Retreat Post - Wednesday

And now we begin! I finally have all of my pictures and thoughts in order to begin sharing about the fun and excitement of the retreat weekend!

I knew that I had a lot to finish and prepare before retreat and I was lucky enough to be able to take Wednesday off, too. I spent the morning sewing some blocks together for what is now Linda's quilt.



Once I got the blocks done and the top laid out, I got a call. If I hadn't seen on the caller ID that it was from Moneik, I would've sworn that it was Jen because they sound so alike. She said that the flight coming into Cincinnati was over booked and the airline was offering a voucher for anyone willing to be bumped and how would I feel about picking her up at 7 instead. I said that was fine with me so that I could finish the top for Linda's quilt.

I sewed as long as I could and waited patiently for calls from everyone saying that they were on their way. Eventually, not hearing from anyone other than Moneik confirming the later flight, I figured that all was well and I headed to the airport.

I kept telling Moneik to be prepared to wait for me because of my lateness, but I was there and waiting for about 30 minutes before she came out of the terminal. This is how she recognized me.



At first I felt silly about standing there with the sign because there were other people there with signs who looked so serious, but then I saw some guy nudge his friend and point to me and they said 'that's cute' and laughed so I didn't feel as much of a dork.

Eventually, Moneik came up the escalator and almost walked past me. I think that she said she was thinking that it was nice that there were people there with signs meeting people and she was just looking at them as she passed and then she saw mine and cracked up. We made a quick pit stop and then got on the road. She is not used to the amount of traffic on the road at 7:30 PM through downtown Cincinnati. I would have hated to have her see what rush hour looks like!

We decided to go to the Old Spaghetti Factory and eat in the restaurant. I think that we were both famished and we mostly inhaled our food!




And we had spumoni for dessert. Of course, I had to take a picture and send it to Jen since they were doing the fast food drive thru's on their way down!



And Moneik gave me this necklace that is made with Black Hills gold. The wings are 2 different colors. It's very pretty!



We got back to my house, let the ninjas out and then I finished sewing the center portion of Linda's quilt and worked on the bindings while we waited for Jen, Cindy and Sherry. We got to chatting an I forgot what time it was and when Moneik said, 'I think they're here,' I thought 'Who?' Then I remembered, but it was a false alarm. I think they showed up about 10 minutes later.

After we all chatted and settled down, we headed back to my sewing area to finish what we could on Linda's quilt and then I worked on my pants some more. And I finished my cone of MasterPiece before retreat!! Woo hoo!!



I finally had to kick everyone out of my room so that I could get some sleep around 1:30 AM. I needed my sleep for all of the shop hopping we were to do on Thursday!