Come Stitch With Me

One of the FB groups I follow posted a question about the availability of openings in upcoming retreats and why weren’t people signing up?

Retreat cost, location, family & work obligations plus a lack of private rooms were the top reasons given.

My top reasons for not attending a quilt retreat:
(1) Dormitory style sleeping arrangements. A big no for me. I like my own room and am actually willing to pay for it. Unfortunately, many retreat locations stuff in as many twin beds as possible to maximize revenue.
(2) Small sewing space. A 2’x4′ space is simply not big enough with the machines most attendees bring to retreats. There’s no room to work. Again, the smaller sewing spaces usually go hand-in-hand with dormitory style sleeping arrangements. A 6′ table is the minimum size. An 8′ table would be ideal.
(3) Requirement to own a specific brand of something in order to participate. I can use many AccuQuilt dies in my Sizzix cutter with an adapter, thank you very much.
(3) Additional items required in order to attend the retreat that are not clearly disclosed up front. There’s a retreat that looked promising until I was informed I had to spend another $100+ on rulers I’ll probably never use again. No thank you.
(4) Retreat location. A BYO project retreat at a church camp 2-3 hours away twice a year is perfect. Same retreat that requires a stay at an expensive resort is not worth it to me. (Been there, done that!). I will gladly travel to take a class with a specific instructor or to attend an instructor-led retreat at a location on my bucket list.
(5) Other options closer to home. I have two groups of stitchy friends that I join at least one day a week for sewing and fellowship. We meet at a church or the library. My bee group meets in private homes or at a local quilt shop. Two shops near me allow quilters to use their classroom space for a small fee ($5-$10) if no classes are being held. I’ve done this to take advantage of large work tables and to just get out of the house. I’d definitely attend more quilt retreats if I didn’t have my local sewing groups.

In an ideal world, I’d attend at least two retreats a year – one local and one where I have to fly or drive more than 6 hours to attend.

For 2025, I know I’m going to Road to Virginia in late June.
I’m in need of some vitamin sea, so I’m looking at any and all beach retreats/classes this fall/winter.

On Monday, enrichment classes resume at City Academy. There are so many choices on the menu this semester that class sizes are much smaller than last spring. That’s a good thing. Right now, I have 13 students total with 6 students as my largest class size. I’m sure numbers will increase slightly, but I can do so many more hands-on activities with smaller groups of students. The calendar also has several built in breaks, which is really nice!

Therapy dog activities are once again in full swing. Sadie and I head for a conference at the Classic Center in Athens next week and we’ll end the week with a visit to Camp Peach Pals at the Four Seasons Hotel in Atlanta. We’re scheduled to resume reading at the Smyrna Library in September. I debated not returning due to the stupid library policy change last spring; however, the other team retired in July. I committed to monthly visits through the end of the year. We have a core group of kids who participate in the program. We also have several READ teams in training who need to get their field visits done, and the Smyrna Library is convenient for them. My group leader knows how much I’d like to do a school-based READ program. She advised there should be some slots available soon. Keep your paws crossed!

CraftLAB resumes and I meet with the SQTM rep soon to get the scoop on fall classes. One of my CraftLAB ‘tweens has earned the privilege of having her own sewing machine. She’ll go home home this week with a sewing machine of her very own (serviced by yours truly) and a basket of sewing goodies courtesy of my Friday sewing squad. I’m so grateful for these ladies.

My itch to travel has resurfaced with a vengeance. The school calendar shows no classes the Monday after our anniversary. We should be able to go somewhere. Hmmm…I wonder where?

I’m beginning to think there’s some truth to the old wives’ tale that things happen in threes.

We built our current home 11 years ago. This the longest we’ve lived in any one place. To celebrate:
(1) The garage door springs broke and we were housebound until the repair guys could come the next day.
(2) The ice & water dispenser in our fridge has gone haywire, so that’s on the schedule for next Monday.
(3) The plumber was here today to replace the sink stopper & drain assembly in the main bathroom.

Insects love me. So far I’ve been bitten/stung by:
(1) Many, many mosquitos – annoying and itchy
(2) A spider – on my finger
(3) A bee – on the back of my arm and very painful

I am now “officially” retired. First real paycheck in two years hit the bank account today. Two more things left to follow up on (health insurance premium adjustment and sick leave add-on) until everything is done. The mental load I’ve carried for the past two years as we navigated uncharted waters can finally be thrown overboard. I’m past ready.

The third time trying to get reading dogs in my former school district was not the charm. We meet all the requirements under the new Animals in Schools policy, yet the AAI focus is so narrow all we can do is show up and get petted under the guise of mental health services rather than help with reading intervention. I’ve decided to just move on. We have as small city school district inside the larger county one. Sadie and I may be taking over an existing program there.

My desire to teach sewing classes at Monday enrichment did not materialize for yet the third semester. Initially, there wasn’t going to be a sewing class. Now we have someone doing fashion design and sewing with machines. Guess I’ll have most of the boys again in my classes since I’m opposite the sewing class on the selection menu. The sewing instructor had a lot of interest during meet & greet and she’s definitely more talented than moi when it comes to garment sewing. She did seem open to collaboration between our classes. We’ll see how it goes.