Now here is a serious group of ladies as they enjoy show and tell. Let's see there is Kate, Willa, Carol, Mona, Marianna, Cindy and ... oh well you get the idea. The best part of the retreat is putting faces to names of the ladies we meet online!

Below we see another of Martha Green's quilts (Martha is on the right) and with the help of one of the local crazy quilters, Dee, and I have to say a big, huge thanks to her for all her help and hospitality.

This sweet lady took us to a local Italian Restaurant one night (see picture below) where we enjoyed one of the best meals I've had in a long time. AND then to top it off she came back to the hotel at 6:00 a.m. the day of my departure and gave me a ride to the airport! I can't thank her enough for all she did for us!

And here is Tricia from California showing off her latest creations.

Here you can see how everyone walks around to show off their creations and allow pictures to be taken.

Well that's it for this year. I forgot to take my camera to the annual fund raising auction so I don't have pictures of that but a lot!!! of money was raised for scholarships for next year and also for breast cancer research. I know a lot of us are touched by someone in our lives who is dealing with this disease ... actually there were several at the retreat who know first hand about the disease.

I also did not mention all the shopping trips we took to local stores and the great vendors at the retreat. I can assure you we all helped out the economy of Omaha this weekend!

And I also did not have my camera at the Vendor showcase - this is where all the vendors hold mini-workshops and show us techniques we can try at home using one of their products, oh yes there was plenty of opportunities to expand our stashes!

I know this was a long post but I hope you get the idea that we have so much fun at these events. The opportunity to meet up with old friends and meet new ones is absolutely the main reason I go to Omaha! As I was leaving my roommates and giving big hugs to them and saying goodbye I almost started to cry. These are friendships that will last a lifetime and being around people who understand and share the same passion for crazy quilting is priceless!

My advice to anyone who can is to start saving your pennies and plan on going next year if you can. Thanks for sharing my trip with me this year! See ya in Omaha in 2009!