Back from Retreat

I spent the weekend at a quilting retreat up in the mountains this weekend and had a great time working on my projects and socializing. 

 

Don't all these ladies look sweet?  Well, don't be fooled.   There are some interesting stories here. One of them is an expert fiddler and is about to travel to England for a folk music conference.  Another trekked up to the Mt. Everest base camp some years back and was also a white water guide.  The woman sewing at the table next to mine had a long career as a coordinator for research for the National Center for Atmospheric Research here in Boulder and has a PhD in some scientific field which I didn't quite catch.  Once you start chatting with people you find out some interesting things! 

  

We each received a Rippit Doll with a cute note about using it to relieve the stress that sewing sometimes causes.  It's a good thing they gave us the note because when I first saw the doll I thought "Oh, good!  A voodoo doll just in time for the inauguration!" 

It's beginning to feel real to me that we are getting a new president this week, one that I definitely do not like.   My eight years of feeling in sync with the president is coming to an end and it's tough.  So I was happy to sink myself into my sewing.  One project that was very soothing to work on was this little baby quilt which will go to a preemie baby in a local NICU through the guild's Outreach Program.  The cozy fabrics were calming to work with and the circle quilting was just enough of a challenge to be interesting. 

The retreat was up in near Mt. Meeker, about an hour drive from here.  The mountains have had quite a lot of snow recently.  It was lovely on Saturday with lots of beautiful sunshine making the deep snow glisten.   Many people were staying until Monday afternoon but I had only signed up for two nights and as I left late yesterday afternoon the clouds were coming in and another snowfall was forecast.  

The forecast I read didn't call for any snow in Boulder though Ben and our friends told me we might get three to six inches overnight.   And indeed, this morning we did wake up to about three inches.  

You can't tell from these photos I took this morning, but snow was still falling.  It still falling now, two hours later.   Unlike the powdery snow we had a week or so ago this one is wetter and compacts well into snowballs.

Yes, I'm beginning to tell the difference in types of snow.  And....da ta! I'm also beginning to drive in the snow.  I'll drive myself to Pilates class later this afternoon, assuming it has actually stopped snowing by then.  This morning Ben will do the driving as we make our Meals on Wheels rounds.

The bathroom remodel is done and I hope to show you photos in another day or so.  But first I have to unpack from the retreat.  Thankfully that's easier than packing everything up to take on retreat, but it's still a big job.