After working an obscene amount of hours on the quilt show, I felt entitled to a rest.
So what did I do the following weekend? I took a group of ladies on a quilt retreat. So how was that relaxing, do you ask? Consider this: location is everything. We went to Seascape Resort, which is just south of Santa Cruz, and stayed in a villa that is situated right in the center of Monterey Bay. The weather was perfect, the beach was at our feet and the sound of the ocean drained every last knotted muscle from our bodies as we worked on various projects. It couldn’t have been a more fabulous weekend!
We started our day with shopping and then did more shopping. We went to Natural Expression in Los Gatos, Judy’s Sewing Center in Scott’s Valley where we stayed to eat a yummy lunch prepared by Chef Guy. We travelled to Capitola, where we visited Round Robin and Cabrillo Sewing Center. Oh my, did we have fun shopping! We had show-n-tell of our purchases and many of us got the same fabrics. We decided beforehand to do a Fat Quarter exchange and got all of our fabrics at our stops – which was much like a shop hop.
After lugging our belongings into our room (which felt like moving away from home), we were all starving, so set out for our dinner location. Perfect times are not without mishaps and something to laugh about and this outing was no exception. The lead car (who were the only ones who knew where the restaurant was) got separated from the ones following, in the dark, and it took us 45 minutes to catch up with each other. I was beginning to worry that the lost ones were going to give up and go for pizza! During dinner, they confessed that they thought about it!
We watched movies and listened to music that made us want to get up and dance while we were working. We talked about everything under the sun, shared our projects and love for quilting and did a lot of laughing. The sunrises and sunsets were breathtaking. I think everyone came home with their wellness buckets full to overflowing.
If you have never gone on a retreat before, you need to seriously consider one. The chance to get away from home, work on quilts with other quilters and eat good food is something that everyone should do at least once, if not many times in their lifetime. There are many different varieties to choose from, and in different locations. Personally, I am waiting to find one that is exactly like the Elm Creek Quilt retreats that are described in Jennifer Chiaverrini’s books. I love reading about those and hope that some day, some where, some one will pick up on the idea and do it.
Happy quilting!
Annie
p.s. the saddest part of the weekend is what I did this morning. I synched my camera up to my computer, downloaded all the pictures, wiped the SmartCard and turned off the camera. I opened iPhoto and realized that not ONE of the pictures had saved to my computer!! I took 152 pictures at the retreat, chronicaling almost every detail of this fabulous weekend — now gone.