In a previous post, I mentioned that our Neighborhood Sewing Guild (Elgin Stitches of Time) recently held our first annual Sewing Retreat at the Hampton Inn, Aurora, IL. It began on a Thursday noon and ended on Saturday about suppertime. In this post, I’d like to share a few of the pictures from that retreat…we were all disappointed that we didn’t take more photos, but we were all busy… Sewing!!
A dozen of us women spent those days sewing, sewing , sewing! We worked on projects that varied from garments to quilts to doll clothes! Along with all the sewing, there was lots of fellowship and eating (of course!). The Hampton Inn holds numerous retreats all year long from sewing, quilting, scrap-booking and knitting & crocheting. So, this hotel knows just what amenities are necessary to hold a successful retreat!
Our room was very large so each gal had a long table on which to place her sewing machine. We had ironing stations around the room; a cutting station to cut out patterns. Betty Losselyong brought along her AccuQuilt Go cutter and all her wonderful templates so we could cut out many different quilt designs!
Above, Carol is laying out her quilts to determine just the right combination of blocks for each row!
In the two photos above, Mary is using the Quilting Design Wall to lay out her entire quilt. Once she decided upon the right combination of blocks, she took each row to her machine and started piecing them together.
The picture above is me working with my muslin jacket pattern on the wool fabric (see previous post for more on this jacket…). It was necessary to cut out each piece separately as I had to match the plaid!! It actually worked out beautifully! In my next post, I will show you a picture of the finished jacket… I am still working on getting the buttons sewn on, but the rest of it is done! Yeah!! The deep red wool fabric arrived from the fabric store so that I can now get started on the matching skirt!
We enjoyed a Chinese meal that was delivered to the hotel on Friday evening. The Hampton had delicious Cream of Broccoli/Cheese soup which we ate along with the salad and sandwich fixings we brought along. A kitchenette was attached to our Sewing Room with free coffee & teas, free soda, a sink, a microwave and room for all of our snacks and goodies. Needless to say, no one went hungry that weekend!
We hope you’ll consider joining us next year for the 2nd Annual Sewing Retreat… It will be the third weekend of January, 2015…
Also, come join us this Thursday, February 20 at 7Pm for our monthly meeting. We will be working on Scrap Therapy Quilting! Bring along your rotary cutter, mat, ruler, and SCRAPS! Respond to this post and I’ll send you the address for the meeting and additional information!
I look forward to hearing from you… and Happy Sewing & Quilting!
