Retreat Redux, part two

I'm back with some more photos from retreat. I've been busily working away on more Christmas and birthday presents since returning. Unfortunately, I can't show them to you because they are for family that may be lurking in blogland!

Every time I go on retreat, I think to myself, this time I will stay organized, stay on task and keep my table neat so I can find things. Well, once again this proved easier said than done! Here's a shot of my personal little world of creative chaos:

I was working on a free-cut, curved pieced banner using all hand dyed fabric (by my friend Kathy) and a couple of commercial batiks. I saw this project in a magazine a few years ago and it's been on the back burner since then....in fact I think these fabrics and the photocopied magazine article have gone on several retreats only to return home in their neatly folded pile untouched! Not this time! Oh no, this time, they came home looking like this:

And finally, this:

Hopefully I can carve out some more time for this project over the holidays in December. Lots of quilting ideas are percolating however I can't let them gather too much steam as Christmas presents take priority at the moment. You see, the four of us are so very lucky, we are going on a Caribbean vacation next week!! We're heading east, stopping en route at my parents home for a night near Toronto (because the journey from Vancouver to Barbados, with 2 kids, all in one shot, is just not fun); all gifts will be left there for my siblings and their families. The great thing is, I'll be done the lion's share of gift-making by next Wednesday!! The second (but bigger) great thing is that my sister and her family AND my parents will all be waiting for us in Barbados!!!

I can give you a wee peak (edited: that's a freudian slip because the local ski hills are opening tonight, you know! What I meant was, peek)at this one, without giving too much away:

Before I take a 2 week hiatus from the grey skies of Vancouver & my blog to lie on the beach and read books (you can hate me a little bit, it's okay), I'll leave you with a sweet little tutorial for a great gift you can make your stitching friends. It makes prominent use of your very own label, so they'll always remember where it came from!