Man oh man ... it's always over in the blink of the eye ... the fun the laughing the hanging out the good times. Of all of it, it's the laughing that I remember the most.
This is the second year we've held our retreat at the Sleep Inn Conference Center at 29 Pines. It's a cool place ... only a little over a year old on Hwy 29 just north of I-94 on the way to Chippewa Falls in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Great place ... I can't wait to go back next year!
I tried to take a bunch of pictures ... what I wish I had done was take more of all the cool pincushions everyone had. No two were the same ... so much fun to look at and covet. I was so jealous that one group got this needle case as a gift ... but guess what? One arrived in the mail for me on Saturday ... it's soooo cute and what a souvenir.
One thing I've always hated about group functions is having to wear a name tag. There's something about plastering your name on your chest that just bugs me! {Don't ask me how I feel about being forced to sit in a circle.}
At our retreat, people need to get to know each other because we do Secret Santas! More on that later. I made these tags for everyone to sit near their sewing area so they could get to know each other.
I found the picture holders at Pier One ... they look like a little ice cube with a wire sticking out of it. The star at the top had a clip to hold the photo.
I used a decorative blade to cut the background paper from one of those great lines by Daisy D's. Printed everyone's name onto bright white linen paper, punched them out and inked the edges. You should see the font ... it looked like it was stitched. The ladies were squealing! I found these little brads that had pictures of santa or elves or packages ... used them to hold the name to the background. The bells around the base were great colors ... pukey green, hot pink, teal blue. Tied them on with some kind of sparkly stuff and a little ribbon. The place cards looked so fun sitting in a group on the table ... I wouldn't let anyone take theirs until the whole group had arrived. Didn't want to lose the effect!
One of our retreat traditions is that it ALWAYS snows ... every single time. Five years worth of snow! The weather was so mild driving over to Eau Claire, unlike last year when it started sleeting as everyone drove in and then changed to snow that covered everything and kept us stuck inside. 12" last year.
Because it had been so nice, I was surprised when quilters came running in on Friday morning excited about the snow falling. When I peeked out, I was shocked to see that it was a total white out ... I had visions of us being stuck in there for days ... and I had some shopping I wanted to do! It stopped almost as quickly as it started and within a few hours was completely gone. It was fun while it lasted and got us all in the mood to sew.
Another one of our retreat traditions is that my sister Sue makes centerpieces for me each year. She'll call me up in the middle of Summer and ask what my theme is going to be ... like I know that far ahead of time! So I mumble something and she watches for something to catch her eye at the floral wholesaler. Sue never ever disappoints me!
The greens are all from our family farm up by Taylor's Falls. Really fresh and they smell sooo good! Sue found some burlap ribbon that had those fabulous colors like you see in the Grinch story. Bright and fun! At the end of the retreat, we draw names for doorprizes and some lucky gals get to take them home for the holidays.
Another tradition we have at this retreat is Secret Santas. After everyone has arrived, those who want to take part toss their name in a hat and we draw. During the rest of the retreat, everyone hides prizes at the sewing area for their SS ... you have to be really sneaky and clever sometimes because I swear ... some of those women never ever leave their seat!
Much to the dismay of the group sitting at my table, my first gift was the now infamous Snowman Timer! He was so cute but oooohhh so annoying.
I'd see that someone was getting ready to do the next part of their quilt ... like pressing or sewing on a border ... and then I'd set the timer to see if they could beat it. Boy that was fun!! By Sunday ... maybe not so much.
Hey Julie ... and Deb and Mary ... tick tock tick tock tick tock ...
On Saturday night we reveal who our SS was and give a final bigger gift. One of the things I make them do is introduce the person they're giving to ... forces everyone to sleauth out something about their new friend. I'm always surprised a that the things I've learned about people I thought I knew. How do they discover this stuff??
We'll let just about ANYONE into this retreat. Including other shopowners! Here's Sue Friedman from Quilt Essentials in Oshkosh, Wisconson. Sue's a cousin of my worker bee Chris ... commonly referred to as my Left Hand Man {she's a lefty in case you couldn't figure that out}. Sitting next to her is Chris' sister Ruth who has only been quilting for about a year and a half but can she make quilts!
There are lots of other family groups who show up at the retreat ... cousins, sisters, moms and daughters ... and friends. Lots of friends!
One thing you can never do at a retreat is turn your back on your friends. Look what happened to poor Deb when she tried to make herself just a little more comfortable for her massage! {Rick and Jim from Stress Relief in Rochester are another tradition.}
Just in case someone forgot to bring along supplies or maybe a project ... which is highly unlikely given the amount of stuff everyone brings ... we bring the Cottage to the retreat. This year I brought a trunk show from Chickadee Hollow Designs from New London. Almost everything was Christmas related. Terry Atkinson sent along her project from Winner's Bouquet. Two things that sold out in the blink of an eye were the bobbin winder and all of our frosted rulers from OLFA. Look how cute our vending area is!
It's fun seeing what everyone is working on. Impromptu display walls popped up all over the place!
Everyone must have had a good time ... the hotel staff told me that almost all of the rooms we had this year were reserved for next year! How cool is that? We have room to expand a bit more ... so ... SAVE THE DATE!
November 6 through 9, 2008 ... only eleven and a half months away!
