Quilt Retreat Food............ with One Loose Thread

I have heard so many stories about quilt retreat food.

1) Guests do their own cooking

2) If at a retreat center they get 'institutional food'

3) Too much salt

4) Not enough of a variety

5) Wilted salad greens

6) My special diet cannot be accommodated.

And I could go on, but, I won't.

When I am planning a retreat for One Loose Thread, my venue is told 3 things. 

    1. Make sure we have enough light

    2. Make sure our sleeping arrangements are clean and comfortable

    3. MAKE SURE THAT THE FOOD IS GOOD AND THERE IS PLENTY OF IT!! This should actually be listed as #1.

I can truly say that we usually hit all of these points very well. Now occasionally, there is a hiccup and a dish may have a little too much salt. Yes, sometimes we run out of those fresh and best prepared vegetables (like asparagus). But for the most part the biggest complaint that I hear about food is that there is just too much of it (not my thought, but some say that). Someone actually has remarked that she will go on a diet the week before camp so that she might not have to do it after camp. Doctor's appointments involving bloodwork are done BEFORE camp............ just saying that many of them are. 

Yes, we take our food very seriously. 

We do breakfast, lunch and dinner. There are desserts. For those on special diets accommodations are made for them whenever possible and so far it has been totally possible. Currently we have a 'special' dinner sometime during retreat and then have a great brunch on the last day before we all head for home. There are times that I alter that a little just to keep everyone on their toes. 

We don't buy the groceries, prepare the meals, wash the dishes.. none of that. We are here to sew and be social and that's what we do. The kitchen staff ROCKS!!

Our retreats are 'out in the woods'. It's quiet. The lake is beautiful. The sleeping accommodations are cool in summer and warm in winter. They are very comfortable. The retreat center makes sure of that. 

All in all, if fear of lousy food is your reason for not trying a One Loose Thread retreat, please reconsider. I try to make everyone feel relaxed and as though they are a guest in my home. My special retreat center does the same. 

Hope to see you during one of our retreats next year:

February (February 22-26, 2023) is a 'sit and sew' retreat with an optional mystery quilt thrown in for fun. Everyone gets the clues, but, you don't have to actually stitch the mystery.

May Mester (May 17-21, 2023) will be a split retreat. One building will be a 'sit and sew' group and the other will be a Judy Niemeyer quilt class with Certified instructor Elsa Neubauer. You pick your quilt, but, she will focus on the current technique of the month.

August---(August 2-6, 2023)- It does get hot, but we have AC---- this will be a sit and sew event.

November--(November 7-10,2023) -time to finish up all of those Christmas presents or make something for yourself.

I hope that you will pick a date or two and join the fun with the Frayed Knots of One Loose Thread. All levels of quilters are welcome. The maximum number of participants is 36. Everyone will have plenty of room to work and socialize at the same time. You can take a nap or have a massage. You can sew or read a book. The time is yours to do with what you want. We are close enough that you could visit the 3 quilt shops in Augusta, Georgia. 

Hope to see you soon,

Joyce Greer-also known as..... One Loose Thread

CONTINUING EDUCATION FOR THE LONGARM QUILTER!!!

 Their bags are packed, they're ready to go!! I leave in the morning for a in depth, concentrated, continuing education class for the Gammill Statler owner. Our heads may explode with 2 1/2 days of classes and I am not in charge. Pray for Anne Mixon and Vicki McClure McCormick as they drive us to Arkansas, with me in the back seat!!!! I have only crossed the Mississippi River by plane. I can't wait to see it from ground level. I have never been in this part of the country, so stay tuned, I'll tell you all about it here on the blog.

We are attending a 'Southern Belle' retreat. Spearheaded by our fearless leader Joan Knight. This will be concentrated classes on the Gammill Statler software 'Creative Studio'. She will be assisted by some wonderful teachers and digital designers.

I'll let you know all about it and even send pictures!! I'll be available by email and text. Pat (the bookkeeper) will be in the studio this week after 3 weeks of vacation. She has alot of work to do!!! So, if you need anything, just contact one of us and we'll take care of it.

Registration continues for November quilt retreat with One Loose Thread!!

Now, I need to go and pack.

I'm not leaving on a Jet Plane.............. Anne does not have a pilots license.....

Many Thanks to a lot of Friends and Customers

August 13, 2022

I am loading my longarm machines to play 'catch up' with my clients. The last 3 years have been difficult for many reasons. Covid was not the only occurance that really  threw all of us off for a while. 

As many of you know Mr. OLT had battled cancer since he was 35 years old. Most recently bladder, kidney, and oral cancer. Dick died of heart failure on August 9, 2021, one year ago last Tuesday. To say that this has been a huge adjustment for me and my family would be a great understatement. Knowing that he would not be walking in the door on Friday afternoons has not kept me from waiting to hear the lock turn. The dogs have finally stopped looking for him, but, I haven't. Loosey still won't get up in his chair. So much has gone 'un-done' since all of this has happened. In the same time line, so much has happened.

As Dick was taken to the hospital in July, something happened in my knee. I was also having alot of pain in my left arm, but all of that had to take a back seat as we tried, valiantly, to get him well. He fought hard for 2 weeks to just live. He celebrated his 74th birthday in ICU. The staff sang 'Happy Birthday' and brought him special gifts. He loved it and that day he felt good. That was August 4th. So much happened over the next 5 days and I'm really not so sure that the procedures should have been pushed so hard. He grew weaker as each day passed. 

One good thing out of all of this is that Vickie and Dusty had the chance to spend some quality time with their Dad. We took turns being at the hospital with him and the hospital 'kicked' us out each evening because of Covid rules. Hopefully, Vickie and Dusty had good conversations with their Dad. Ones they will remember forever and share with his Grandchildren.

Shortly after Dick's death I saw a surgeon about the pain in my arm that I was sincerely afraid was from a torn rotator cuff. It was determined that the problem was coming from disc compressions in my neck. So, off to surgery I go in December for a plate to be placed on the vertebral column in my neck. That was really interesting. I'm not really sure, even now, that it helped the pain in my arm as I still have times when it bothers me. 

Anyway, the day of that surgery, I had extreme swelling in my knee. No pain, it was just 2-3 times the size that it should have been. So, I was then referred to an orthepedic/sports medicine practice to check on that. It took several months and injections before it was finally determined that I needed a total knee replacement.

Keep in mind that I was still longarming for clients, working the floor of a large quilt show, and conducting quilt retreats. You gotta do what you gotta do, right?

Surgery for the knee replacement was June 29. All went well. Lucky for me I have some fantastic friends that helped me through recovery, because all of my family was out of town. I had a 'window' of  5 weeks until I had the summer retreat for One Loose Thread scheduled. I had no intension of changing that. 

Well, we all came home from camp last Sunday. I have been told that this was one of the best camps that I have ever hosted. I have been trying to figure out what made it so special and I think I know. All of you. Most, of the 'Frayed Knots' have known what was going on over the last year. Most knew that I had major surgery 5 weeks before. All of you know that I try to be very independent and have a hard time accepting help of any kind. But, you would not let me say no thank you. You didn't even ask, you just did whatever needed to be done. Everyone who attended camp this time had been there before. Either once or many times. Don't get me wrong, I welcome 'new Frayed Knots', but it was probably a blessing that I had returning 'Frayed Knots' with me this time.

It's going to take me a several weeks to catch up with promised quilts. I have a week scheduled for continuing education in September, so I will be working around that. Physical Therapy will continue for at least another month. I pretty much move around the house without a cane or walker. When I'm out and about I take my cane with me, but, don't rely on it. So, things are improving.

Cooper is looking forward to the day that he can get up in the chair with me and be a Lab---blanket. I look forward to that day too. 

I think this brings us up to date and probably gives you and the WWW more information than it should, but I really wanted to let everyone know that: LIFE IS GOOD AND GETTING BETTER EACH DAY.  Thank you for listening and caring. 

Now:

LET'S GO SEW!!!!

List of Things You Can't Do Alone When you Have Had Knee Replacement Surgery

 1. Take out the trash

2. Take the trash cart to the curb or bring it back to the house

3. Do laundry- can't take the step down to the washer/dryer or carry the laundry out there.

4. Go into garden to turn the water off/on or pick the vegetables

5. Run the vacuum to pick up all of the dog hair

6. Get the mail out of the box on the curb

7. Load a longarm machine

8. Go to the grocery store

9. Load the dogs to go for boarding----bring the dogs home.

10. 

What an experience this has become. One thing for sure! I could not have done this without the help of my friends, sisters, and son. It would be impossible..........no matter how hardheaded I am. 

It's been 10 days since my surgery. I have had 4 rounds of in home PT. I have been able to keep the pain under control with the help of some good drugs. Notice I said 'under control' not totally gone. Expecting to have NO pain is totally unrealistic. I've had major surgery. Lots of muscles, nerves, and tendons cut or repositioned. Bone cut and metal applied in the joint. I have to expect some pain. I think part of the trick is staying on top of it and not letting it get ahead of the medication. 

My PT is Tyler. He is calm and very understanding. He knows how far to push and then stop so that we don't damage anything. He also knows that I am exercising between visits as I have been insturcted to do. 

So, for now, it is exercise............... ice..............exerscise.............. ice and repeat. I'm drinking lots of water (miss my Bull Bat time wine) and eating sensibly. Sleeping good and occasional naps.

The dogs are home and Cooper is very slowly adjusting to not being able to get into the chair with me. He doesn't know 'his place' yet, but, hopefully will find it soon. 

This is certainly a 'learn as you go' experience. I'm sure I'll have to add to the list as I discover other things because I have a long road ahead. My current target date is August 3. We move into Gravatt Camp and Conference Center for 4 wonderful days of Summer Quilt Camp. Something to look forward to and a goal to work toward.............. makes life better everyday. :-)

That's it for now. Until later,

Y'ALL GO SEW!!!

Longarm Quilting and Life

 We are just about at the end of the first quarter of 2022. This time of each year is always a maze of a racetrack for me. I finished all of the Christmas quilting. Attended Myrtle Beach Quilt Party. Hosting One Loose Thread Spring Quilt Camp. Working with Cobblestone Quilt Guild during their show. Attending QSC Spring meeting in Spartanburg. Getting the tax information to the accountant. Then also trying to maintain a longarm business so that my great clients can get their quilts completed in a timely manor. WOW!!! I am exhausted just typing all of this out here. :-)

Thankfully, Pat took care of tax prep for my business. That was invaluable. Dick left a big mess for me to wade through but, I did my best and if I find anything else, I'll just have to file an amended return. I did finish all of the expected show quilts and even finished mine. Delivered all of those to the Cobblestone Show and ......more on that later. Quilt Camp was AWESOME!!! I had such a great group and so much help from everyone. I have been having some really tough knee pain so all of that help was greatly appreciated. 

Now, let's break all of this down to where it might make sense.

Myrtle Beach Quilt Party was so much fun. It was as though I had not been with adults in YEARS!! Pat took one class and I tortured myself  by taking a class on a VERY DIFFICULT quilt. 'Jacks Chain' is extremely difficult for me to work with. All of these set in seams are a real bear.

 

The fact that we were in Myrtle Beach really helped out alot. Had some great food. Spent time with friends that we had not seen in 2 years. Top it off with the chance to sew for a weekend, so, all was good. 

We came back home and Pat was on her way to the delivery of her new Granddaughter. She would be spending weeks with Marley to help out the new parents. Then she will be off on a cruise....

I came home to get everything ready for February (Spring) Quilt Camp. I had held registration to a number that could sew in just one building. So we all moved all of our sewing stuff into the Chapel at Gravatt. Janet and Judy were extremely helpful, especially since I could not move very well with this problem with a knee. We sewed, laughed, ate, even cried a little for 4 days. It was blissful. Kristy, Sally, and Corky helped load me up at the end of the weekend. Then Dusty came and unloaded and put all of the equipment back in storage until our retreat in May.

Mary did bring this back to me for quilting while we were at camp. Oh what a challenge this is going to be. I'll study a lot of pictures and talk to a lot of longarm quilters to get some good ideas before I start the quilting. This has to be one of my biggest challenges in this business. Trying to come up with designs that will work with the quilt so that it does not over power the quilt. 

While all of this was happening, I was working on a couple of quilts for the Cobblestone Quilt Show. One was Lorah's Nebula. She did win second place with her quilt.

Sandra's quilt won First Place in her category!!

Jennifer picked up a second place!

Then there was Verity's 'long term' project. She received a second place on her Dear Jane journey.

Mary's quilt did not ribbon but stood well in the judging. I am so proud that she was brave enough to enter this show.

I did enter 2 quilts. One was the giant 110 x 110 year of scrappy stars. This is the new quilt for my bed. It's time for a new one.  This was not an award winner, but, I still love it. This is the one everyone listened to me gripe about as I put the binding and the sleeve on the night before I went to Charleston. 

Last of all is my fan quilt. I am so totally proud of this quilt. I took the class from Cindy Page of Quilters Gallery. Then I used every bit of knowledge that I had gleaned from classes with so many talented Gammill Statler instructors to quilt it. The ribbon is a Vendors Choice Ribbon from Quilters Gallery. Means a lot that the designer of the quilt pinned this ribbon on my entry. 

I have great pictures from the February retreat to share too. I think I have taken enough of your time for now and we'll have to do that later. Plus, I want to share close up's on the quilting that was done on the client quilts for the show. That will be in another post.

Thanks for stopping by. I think it is now Bull Bat Time plus I need to cook a little supper. It's been a really good weekend, but, I'm now glad to be home. So are Cooper and Loosey.

Tomorrow, One Loose Thread Quilting, will attempt to go back to a regular schedule. I'll spend most of the week playing 'catch up' on client quilts. I don't have anymore 'out of the studio' time scheduled until May Mester, but, I am already (and have been) making plans for that event. 

Cheers to you...........we'll talk more later.............. until then: LET'S GO SEW!!!

Joyce-One Loose Thread 

  

The 'Mad Chemist'

 It's really rather funny, in a sad way. Dick (Mr. OLT) died in August. One of his favorite meals that I would cook would be chili (the other is my fried chicken). As soon as it would get the least bit cold then the chili would go on the menu. Well............. I probably have not cooked more than 10 meals since August. Tonight, I find myself in the kitchen working up a pot of chili.

I truly feel like the mad scientist at the stove. I hope this pot of chili is good enough to feed me for a few days with the weather getting ready to REALLY get cold. It sure brings back memories of more interesting times. 

This recipe is one that I found in an original Betty Crocker cookbook right after Dick and I got married. He loved it then and he loved it always. Amazing how the little things can bring back memories and a few tears along with them. 

Anyway, I wanted to share with you that I 'might' still be able to cook. Cooper has had his nose right up on the counter to make sure that everything was just right. Now it's time to butter some bread and have a bowl of chili.

Hope this posting finds you warm and snuggly in your home. I really plan to sew this weekend and get my entries ready for the Cobblestone Quilt Show. One needs binding and the other needs....borders....quilting...binding...a label........just a few things. 

Thanks for listening.

Nebula and South Carolina quilters

I am currently working on a client quilt that was pieced from the 'Nebula' pattern with Jay Bird Quilts. This is what the full quilt looks like, BUT, I am working on the smaller version, the throw.

 This top is so much fun to work on. The piecing is spot on and the Tula Pink fabrics are so much fun. 

 This was loading day. As you might see, this top is a hexagon, so care needed to be taken to get everything straight. I did baste the top on as I always do with custom quilting. Once that was done it was time to have some Statler fun.

The black areas were stitched on the first day of actual quilting. The red areas were stitched the second day of quilting. These designs are so cute and work so well in these diamonds. They were designed by Kim Diamond and are just perfect. They really make my job a little easier. So now at this point I have at least 25 hours in this quilt. And on we go!!

On this day I started some of the outer background. That would be those areas at the top in black. The large open area at the bottom will be left until later as those diamonds will not stitch within my throat space on my frame. The quilt will need to be turned for those to be stitched. 

So now I have worked another day and finished the inside triangles (they are now in red). Today I completed the outer diamonds (they are in black). I'll carry on with this outer area until I have to turn the quilt.

This was on Jan. 15, 2022 and it's time to turn the quilt. Things will stop for a week as I go to Myrtle Beach Quilt Party to start a new project of my own. When I get back, the quilt will come off of the frame, be trimmed a little, reloaded, and all of these open areas will be stitched. We're moving along and things are really looking good. 

I'll let you know when it is complete!