April Retreat

Two years in a row I attended a quilt retreat at this beautiful center in Wisconsin. This year's long, snowy winter was still showing its face during the last week of April. The ice was not out in the lake, and most vegetation was not yet green. I am going to show similar shots that I took last year in April, a week earlier than this year's retreat and you can see the difference between the two springs. Last year we were enjoying spring much earlier than this year. But... that's OK, because as of this writing spring has finally arrived, and it's beautiful. Ice is out on the big lakes in this area, days are warm, and tonight we had a thunderstorm... a sure sign of summer approaching.

The main lodge last year and this year:

2017

2018

View of the lake last year and this year:

2017

2018

Here's evidence of late-night fun. "K" was working hard on her tree blocks. We teased her that we were going to borrow some to put in our own quilts. As she went off to bed, she said she expected to see four tree blocks still up on the design wall the next morning. Well.. we knew we could manage that, along with a little embellishment. So we embellished to our heart's content. It kept growing and growing as we giggled. We even made a little "Grand Champion" ribbon for her new quilt. The next morning it was very much fun to see her face when she walked into the sewing room. She got a good laugh, too.

Here's K. pointing out her Grand Champion ribbon.

A couple other projects in the works -- Cousin B with her quilt top and one of mine that I started on the last day and didn't get time to finish. I'll finish it soon.