Ritter Ranch Retreat Recap

A photo-heavy post...

Last week I spent a few days at Ritter Retreat Ranch with a few of my Pebble Creek friends. Since it's located at about 4600 feet elevation, it was much cooler there, a welcome respite from the heat in the Phoenix valley. We had comfortable accommodations including a spacious sewing room with all the amenities, gourmet meals, a shop exclusively for us, and a delightful back patio where we enjoyed happy hour each afternoon. 

Did I mention gourmet meals? Lunches includes homemade soups and salads:

The sewing room was spacious, and we had plenty of room to spread out.  The lighting was excellent and we had ample design wall space. 

So what did we do? Take a look...

Robin's 3-Yard top

Dawn and Jonnie at work.

Sadly, I didn't get a photo of Dawn's amazing triangle quilt made 

entirely of chintz fabrics she got in Amsterdam. Sorry, Dawn.

Jonnie's finished top

Edna's table runner blocks. She also got several placemats

 made and this table runner finished.

Nancy's top with Quick Curve border

Nancy's table runner

Jean's pumpkin themed 3-Yard quilt, from a kit she purchased there.

I didn't get a photo of her other pumpkin project in tradiditional 

autumn colors. 

Linda's modern project that will look terrific with her decor.

Linda also taught a class in how to make little schnibble baskets

 to those who wanted to make them.

Karen's batik triangles. This batik palette is so Karen, 

and looks even prettier in real life.

Karen's paper pieced project, a Judy Niemeyer pattern.

She got several colorways of these parts done. 

Jonnie's blocks on the wall, ready to design the layout.

Robin made lots of One Block Wonder blocks

My Dresden Medallion progress. You can see 

the beginning of this project here, and I'll 

post more about this project later. 

My Cube Challenge project, more about this in a future post also. 

As you can see, we were all very productive. All this in 3-1/2 days of sewing! 

Although we worked hard and we all got a lot accomplished, we had a really good time. I didn't think to take photos of our happy hour gatherings every afternoon. We enjoyed beverages of choice and snacks on the patio, where is was so pleasant to sit outside. At home the temps were in the 110s in the afternoon. We enjoyed being outdoors! and enjoyed the conversation. 

Convivial activities and sewing continued in the evenings. We played games a couple of nights; Jean won the fat quarters and Robin won the dollars. Will she spend them on fat quarters? 

The woman who runs the retreat ranch has a small shop and she opened it to us each morning. Some of the girls got kits which they've already started working on. I found backing for my oldest UFO; I hope that will motivate me to get it done. 

I'm glad I got to go to Ritter, for the wonderful company, the sewing and creativity, and escape from the heat. Those of us who went this July are first on the list to go next July. Count me in! 

Linking up with Design Wall Monday and  Love Laugh Quilt