I love sewing. I don’t have any local friends to get together with for a sewing day, so I have learned to love to sew by myself. But I cherish the connections I’ve made through blogging with so many other like-minded women, who are also different and fun and interesting. I always try to seize the chance to meet them in person, this time for a weekend together sewing and quilting.
I love making lists, so I made a list of words and phrases to describe our weekend quilting retreat:
New WIPs, More UFOs, Stash Building, Idea Sharing, Inspiration, Advice, Motherly, Sisterly, Friendship, Laughter, Bonding, Heartwarming, AMAZING!
Since most people don’t like to have their picture taken, I took pictures of everyone’s sewing machines and workstations instead. We all love to see people’s creative space, so I thought it would be cool to see our work stations at retreat. (Doris has a group photo, which I think she will share soon.)
Cindy’s work space
Amanda’s work space
Doris‘ work space
Shelly’s work space
Rene’s work space.
Rene’s sister Michelle joined us, but I missed getting a photo of her workspace before she had to pack up to return home. Sorry Michelle!
Toni’s work space
Stephanie‘s work space
Mary‘s work space
My work space (which I photographed in between projects so it looks a little too neat and clean!)
How far would you travel to spend time with a group of like-minded women you know but you’ve never met before? If it means the privilege of getting together with such an amazing group of women, I highly recommend it!
PS – I got a lot of projects done at retreat which I will plan to share with you in another post.
Terri's Notebook 
Looks like a fabulous retreat! Can’t wait to see what you are making with the Riley Blake Christmas fabric.
What a great group of inspiring people! I’m glad you got to do this again:)
It looks like you had a blast! I love this type of thing. I drove 3 hours to go to my Volcano Arts Book Making class, twice. I love the people I met there… you know Vicki! She’s one of them!
I love seeing everyone’s work stations, too! So fun! Love all the fabrics & colors!
Hi Terri! You must have had great time together! I should fly to meet my sewing friends – perhaps I should join you next time!
I’m looking forward to see what you were sewing!
xxx Teje
I love seeing everyone’s workspace (though yours is far too neat!). I love seeing the machines, fabrics and accessories. I’m so pleased you got the opportunity to meet up with your friends again and probably make some new ones too. Thanks for sharing some of your piccies. I would travel a long way to meet up with friends cos you know that old saying, the road to a friends house is never long… though in this case it’s a quilty retreat lol but the sentiment is still the same 🙂
This looks like so much fun! I’d travel pretty far — as long as I could get there by car. I can’t imagine taking my sewing machine and all my gear on a plane! But by car, oh the places I’d go! Glad you had a great time!
Terri, I love your retreat recap! What a great list of phrases and pictures of our sewing areas. I can’t wait to see pictures of your projects. To answer your last question, to retreat with y’all (sorry…had to put that contraction in…haha), I’d travel as far as needed…what a fabulous group of women…I’m humble, proud and happy to call y’all (there I go again) my friends. Can’t wait to get together again!
It looks like you ladies had a ball!! I love the workspace pictures-like a little window into each woman’s heart and process 🙂 I sew in a bee every month and love getting together with “the girls,” so for sure, I’d drive just about anywhere to sew with friends!
I totally agree with your list of words/phrases . . . And that your sewing area is entirely too neat! So is Stephanie’s — wonder what she was up to just then? I had so much fun. I wore myself completely out, but I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Can’t wait till next year’s retreat!!!!!
Rene, y’all just cracked me up. And I agree with both you and Shelly, Terri’s workspace picture IS too tidy! It was the most amazing weekend, spent with the most amazing women. Thank you for including me. And to anyone thinking you can only do this with traveling by car, I traveled by plane (with my Featherweight machine) and I highly recommend it! Totally worthwhile!
Hey Terri – that first photo of you three turned out great! So much fun AGAIN! And you documented the work stations so well Terri. Yes, they do say a lot about each person. We could discuss that for an hour or two couldn’t we? Glad to spend another great weekend with you and getting inspiration from you Terri!
It looks like everyone was getting some wonderful quilt blocks together! How fun to be able to meet and work with those you connect with online! I can’t wait to see what you completed!
I’m glad you had a great time, looks like everyone had a productive weekend. Lucky you to meet all the faces behind all those blogs?
Oh wow! that looks like loads of fun;o) Make a gal want to get out the suit case and machine case and make tracks lol!
That was fun to see the workspaces! And it is easy to imagine how much fun the whole weekend must have been for you all. The ability to ask questions and see how other people work would be invaluable.
So much fun! I would love to do something like this one day!
Great post Terri. I loved seeing the sewing machine pics. Do you know anything about Mary’s black Singer? It looks Vintage.
I think we need a “real” workspace picture from you.
Linda
Love how you posted photos of the workspaces. Wish I had thought of that. I had a great time and am glad we got to sit together so I could soak up some of your amazing ideas just by watching you work!
i love how you blogged our workspaces. you are so clever!! each photo made me smile. i regret not taking more photos of the weekend. the ones i did take looked yellow, so i guess it’s not a big deal…
i’m baking more cupcakes (before it heats up to 100 degrees for the next two weeks)….do you wanna come and frost some of them? i could use some help! 🙂
What fun! I can’t even imagine being able to meet a bunch of crafty people and spend the day sewing with them. How exciting. I really love all the work space photographs you took. It’s neat seeing all the different machines and fabric choices everyone worked with 🙂