Woah...two months is a long time to go without a new post. Shameful! Bad blogger - no doughnut. Since we're so woefully behind, and since we've got a lot of pics, etc. to post, we'll break it into a few posts instead of one gigantor one.
A group of the Seamsters had a rockin' good time at the 8th annual retreat in Langley, WA on Whidbey Island. Happily ensconced in our quarters over the Quilting by the Sea quilt store, eight of us spent Friday, Saturday, and half of Sunday enjoying each others' company, sewing, knitting, shopping, eating and laughing. Some sleeping involved as well [and if we're being very honest, a wee bit o' snoring].
The advance party [Beth, Jackie, Sandy, Liz, Jenny] set out at 10 am on May Day - warm weather, blue skies, and no ferry delay. Huzzah! Adele couldn't make it - but hey, she did make it into the group photo and sent tomatoes & avocados with us to boot. Trina, Margaret, and Cyndy arrived Friday evening, apres-work. The early arrivers took a nice, leisurely stroll around Langley and accomplished a Very Important Mission at the Star Store: namely, Cocktail Shaker and Jigger Acquisition for the requisite Gin Gimlets. As it happens, only one taker on the gin gimlets, but hey, Always Be Prepared. We also popped into Knitty Purls to fondle skeins. Beth even modeled a darling hat and scarf for us.
A little sewing, snacking, quite a bit of conversation, the evening comers arrived, and eventually most of us headed out for din-din at the Langley Cafe. Yum! After dinner we had a photo-op with the sculpture overlooking the water on the main drag. I think Mr. Sculpture is traumatized. At least he wasn't around to hear Margaret regale us with "99 Sex Facts You've Never Heard Before" from an old issue of Cosmo that was lying around [sidebar: the quilting loft has a delightfully random assortment of reading material, everything from a hardcover copy of Medical Humor to old Us & Cosmopolitan magazines to quilting magazines from the mid-nineties...women with mall bangs, mom jeans, and Little House on the Prairie crazy quilt vests - not a pretty picture. But makes for really fun reading!] Oooh, and I almost forgot: Beth borrowed Trina's iPhone to get a very special song: "Now You're a Man! A Manny-Man Man!" which has replaced "Smoke on the Water" as the most tenacious ear-worm ever.
Saturday the rain came in; however, rain tends to boost productivity, since one would rather stay in the "workroom" and work vs. gamboling in the sunshine. Langley is an awfully quaint place. Once there was a break in the heavy rain, a few of us braved the very slight drizzle to head to the Bayview farmers market. Very charming. Did a little noshing - veggie samosas, pancit, lumpia, and even a little naughty caramel/pecan bar. Acquired nice greens for the evening's Mexican potluck supper, as well as a few other choice items. Beth found a chicken coup she would probably sell her first-born for (sorry Ben). But she compromised and got a couple of broccoli starts. Seems like a raw deal (no pun intended).
Trina's not a doctor, nor indeed a physical therapist, but she did make an armchair diagnosis of my sore foot (school auction injury...can I claim worker's comp?) and recommended I get athletic tape and tape the h-e-double hockey sticks out of it. Which I did, and danged if it isn't working like a charm. Thanks Dr. Trina!
Lots of wonderful projects worked on: the new raffle quilt, art quilts, several quilt tops, a table runner, a top secret project. I'll let the pictures do the talking.
The quilt shop is not doing as well as could be hoped, and the current owner is looking for a buyer. She's going to try to keep it going, but it's a possibility that she'll need to close her doors. Which would be very sad - it's a wonderful little retreat space, and it was surprising to go back through the guest books and see just how many years we've been coming. In light of this fact, we took some archival photos of all our journal entries over the years which will be put on a separate post.
All right, I've rambled on long enough. I encourage the other Seamsters to make their own posts! I'll put photos and the journal entries on separate posts. Peace out.
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