A group of us had a “pre-festival” retreat at a friends beach house.  She actually has two beach houses so several of us were able to join in the fun.  Most importantly “mom” was able to arrive early from Utah to join us!  “Mom” comes to Houston every year for Quilt Festival and we train all year long just to keep up with her!  There were 9 of us in attendance for the retreat, we all sewed together in one room and the tables were arranged so we all had a view of the gulf.  For meals we took turns, Janet’s husband had sent a brisket for us and it was fabulous.  Marilynn made a sinful cheesecake.  I was in charge of baked potatoes and the goodies for those, as you know I am not really a cook so this was right up my alley!

Quilts are however up my alley and so I offered to bring a little trunk show with me – I brought a variety of quilts to share.

I love retreats because we get to see so many projects being worked on and we quite often get to see these projects get finished during that time.  I also love to be able to share tips and tricks I have learned from so many expert quilters over the years!  Someone once told me I was really smart – I corrected them and explained that I “hang” out with really smart people and regurgitate everything they tell me!

Here are a few photos from our short time in paradise!

There is a story behind the making of this t-shirt quilt….  We did not have room in the house we were sewing in to properly measure the borders so she and I would hike down the stairs of the sewing house and up the stairs to the other house to measure and pin the borders.  I am a stickler about borders so each border required a trip.  We made at least 4 trips just for borders but we also had to make extra trips because we would forget things – pins, ruler, rotary cutter, mat etc.  There are a lot of steps at the beach!

May you find your “Little Paradise” today!