Doesn't She Look Guilty?

Joyce was the murderer!

The retreat was great fun. I wish I had taken a picture of the sun setting over the mountains that first night, because the weather was awful the next few days. Melinda has a lovely picture on her blog, check it out!

There was a murder mystery, along with a mystery quilt project. We had many chances to figure out who the murderer was as we sewed our clues together, but I am no good at catching the subtle clues. I rallied hard, trying to raise an election to make me the murderer, and I think we all had great fun with it, but Melinda stood firm that the murderer had already been chosen and there was no way to know if I had been selected without solving the mystery. Obviously, it wasn't me.



On Saturday afternoon I had finished my mystery blocks and went off into the hall and tried to imagine what the final solution might be. (We wouldn't be getting the final clues until Sunday morning.) I was close, but not correct. Here's the layout that was planned. I like it better, there was too much emphasis on purple in my solution!




I still think there might be too much purple. I've got the top sewn together, there are two more borders called for, but I've put it on hold for a couple of weeks. I want to look at it with a fresh eye and see what I think at that point. (And goodness knows I have enough other irons in the fire to deal with!)

Honestly, I think my favorite part was getting to spend three uninterrupted days with my friend. (I dunno if she feels the same way. She might be sick of me!) But it was all great. I got the Ramblin' Rose blocks undone from their failed sashing, and got some good thinking time to consider how to move forward. I also traced the pattern for another of my blackwork blocks, and I got to spend some time being good to myself. I finished the book "Water for Elephants" which was wonderful. So it was an enormously productive weekend. I wish all my quilting friends had been there. Maetha told us on Sunday that Tiny Stitches had already reserved the same weekend for next year. I'm looking forward to going again!