I returned from the VOS quilt retreat yesterday afternoon, where of course I had a wonderful time!

  Brownie was beyond ecstatic to see me return. 

FYI today is his 3rd GotYaVersary:

He was so displeased with my absence that he peed on Tom's bed.

(That's happened once before, though I can't remember where I was.)

 Before heading to the retreat I'd made a quick run to TOQS for some rotary blades - but Sherri's notions wall was bare of a lot of stuff... like blades!  However as a "preferred" customer she offered to sell me some from her personal stash (the ones they use at the cutting table) which saved me from running around to get some.

And as long as I was there I just had  <g> to use that week's coupon to pick up a yard of bright fabric ("just in case".)  It turned out to be perfect for the outer border of this cheery charity quilt Cathy whipped up from Denise's birdhouse blocks.  

She, like so many of the attendees, was working on finishing up quilts of Denise's, who was sorely missed throughout the weekend!  (FYI Denise was the one who started the VOS retreats, which in the beginning were held at her condo.)  We did have a Celebration of Life memorial for her on Saturday afternoon, when for an hour the ladies shared touching Denise stories, and many finished quilts were gifted to her daughter (on the right, admiring one of them) to distribute to various family members.

Sharon, who was also working with Denise's fabrics (she hadn't schlepped any of her own projects to work on) used some of it to whip up this microwave bowl for me.  She'd made them before, but liked Jan's directions (that I'd brought along in case I found time to make my first one) better than 'her' method.

Denise's left-behind fabric was 'up for grabs', and the sheer amount of it makes my rooms-ful of fabric look paltry by comparison!  I was really good (really) about not taking much since I have WAY more than I can ever use, even in several lifetimes.  

But HOW could I pass up this bag of ready-made four-patches in black-and-brights?!

I was happy that my 3 quilts were admired during Show & Tell (even though I ended up going after two incredibly amazing quilters.)  

My room at the hotel was absolutely lovely (might be the nicest place I've stayed?) though the sewing room was cramped.  Not only did the group have to trim down the number of attendees to 24 (from the usual 32) but the cutting/ironing was elsewhere, down the hall past the bathrooms.  "Somehow" <g> we managed!  

There's my area circled in red, where our threesome included Kim and Mel.  

The ladies were (again) jealous of my 'recliner', where I sat to give my back a break at times and worked on the binding of Tom's quilt (which I brought home ALL DONE!) Though I did take some late afternoon breaks to head upstairs and lie on the heating pad, I was able to stay up "late" and sew until 9 pm each evening.

One evening we played LRC, and with 15 of us participating the haul ended up being $45.  I came within a whisker of winning, when it was down to just Ellen and me, both with a single dollar to our name.  (At one point I had accumulated quite a cushion, with a pile of 8!) 

Unfortunately I rolled a Right, so my dollar passed to Carrie, and since immediately after that Ellen rolled a Center Carrie ended up with the cash.

Out of time - need to get dressed and head to PT.