WE HAVE A SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT FOR THE CIRCLE OF FRIENDS RETREAT!!!

I went on a long country drive today ... it was a country drive, but with a purpose.  The scenery was SO beautiful!  The red bud trees and the dogwood trees are both in full bloom, and just breath taking as I drive through the country roads, over looking the hills and hollers, with the dog woods peeking out everywhere.  The other wooded areas are just starting to leaf, so they are pretty sparse, but then there are the dogwoods showing their beauty when nothing else is able to.  So as you drive, you have white dogwoods, a few pink, and then the beautiful shades of pink and purple from the redbud trees... I LOVE the Spring in the Ozarks!

So I drive a bit towards Table Rock Lake ... out to Cape Fair which is the BASS Capital of the US ... That's what the sign says :)  I cross over the lake, looking at the relaxed fishermen enjoying their day out on their bass boats ... I come to the small town of Cape Fair... drive a little bit more ... then, there it is!

It's a quilt shop in the middle of this small town ... and it's called THE QUILTED COW!  I had gone to a quilt show a few weeks earlier, where I met up and WORKED with our buddy Rainbow ... and I had talked with the gals from the Quilted Cow! 

So I drove and met up with the owner, Jennifer.  She is SO EXCITED y'all are coming to retreat!  She will have a vendor booth at the Ozark Piecemaker's Quilt Show when we go on Saturday ... 

but she is SO EXCITED, that she wants to do something special!!!

So... for those of you coming into Branson early, Jennifer would like to invite you to come to her shop, The Quilted Cow, and have lunch on her!  She'll be serving a light lunch of chicken salad, tuna, or egg salad, along with chips, goodies, sweets, and drinks. 

She'll also be having a GIVEAWAY while you're there!  There will be free patterns, door prizes (you must be present to win), AND she will also have a drawing for a GIFT CERTIFICATE that can be used on her website! 

You do NOT have to be present to win the gift certificate!  You just have to register in her shop while you're there for lunch!  

The hours for this fun is 10am to 2pm on Thursday, September 20th.  That will give you PLENTY of time to enjoy the Ozark beauty (about 30 minutes from Branson), have lunch, do a little pre-shopping at her store, and then make it back in time for Early Bird Fat Quarter Bingo and the Early Bird Dinner at Andy Williams Moon River Grill!  

She has LOTS of fabrics, patterns, everything a quilter could want, and they even do long arm quilting in the back room!  She's got a GREAT set-up, a friendly store and I think y'all will really enjoy yourselves if you visit her.  What a GREAT WAY to start off the retreat!

So think it over ... if you're driving in, might be worth it to come a little early.  If you're already planning on coming early, then it will give you a little added fun!  And if you're coming from the south, you can stop in on your way into Branson!

And HUBBYs ARE WELCOME!  For lunch and shopping!

She says they usually congregate in the back room with the MAN doing the long arm quilting!  They have a blast, she says!

I'll be asking about it later on as it gets closer, just to see what kinda of numbers we may have that want to do this ... just so she has enough food.  She's VERY excited y'all are coming!  So if you get a chance, stop by her QUILTED COW WEBSITE at www.thequiltedcow.com or LIKE them on facebook!  You'll like Jennifer, and you'll love her shop! 

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL QUILTING DAY !

Today is the day that celebrates our love of fabric, cutting it up, then putting it back together again!  I had a love for quilting LONG before I ever got to sew any of it ... I used to get up at 5am so I could watch Simply Quilts with Alex Anderson on HGTV.  Those were the days of GOOD TV!  I would watch in amazement at how beautiful these projects of love would turn out!  And I always thought... one day, when I retire, I'm gonna learn how to quilt!

When I moved to Missouri in 2005, I came Missouri, where I only knew 2 people, and we were 20 miles apart.  We moved to the country so I didn't have neighbors for quite a long time, and it was hard to get to know people.  So I just delved into my computer and decided that I would figure out this quilting stuff.  That's when I found the HGTV.com Quilting Message Forum, and my life has been forever changed!


SO ... in honor of International Quilting Day ... let's look at some quilts!  These are the LATEST ADDITIONS to the Ronald McDonald House Charities Quilt Raffle, that will happen at the Circle of Friends Retreat in Branson this September!  I hope you're coming!!!

 This beauty was donated by IRISH 62 ... LOVE the colors and the pattern is awesome! Thank you, Irish for such a BEAUTIFUL contribution to our raffle to benefit the Ronald McDonald House in Springfield, MO!

THIS gorgeous quilt was donated by Quiltaholics blogging friend, Pam ... Didn't she do an outstanding quilt?  Thank you for your donation, Pam!

And then our friend, Jayardi, made this "so" outside the box quilt!  Jayardi is in love with dots ... all sizes, all colors ... and her quilts are her own design and masterpiece.  Thank you, Jayardi, for your very expressive DOTS !




SO ... have you bought YOUR raffle tickets yet?  One of these beauties could be yours!  For MORE BEAUTIFUL QUILTS, click on the CRAYOLA PICS tab... there are 22 more quilts for you to see.  And for purchasing YOUR RAFFLE TICKETS, click the Crayola Quilt Raffle tab!

MAKE YOUR TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS NOW !

The travel to and from Branson Airport (BKG) has now opened up (finally!)  We will be gathering travel info a little later on to coordinate shuttle service.  The retreat will be providing shuttle service to and from the Branson Airport.  Shuttle service will run WEDNESDAY, SEPT 19th 9am to MONDAY, SEPT 24th, 11am.


CAR RENTAL for Enterprise, National and Alamo, as well as AIRLINE INFO can be found at www.discoverbranson.com.


AIRTRAN flies straight into Branson Airport direct from Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago Midway, Houston Hobby and Orlando.  These airport have MAJOR city connections, so Branson is just 1 flight away from many big cities across the country!


FRONTIER AIRLINES travels from Denver straight into Branson Airport.  They have LOTS of flights into Denver.  Go to their website for more info !  (As of March 1st, they are still only booking through Sept 9th).  Will contact them today for update info.


Branson is located in the middle of the country, and is easily accessible no matter where  you come from!  There are 2 airports that serve the Branson area ... Branson (BKG) and Springfield (SGF).  There's also "Walmart Airport" just outside of Bentonville, Arkansas, which is 90 miles away, and a beautiful drive through the Ozarks !  It's called Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport (XNA).  I've used this airport for flights, and it's a NICE airport!  All the Walmart executives use it for their corporate travel.


If you so choose, you can also fly into Springfield-Branson National Airport (SGF).  The airlines serving this airport are American, Allegiant, Delta and United.  If you plan on flying into Springfield, you will need to either rent a car or call for shuttle to Branson, which is not covered by the retreat costs.  I can send you info on shuttle costs to and from Springfield if you request it.  It's about a 45 minute drive down a major interstate to Branson, and is a beautiful drive.  Car rental out of Springfield are Avis, Budget, Enterprise, Dollar Rent A Car, Hertz, National and Thrifty Car Rental.  For more info on the Springfield Airport, please go to www.flyspringfield.com for airline and car rental info !


For those who wish to drive to Branson, it connects with major interstates and is centrally located.  For more info visit www.discoverbranson.com!