Well, our first retreat was a smashing success! We only had a few minor glitches, all of them my fault. Next year I need to bring kleenex, do formal introductions among everyone (how could I forget that?), bring more extension cords and take more pictures. Our venue is the Snowy Owl Inn in Waterville Valley, NH. The photo above was the view out the dining room window. Our innkeepers were incredible. One of our guests forgot to pack all the cords for her sewing machine which rendered it useless for the weekend. Innkeeper Jenny to the rescue with a spare machine of hers that she let our guest use. Extra machines were not on my packing list so thank you Jenny. Our chef, George, was a big hit. If he ever needs a new family I’m sure several of the ladies would be more than willing to take him home.
We started off with a small welcome at each table…
Everyone also received a swag bag with a travel iron, travel cutting/ironing mat and more…
One of the swag items was a kit to make a holder for the travel iron. Here’s Retta with hers all done…
Sarah Ann Smith was our guest teacher for the weekend. Here are two versions of the project she taught us and Sarah working the room…
Did I mention that I needed to take more pictures? Yes, that’s right, I took NO pictures of the guests projects…sigh… You can see Sarah’s blog post here though. She was on the ball and took pictures. I need to hire her next year. Except I took this picture. That’s Anne working a piece of fabric. She used one piece for all her flowers and leaves. It looked awesome…if only I had a photo to show you.
We had other activities too…puzzles, block raffle (this picture was before all the blocks were added…need more pictures), raffle prizes for the scavenger hunt, chocolate…
There was lots to do outside too. Waterville Valley has a big Fall Festival that was the same weekend. There was music in the town square every afternoon and evening, 5K run…ok, these ladies did not do the 5K but they did do the 1 hour guided hike! They came back totally energized. There was even another quilting retreat at another inn and some of them came to visit us!
We had our own store for anything that was forgotten…
We could also visit the shops in the town square. Whenever I went to the square I kept seeing these hooks all over. I couldn’t figure out what they were for. Then more people started showing up and it became clear. They were for hooking up your pooch while you shopped! Zelda would be in heaven with so many people to visit with.
A huge thank you to Steve and Jenny of the Snowy Owl Inn. They were so easy to work with and made everything run smoothly. If you ever need a venue for a large gathering or just a family weekend. I cannot recommend them enough. Did I mention that each room had it’s own jacuzzi tub? They think of everything. And a huge thank you to my guest teacher Sarah Ann Smith and our entertainer Alison Bolt (again, no pictures…grr…) and to all the ladies who spent their weekend with me. I guess I did something right because ALL of them signed up for next years retreat! Well, all but one – she’s moving so I guess I’ll give her a pass…
Registration is open for our 2015 retreat. Our guest teacher will be Ami Simms and the project will be Dancing Spools. Space will be limited to 27 guests and we’re already almost 1/2 way full so don’t delay!
Now, what will I put in the 2015 swag bags…