I've been away on a quilt retreat with some members of my guild.  It was in a lovely setting - a Franciscan retreat house just a few minutes from my house that I didn't even know was there.  The cook made me delicious gluten-free food, and the brothers were kind and eager for us to enjoy ourselves.  They let me light a candle in their chapel even though I'm not Catholic.

Of course, the main events were quilting, wine, and chocolate.  I gained two pounds in three days.  I did bind the t-shirt quilt I'm making as a donation to my public library.  The six t-shirts are prizes from the summer reading club for kids at the library.  A few of them are from the years when I was the children's librarian there.  The reading club attracts hundreds of kids, and you can see these t-shirts being worn all over town.

I also got some work done on the One Block Wonder that I am turning into my life's work.  I forgot to take a photo, but I'll post one soon.

The work of some of the other attendees was great.  I'm enthralled by this hexie crazy quilt by my friend Betty.

Dana is adding trapunto to this beauty.  She uses soluble thread to add a layer of batting behind the design, cuts away the excess fabric, places the top on a layer of batting and backing, and then quilts along the soluble thread line.

A lot of people were making bags.  They like to go home from a retreat with a project made there.  As the tortoise, I prefer to plug along on a project that I love, even if I have very little to show for it at the end.  I wish I could have taken my butterfly wall hanging to work on, but the retreat was for our guild members, who aren't supposed to see it before the competition day in April.