Saturday at the Retreat

What a wonderful time we've had since my last post! Thursday evening dinner was yummy! We all enjoyed the pasta & salad buffet and Brenda & I both sampled the delicious coconut cake for desert. Then we all headed downstairs to Jan's shop-away-from-home to start our usual large piles of stash that we accumulate to purchase on Sunday morning. All the pretty fabrics and wonderful patterns and, of course, Sharon's pretty Crescent Colors cottons and Belle Soie silks too!

We all wandered into the meeting room for our evening stitch-in. Jan handed out our Retreat Exclusive Kit that she designed. It's just beautiful! All 6 of us sitting in a group, stitching away on various projects. Brenda & Candace both started working on the retreat kit. It was so relaxing to sit and stitch with this wonderful bunch of special friends. We were all up late - it broke up about midnight, when we all headed upstairs to bed. Friday was starting at 8 for breakfast so we needed our sleep!

Friday morning started at the breakfast buffet. I had a delicious bacon/cheese/red pepper omlet, fruit, and a bran muffin. Then it was back downstairs for another morning of stitching and conversation. Lunchtime brought us back upstairs, reluctantly, to the buffet, and then back downstairs for more shopping and stitching. Sally arrived around 1:30 and surprised a few retreaters when they arrived back downstairs and there she was! We had a break scheduled for 4 to 5:45, but no one really went upstairs to rest. Dinner was in the Fluttering Duck pub and it was afterwards that we got the chef's delicious chocolate cheesecake to top off our meal. (We brought the left-over pieces down to enjoy for the rest of the weekend - they are in the little refrigerator outside our meeting room!)

After everyone was back downstairs, we voted on our favorite grab-bag container. This years theme was Sheep and/or Friendship. Brenda won for her pretty Kit & Bixby Loving Longwools bag! Then we all got our grab bags and the next 45 minutes was spent oo-ing and ah-ing over everyone's contents. Sally really liked all the things I had picked for her, which always makes me happy. And Brenda had my name so I'm the lucky one who got the winner - the tote with Kit & Bixby's Loving Longwools on the front and kitty fabric lining the inside! And she even changed the dog on the LL piece to a kitty! I ADORE it Brenda! {{hugs}} Then it was on to our stitching for the evening. I pushed myself a little past my limit with my bad elbow (which I'm still paying for today) but I did finish my 1st incentive piece - SamSarah's Red White & Blue. I haven't kitted up my other one yet, but will sometime next week. Brenda, Candace, Jan, & I were the last ones downstairs and we headed up about 12:30.

This morning has been a repeat of yesterday, altho Jan passed out 2 wonderful kits that are part of our package. One is SamSarah's Star Heart...for You and the other is Homespun Elegance's "Stash Keep". She also designed a replacement pattern for it - "Ewe Treasures" which is what I'll stitch for it. She sure is spoiling us this year! Lunch was at the Fluttering Duck since the Buffet room was closed for lunch today. Right now we are all slowly filtering back down to the meeting room for the afternoon of games and stitching.

More later...

3rd Annual OOE Cross Stitch Retreat!

After 1 year of waiting, the 2008 retreat is here!

I was up early (I'd say bright and early but the sun wasn't up yet and I certainly don't shine that early in the morning!) and out the door at 4:50am. The kitties got a good cuddle before I left since I'll be gone until Monday afternoon.

The trip to Greencastle was un-eventful. Not much construction to speak of once I got out of the Chicago area. I always love the drive down near Greencastle. It's so pretty and reminds me a lot of the area where I grew up. I arrived at the hotel just before 10 and was able to register since they already had my room ready. Jan called me shortly after I arrived to let me know she would be here in a few minutes. I met her in the parking lot when I went to put the parking permit in my car. After a wonderful hug, we headed in and got her registered. Then we both unloaded our cars into our rooms. There is one room between us and it turned out that Sharon C. will be in there. Sharon & I share a connecting door!

Jan & I then went down to the meeting rooms and we worked in her shop room tweaking things a bit. I went up to my room afterwards to unpack and get organized while Jan headed home for another load. Kathy arrived just before lunchtime and after she was settled, she came to my room and we caught up a bit before Jan arrived. Sharon was to pick up Candace & Brenda at the airport and Candace missed her flight so they were delayed in arriving, but it sure was good to see them come thru the hotel door just before 1! Good hugs were given & got and then the new arrivals all got registered, dropped off their luggage in their respective rooms and came back down so we could all go to lunch. Right now we are all relaxing until the retreat officially starts at 4:30. We have 1 more Ewe to arrive - Sally is driving down from Michigan tomorrow. Then we will all be here.

After our dinner tonight, we will be stitching the evening away in the meeting room. Ahhh - what bliss!!!

Watch for more to come!

In the Beginning...

Sorry - Couldn't resist that! LOL

Well here I am with my very first blog entry. How about my stitching background? I was taught to do embroidery by my mother when I was about 8 years old. Little did I know that it would lead to my first counted cross stitch piece when I was 14. A small dimension kit that I stitched as a thank-you gift began the passion of my life!

I was lucky enough to be close to a small cross stitch shop (back before Hobby Lobby & Michael's) that supplied my fix for patterns, fabric, & floss. 99% of my stitching was Aida - 18ct being my preference. Now, of course, I stitch on linen more than Aida. My favorite count is 36 (or 40). I belong to a wonderful cross stitching board, where I have made so many awesome friends.

So, that's me "in a thimble". Here's a couple of my older pieces. The first is from an old Something Special book and the other is a full-size Monopoly board that someday I hope to get framed into a custom-made gaming board. For more of my pieces, please check out my Picture Trail albums. The link is under "Favorite Links".