So the DC Modern Quilt Guild had a retreat. I guess you could tell that by my title though. We are lucky that one of our members is a house mom at a fraternity house at a local college. The boys were all gone for the summer and she had the house all to herself. She went through all the channels to get the approval for this and did an awesome job of organizing it all.
I didn’t go away for college. In fact, I didn’t really go to college. I went to beauty school and became a nail tech at the ripe old age of 19. From there, life just followed. Although, I did take a handful of community college classes here and there. Something I truly regret. I realized why I feel like I am stuck at 19. It is where I just jumped into life and skipped all the craziness of being 19. But I digress.
So we were so lucky to get to stay on a gorgeous campus with lots of amazing ladies.
I could imagine enjoying life in a place like this. The frat house was on a long u shaped drive named Fraternity Row. The U was lined with the frat houses and inside the U was a lovely green space lined with trees.
We all got to choose our own rooms. Which was a little sad for me because I had this huge 4 person room all to myself. I tried to imagine 4 guys living in this space daily. It was more than enough room for me. But I wonder what it would be like with 3 other people all the time?
Within walking distance seemed to be everything that would be perfect for college life. A handful of us would walk over to Bagel Place in the morning to get caffeinated and some breakfast. If I didn’t have a ton of sewing to do back at the house, I would have loved to have sat and people watched at Bagel Place. I forgot to mention that the weather was beautiful each morning and evening.
We were in the basement of the frat house for sewing. There was this lovely huge kitchen in there. Apparently, there is a chef on staff during the weekdays that makes meals for the boys. I was in heaven in there. It was a lot of fun baking in there with my meal partners. Each of us was assigned to a lunch or dinner to make for the group. I was in a dinner group. Here are two of my meal partners Anna and Amy. Lynne was missing from the picture.
I baked a couple of blueberry pies. I hadn’t really planned it out well though. I live almost two hours away from the school. I had a ton of full bags already packed for the retreat. I didn’t want to bring along a mixer and all my pie making accoutrement. So I whipped up the pie crust at home. I put the fixings for the filling in a baggie and brought along frozen blueberries. Even still, I think it all turned out ok in the end.
I should have taken a before picture of the food. It was just lovely. Anna made a mushroom lasagna with a bouillabaisse sauce or something that I’ve never made before. It was yummy. And Amy made two huge Salmon filets. I have to say that it was the most lovely and moist salmon I’ve ever eaten before. Lynne had mixed up a cucumber sauce to go with the fish and veggies to boot. I have to admit that I felt guilty about this meal. It was so gourmet and I ate way too much of it. Yum!
The room was set up with tables in a long row. We each had our own space for the whole weekend. People came and went as they needed to. Some times there were a lot of us and sometimes there were just a handful.
It was so much fun to see what everyone was making and how they made them. Everyone has their own style and I just love that part of the creative experience. I swear I always learn so much by watching how other people create.
It was just so much fun. I am so thankful for Anna to put this all together for us. And I am thrilled that I was able to get quite a bit done, even if I didn’t finish a single thing.
I was also delighted to get to experience a little bit of college life, some 20 years after I should have.
The best part though, was getting to know my guild sisters better. I really felt like there were some I just didn’t know. And now I do.