I'm off to retreat!

Quilt Retreats! What a wonderful invention. I’m leaving tomorrow for the Lincoln Quilt Guild retreat. This is probably my 20th one!!! I started going the first year we moved back to Lincoln and that was 1987. I got here in July and by Sept I was in guild and on my way to Retreat.

Some retreats are fancier [and more expensive] than others. Ours is KISS [Keep it Simple Silly!] We have guild members do demos and basically bring what we want to work on. We stay at a 4H camp above a state park so there are miles of hiking trails available. We sleep in bunk houses – pretty primitive, but they do have showers in the bathrooms and heat. The lodge, where sewing and meals take place, is a step above primitive and since the guild has gathered there for over 20 years – we’ve convinced them to make some improvements – like electricity upgrades. We rarely lose power any more – but we all know where the circuit breaker box is just in case! A few years back they were lucky enough to gain a chef on staff. Tom is great and we’re so happy he’s there – meals were pretty miserable before then.

Before I moved back to Nebraska, I belonged to Love Apples Quilters of Southern New Jersey. We had a retreat at the senior citizen Salvation Army Camp in North Jersey. It was all in one building and very nice. A wonderful hiking path around the lake there.

Memory: I was manning the check-in desk in Jersey. A quilter brought 4 LOADS on a dolly past me to her room [quilters tend to over-estimate what they will get done at retreat!] :> AND then she came and asked me where the nearest Kmart was – “I forgot my underwear!” And that, my dears, is why I have a packing list!!!