Quilting with friends

I write about my quilts and other sewing excitement fairly often here, so it must come as no surprise to you that Q is for Quilts. I considered just directing you to the "Quilts of Our Lives" series, in fact, and calling it good. But then I remembered these photos I took at our last quilting retreat, and decided you probably wanted to see them.

 The first rule of Quilt Retreat is we don't talk about quilt retreat. No, wait. It's that you don't have to take a shower if you don't want to. No, wait. It's that we offer sisterhood and support to each other in a crafty way. Yes. That's the first rule.

 The second rule of Quilt Retreat is it must include some combination of the Johnson Girls and the Sund*seth Girls (the asterisks protect the innocent from unnecessary Googling). My mom was a freshman in college in 1961 when she met this crazy woman, Kathy from Detroit Lakes. They became part of a rough and tumble group of card players and, after graduation, remained close friends. I wrote about them years ago here. And other places too. Anyway, my point is, I've known Jennifer (above, in green), and Emily, (up above, in pink, saying something with passion) for my entire life, and they are like sisters to me and Jess, but without the weird competition vibe you sometimes get with your own sister.

 Married into this tangled mess is Min*ke, above, who provides a calm, thoughtful perspective under the dull roar that is the rest of us. She also is mama to twin sons, who are the oldest of the grandchildren in our group. She once made a king-sized flannel quilt and decided that was enough quilting for anyone, so she added really cool stencils to t-shirts for her boys during our latest festival.

 And here is Meagan, whose name I rarely spell correctly on the first try, and whose figurative adoption into the Sund*seth clan more than ten years ago (How long has it been, M?) has brought all of us so much joy. She is an expert knitter, a beekeeper, and soon a graduate student who fits right into to our crazy little family.

The third rule of Quilt Retreat is to keep it classy. Above, one of our matriarchs, picking breakfast out of her teeth with a pin, I believe. If you don't know how to play cards, Kathy will teach you, and then proceed to never ever let you win. But she'll do it in a classy way, I tell you.

The fourth rule of Quilt Retreat is something mechanical always goes wrong. Here, Em, Meagan, and I have taken apart my poor Shark sewing machine (don't try this at home. I mean it). On the one hand, cool sewing machine innards, eh? On the other hand, we still couldn't fix it. But we sure had fun trying.

 The fifth rule of Quilt Retreat is no drinking until you're done cutting. Obviously, these three had finished for the evening and were on to wine-fueled discussions of music therapy or dog ownership, probably.

There may be other rules, but if you follow these five, you're sure to have a productive, entertaining weekend of crafty goodness. Now pass me the rotary cutter, and make sure to save me some wine.