Earlier this week, I attended a quilt retreat at Brasstown Valley Spa & Resort in the Northeast Georgia Mountains. The grounds were lovely, my room was comfortable and we had delicious dining options during our stay.
The event was officially hosted by a quilt shop in Blairsville and unofficially by a local quilt guild. 45 quilters sewed together in the massive ballroom. It was awesome! My own 6 foot table with plenty of power outlets. I was seated next to a quilter from North Carolina who was also there to sew rather than socialize the entire time. Yeah! I also met a fellow guild member from my home quilt guild who I hadn’t met previously.
What really tickled me was the number of folks who brought their great big honking TOL machines rather than a travel machine. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the enormous Baby Lock machine pictured below being rolled in by the bellman on the big luggage cart and hoisted into position on the table. Hey, do what works best for you!
My time at the retreat was productive. I completed 10 of the 12 blocks for this quilt and all of the tree base units for my Plaid Pines quilt. The small tree tops were pieced yesterday at Sew Day along with giving my full report about the retreat to my friends. A couple of them said they’d like to attend with me next year.
Yes, I’ll definitely attend the next retreat. I’ll plan to come up the day before and stop by the grocery store for snacks on the way in. I’ll also make my own reservations outside of the group if the “best” rate offered by the hotel is less than the group rate. We didn’t get any special treatment or perks for paying an extra $50 per night. The hotel refused to adjust the rate stating that was the contractual rate. Learned my lesson. I am still pretty miffed about that.
Come Stitch With Me 