South to Florida

Our flight was slightly delayed taking off but never mind…

It was warmer in Orlando than at Midway. I packed my cardigan away in my carry on before meeting Nancy and Judy who had come to meet me. They whisked me away to meet the rest of the Peace River Quilters on retreat at the Future Farmers of America Leadership Training Center in Haines.

I was a little late for the sunset over the lake…
But I was right on time for dinner!After a good night’s sleep I was up bright and early, not as early as the fishermen on the lake…I had to stop and snap the palm trees by the entrance to the main building.Not too much time to hang around. I was in town to work!

We had a full class for Tuesday’s Walking Foot Quilting – Beyond The Ditch workshop.Everyone concentrated and stitched hard but not too fast.What a fun grid!The sun set over the lake and this time I was there to witness it in its entirety.

Another day, another class!

If it’s Wednesday it must be Embroidery and Beading for Quilters. Fourteen in the room this time to learn embroidery stitches,and beading techniques.Some worked on red samplers,and some on orange.Beading was done on mini postcard size quiltlets I assembled in advance.What fun!Seed stitch, backstitched lines, stacks,  dangles and edge treatments…We had a good time with the embroidery but the stitchers really went to town with the beading. I’m expecting to see lots of embellished quilts at next year’s quilt show 🙂

After getting everything put away and just a little pre-dinner drink I headed out for another sunset…

The fishermen were out on the lake again.It was the best one yet.But what lives in a hole like this? There were a  lot of holes down near the water’s edge…No, I did not put my hand down the hole to find out!!

After dinner it was prize giving time.

Tom gave an emotional speech after his challenge block was voted into first place.There were a lot of entries. They were being made into donation quilts like this one.The red border really pulls everything together.

There was a table center piece contest. This was my favorite.It didn’t win 🙁

Next up was show and tell. Time to see what everyone had been up to.

This was some of the students from my walking foot quilting class. They look happy.Here are half of the mystery class class with their projects.
This group made collaged fish. I’d have loved to be part of that class!These ladies made their projects on their embroidery machines.The whole embroidery and beading class had brought their samples to show off.There was a whole line of useful tote bags.This group had made good progress on their Christmas scenes but these were the teacher’s samplers. They are going to continue to meet to finish their quilts in time for the Holiday!And these were some of the pieces worked on during Open Sew.Just time for Linda, our fearless leader, to wrap things up in her own inimitable way.Such a great few days but all good things must come to an end.Time to head further South, back to Punta Gorda. The adventure continues…