Have a wonderful time!!!

It's the Elm Creek books. She's tried to write the books so that they don't have to be read in order (ie, introducing any back stories as necessary for each book). There's about a dozen now. Some take place in modern times and others tell Sylvia's family history. Sylvia is one of the main characters. She's elderly now (marrying age at start of WWII) and has moved back home to sell the family property. She hires Matt (through a landscaping company) and Sarah (his wife) to help prepare the property for sale. Sylvia is a master quilter and gives Sarah quilting lessons as part of her payment. The other main characters are a small group of quilters that Sarah and Sylvia meet in the first book.

A group of friends and I have just finished our "second annual" mixed media retreat in Big Bear, CA. We decided that this had to be a yearly event. We sew, quilt, scrapbookknit, needlepoint, journal/write and wander. I think we have hit upon a gem of an idea! I love your "mixed media" retreat name! Everyone doesn't know everyone, but someone knows at least 1 person in the group. What a wonderful way to make new friends and keep up with the old!

Would love to go on a retreat. Wish someone in the San Diego area would put one on.

I've never been to a retreat but the one you're describing sounds heavenly!

thanks qbuquilts, I just could not remember the book titles and Elm Creek Quilters. I have almost all the books and met the author at Paducah one time. She lives in Wisconsin but lived in the area near Penn State when her husband went to school there. My husband was born and raised in that area so the books remind me of his roots. Even tho it was sad, I thought the story about the black woman and her baby was the most touching. I read them over and over.
I have never gone on a retreat for quilting, should think about it.

Carol J.

Big Bear is not so far away! The retreat facility is called, Inspirations."

I got an email today about a retreat, everything there but the price. I put that on my bucket list. It is getting pretty long

I went to a retreat in Winter Park the first week in August and it was great. I just took some UFOs that have been begging to get done. I finished the blocks on a stack-n-whack and a quilt as you go. Space was a little limited, so I couldn't lay out the blocks to put them together, but I did get all the blocks for both projects done.

I love quilting retreats and go to as many as I can afford, but don't have one favorite. I've never been to a structured retreat, like those in the Elm Creek books, just the "do your own thang" type.

I take a number of projects, new and in-progress, in case I get finished, hung up, or just bored with something. It helps to have read through a pattern and have all the cutting done ahead of time, so I can get more done at the actual retreat.

Besides working on quilt projects, I've also started taking fabric to make at least one pair of pillowcases at each retreat, then I'll have a new set for me or one of my daughters. A friend, who is a nurse, makes herself a new scrub top or two at each retreat. It's a good way to get some little things done.