Moda hosted it’s annual retreat this past weekend. Joining us were stores from all over the country for 3 days of classes, demos, shopping, food and fun. I realize as I post these pictures that it is kind of like having a dinner party and only taking pictures of your home. I didn’t do that. I took pictures of the people that came to the party! If you want to see more pictures of behind the scenes, check out some of our guests’ blogs.
Julie from Keepsake Cottage, Susan Fuquay from American Quilt Retailer and more. Let me know if you have blogged about the event and I will add a link.
So now I will show off the quests of the party!
Several of the shops participated in our Pillowcase sew-a-thon. The pillowcases were made and will be logged in the grand total over at the Million Pillowcase Challenge.
Which by the way is half way to million mark!
The first night we had a Cupcake Carnival, so we cold all let our hair down and have some fun before dinner. One of the most popular carnival booths was our BUTT SKETCH artist. Yes that is what i said!
Butt Sketch. It was great fun!
Melba from the Old Craft Store, I know that is you! I would recognize that Butt anywhere.
Deb From The Quilter’s General Store in Rockford, Illinois , proudly displaying her Butt Sketch.
Quilter’s Garden in Princeton, IL and The Stitchery in Delavan, WI hamming it up.
Kaari Meng from French General with Rachel from The Old Country Store, Intercourse, PA.
Janeese and Patt from Calico House in Lincoln, NE
Mandy from Over the Rainbow sported the perfect balloon hat.(get it? Over the rainbow!)
Several of the moda staff quickly followed. ( they will remain nameless) 
Twyla from Sew in Heaven in Holiday Island, AR was sitting quietly. She was probably hoping that I would not hunt her down and add her to the Balloon Head group.
Roseanne’s booth was a ton of fun. It was a Yo-yo competition. Not the toy kind, the sewing kind.
How fast can you sew a yo yo while the clock is ticking?
Since Project Runway is all the rage, we set up a FIG TREE RUNWAY. 2 teams of 2 competed to create there own original fashion design using precuts, ric rac, trims, buttons in 5 minutes or less. We even had a men’s round, after all most of the best designers are men. We knew our own Mark Dunn was very fashion savvy but who would of thought John Atkins our color blind IT Director would have added so much to the team. Hilariously fun!
This picture just makes me smile! 2 of our long time sales reps on hand to help us out.
Gene Stewart and Melody Busch
Brian Dunn & Mark Dunn
Just a few of the people that make it all happen EVERY DAY!!
Thank you for coming to the retreat and choosing moda!