Day 2 Handi-Quilter Retreat

Day two began with a review of the products offered by Handi-Quilter.  OK, what quilter can resist an array of gadgets and gizmos geared just to their needs?  Not this quilter!  LOL  It was fun – and tempting -- to see all the cool tools available by and for HQ, and to shop for them right there on the spot.  WARNING – save room in your suitcase to take those babies home with you.  I ended up buying a set of micro-handles for my machine and had to have them shipped because my suitcase was too full of class samples, books and other goodies I purchased.  I tucked all the other goodies I purchased into my carry on so I could fondle them all the way home on the plane!

  

Then we went to work finishing up the bobbin work we started the day before.  It really was amazing how great it worked and was relatively simple to do.  My sample was a bit hard to see on my fabric with the thread color I chose, but many of the other retreaters had some fabulous bobbin work.  I want to try it, now that I am home, when I have the time to do it slowly and concentrate on my fabric and thread a bit more seriously.

Vickie spent most of the morning teaching us to do feathers.  This was totally fun.  While I have practiced feathers a lot, watched a number of DVD’s on how to do them, read some books, etc., it was really valuable to watch Vickie’s lessons and then practice, practice, practice on our fabric.  I have lots and lots more practice to do, but I feel like I made some real progress in learning to do feathers.

OK, so I won’t win any award for these feathers – but it was really fun to practice.  I have loaded my practice fabric on my HQ16 at home and am doing more rows of practice feathers so I don’t forget what I learned!!!

Lunch was catered in and as usual it was delicious.  They sure know how to feed quilters!  Did I mention that there was always a table full of snacks, chocolate, sodas and water out for us all day?  Oh my, no chance of losing weight on this retreat!!  :-)  Ok, so I am not complaining.

After fueling up we had a demo on using the micro-handles and another one on using Groovy Boards.  These are so cool, and it was very tempting to want to buy some, but I resisted the urge. Barely.  After the demonstration on Groovy Boards we had a really valuable class on pantographs.  This was terrific class, taught by Hatty, and we made a quilt with a border to border panto with a separate panto for the boarder.  Then Hatty taught us how to turn the quilt to complete the borders on the sides.  This was something I had always wanted to learn and not only got to watch but got to do!  I just barely finished this project when the bus came to pick us up for dinner. 

Whew, after a second day on my feet, my dogs were barking!!  But my second wind came when we arrived at this marvelous Chinese Restaurant and the food began to appear in bowl after bowl.  Oh my.  All I can say is. . . . the shrimp was incredible.  I even resisted dessert just so I could have more of the shrimp.  It was that good. 

It rained and poured while we were inside eating but I am pretty sure none of us noticed.  Between being exhausted, famished, and overwhelmed by the quality of the wonderful meal, we almost missed the magnificent rainbow which formed over the valley as we drove back to our hotel.

I drug my sorry back side down to the pool that evening and soaked in the hot tub till I turned lobster pink then went up to bed and slept like a log.

One more day to go and I couldn’t wait to learn more.  Tomorrow. . . .Day 3.

Reeze