Second Annual Swan River Retreat

I had a fabulous weekend at a Quilt Retreat and it was great getting together with so many wonderful quilters.   Lori and I organized the event and invited members from our guilds in Dauphin and Flin Flon to join us so the groups can interact more.  It was hosted by the Fabriculous Quilt Shop in Swan River, Manitoba.   Owners Wendy and George were awesome hosts and the caterers they hired were amazing.    We had 22 ladies join in on the fun and I think a few new friendships were formed!   We worked on our own projects, ate delicious meals, drank a bit of wine and the ‘Die Hards” where there until 2:30am,  hence my exhaustion today.   I’m not use to staying up so late and not getting to sleep until 4am but it was all worth it.  It was also so great to just hang out with Lori for the weekend, we only get that chance about twice a year so those times are special to me.

I have a lot, and I mean a lot, of pictures to share so lets start with the shop.  Fabriculous is a must stop for any quilter traveling through this area and worth making a detour for if it is not on your direct route. It is a shop full of inspiration!  Wendy is also an incredible supporter of our Highway 10 Design pattern business and has made up samples and kits of our patterns in the shop.   

Here is her Lug Nuts sample in Cotton and Steel fabrics.

And here is her Quarter Sections sample and has kits available.

Now all the sewing action was happening in the workroom in the basement.  Everyone got right down to business Friday afternoon.

We had everyone seated so they were beside someone for the other guild and when you have quilting in common it is easy to make conversation and have a good time. 

  Now don’t let the sweet smiles of these next two fool you…they were pure trouble and it was great! 

Lots of “Die Hard” quilters and you would never guess which one was sewing until the wee hours of the morning while listening to the ridiculous conversations going on around her.  Wendy said she usually only buys 2 boxes of wine for her retreats….we are a 4 box group!

Let’s see some of the finished projects!

We just spread ourselves all over the shop once it was closed.

Love this picture of Sheri laying out her Lug Nuts quilt in the shop, she wouldn’t stop talking about that quilt!

So what was I working on at the retreat?  Well I did get to start my Metro Rings quilt but then Lori and I offered to help Wendy piece new sample tops of our patterns so she can kit them for her booth at the Creative Stitches show in Calgary next weekend. So here is what we made, a Pedal to the Metal quilt in modern fabrics.  We also made a second quilt top but that one is still secret as we don’t have the pattern printed (or named) yet.

Wendy did a Tuffet Demonstration for us on Saturday and I thought it was one of the coolest projects I’ve seen in a quilt shop.  If your curious about the project you can contact Wendy through their website here.

We had a Show and Tell Saturday night after supper and here are just a few pictures.

There is a great story behind Sandra’s “Oh My” quilt and it had to do with our last retreat.   Lets just say the “Mischief Fairies” switched out the fabric on her hand embroidery hoop late one night at the first retreat and this is what she found embroidered the next morning.   Love that she turned it into a cute wall hanging and didn’t go with our suggested applique design that we the Mischief Fairies left. 

I think I’ll end this post with a picture of us having breakfast in the shop on Sunday.  We had all be talking about the fabulous quiches we had last year for brunch and we were so happy to be served them again.  Thanks again to Wendy and George for all the laughs and all your hard work to make it a great weekend.