It all began on About.com's Quilting Forum with a thread about how great it would be to meet everyone IRL at a quilting retreat. The virtual road trip started over on the East Coast, picking up people and supplies and food along the way. When it got to the West Coast, I "volunteered" my house for the location. At some point, it occured to me that 'by golly, why not?', so a real quilting retreat was discussed.
After much discussion, It was finalized for Memorial Day weekend 2002. Initially 11 people from Guam (yes! the island!) to Georgia (yes! the state!) said they would venture forth to the bizarre land of California. However, due to Real Life being incredibly intrusive and Stuff Happening, 7 people was the final count. (Guam was here but Georgia was not). Three people stayed over while the rest commuted back/forth from their homes for the weekend.
We had a demo on making continuous bias tape that segued into Stained Glass quilts. We had show-n-tell. We had a hands-on demo of the Super Quilter home quilting system. We had field trips to 2 LQS. We had lots of food and went out to dinner one night. We chatted a WHOLE LOT and actually did do some quilting and sewing! It was a completely wonderful time and so great to connect faces/voices with names.
Below are the pictures that I was able to take of the retreat
 | Everyone was given written directions to the Jolly Rodgers Motel so they could arrive from their various origins. As they approached their destination, this identifier was on the streetside mailbox to alert them that This Was The Place. |
| As they turned at the mailbox, this view greeted them as the approach to the Jolly Rodgers Motel. |  |
 | This is it. The redoubtable pirate ship. George Washington has never slept here but GuamQuilter, Pigley and DJzMom have! |
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