Sam (Carol) and Gus

Please allow me to introduce you to our hostess for the retreat - Carol. Since there are two Carols in our group, I will refer to her as Sam which is the name her family and non-quilting friends call her. Sam has this beautiful house and the house next door for us to enjoy on our retreat. She borrows tables from the local high school so that each one of us has a long table on which to work. She provides supper the first night (turkey on the grill - yum yum) and we bring lunches for the rest of the week. For supper we try different local restaurants and quite often opt for the fresh Walleye.Sam is an expert quilter and has won awards for her fabulous quilts. She worked on this beautiful border-print quilt that had to be cut with extreme precision.
This is the completed top without the final border as sadly she did not have enough fabric. Thankfully she was able to locate the fabric on the Internet and will be able to complete the quilt.
A close-up of the star blocks that take advantage of the border print. Clever pattern!
Sam's loving companion is Gus. Poor Gus is getting old and didn't have much spunk this year. He was content to guard the quilts and lie beside each one of us in turn.

He decided to place himself right where my chair goes and I didn't have the heart to make him move.
He particularly liked Gail's design board, lying as close as possible so that the blocks started to fall off. As soon as you put something on the floor, he is right there testing the softness and making sure it doesn't float away.
Lindsay and Gus cuddling.
It was a great retreat - our 5th! Now some of you may be wondering what I did at the retreat since I have not yet shown anything. I'm the only one who did not finish one thing. I got lots of components done, but no quilt top finished. However, I will start showing the bits and pieces that were sewn at my machine. Perhaps tomorrow.