Wednesday, November 16, 2011

And then there were 3

...Krista's, that is. Here we are! It really happened!

Loon Lake Retreat 2011

Now I know what it's like when bloggy friends get to meet in person, laugh over shared online experiences, see each other's work firsthand and just realize that friendships made over the internet are every bit as real and fun as those you make in person. I still can't believe these girls made the trip to Vancouver for retreat, but I certainly am glad they did. Felicity is a local Vancouver girl but it was her first time on this retreat. We had a ball and it was really fun for many of my local friends to meet them, too!

As always, retreat was a blast. This time I think I may have been socializing a wee bit too much, so productivity was down, but that's perfectly okay by me because I had a ball. Lots of laughs, a bit of wine, copious quantities of junk food (an apple just doesn't cut it at midnight when you want to sew for 2 more hours!), a bit more wine. Heaps of inspiration. Everyone else got tons done! Check out this conference room - Bena's One Block Wonder is at the back on the design wall, our Christmas block raffle blocks are next to it stuck to the white board, Rossie's French General X table topper is in the foreground. There are no quilters in sight because this photo was taken at 2:30 a.m. Only the fittest sewists can survive until 2:30 (or maybe it's those with the best chocolate supply)!

Loon Lake Retreat 2011

Loon Lake Retreat 2011
Here are Krista and Felicity, holding a 2:30 a.m. design charrette on Krista's gorgeous bee blocks.

As predicted, it snowed! It really came down all of Saturday afternoon. Wet and miserable and cold. I held off on the snowball fight. I'm pretty sure there wasn't one other person I could convince to leave the building. In fact, we had to move our (covered outdoor) basting tables inside to the lodge foyer because frostbite was setting in for those poor people trying to pin their quilts. I also heard the 505 was coming out of the can like chunky snowflakes!

Loon Lake Retreat 2011

Here's our motley crew in the rowdy corner of the work room.

Loon Lake Retreat 2011
K2-Krista, Sindy, Felicity and K3-Krista

K3 was busy running her one-woman craft fair sweat shop for three days. It's a wonder she went home with any stock, everything was so beautiful we wanted to buy it all! I managed to convince her to sell me a gorgeous Echino and flannel scarf (see first photo) and all was going so well until I discovered there was a rat on my scarf. Eek!

Loon Lake Retreat 2011
Here she is turning a zippy pouch

K2 kept us in stitches (which is better to say than she was killing us - because she could have!) with her 5 lb Gingher hedge trimmers. Look at those things (below)!

Loon Lake Retreat 2011

I was busy with some gift-making and did manage to get binding on a queen sized quilt that K2 beautifully quilted on her long arm for me. It's the first time I've had a homemade quilt to sleep under at retreat (even though it's really intended for my son T for Christmas...every quilt needs a test drive). No photos of that yet though.

Loon Lake Retreat 2011
The beginnings of a robot tumbler pillow cover for my nephew - I brought my GO! Baby for people to try out and used it myself to cut out 3 sets of tumblers

Loon Lake Retreat 2011
Here are my house tape measures in progress. I was testing Laurraine's pattern. It is now available in her pattern shop - a fantastic gift idea for any sewist!

I'm still catching up on sleep and unpacking my large tote. I'm excited about the progress on my Christmas gifts and hope to resume stitching this weekend. As always, parting is such sweet sorrow (so I'm not sure why they look so darn happy). They were crying on the inside, I bet.

Loon Lake Retreat 2011
The Kristamobile departs for Seattle. Sniff, sniff. Thanks for coming, girls.
You're both the adorablest.

And there you have it. Retreat Report 2011. I can't wait until next year. Stay tuned for a reveal of the sweetest mini that K2 made for me!! I just need some light to take a decent photo.




24 comments:

Kristen said...

Looks like a blast! I love those houses! You crack me up on the whole name thing!:)

Heather D. said...

Looks awesome!! Does K2 have a blog?? I follow spotted stones already and love it. Where was your retreat that it snowed this weekend? Whistler?

felicity said...

Fabulous summary! I really want a pair of those crazy Gingher shears. They seriously rock.

Barb said...

Wow, looks like such a fun time. I was wondering too...where is retreat?

What Comes Next? said...

Waaaah! I wanna come next time - hope there's room! It looks like you had an absolutely incredible time, even at 2:30am - that's some kinda stamina!

Sindy said...

I had a great time - even though I chose to begin a project with 672 - 2 1/2" and 336 - 1 1/4" squares, kept getting asked "which Krista are you", and came home with a cold... I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat!!!

Poppyprint said...

haha Sindy. I think I should have made K4 and K5 buttons for you and Felicity, just to make it extra interesting for everyone.

People, retreat is held at Loon Lake in the University of BC research forest. It's near Maple Ridge, B.C. about a 75 minute drive east of Vancouver.

PinkGranny said...

oh my gosh! What a blast! The projects look great. I have a pair of Ginghers too.. I wanted them so bad but they are heavy. Thanks for sharing your fun.

monika@mysweetprairie.ca said...

That is SO awesome! Wow what a fun post. You are the canuck sewing summit. ; )

Right on! ps- i need one of those tape measure houses thingies! too cool
~Monika

Lynne (Lily's Quilts) said...

Oh that weekend looks like complete total and utter bliss, what a great set of photos.

Mrs Flying Blind... said...

So brilliant, so not fair - need that Missus commenting before me to get her organising hat on!!

Unknown said...

It sounds like a great time was had by all and that amongst the fun and beverages that lots of sewing was done
Sometime I'll get away on a crafting retreat (of some sort)

{Leila}Where the Orchids Grow said...

That looks like SO much fun!!

randi--i have to say said...

i went to my first quilting retreat this weekend and i loved it! will definitely be going next year!

your time looks like it was great. so much sewing and smiles! :)

Kristie said...

Sounds amazing!!

Dianne said...

Great Post Krista! So nice to re-vsit our weekend with the Rowdy Crowd in the Corner :0)
Thanks for sharing your blog friends with us they are LOVELY!!

Nina Lise@Mrs Moen said...

What a wonderful chaotic and colourful place to spend time with your friends! What does a non-Krista middleaged woman need to do to get an invitation?

**nicke... said...

i want to go to a sewing retreat soooo badly!

Marie said...

Well I know better than to be jealous but I'm wishing I could have joined you...all three of the Krista's and everyone else too! Not only would I have LOVED to have a weekend of sewing I also love the snow (yes, I'm one of those winter people).

I've already gone to check out the tape measure patterns. Those houses are looking awesome!

I'm tempted to get robot fabric for my middle child who's almost 20. Wow, that's the first time I've seen that in text, it's sort of shocking. Thank goodness I'M still young;-)

Thanks for sharing Krista #1 !

Angela said...

So fun Krista! I'm glad you all had a blast and got at least a little work done. ;) Quilting retreats are a special place in time.

Live a Colorful Life said...

I think it's great that you all spell your name the same. My daughter-in-law is a "Christa." Anyway, I totally AM coming to one of your retreats. Wow, that lodge is gorgeous!! The little houses are too cute. Looks like much fun was had by all. And meeting friends, who are really already friends!, is the bestest!

Live a Colorful Life said...

I just ordered that pattern--SO cute!

Holly said...

It sounds like such a great time! I'm glad you three Kristas got to have some quilting time together in person.

Laurraine's house tape measures are so cute, it was cool to see them last night at the VMQG meeting!

Unknown said...

Well it looks like you all had a blast! The Kristas are the adorablest. How lucky of you to meet fellow bloggers, and to spend time working together. One day this will happen for me too!

Those scissors are frighteningly huge btw; her forearm muscles must be ginormous!