Eureka Springs Retreat & January Projects

It's a bit late in the month for a January goals post but it's been a busy month!  I have been filling my calendar (and my new quilting planner 😊) with retreats, workshops, and new stitch-alongs I can't resist in preparation for having more free time beginning at some point in 2024. I am hoping I will have plenty of finishes this year, especially some of the quilt tops that "just" need to be quilted and bound - I have a long list of those!

Before jumping into my list, I want to share a couple of quick photos from a recent rug hooking trip to Eureka Springs. I have been attending this retreat for quite a few years now and it is always one of my favorites - a great way to recharge after the chaos of the holidays.  I am really looking forward to next year when I might even be able to stay a little longer! It's a big group - I think the final number was around 107 after a few cancellations due to illnesses and crazy weather. We had crazy cold temperatures (below zero a couple of days) and about 5" of snow, which essentially shuts everything down in the mountains of Arkansas.  Here's a view from the doorway of the conference center looking up toward the building where my room was - it was a cold and slippery walk!

I'd like to say that we were all warm and cozy inside the convention center but that wasn't exactly the case - it was chilly inside too - but it was wonderful in spite of the cold. Here's the view of the hooking room from my chair - I was all the way at the back.

And here's a glimpse of the rug I was working on:

This is my Hidden Garden rug that I started in October at Sally Kallin's in Minnesota.  I had hoped to completely finish all the motifs while at the retreat but didn't quite get to them all.  I did finish them last night and am now started on the border.  I don't usually like to leave all the background for last but because the border uses leftovers from the motifs I needed to finish those first, so now it will take a bit of self-discipline to make myself keep going to get it finished.

That brings me to my three focus quilting projects for January - I have decided to start with just choosing three per month rather than creating a long list of WIPs, UFOs, and new starts knowing that would quickly get out of hand. So here are the three quilting projects I want to focus on with what is left of this month:

1. Indigo Way Mystery 
2. Reproduction Fabrics Tiny Nine Patches
3. Twilight Stars (catching up for at least this month)

On the rug hooking front, I will continue working on Hidden Garden.  I will post progress on all at the beginning of February.