Vermont Get-Away

Last Friday, I jumped in the car, headed to Vermont, with the temperatures feeling a lot like springtime, a bit humid, even. By the time I got back into the car to head home on Sunday afternoon, it was cold, windy and snowing for my journey.

In between, the weather and all of our friendly accommodations at the Strong House Inn in Vergennes, Vermont were just right. Our project for the weekend was 99 Bottles--a lapsized quilt with a ba-zillion (or so it seems) miniature 9-patch blocks.

As you can imagine, as with any quilt project, there's a fair amount of work to be done. . . There's fabric selection. . .

 . . . Cutting . . .

 . . . .sorting and arranging. . .

. . .  Pressing issues for sure. . . .

. . . a little bit of pinning and sewing. . .

Eventually, you get a few tiny blocks. Then those become bigger blocks . . . and somewhere down the road, a quilt appears. Like magic!

But with all this sorting, cutting, pressing, and sewing going on, someone has to keep us nourished. Our Innkeeper Mary proved up to the task with fabulous meals throughout the weekend. Including a fluffy pancake breakfast featuring yummy world-renowned Vermont maple syrup!

And the atmosphere. Perfect for quilting, lots of windows and natural light.

By Sunday, everyone made great progress and was well on their way to throwing down 99 Bottles!

In the end, any quilting retreat is really about new friends, old friends, great food, comfortable accommodations, lots of quilty fun, and a hot cup of tea with a maple cookie to wrap up the day.

If you missed the fun this time, I'm so sorry, but we'll see you next time. . . right?

In the meantime,

Happy Stitching!
joan ford