Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Retreat Feet

Retreat Feet


Some of the best things about retreat are being comfy, cozy and relaxed enough to enjoy your sewing. You may find this collection of photos a little weird, but I find it very amusing to see how everyone adjusts to sewing away from home, in a large hall with 24 women aged 35 to 70+ all trying to establish a comfortable temperature for themselves. Despite maverick thermastat adjusters, fan operators and door openers, I think we all managed fairly well.


The other part of retreat that I always find so shocking is just how rapidly we can all absolutely take over a space, carve out our own little plot of plastic real estate and establish a work station. Here we have the room 'before' the invasion:

IMG_6547


And now...approximately 10 minutes after the doors open (and I'm not exaggerating by much!) we get this:


retreat view2 2009


Three years ago when we showed up for our first retreat here the manager was utterly speechless by our takeover. He could not believe (a) how much crap everyone brought, and (b) the speed with which it all found it's way into the hall, onto the tables, walls and floor! He and the staff love us - we are so wrapped up in our sewing, eating and having a ball that we don't have time to make any demands on them. Plus, we're so incredibly grateful that someone else is cooking & serving the food, clearing up the dishes, making the beds and heating up the hot tub that every time we see a staff member we cannot help but thank them over and over. People like to feel appreciated, don'cha know! I'll post more retreat photos soon....plus a wee tutorial I wrote there to get me out of an embarassing needle-storage situation.


Yesterday when I emailed Paulette to let her know she'd won my giveaway, she replied with the most excited email I'd ever seen. My blood pressure went up just reading it! So cute. Your little package will be in the mail soon, Paulette!

4 comments:

bingo~bonnie said...

oh wow that looks like a lot of fun! I love the "retreat feet" pics ;) If I had been there I would have been barefoot on my right side... I can not use my foot pedal with shoes on :P

That is awesome to read that Paulette was that excited to win!!! :)

Love from Texas! ~bonnie

Pam said...

I see my feet!!

It was a fabulous retreat as always! I totally got carried away with my sewing and forgot to go into the Hot Tub -- next year!

Anonymous said...

Man oh man you don't follow a blog for a couple of weeks and look at all the great stuff you miss!!

Great reading! Awesome retreat - as always!! Got home from 4 days of sewing and actually set up my machine straight away, found fabric in my newly organized stash for binding and am almost finished hand sewing the binding down on Sunaya's baby quilt. Any ideas on the best way to get it to Lexington, Kentucky?

Andrea

Dianne said...

Wow my first portrait on the internet and it happens to be my feet....hmmm. A fabulous retreat Krista toooooo much fun. Like Pam I was so wrapped up in sewing I missed the hottub! The weekend inspired me to clean my sewing room...oops - studio today. I must say it looks fabulous dahling just like your photos!!!