i've retreated and returned with progress

this past weekend was our first ever retreat for the sacramento modern quilt guild.

it was a short, but very eventful weekend that was well worth it, and a well needed escape.
friday morning, i packed everything up (don't be surprised i waited that long...) and then grabbed lunch and a quick stop at wal mart before beginning my voyage.
i picked up one of my guild members that lives just down the road from me, and after a quick stop at the shop to get ironing boards and wool mats, we were on our way.  our ETA started off at 3pm, but the change in weather quickly pushed that back past 4pm.
driving in snow for the first time can be checked off my list.  that's also why i borrowed my dad's car instead of mine.  thank you, all wheel drive.

once we finally made it, we checked in and got our machines unloaded before locating our cabin.

we did a lap around the area, thanks to the confusing map, and then we found our home...
are you ready for this??

see that TINY little window up at the top? that's where i stayed with three other guild members.

that is our room inside (my bed was the back right one) and even while we had the hike up the stairs... and more stairs... we were thankful we at least had a bathroom on our floor!  after putting our stuff in the room and gathering what we needed, it was back to the parking lot, and then the hike down the next set of stairs before settling in to get going for the evening.

as you can see, we each had our own little island for sewing, and remained masked up unless we were on our island.  after a few welcome notes, an ice breaker game and dinner, we were sewing away for the rest of the night.  well, i was trimming, trying to get all my current HSTs ready to go for the morning.  and i got almost all of them done.
we left around midnight the first night, and then had to hike up the INSANE stairs.
the four of us realized quickly how out of shape we were, and probably spent at least 5 minutes trying to regain our regular breathing once we got back inside our cabin.
oh... and i'm not just talking about the cabin stairs...i'm also talking about THESE stairs!

we went down them each day, and that first night was easily the worst, since they still had remnants of snow and ice on them.  SUPER fun.

saturday was all day sewing!

a few games thrown in here and there, like a fat quarter swap/steal and the kona/aurifil challenge.

i'm please to say i got the most right out of each set.

all the konas that i've had to pull in the last few weeks has really paid off in more ways than one.  ha!

what can i say?
i might get a little competitive when prizes are involved...
and i did feel a little guilty for constantly winning thing.  oh well!

we got a cool collection of swag from olfa, omnigrids, the mqg and cali quilt co, including a cuddle scarf a few guild members sewed that night.  i ALMOST sewed mine as well, just to say i've sewed minky, but i was too in the zone with making my star blocks.  we also battled technology and got the saturday night facebook live show up on the big screen to watch and see what they decided to sell while tayva was out of town.

saturday night i stayed until about 11:45 and was part of the last three to go.  i lucked out and was able to hitch a ride back to the cabin instead of taking those stairs in the dark all by myself.  at that point, i had managed to get 31 of my 120 blocks done, which was perfectly okay with me, since it meant i had less than 100 to go.

sunday morning we had to pack up, and get everything out and clean before check out.  we had to be out of the cabins by 11 and out of the main hall by 12.  i pretty much threw everything in my suitcase haphazardly, since it was only going to come out when i got home.  i managed to sew and get a total of 36 blocks done (4 color sets of 9) which was fabulous in my book.

loaded up the car, and after cleaning we were out of there and hit the road around 1130.

stopped by the shop to drop off the boards, and then dropped off my fellow guildmate before heading to take my dad back his car.

all in all it was a great little escape to have some solid sew time in a nice, scenic environment.

i'm totally looking forward to next year, in hopes we get one more day at the site, and our fingers are crossed we will be able to stay in the dorms.  the cabins were cute and nice, but man would having everything in one place AND get fed be amazing!

i ended up working yesterday to make up for some of the time off, and catch up on some of my impending work projects as well.  some great kits are coming together for shows, and my sewjo is still holding up strong.  be prepared... block party is looking like it is going to be pretty awesome tomorrow!