Our little group of five had heard of a new retreat space from some fellow guild members at the Twisted Stitchers and decided to give it a try. This time, because the space could accommodate more people, we were able to include some other guild friends…Nora, Linda K, Tiina, Joanne, and Linda B. Unfortunately, Wendy had to cancel last minute.

Springhouse Retreat is on a 140 acre farm property located in New Hamburg, Ontario, in the Kitchener-Waterloo area. Aside from being in a gorgeous rural location with rolling fields, colourful birds at the feeder, foxes and turkeys in the fields and even a stream running through the property, the house itself is to die for. Hosts Kathy and Nancy have created such a haven for quilters and other crafters because they have thought of absolutely anything and everything to make the stay memorable and comfortable.

There are enough beds to sleep 12 (Gail and I shared the Scrappy Spools Room), the kitchen is stocked with every appliance and kitchen tool imaginable, the dining room and living room are large and very comfortable, and there’s even a pool table in the basement! Gail and I took advantage of that one evening and had a great time playing against each other. But, the star of the show was the wonderful work room with more than enough space for all of us to work comfortably and spread out. Patti even had room for her “wall” of projects!

Marg came with us as usual and worked on her Exploding Heart quilt during the first day there, but had to go home the second day as she came down with a bug and didn’t want to spread it to the rest of us…we missed her!

Linda K worked on a Block-of-the-Month (that some of the other ladies are working on as well), a set of placemats and the most adorable Hallowe’en wallhanging called “If the Shoe Fits”.

Patti also did the BOM, a machine appliqué project, and continued on with her new-found love of Foundation Paper Piecing (FPP). She worked on the Sycamore Star in her favourite colour combination of black, white and red…it’s going to look amazing when she’s done. The angles on this one gave her a little grief, but she’s doing a great job.

Linda B worked on the BOM and also got a lesson on mitred borders while working on the Timeless Beauty pattern. This is a gorgeous digitally printed panel and yardage of Kathy Wylie’s original hand appliquéd, award winning quilt. Linda did a wonderful job with her mitred borders and the patterns matched perfectly at each corner!

Nora finished up a fidget quilt and a regular quilt for our guild’s charity program, and also worked on a set of placemats in beautiful fall colours. If you want to find out more about fidget quilts click here.

Joanne kept busy making the circular road for the Colour My World pattern, and the Sherri Connelly BOM using the most beautiful green and blue colour scheme. I thinks she was able to complete most of the 12 blocks while there.

Gail continued on with the Wanderer’s Wife quilt making a bajillion square in a square blocks, and also made quite a few heart blocks for another project she’s been working on.

Becky worked on the most wonderful FPP elephant pattern, Elephant Abstractions, and got the whole trunk done while there. Apparently Becky named him “Fred”, but I clearly was not part of that conversation! Then I come to find out that Gail, who made the same quilt a few months ago, named her elephant “Ella”. Where was I at the time?

Tiina gets the award for the most finicky projects…man, does she have a lot of patience! Lantern Lights is a pattern that uses 1” half-square triangles (HST’s)…yes, you heard that right…and she used the most beautiful batiks for this project. Not only that, but she made flies and mosquitoes from an old pattern Postcards From Pine Tree Lodge done using regular piecing methods and not FPP. Tiina said she should have put her mosquitoes next to Fred for a photo to show the different scales of both patterns.

I worked predominantly on my charity projects for guild that included an HST quilt (NOT 1” like Tiina!) and another Plaidish quilt because I had all the pieces cut ahead of time and it was so fun to make the first time. I was remiss with my picture taking and only pulled out the camera during the last morning we were there. That’s why there are so few pictures to share.

Springhouse Retreat has become so popular that there are very few slots available in the next year. As a matter of fact, we weren’t able to get another spring booking until 2025! It’s popularity comes as no surprise to us given the quality of the venue, the comfortable setting and the attention to detail. Thanks Kathy and Nancy for a wonderful time. We can’t wait till 2025.