After Thursday and Friday of the retreat Kelli and I were bushed. Â REALLY TIRED…REALLY, REALLY TIRED. Â For Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we averaged only a little sleep…like 6 hours a night. Â People don’t realize how many things there are to manage and track down when organizing a retreat for so many. Â We came home nights, scrambled to get the things done for the next day, and crashed to catch our few hours of sleep.
We are SO thankful for Lou Ann, who owns the quilt shop and retreat center. Â She has made us look good. Â I also want to totally thank Connie for being a SUPER helper. Â She has been so amazing to me and Kelli. Â She has been Bonnie’s chauffeur taking and dropping off Bonnie where she needed to be…buying milk and butter for the girls when we were out and anything else that was needed. What a relief to have them with us.
We snapped a picture with Stoney before she had to take off. Â It was so great to meet Stoney. Â She’s been a blog reader for awhile. Â I’m so happy I finally got to meet her.
Sadly, like everything over the whole retreat weekend. Â There just wasn’t enough time to talk with everyone as much as I wanted.
Barb pulled me aside during the day and wanted to show me the quilts she finished that we taught at the last retreat.  This is May Flowers.  I love her version.  The colors are really nice.  Sadly I was so excited to see it forgot to take a picture of the amazing backing  she had.  It was a soft backing fabric like minkie that was so nice.
This one is out “Thanks to you!” quilt. Â Barb said that this one was a time consuming one….true it is but oh, so worth it!!!
See those wonky stars shine on that background fabric?
It’s so pretty. Â It makes me want to make another one…seriously. Â It’s one of my favorite quilts ever. Â Both of these patterns are in our book Country Girl Modern. (Find it here)
That’s all of the pictures I managed to snap. Â I was thinking more about the people and time with them than I was about the blog. Â Check out Bonnie’s blog. Â She’s so much better at picture taking.
Hey Jo, Thanks to all the retreaters that came out to the vendor Show! I did sell 5 machines + accesssories. Was a great time! Thanks
Looks like you had a great time! Wish I could have been there!
THANK YOU for all of your hard work! I tucked another favorite quilt memory into my book and look forward to the next time I get to see you. . .plus I added 3 more UFOs to the list! Yahoo! I will just keep sewing, just keep sewing, just keep sewing!
Are you going to have Bonnie back some time? I just live over the MOKan state line and I missed her!!!!
BtW, I’m doing your “Ariel’s Quilt” in lieu of Bonnie’s pattern for the “Rail Fence” leader/ender challenge. I’d been collecting the squares for it even before she announced the new challenge, and was very happy to get it underway. Thanks for a great pattern.
Thank you Jo and Kelly for a great time. I got a peek at the behind the scenes of getting TWO retreats going at the same time, for NINETY ladies!! About a block and a half away from each other,…I am sure they got more than their required steps in ! ( and yes,family and friends I got a few in to! lol ) Let me tell you that it is not for the faint of heart. Jo and Kelly pored their hearts into this event. They even had a a family event that popped up and was scheduled for the Saturday during retreat. I am so glad that they felt we were adult enough to take care of things so they could go be with their family. Family is number one in Jo and Kelly’s world. And honestly, it is one of the reasons that I love them so, and I am sure others get that too! I was honored to help and I had a great time. Thank you Jo, Kelli, Bonnie and Lou Ann for an awesome retreat! Lou Ann, is an awesome hostess, her husband is a great help to her, their place is so cute. She opened early and stayed late to help with any of our needs, from dish soap, to a new Tshirt or a hunk of Iowa fabric that we all NEEDED for a quilt, even a perfect shade of yellow from her scrap box appeared in a time of need. Thank you all for coming and making this a successful retreat!
You had a wonderful time happy for all of
This was one of my top 10 weekends. Thanks Kelli Jo and Lou Ann. Can’t wait till next year for the reunion.
Jo, I need some help. The 2nd quilt pictured alone on this portion of your blog. Is it called May Flowers? It sort of has a Southwest look to it? We lost our oldest Granddaughter July 25th , just a few days short of her 21st Birthday on Aug. 5th, my mind is still in a fog about days and or dates. But I would very much like to make that quilt in her memory for her little sister. So any help you can be would be so very much appreciated by us all. Thank you for any help that you can be for this Gammy and little sister.
Jeri Niksich and little Sister Tiffanie Hale
Okay, I broke down and ordered your book! Love the quilts and want to make them. Wish I could have come to your retreat – looks like you had a great time – would have liked to see and meet Bonnie Hunter in person. HUGS… and stitches