Swan River Retreat Weekend

I spent this past weekend in Swan River, Manitoba at a quilt retreat that Lori and I organized and was hosted by Wendy and George at their quilt shop called Fabriculous!    Lori and I had an idea to have a retreat with members of her Dauphin guild and my Flin Flon guild with the focus being on having fun and making new quilting friends, you can never have too many quilting friends!  The whole weekend was catered so no cooking or doing dishing, just eating, sewing, socializing and maybe a bit of wine tasting!  Wendy’s shop is set up wonderfully for a retreat as she bought a church to set up her shop and the basement has a large hall area with a kitchen.   We set up the tables in groups of four and had two Dauphin quilters and two Flin Flon quilters in each group.  We asked Wendy to make the seating arrangements and to mix it up a bit so members were not sitting with there best friends…even Lori and I were not sitting together.  That worked out very well as I got to know some of the other guilds members better and that was the whole point.  Lori and I actually didn’t get a lot of time to sew, we were socializing more and helping others shop upstairs, but that is what we love to do.  We enjoying helping others spend their money on fabric!

The food was fabulous and the atmosphere of eating your meals in a quilt shop to candle light with great company was so enjoyable!

The ladies got a lot accomplished and there were many projects finished.

Yes there was a bit of ripping to do but there was always someone there to lend a hand.

Here are some of the tops that were finished.

Here is Lori with her original yet to be named quilt top and who knows maybe it will turn into a pattern for Highway 10 Designs in the future for those that like more intricate piecing!

We also found a few Highway 10 Designs quilts in the shop so have to share pictures of those too! 

Here is Quarter Sections.

Here is Not  Your Mother’s Rail Fence.

Lori and I had a surprise project for the ladies and just told them to bring an old T-shirt, or buy a cheap one, made out of interlock (rib knit doesn’t work).  If you search “ T-shirt scarf tutorials’ on Google you’ll find a lot of links on how to make them.  We cut ours into 1” strips and then followed the instructions.  It makes a quick no-sew project!   I got the ladies to model theirs for a group picture and glad they were patient with me with wanting to get the best picture as I shuffled people around!   I’m use to doing that with quilts not people!

Wendy took the camera so I could jump into the picture to prove I was there!

A big thanks to Wendy and George at Fabriculous for their wonderful hospitality and mischievous nature!     To all the guild members that trusted us to organized this event and make the road trip to Swan River I hope you all had a wonderful time and made new friends!   Everyone agreed we have to do this again so booked our next one for April!   I’m already looking forward to it, hope you can all make it back next year.