It’s the end of the first week of the first month of the new year and the month I like the least. We spent the last six weeks with Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations and now that the celebrations are over, only the cold, dreary months of January and February are ahead. It seems that the older I get, the less tolerant I am of the cold. I just want to hunker down in my house for the next two months, maybe three, depending on what Mother Nature has in store for us.

Last year, in anticipation of the dreary winter months, I signed up for my very first quilt retreat. I enjoyed the retreat and it gave me something to look forward to, so I signed up again this year. The best thing about the retreat for me is not the uninterrupted sewing time, but I don’t have to cook for two whole days! Each mealtime, you walk out of one building and down to another; you get your plate, fill it up, eat it and then throw it away and walk back out the door.

The drawback though, is you basically have to bring your entire sewing room with you; your sewing machine, thread, needles, scissors, pins, clips, rulers, rotary cutters, etc. The retreat center is in the country, so there isn’t any running out to Walmart if you’ve forgotten something. And you have to bring whatever projects you want to work on.

Last year, I made embroidered bookmarks for everyone at the retreat. This year, I took advantage of all the empty bobbins I’ve collected from my embroidery machine and some beading supplies I had and made bobbin ornaments.

Not only was I able to put the empty bobbins to good use, but I also got to use up quite a few old spools of thread, some of which belonged to my mom, who passed away in 1987.

Now I only have to put together all the fabric supplies for the classes I signed up for and the projects I’ll be working on.