple Hill studio. Meg Hawkey, the owner, holds 4 retreats per year.  One each quarter. As I mentioned before, I was on the waiting list and was able to fill the final spot available.

Inside the studio before everyone descended to get started! As you can see it is a small group only 18 attendees.

The place setting was so beautiful and made me want to dig in and get started!

Here are some examples of Crabapple Hill products and Meg's brand new line of fabric is lined up on the bottom left. 

 

 As usual, seeing things in person is so much better than the photos online or even on the patterns.  There is so much I want to do!!  Guess it's a good thing I'm in a beginning quilt class :)

Here is my work table-my space is the empty chair on the left.   My tablemates were all very friendly to a lady on her own. There were ladies there who drove much further than I did. From California and Oregon.

 

The food was delicious and homemade by Meg. We all ate way too much.  Thanks, Meg!

The pattern on the right I won as a doorprize.  It is one of the new releases for Crabapple Hill.  The pattern on the left was in my basket of goodies.

I made the scissor fob (my first one ever).   The acorn was made by Meg and the scissors were for us also!  (I can't get the photo to flip over)

Here is the needlecase I made-this is the front & back.  My very first yo-yo and also, my first gathered trim.  This trim was fabric but I have seen many ribbons gathered like this for edge finishing on ornaments, etc.  I am my own worse critic when learning something new, but Meg helped immensely and I was happy with the results. Thanks again, Meg.

This is the needlecase inside. The feather stitch down the middle on the outside secured the wool flap inside-pretty ingenious!

We also made brooms! Well, witch's brooms-they are 5-6 feet tall!  Here is our group picture with our brooms. I am third from the left in the front row.

This is the retreat stitching project. I love it!  The autumn theme is one I love much better than a Halloween theme.  It can also be displayed well after Halloween is over.

Here is my progress on the project.

 

We also went on a field trip to a store called Beaver Bark.  Sounds interesting, huh?  It is a nursery with a gift shop.  The gift shop is enormous and, at this time of year, filled with a wide selection of Halloween and autumn decoration.  Really lovely shopping opportunity.

 

Altogether it was a wonderful time.  I would love to go again someday. 

What else have I been doing, you ask?  Well, here are 12 quilt squares that I sewed for my beginning quilt class that meets tonight for the 2nd time.  We are making a small quilt that my teacher designed.  I'll keep you updated with my progress.

 

Don't ask how many squares I had to rip out and sew over!!   I am still undecided about my color/fabric selections but will keep going in faith that I will grow to like it better as I progress.

 

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great week!