Stitch & Chatter Quilt Retreat

This week we had our annual Stitch & Chatter Quilt Retreat at Cannon Beach.  It is such a blessing to be able to join this group of ladies for several days.  This year there were 17 ladies, with 4 of their spouses joining us.  It is a group with a wide variety of ages, with the youngest joining us this year 21 years old and the oldest being 84!

Several of us ladies drove together from Hockinson.  I drove my van with 4 other ladies.  We checked in on Monday at 3:00 and checked out at 2:00 on Thursday.  Our group stays in the ocean front building of the Cannon Beach Christian Conference Center.  It's basically like a motel, with a large room set up with tables that we sew in.

This is what it looks like when 5 ladies drive together to a quilt retreat!  One of the husbands were wondering if everyone took as much as his wife if we needed to start pulling a trailer :)  I had the back seat removed from our van.

We didn't need the third seat for sitting, so it was filled up with more of our stuff.  We also had things underneath all of the seats.

This year I got to share the wonderful time with my daughter, Rachel.  She spent two nights down there with us and roomed with me.

The weather was gorgeous.  It was warm and sunny most of the time we were there.  We couldn't have asked for better weather!  The sunset on Monday night.

Tuesday morning it was so bright and beautiful!

Because it is a Christian conference center they like us to have some sort of worship while we're there.  To fulfill this we sing each evening.  It sounds so nice; I especially like it when we have the male voices joining in.

I love it when the men join us.  They make things interesting.  Tuesday evening they went out and bought us ice cream and cones.  Just like that almost a gallon of ice cream was gone :)  Even the people who were too full decided it would slide down pretty easily!

Tuesday evening sunset and some people in canoes on the river next to the ocean.

Ladies at work throughout our stay.  The ocean is right out those windows!  As you can see, everyone doesn't work on quilting.

Wednesday morning.

Evening sunset . . . it was rare to see the sun set without clouds on the horizon.

On Thursday morning we saw these people riding by on horses.  It was so still and they looked so neat, reflecting in the river.

Along with our room, we also get one meal a day from the conference center.  We walked to their main dining hall to have a brunch at 11:00 each morning.  We were served buffet style and were able to take leftovers with us.  For our evening meal, some people ate leftovers and some went out to dinner.  I ate at a local fish restaurant on Monday and Tuesday nights.  On our last night, I drove a van full of us to Dooger's in Seaside.

Our buffet and dining on the last day.

This is one of the quilt tops I made at the retreat.  It's just laid out here under the table, ready to sew together.

Here are a bunch of projects we worked on.  Phyllis finished this quilt she started about 20 years ago for her daughter.  It was finished for her granddaughter instead!  It was more than slightly windy out when we were photographing it!

Quilt top that Betty made.

Quilt top that Marie finished up at the retreat.

Joan was working on a Bargello quilt.  This was only 1/4 of it.  I didn't end up getting a picture of it when she cut this up and starting sewing it back together.

This is the center of Jerrie Lynn's table runner.  It's a fall one that will have pumpkins appliqued on each end.

Janine kept busy making bags.  Many of them have outsides made from chicken feed bags.

 Phyllis S. worked on pin cushions.  They turned out so pretty.

I saved my personal favorite for last!  Judy made this Finnish quilt.  She designed the whole thing herself.  It has such a neat story for why she did every part like she did.  It looks like it's a panel, but she appliqued the whole thing.  It is even more gorgeous in real life!!

All of the ladies on the last day.  (Rachel left Wednesday night so she's not pictured.)

I'm so happy I was able to go again this year!  Looking forward to next year!!