Quilt retreat is FUN FUN FUN!!!!!!

I went on retreat last weekend. I didn't sign up originally because none of my usual 'buds' could go. I began to regret it more and more and when I heard there was an opening, I jumped right in! So much fun and I had such a blast with everyone. Very little sleep though and, oh my gosh, did we eat a lot of Halloween candy. I am 90% Heath bar right now, lol. And I am so exhausted, my priority this week is to get to bed early every night. This is a Christmas mini quilt that I made. The Wild Threads are having a secret xmas swap and this is the mini I made for my partner. Shhhh, I can't say who it is for. I fussy cut from lots of my Christmas fabrics and made a 'postage stamp/ ticker tape/tile' quilt. Does anyone know the difference between these 3 types of quilt or are they the same? The binding is the stripe, the mini is laying on a white surface. I also added some buttons and snowflake sequins. This only took me an afternoon and most of the time was the fussy cutting as well as playing with the arrangement. I actually made this red star before I went on retreat. I took it along and never worked on it at all. I used to take SO much stuff on retreat. I am working on being more realistic with my projects. Believe me when I say I did much better this time, ha ha.Remember this? For my brother and his wife in Nashville. I decided to put applique in the center. Gosh I love these Cherrywood fabrics! Such rich color. I used applique designs from Kim Schaefer's Flower Festival book and I surrounded them with skinny black strips. That's my friend Lois at her machine. We laughed all weekend. My design wall is a $3 flannel backed vinyl tablecloth and I use Command strip hooks to put it up.

Wanna closer look? This is only 46 inches square right now. I haven't seen their house since just after they moved in. Since then, they have decorated and I have no idea what it looks like. I don't want to assume they have a place for a larger wallhanging, so I really think I should make a lap/sofa size. Suggestions? Please, pretty please! I need input.

And here is an even closer look. Notice the black and white chicken fabric on the right? Makes me laugh.

Check this out. You never know where the laughs are coming from on retreat. Kathy has a duck who apparently goes everywhere with her. He has lots of outfits I think. Duckie is a Steeler fan. Egads that's a travesty! Last year I made him a Ravens shirt on retreat. Kathy chased me around as I put the shirt on him. Everyone is still laughing about how I ended up under a table with Duckie. I happened to be sitting on Gail's sewing machine foot control. Her machine was revving wildly and I was oblivious to it.

This year, Kathy modeled the 'Duck bra' she made for a charity challenge. Awesome isn't it?

I don't have a photo yet, but I got my Halloween quilt quilted on retreat. I did each row differently. My favorite is the row with the spiders. I quilted spiderwebs. I hafta tell ya, I am VERY proud of the spider webs. Give me a couple days and I will post a picture. Too bad Halloween is over. I really want to hang it up for a while.