Sew Beachy Retreat

I have just returned from a quilt retreat in California.  Venture beach to be exact. 

I fly in there and meet up with some other quilty friends.  

This is the third year we have all been together.  

There are old friends and new.

 I always bring Captain Jack along to my retreats.  

I get photos of him throughout the time we are there.  

He is now the official mascot of Sew Beachy!

As you can see it was mostly cloudy and gray when we were there.

This year we did a secret Santa gifting. 

If you remember, I made the blue dragon wine mat for my person.

We also played a plastic wrap game (we call it Satan ball) 

where you unwrap a ball of plastic wrap full of small gifts while the person to your left rolls dice and when they get doubles you have to pass the ball.  

Jack met up with a new friend this year. 

Kooky (I think) was his name.

 This shows our sewing space. 

It is the garage of the house we stay at.  

The organizers bring tables and chairs and we sew in this big open space. 

 There are windows to the right and we can see the beach/ocean while we sew.

I usually get some pics of Jack and his friends when we are here.  

Michele brought the Koala to be Jack's friend.

This is Karen, she was the person I made the dragon wine mat for.  

You can see the shirt she has on. 

 It was the official shirt of the retreat.  

On one side it says "What's up beaches?" and on the other Sew Beachy 2019.  

The tail of the mermaid is made up of Tula fabric images. 

 They were so cute!

This is my friend, Jamie from Made by Jamie. She is the SWEETEST!!

Here is the "other" Pam of the group.  

She taught us our clam shell pillow project this year.

This lady is super talented.  

She attempted to teach me how to crochet (LOLOL).  Better luck next time, Pam.  

What can I say? 

I'm not the most adept student!

Some of my roomies.  Paula, who flies in from Kansas.

And Melanie, who flies in from Colorado.

I managed to get one top all finished.  

My friend, Traci is opening a brick and mortor shop and needed shop samples so I made this one.  

It is all done with Tula Pink Monkey Wrench using a free pattern called Tribute Star.

We visited a shop and I was so excited that I could wear flip flops in December without being cold!

My favorite part about the second shop was Pearl, the cat!

Traci managed to find the "happy to see us" snowman at one of the shops, LOL.

She flies in from Wisconsin.

I only have this photo of Traci and I from the trip. 

 She was one of the roomies and also the designated driver for our group!

We did get a photo of the whole "room".

L to R Nancy, Paula, Traci, Me, Jack and Melanie

(Sorry Nancy, I don't have a photo of the 2 of us)

They are "amazing".

I LOVE all of these women!

One of the 2 projects we made were these project bags.  

I used Sebastian from the Gastlies collection.

You may or may not realize that I don't really like making bags but at the retreat, 

with someone to hold my hand, I can do it!

Our room bought shirts for our room, HA.  

We called ourselves the "Midwest Mermaids". 

Paula brought her Bedazzler and we glammed them up with some bling!  

My friend, Susan, made me hold her wine glass for this photo, lol.

It was a great trip!  We had one nice sunset.  

We also got to see some dolphins playing in the waves right outside our door!  

The organizer of the retreat is uncertain if we will be able to return 

as the rental rules in CA have changed.  

She is working on figuring it out.  

Jack and I flew home on Monday afternoon.  We were both pooped!

It was an amazing weekend. 

I will show you the clam pillow once I have it finished. 

(please don't hold your breath, LOL, hand work takes a back seat at this moment)

I think that catches you up with what I have been up to.

I will likely be away now until after the first of the year. 

 I don't really have a great computer to post from at home.

I might try though as that is a long time to be away.

If not, have a great holiday and I will be back in January!

~XOP~