When Hearts are Full to Bursting!

Quiltville Inn Beta Test Retreat is in Full Swing!

Can I just tell you how much this means to me?  I know you’ve been hearing about the progress for the past year and a half – every little detail.  I talk about it and talk about it until you have likely heard ENOUGH ALREADY.  But did you ever have a dream you dreamed was impossible, but you went for it anyway?  And when it came to fruition, and you stepped from simply dreaming into reality – you couldn’t find the words to express your gratitude?

That’s me right now.  And I’m teary eyed as I’m typing this because these ladies mean so much to me!  They gave up a good chunk of a holiday weekend to come TEST. ALL. THE. THINGS.

Not a used car lot!

But I would like Gina’s Mercedes! LOL!

Lisa arrived first, and she brought gifts for each sewing station – so while she set out the cell phone holders she had made at everyone’s sewing stations, I helped bring in her other stuff, get the names written on the chalk boards outside each room, and initials on the hook rack clip for who's towels go where when drying in each bedroom – we hooked her phone up to the Bluetooth sound bar, cranked the tunes and put this day in full swing in anticipation of everyone’s arrivals.

As folks arrived and unloaded, they moved their cars behind the Quiltville Post Office.

I felt like I was waiting for my 12-year-old birthday party to begin!

Some came as singles, some came in pairs -

Here I am humming “Debbie’s roasting by an open fire…..”  She is the cold-natured one so we saved this spot just for her!

We used the wagons at the side of the garage to unload cars.  We carried food things from the back porch through the kitchen door, the sewing things through the back entry door to the Quilting Quarters. We carried suitcases upstairs and gave little tours to oohs and ahhs!

I think they were just as excited as I was!

And a small miracle happened.

No power tripping with the use of small irons, machines, task lights and music players.

There was no table vibration or bouncing (That was a concern I really had – I hate those hollow core plastic bouncy tables.) and the design walls all around the room deadened the echo and with all of the machines running – you could still carry on conversations without yelling.  SO GREAT!

SEW MUCH HAPPY!!

Those design walls are looking awfully bare yet, don’t you think?  Maybe this morning when I stop by there will be SOMETHING stuck up there.  LOL.

The tables and task lights are all IKEA.  The rolling work station chairs were ordered off of Amazon, as were the power towers in the centers of the tables.

Dad played camera man to catch this shot!

But I like this one BEST!

Would you like a video tour to peek inside?  

Click to Play:

We made an evening visit to check in on everyone, and it felt SO SO SO good to have folks occupying comfy chairs in the Hen Den around the wood stove. We added logs and banked it down for the night, and will get it going again this morning.

I wish I could have stayed longer and visited more – but Dad was waiting at home and it was our last evening together.

I love seeing the lights on -

I wonder who stayed up the latest?

This morning I am up and posting this early – it’s going to be a full day.  There are orders to get out at the QPO.  I need to get Dad back to Greensboro for his flight out.  I have my own bags to pack for Germany – I need to be to the airport at 4:30am on Sunday.

There will be one visit today to Quiltville Inn to check on things, see if there is anything anyone needs and then they will be on their own (with The Hubster close at hand should they need anything, just a phone call and a short 7 mile drive away) and check out Sunday afternoon.

Over the past several weeks I felt like my “MUST DO!” list has been long and unending.  But one by one we ticked all the boxes, and everything was accomplished in due time.  

There is a life lesson in that.  Just keep chipping away at it.  Do things in the order of importance.  Anything left over at the end of the day just rolls over onto the next day’s agenda.  And it all works out.

For groups interested in renting Quiltville Inn for your own retreats, I have started on the web page now that photos of finished rooms could be accomplished.  It’s a work in progress, but contract information, etc is tentatively found at the bottom of the Quiltville Inn tab at the top of my Quiltville.com website.  For planning purposes only - I am not ready to start booking and taking of deposits until at least January. Documents and info are subject to change as we continue to fine-tune them to what we really want.

And I do want to host a drawing to give groups an equal opportunity – much like our other Gift-Aways, we will use the random number generator to draw a group, let them choose their weekend (Deposit must be ready to be paid at this time, so gather your groups, and know who is in charge of your group!) and then we will draw again for another group to choose another weekend, etc.  More details on that to come.  But JANUARY is coming close – so think about it!

And just like Dad and Emmy Lou -

Take naps when you can in between it all!

Quiltville Quote of the Day -

Vintage double wedding ring quilt shared by Kevin the Quilter.

Our relationships are worth far more than any object that we desire.

Who remembers the song 'One Tin Soldier'? Look it up on YouTube if you haven't heard it in a while.

The best gifts in life are people, not things.

I am so grateful for the gift of PEOPLE this Thanksgiving weekend!

Have a wonderful Saturday, everyone!