Quilting Tahoe

One of the biggest "shocks" in returning from Lake Tahoe was the change in temperature. Our high temperatures at the lake were probably around the low 80s, and those highs only lasted a couple hours in the mid to late afternoons. When I got back to Sacramento on Friday, it was nearly 100 degrees at around 1 p.m. ARGH! This morning, though, we woke up to the sound of thunder in the distance, and before long, we had a brief, light rain--rain before late October is rare in our area. Today's high dropped about 15 degrees, and tomorrow it will be even cooler--around 80 degrees. Lovely!

The other "shock" was returning to over-crowded, traffic-clogged suburbia! At least I have the weekend to acclimate before I have to go back to work and face the hustle and bustle of everyday living. Today, though, there was no sleeping in--today I had the Buggy Barn class to teach.

I wonder if it's possible to sew too much? If it is, I don't think I've hit that point yet. Teaching and sewing in class today was fun, as usual. And afterward? Well, I sewed some more, of course! Tomorrow night, I'll show you what I did at camp and worked on over the weekend. Tonight, though--well, yesterday I promised to show you a few more photos of quilt camp. Here are some of the campers in the large sewing room. Everyone seems pretty busy, don't they?

Upstairs in the second floor lobby were windows that overlooked our sewing room. It wasn't unusual to glance up and see people watching us sew. Of course, that's where I took this photo. And see the man and woman at the head of the table on the right? Yep, we had visitors stop in and walk around to see what we were doing. I don't think any of us minded, and all of our visitors were quite friendly and interested. The camp facility is a Presbyterian Conference Center, and there are usually Presbyterians groups as well as other visitors coming and going.

And at the head of the table on the left? That chair with the black sweater? That was my spot. You can kind of see my Buggy Barn witches there. And Lindy sat across on the other side of the table, across from me, but she, Carolyn, and Caroline (two other friends, all on that side of the table) must have been off doing something when I took the photo because their chairs are empty.

Here's the other half of the room. All together we had four sets of tables. Each of us had our own table and most of the tables were 8' long, so there was plenty of space to spread out and work. The walls around the perimeter of the room were pretty well covered with design walls so we could lay out our blocks and display our finished projects for a little while.

On Wednesday, after sewing for almost two days, it was time for a little shoulder and neck R&R. There was a little lounge area across from the sewing room, and a massage therapist was invited in to set up her chair there. Needless to say, most of us took advantage of her services. AAAAHHHHH!

And one of the other highlights of camp? Well, apparently this group of women have a tradition of dressing up each year.

I'm not certain I have it exactly right, but I think each woman brings five of something and contributes it to the overall group costume. And I think it was someone's husband who had the idea for--or found--the "bras." What a hoot! (Or would that be Hooters?! Okay, I know--bad pun!)

Traditionally, on the last night of camp, we have a "room tour." Each room has at least one donated quilt hanging on the wall, and most of us bring a quilt from home to sleep under--those quilts are displayed as are the projects we've worked on during the camp. The rooms are opened and we travel in a group from room to room to admire all of the quilts. Remember what I said about people dropping in and watching us quilt? Well, somehow we picked up two couples on the room tour who came along to admire our projects! I didn't get photos of the rooms, but there were a lot of great projects on display.

Time for bed. I was right last night about sleeping in my own bed, on my own mattress--wonderful! Tomorrow, though, I'd really like to sleep in a little bit. It's my LAST DAY of vacation. I hope you're enjoying your weekend, doing whatever makes you happy!