The Kaufman Guild brought the rain to Milford.  We were happy to see them both!  They were busy working on lots of beautiful quilts this weekend, finishing many of their UFOs.  One of the most spectacular quilts of the weekend is the Kaufman Guild 2012 Hot & Spicy raffle quilt.  It’s a Judy Niemeyer quilt with a southwest twist.  We’ve included a picture of the work in progress.  You’ll want to contact the Kaufman Guild and purchase tickets for this one!

2012 "Hot and Spicy" Kaufman Quilt Guild's Raffle Quilt - Work in progress

Click on the pictures in the gallery for a better view.

Join Melinda Bula May 18th-20th, 2012 for a fun and creative retreat.

Melinda Bula, award-winning quilter, creates Fabulous Fusible Flowers using thread and fabric.  Using her poppy pattern, she will teach you  how to design and achieve depth and reality in your quilt.   You will learn how to use fabric and thread, as an artist uses paint and pencil, to create a beautiful art quilt using only fabric, thread and fusing.  You will look through the eyes of an artist as you learn their techniques for color, layout and design while developing your own creative style.  Next, you will learn how to finish your flower using Melinda’s technique, Renegade Thread Play, which is a simple method of free motion quilting.  Come to Our House in Milford and  spend 2 fun filled days creating your fabulous fusible flower quilt.

Visit Melinda’s gallery to admire her beautiful quilts.  To see them in person, is jaw dropping!  We have had retreaters who have taken Melinda’s workshop and have walked out with masterpieces. Email us or call 469-392-1208 to get on the “I’m Interested” List. 

Melinda will also be teaching a class in Houston at the International Quilt Festival this October.  Look for Melinda and her beautiful quilts at festival this October!

This weekend we were blessed to have the Happy 2B Quilters who were joined by some scrapbooking co-workers.  In addition we had two more scrapbookers and a knitter to join them.  Blended retreats are so much fun.  Everyone was working on so many different things – from Halloween to Christmas and anything in between.

Pictures from the weekend.  Double click a picture in the photo gallery for a closer look.

Laughter, fun and friends.  Couple that with sewing and you get lots of creativity and good times for all.

Laughter and fun!

We celebrated Leigh’s 50th birthday and our Houston friend Brenda’s birthday too!

Angie sings Tanyel's rendition of the Happy Birthday song.

Everyone was busy cranking out the quilts this weekend.   The weekend mantra was captured in the picture below.

Labor Day Retreat Mantra

Thanks to Janet Brown we have a “real” dinner bell to call our guests to the dining room.

No way to be late for dinner with this dinner bell!

No retreat would be complete without gifts and games….

Thanks to each of these ladies for making 2011 Our House In Milford Labor Day Retreat a fun and memorable retreat for everyone.

Labor Day Retreat

http://www.ourhouseinmilford.com/ohim-pictures

Scrapbookers, croppers, knitters, quilters, beaders, whatever your craft may be, join us the first two weekends in December to finish up those last minute Christmas gifts.  We are offering $50 off for your weekend retreat.   If you retreat Friday – Sunday, the cost will be $125 plus 6% hotel tax and Thursday – Sunday $175 plus 6% hotel tax.    

November 29, 2011

Dear Friends,

Around Our House….

We are enjoying the cool weather in Milford.  At last, fall fell and we’re seeing hints of winter, too!  Our Bluebonnets are so confused!  They’re springing up everywhere.  Guess they think it’s March, poor babies!  Some of our herbs perked up in the garden.  To keep them company, we’ve planted some collards..yummm.

Our front yard is getting a facelift…thanks to our friend, Clayton.  He, with some help from Christopher, has cleared the underbrush along the road and taken down the barb wire fence.  We also have some winter rye planted – so hopefully there will be some green grass soon.

Halloween gets better every year at Our House!  We have pictures on our website for your enjoyment.  A big thank you goes to Mary Somerville and Patty Hofer! Mary made the nametags, shopped for all kinds of neat decorations and give-aways, and decorated Our House.  Patty Hofer is our resident artist, and she designs and builds the props that decorate the house.  Patty’s new additions this year were a mummy and multiple spiders with “larva” balls hanging in the ADA bathroom.

Thank you, Janet, for the Halloween guest towels for each bathroom!  Our guests really enjoyed them all weekend.  Ashley, the  “Boo” hanging hung over the gift table.  Thanks!

Thank you, Wabi-Sabis for the beautiful angel.  She is gracing the sewing machine in the foyer.  Next time you’re at Our House, stop and admire her.

Since our last newsletter…

• Our House Annual Labor Day Retreat AND Leigh’s 50th Birthday was a huge success!  Everyone had a good time and the creative juices were flowing.
• Happy 2B Quilters arrived ready for lots of sewing and fun.  The weekend was full of friendship and laughter.
• The Kaufman Quilt Guild held their fall retreat at Our House.  The group turns out some beautiful quilts and applique work.   
• Amy Roberts and friends scrapbooked with us. There were lots of surprises that weekend, and this group rose to the occasion!  
• The Wabi Sabi group returned for relaxation and quilting.  This group of friends loves being together.
• Quilts ‘n More hosted their fall retreat. The quilters and the scrapbookers had a great time together!  Our House was full of lots of laughter and excitement.
• Sherri & Friends showed up for a weekend of scrapbooking.  This group has lots of fun together and are very creative.
• Halloween gets better each year!  We had a good turnout – and tons of fun and good, spooky food.  See our pictures by clicking here.
• Kim & Friends had a scrapping good time with us.  We were happy to see our friends visit Our House again!
• The Crafty Scrapper held their last retreat of 2011.  Everyone was busy scrapping, laughing, and having a great time.  Many burned the midnight oil, which just added to the fun.

Did You Know???

• We will be closed for the holidays December 12 – January 4.  Our prayer is that you and your families will have a blessed holiday.
• Big News!  Not only will we be celebrating 4 full years in business, but Angie is turning 50 in January!  We’re going to celebrate by giving away a $50 gift certificate to a lucky retreater.  To get your name in the drawing, you must attend a retreat at Our House during the the first quarter of 2012!  We’ll draw in early April 2012 and announce our winner! 
• We offer gift certificates of any denomination.  Put one on your wish list or give one to a friend this holiday season.   Contact usfor more information or to order a gift certificate
• Melinda Bula will be at Our House the weekend of May 18-20, 2012!   Melinda will be teaching Fabulous Fusible Flowers using her Renengade Thread Play techniques.  Click here to read more and to link to Melinda’s web site.  You won’t want to miss this retreat.  Contact us for more information and to join others already signed up for this great retreat!
• Due to poor health, Kim Diehl cancelled all of her engagements for the remainder of 2011 and forward.  Please join us in wishing Kim a speedy recovery..
• Sue Spargo is scheduled to teach at Our House May 10-12, 2013!  Those interested in attending can get on our preliminary sign-up sheet by contacting us.  More information will follow in later newsletters.
• You can place your Scentsy order at our website by clicking here or give us a call at 469-392-1208.  We can make sure that the holiday gifts arrive at their destination in plenty of time!

Upcoming Open Retreats

• Dec 1-4 Clean Out Our Freezer.  Returning by popular demand – you can’t beat the price and you can finish those last-minute gift projects. - FULL 
• Dec 8-11 Clean Out Our Freezer Some More!  Your last chance for dedicated time to finish gifts and pampering – or to hide from all the hub-bub.  Contact us to reserve your place.
• Jan 5-8 BAQ/BFF Quilt Group – They’re Back!  This group of friends have worked and quilted together for years.  Let the fun begin! Contact us
• Jan 11-15 Birthday Girls & Tomball Friends Quilting Group – This group has so much fun at Our House that they’re starting their retreat on Wednesday!  Contact us
• Jan 19-22  Quilters’ Guild of Arlington – We’re happy to welcome our Arlington friends back.  There will be lots of laughter and quilting going on at Our House! Contact us
• Jan 27-29  Spiritual Retreat – Closed to Public
• Feb 2-5  Poppy Quilt ‘n Sew – Our friends from Georgetown will be at Our House again.  We love seeing their projects on our design walls.  Contact us
• Feb 6-9  Just Friends – These friends hold an annual retreat at Our House.  We always look forward to their return!  Contact us
• Feb 9-12  The Crafty Scrapper is holding their first retreat of 2012.  This is an opportunity to finish any Valentine craft projects before the big day! Contact The Crafty Scrapper
• Feb 16-19 Welcome back Quilts ‘n More!  The group had such a great time at the fall retreat that they’re planning to meet at Our House for this retreat! There are such special plans for this retreat that you won’t want to miss.  Contact Quilts ‘n More
• Feb 24-26 Open for a retreat - Contact us

Trying to reach us?  Here are the ways to stay in touch:

• Visit our site at http://www.ourhouseinmilford.com
• Join our group on Facebook – Our House In Milford
• Become a fan of Our House In Milford on Facebook
• Write us at 1077 Cosby Road, Milford TX 76670
• Call us at 469-392-1208

Too naive to be scared, we decided if we built it they would come!  Encouraged by our close quilting friends, we started the adventure in July 2007.  After discussing our ideas with our family and other small business owners, we were fueled for the road ahead, so we thought.

Our first stop was to meet with a banker and pitch our ideas.  Even though the concept was new to her, she caught the vision immediately!  After a couple of hours of brainstorming, laughing and envisioning our future retreat center, she offered to show us some land her family owned in Milford, Texas.   Milford, Texas!?!    We knew Milford!  Some of the best times we ever had retreating were there. Taking the afternoon as a good sign we were on the right track, we immediately drove to Milford to see the land where Our House In Milford now resides.  It was beautiful… a blank slate to build our dream, or at least as much as we could afford.

That evening we went home and searched the internet for all different types of  retreat structures.  We looked at barn houses, site built houses, steel buildings, older houses to be remodeled and modular homes.  We decided to investigate modular homes.

The next day we had plans to visit a friend outside of Waco, so we made a list of all the modular home builders in the Waco area.  Ambitious to get started, our plan was to visit them all on our way back to Dallas.  As we drove to our destination, we passed a modular home sales office that wasn’t on our list.  We noted the location and decided to stop there first on our way back.

On the way home we stopped.  When we met the sales person, we explained our vision of our retreat center.  He was so excited!  He disappeared into his office and came back with a plan he had been drawing for a bed and breakfast.  He just knew someone would come along and need that plan.  That plan became the basic plan for Our House In Milford.   Leaving the office, our heads were spinning!  In two days we had found our land and our plan.  We stopped right there and gave thanks to God, asking Him never let our heads get so big that we thought we orchestrated this.

We rushed home to tell our family the good news – our retreat center was going to be a reality!

The next few months flew by.  Although Milford seemed the ideal place to build, we wanted to make sure there wasn’t some other land better suited.  We spent the next several weekends looking at every piece of land for sale in Ellis County – we always came back to the Milford land.  We had decided  – it was time to make an offer for the Milford land. Before the papers were signed, we had a website with a picture of the land with the caption “Future Site of Our House In Milford”.   No stopping now!

One of our first post on our website was

October 20, 2007 – We received our plans from engineering and we are on our way! We will open our doors in January and cannot wait to see you!

Our House In Milford Plans

Once we had our bedrooms planned, the next thing to do was to make quilts for our beds.  There was no way we could ever make 33 quilts between October and January.  We brainstormed for a while and we came up with an idea.  We would ask other quilters to make quilts for our beds and in return they would be the first ones to sleep under them at Our House In Milford.  The word spread like a wild fire!  We divided our bedrooms between three local quilt shops.  We picked out a line of fabric or theme for each bedroom and asked those interested in making a quilt to go to one of the quilt stores and purchase the fabric.  Within a week all beds were spoken for and we had a waiting list.

By November we owned the land and the construction crew came and staked out the foundation.   During this time we also had our friend The Reverend Joy A. Daley come and bless the land.  It was a cold, wet day as we stood outside with our umbrellas and prayed for God to bless all those that stepped foot on our land.  Joy ended the blessing with a beautiful prayer we asked all that read our website to pray with us.

Our prayers were answered.   January 18^th,  2008 we opened our doors to 31 of the 33 women who made the beautiful quilts that adorn our bedrooms today.