weekend retreat

Home safe and sound from teaching at a retreat.  A lot of teaching, but they enjoyed learning paper piecing - there were many folks who had never even tried it.  I also was able to cut a lot of strips for a wedding gift quilt project of mine, and just a little sewing.  The retreat was held in the Canyon Inn at McCormick's Creek State Park in Indiana. So quaint and lovely and the staff was wonderful!!!  Laura, the Activities Director was just a sweetheart!  She was able to have part of the weekend to join in on the retreat, and she took to paper-piecing like she is a pro!!! 

Really, if you have the chance to head in the direction of south-central Indiana, stop and visit - there are great hikes and paths, multiple types of lodging, wildlife, beautiful scenic views any which way you turn, and a great staff!  Pictured above is the Oak Meeting room, picture taken from the back opposite corner from where I was stationed.

<< We "Ohio State buckeyes" had our "Buckeye Corner".  Those are my cohorts: left to right - Monica, Diane, and a new "Hoosier" friend - Kay.  There was also a quilt show held in the downstairs Sycamore Room.  It was so nice to visit with other quilters, see their projects, and have a weekend away! 

 

Of course, we HAD to stop on the way to the retreat to visit at a few quilt shops....you have to stop and use the restroom somewhere, don't you???!

We stopped at a couple of shops in Ohio-

Creative Fires and Sulphur Grove Quilt Shop. 

They are both great shops to visit along Rt. 70 west near the Dayton area.

The closest shop to the retreat was

 Backdoor Quilts , just south of Indianapolis in Greenwood.

The front of the shop was cute, and notice that there was NO snow (ok, I snagged this outdoor photo from their website!, which taken in the summer, so of course there was no snow!)  I did take a couple of pics inside the front door:  the first is a shot straight into the shop - look at all of those great samples!!!  and there were kits made up for many of them.  The pic showing the basket quilt was taken because back in this corner were all of the hand-stitched embroidery quilts.  Again, so many samples and such gorgeous work.  There was a whole wool section, and a reproduction fabric section.  These two photos only show about half of the shop.  I think I drooled on almost everything here!

I behaved at all three of the shops...just a few small pieces of yardage and a little tin that I will use to store my needles after I put in a little sheet of magnet.

Back to work for me tomorrow...I feel the call of the quilt shop! 

Like I haven't had enough quilt stuff lately!!!