Retreat Wrap up and Recuperating

Saturday night, Kim and I decided to take our iPods to bed with us in hopes that we would be able to block out some of the background noise and get to sleep quicker. It worked. I set up iPercy, my iPod, to play a more subdued album and the next thing I knew, it was 7:45 and people were talking in the room. Kim was supposed to have gotten up early so that she could leave by 6 AM to get back to Cincinnati to help clean up an art show, but she overslept. We then watched her pack up her personal items from the room an discussed appropriate excuses. Once she heard one that she liked, we headed out to get ready for breakfast.

At the end of breakfast, Brenda reminded everyone that they would need to settle up with me for the amount that they owed for the weekend, but that they should give me about 45 minutes to clean myself up. After I showered, the next hour and a half were spent trying to piece a block and give people their amounts and record checks and cash as it was given to me.

Next, it was time for pictures before lunch since most everyone was leaving just after lunch. Here's another one of my with the iron. We're both beaming! :)



Here's me and Jen.



And here's the group of the coordinators and our buddies. Front row (left to right) - Maddy, Carol from Dayton, and Kay. Middle Row - Kathi, Shirley, and Carol from Kentucky. Last row - Mary, Jen, Me, Maryanne, and Brenda. We had to stand there for about 4 cameras worth of pictures!



Before lunch, Jen and I had decided that we would take our time leaving and not pack up and rush out like everyone else was doing. We could stay until 2 (Brenda told me later that it was 4, but we said 2 on our form) and Jen wanted to get her Surf and Sand blocks done so we stayed until 2. I didn't get much done. I was there for more moral support for Jen to finish the ironing. And to say Bye to everyone as they were leaving. And then Jen and I took our time packing up and getting everything into our cars.

We left the Center at 2:30. I was very sad to see Jen turn left out of the parking lot as I turned right to go back home alone. :( Mike kept telling Jen that their dog Holly missed her and was waiting for her so I sent a text later that I was now the one with the Jen Withdrawal!

It took me just over an hour and a half to drive home and pick up the dogs along the way. They were very excited to see me. When we got back, they did their business in the yard and then we came in and went to bed. After 4 and a half hours of sleep, we woke up and I made some phone calls and made dinner. I unloaded the car and took my boxes, bags and other stuff upstairs so that I could put it away on Monday morning. I think that I ended up going to bed just after midnight.

On Monday morning, since I had taken the day off of work, I was able to lounge around and relax. After the lack of sleep and then excitement from the weekend, I was so happy that I had taken the day off! After breakfast, I started putting my things away. Let me tell you - it was so much easier with the spare bedroom being organized to put everything in the appropriate places. It didn't take me long at all! I was able to move things around in my sewing area and then I decided that I should pull the steamer iron out and test it out while I sewed. I followed the quick instructions on the box - fill it with water, turn it on, adjust the settings and iron.

I had a couple of smaller quilt kits from Joann's to make for the boys - Spiderman for Spencer and Cars for Ethan - so I decided that I would iron and cut the fabric so that I could sew it together when I was ready. The ironing went great. It pressed the hard seams out of the cheap fabric really well. The cutting did not go as well. The instructions left a lot of be desired and there was not extra fabric for mistakes. After cutting 2 pieces, I gave up and threw both kits in a box.

I decided that I could work on other projects and continued to sew and iron until about lunchtime and then I broke for lunch and blog reading. I thought that I should turn the iron off and maybe check the water level since there is not a visual sensor on the container. As I let it cool down, I would unscrew the knob a bit and let out some steam. After about 20 minutes, I was able to take the knob out and there was a piece of the o-ring left on the container. I went back and read the real instructions and it said something about being careful to not over-screw the knob in. Doh!! I blew it! I couldn't use the iron anymore because it would give off steam when the water started getting hot. So I turned to the Internet to order replacements or find the size so that I could go to Home Depot and buy some replacements. As luck would have it, they have a box of replacements that fit it well enough and the problem has been resolved!



And I have plenty of replacements for next time! I will have to add this piece of equipment to my list of things to take on retreats so that I can have enough, just in case!

That is it for the retreat wrap up. I leave you now with a slide show of all of the retreat pictures and some that Patrice sent. She got some great pictures of the other side of the gym from where I was.





2008 St Jude Quilt Retreat

And a slide show of all of the donations from companies.



2008 Retreat Donations

Enjoy!