It WAS a Sweet Treat Retreat

It had been a "Sweet Treat Retreat" with my friends at Three Rivers Quilting. Every year, the second weekend of October us ladies trek to a location where we spend Friday to Sunday sewing, quilting, knitting, eating, and of course LAUGHING!!!! Sleeping is optional!!!!! This year, there were 22 of us!

The retreat was held at Das Dutch Village Inn and Village in Columbiana, Ohio. It is a quaint place were Amish food is served!!!! The meeting room is where we set up our sewing machines, ironing boards

(Ok, I know there are no sewing machines here right now but Gayle and I were the first to arrive!) with a fabulous sitting area outside the meeting room to sit and catch up with your friends, hand sew, beading, or just relax complete with fireplace!!! 

My side-kick and partner in crime, Gayle, is in charge but unofficially, I am her "secretary" and "helper"!!! What does this entail you ask??? I help create the flyer to be sent out in May or June along with creative juices flowing for quilt block and other goodies as you will now see!!!!

The quilt block this year with the theme "Sweet Retreat" was a piece of candy whether it be taffy or ?????? The square was found in a quilting magazine from years gone by Sweet Shop in Simple Quilts and Sewing Winter 2012. Instructions are sent out to those come to the retreat and everyone makes a square and then puts their name in a jar. On Saturday night, a lucky winner is drawn and they become the proud owners of the squares. This year there were 10 ladies that participated!!!

There are name tags as there are a few new girls every year and you can't tell the players without a name tag!!!!! The name tags were created using my Cricut and a previous free file from Treasure Box Design (Candy Buttons Freebie) where I enlarged with a shadow background, a white layer on top, bright candy colors all made with scraps, their name with a pin back on the back. Of course no piece of candy would be complete if the Stickles Fairy didn't come and visit!!!!! 

We had a guessing game where Gayle cut up pick and white scraps (which she called cotton candy) into 2.5 x 2.5 inch squares to one lucky winner who could guess how many pieces were in the jar!!!!! There were 496 pieces with Karen being the lucky winner!!!! Karen immediately began sewing these squares into a quilt top!!! 

This sign was created by using a left-over name tag candy and Make the Cut shapes (cone, bubble, and swirl) on a shadow background with a visiting from the Stickle Fairy!!!!

There were candy themed treat bags handed out to everyone compliments of the ideas from Pinterest and Create with TLC!!!!! 

Create with TLC Here's Looking at You Halloween Vintage Image Transfer and Word Art Set had also been included in the October Club 2014 was made into little treat bags with adorable bone candy which was found at the Dollar Tree. I cut the image using a 2.5 inch Fiskars Circle Punch and chalked around the edges

The Life Saver idea was found on Pinterest was created by making a matchbook using blue Recollection Card Stock and the life saver from Cricut Life's a Beach Cartridge with a lifesaver inside to save those drowning in stitches and needing help!

The Lollipop Tool was found on Pinterest where the saying was copied onto card stock and a Tootsie Roll Pop inserted

NOW, if you have ever sewn a seam or even quilted you know "measure twice, cut once", and of course of the frog stitch (rip-it!). Another cute treat found on Pinterest was the Quilter's Survival Kit

of course there were "sweet treats" to nibble on while sewing one of which Gayle had made and "no bones about it" it sure was tasty!!!

these were pretzels with mini marshmallows on either side and then dipped in white chocolate!!!!!

Now, sew, you're not that overwhelmed - I have divided this into several blogs as this is picture intensive with lots of ideas for you to use!!!

   I thank you for stopping by and visiting today.  I appreciate and love reading your comments . . is your comment the next one I read??? If you have any questions or need to contact me, I can be reached at hercraftiness@gmail.com

Much love, hugs, and friendship

Lynne