Knitting with the Nuns

The title of this blog is "Knitting with the Nuns", but that is really tongue in cheek because no nuns knit with us and most of tha gals work on quilts.  I just thought it was a clever title.  I've been going to a quilting retreat for several years at Shalom Retreat Center in Dubuque.  I love it.  We get the whole weekend to work on projects, the sisters or other gals feed us and it is so peaceful.  A great group of ladies from the Dubuque area attend and my usual group of suspects, I mean friends go from Iowa City and Coralville.  The facility brings back childhood memories of going to a Catholic school and some of the beautiful buildings and grounds in my home town of Des Moines.

This post I thought it would be fun to go into the look of the retreat center a little more so those of you that have never been can kind of see the layout.  This is our work area which is in a huge conference room.  It is on the 3rd floor.

The wellness center is in the basement.  It is a nice perk if you want a massage.

The cafeteria is a nice big hall and the food is usually enough to feed a group of men that have been working in the field all day!  Substantial! 

Here is the hallway down to my room. It is under construction becauase they are adding A/C.  The A/C has never been an issue for us because we are usually there in April and November.

Here is my little private room.  There is Wi-Fi but it did not go all the way to my room.

This is the bathroom and showers.  Yup, not the Hilton but it is clean and I like it.

Yarn and quilt shopping in Dubuque.  Make-up NOT required.

Show-N-Tell is always so fun and the work these ladies do is amazing.  Very talented quilters, the gal that oranizes the retreat use to own the quilt shop in town and now she does long arm quilting.

Pin cusion.... sooo cute

mini-applique... pictures do not do this justice!

beautiful quilting!

Super cute throw.  Both of these gals are from my hubby's hometown!  Small world!

I love the fabrics and design of this one.

bright, cute, baby quilt.

Coffee quilt part 1.  Love those fabrics!

Curves ahead, table runner, wow!

Sweet charm pack, kid quilt.

LOVE this Christmas quilt, this was my favorite block.

 A little knitting!  Love this scarf and hat set!

Challenging blocks, makes my head hurt soooo challenging and beautiful!

 Preemie hat, so sweet.

I didn't get much done, I worked on red and cream blocks, my plan is to someday have a red and cream colored nine patch Christmas quilt.  I think I completed 20 blocks.

I also finished the maybe cute, maybe ugly skirt.  Which even though I made the size bigger for me seems to be  little too snug for my conservative field.  I will have to block it to loosen up around the hips.

It was a really fun weekend, I am so glad I am blessed to be able to take time out of my week to go on retreats like this.  Thanks to dear hubby I come home to a house that is put together and everyone is fine with me being gone.