Retreat 2010

Glorious weather- beautiful grounds - good company-lots of quilting , talk, wine--Retreat 2010 was a great success! This was our first visit to Ermitage, near Cap St. Jacques, and I think we all agreed that it was a good alternative to our much-loved , but no longer available, Stables.

Accomodations at the Ermitage are quite spiffy - a good sized bedroom complete with sink, comfortable bed, good reading light, rocking chair - and a window , in our case overlooking the grounds. I think France has a picture, which she'll probably post.

Our work room was enormous, and well equipped with tables of various sizes. A little lacking in outlets, a problem easily solved with extensions, power bars, etc. I appeciated the good light for working - and huge windows offered lots of natural light , too. Others staying in the house dropped by to see what we were doing, including one sister who shared her magnificent embroidery with us.

We took lots of snacks and LOTS of wine - we quite filled the small kitchen at our disposal. We were surprised to find the refrigerator stocked with juice, water, etc. . We were also offered cereal in case we got hungry due to the early dinner hour (5 on Friday, 5:30 on Saturday)! All quite a nice touch!!

Meals were included - and the best we can say there is that they were institutional - the chef seems to be of the "cook it long and well" school of cookery. Nevertheless, there was always a small salad bar and fresh fruit. I must say it was nice not to have to think about carting meals, and to be able to make the most of our work and chat time.

All this to say- if you were unable to join us, but had hoped to- we missed you! Hopefully next year will work out. If you haven't thought about coming on the retreat- please give it some thought- it is a great way to share ideas, have fun with your fellow quilters- and best of all - get in some uninterrupted sewing time. I actually finished a quilt top for a grandson- which would probably have taken me weeks at home.

I'm sure France will be posting pictures - and many thanks to those who arranged this years outing - we all apprecialte it!

Hope to see everyone on Tuesday- at our new meeting spot at the United Church- best entrance is the Ballantyne one.

Linda