Retreat - Part 5... the Classes

After we received our Welcome kits and completed our necklaces, all of the teachers gathered together to display our class projects for the weekend.  Janie and I signed up for Track A - Jeannette Douglas, Paulette Stewart and R&R (Pat Ryan and Ann Robbins).  

Our first class was with Jeannette Douglas.  She designed a beautiful autumn piece that just draws you in with all of the beautiful fall colors.  

She also designed an option where you could add little people to the bottom as well as family names.

...and she also designed a set of Smalls to go with the sampler.  This is my favorite of all of the classes offered.  

We had a break Friday afternoon for a nice lunch break and some time for stitching in our condo.  We all gathered together for an evening of button making with the experts in button making, the ladies from JABCO (Just Another Button Company) Cecile McPeak and her daughter Rachel Martin.  We were provided with a variety of colors of clay and basic instructions for making different buttons including flowers, pumpkins and sheep.  Here are the fruits of our labor.  Mine are on the left and Janie's are on the right.  

The teachers stayed up until 2 AM to bake our buttons in toaster ovens and presented them to us in these sweet little jars at our banquet tables Saturday night.  

Our Saturday morning class was with Pat Ryan and Ann Robbins of R&R.  

Our last class was with Paulette Stewart

Both the R&R ladies and Paulette designed smalls to go with the main sampler.  Here is a picture of the ones designed by R&R.  

In addition, we spent Thursday evening being introduced to our Shared Stitches Project that is a band sampler that we will attach to a tote bag from Adams Originals.  Each of the bands was designed by the teachers.  

The banquet on Saturday evening was a traditional Thanksgiving feast with turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy.  We played Richards Thanksgiving Bingo which was a blast.  At the end of the evening we were presented with a final gift, a sampler commemorating the theme of the retreat.  

 Here are pictures of the classes from the other track:

From Chessie and Me

From JABCO

...and finally from Shepherds Bush

I can't wait until Tina releases this sampler.  I just love the colors and the overall feel of this piece.  Until then, I have plenty to keep me busy...

Best Stitches,

Sue

Shepherds Bush Retreat - Part 4

I had to take a couple of days off during retreat as we had so much going on from Thursday through Saturday, there just was not any time.  

We checked into the Canyon's Sundial Lodge Wednesday afternoon, then settled in for stitching, wine and a munchie kind of evening.  Janie took on the project of counting up how many scissors she had brought with her to retreat as she had won a door prize last year for hainvg the most scissors at the Always in Stitches retreat.  Here are the results...21 pair so far, but more to come during the retreat.  

We met up Thursday morning with our Facebook Prim Stitcher group for a meet and greet as well as a make-it and take-it project.  Michelle came up with the cutest little pumpkin scissor fob project for us.  Janie finished hers, however mine will get done when I return home.  

The retreat shop opened at 11 AM Thursday morning with a flurry of activity.  There were a couple of retreat exclusive items form Shepherds Bush that were limited to 1 per person.  One was a retreat scissor fob, and the other was an Adams Original s Stitchers pouch with a Thanksgiving theme.  I will post pictures when I get home and unpacked.  Jeannette Douglas, Plum Street Samplers, Just Another Button Company and Chessie and Me had their designs displayed and on sale as well as linens, button and other accessories.  The freebie design that was also kitted and on sale was an acorn scissor fob...very cute!  

Registration opened at 1 pm and we gave them our pin cushion for the pin cushion exchange as well as providing the $5 donation to the Heifer Fund.  We received our welcome kit and settled in to stitching that and putting it together as we awaited the teacher display of projects for the retreat. 

Isn't the packaging darling!  They always do such a beautiful job.  

Here is what we out together for our welcome project.  It is a cute necklace that the provided us with many options to stitch.  I went with the pumpkin as my chain and beaded elements were an orangey color and I thought it went well.

Janie stitched up the little sheep (you can see a couple of the other options in the photo to the right).

Our friend Judy Gease (one of our Minnesota sister stitchers) proudly displays her finished project.  She stitched up the little basket.  

We also had a wonderfully decadent dessert suitable for chocoholics.  

More to come of the display of projects for the retreat weekend later on...possibly today.  :)

Retreat - Part 3

Last night we settled into our condo.  We splurge when we come to this retreat and get a 2 bedroom unit.  Here are shots of the living room:

The leather sofa was VERY comfortable for stitching.  

This is my bedroom.  It's actually a studio unit off the main part of the condo.  Very cozy!

We have a tradition that whoever pays for the condo gets their choice of rooms.  Since we alternate who drives and who pays for the condo, this works out well for us.

To make up for the splurge in lunch yesterday, this was what was for breakfast this morning.  High fiber bread from Great Harvest and some Pumpkin Spice coffee.  Yum!

The official start of the retreat begins this morning when the retreat shop opens at 11 AM, registration at 1, and the unveiling of the projects we'll be working on this weekend happens at 3:45.  I'll be taking lots of pictures.  

Retreat - Part 2B

I forgot to post the picture of the metal hand decoration I was able to get at Hobby Lobby yesterday, so here it is.  This will be so cool to hang my Tim Holtz pocket watch(es), scissor fob, pin cushions...or whatever.  

We headed back up to Jill Rensel's studio to pick up Janie's frame this morning.  On our way home we had lunch at one of my favorite Western US places to eat, In-n-Out Burger.  We cannot get these in Indiana, so I have to wait until I travel west.  They have a pretty basic menu - hamburger, cheeseburger, double burger, fries, shakes and soft drinks.  Their shake flavored are pretty basic too...chocolate, vanilla and strawberry.   Sometime simpler is just better.  

Til tomorrow....

Retreat - Part 2

Yesterday was a busy day.  Janie and I got to Shepherds Bush to get in line at 9:30 AM for their first day of open house.  We met some new friends from Texas and Colorado while we all waited ever so patiently for the doors to open promptly at 10...well...10:10.  👏

We did a lot of damage to our pocket books the first trip to the store (yes, I said first trip to the store).  We then headed to lunch at our favorite place, Roosters Brewing Company with Tamara, Lisa, Margaret, and Claudianne.  Janie and I shared our favorite appetizer, the What a Crock, that we discovered on our trip here two years ago.  

Jill Rensel's studio was our next stop.  I brought a couple of samplers with me to have framed, and Janie ordered a frame for a small piece that she found while shopping earlier in the day.  We go back up today to pick that up.  My samplers will be shipped sometime around or after Christmas (my Christmas presents to myself). ❄️

We headed up to Rainbow Gardens for a little local shopping, then back to Shepherds Bush for round two of shopping.  It's nice to go back when there aren't as many people in the shop.  

After a rest stop at Starbucks, dinner was spent at the Union Grill with our lunch buddies as well as Rabbit and Diane from the Buffalo, NY area, and one of our teachers Jeannette Douglas.  

About 12 hours later, we arrived back at our home base at Janie's Mom's house and had a very good nights sleep!!  Today we head up to Park City to check into the Canyons for the official start of the retreat part of our trip.  🍁🍂🎃

More later...

Shepherds Bush Retreat 2014

Janie and I headed out again for our biannual Shepherds Bush retreat at o'dark-thirty Saturday morning.  Our first stop as tradition was Titus Bakery in Lebanon.  One of my selections for breakfast was their pumpkin spice cake donut.  I am an addict of anything pumpkin spice.  

We drove to Cozad, NE for our first nights stay.  The drive was most pleasant as Janie bought a new Escape for our trip west.  The next day we made our traditional stop at Rock Srpings, WY for Janie's favorite...Taco Time.  

The most adventure we have had so far on the trip was the snow flurries we encountered in Western Wyoming with the temperature down to 34 degrees...bbbbbrrrrrrrr.

Today we spent the day with Janie's Mom Esther and her sister Julie.  We had a nice lunch and finished up a little shopping in preparation for the retreat.  I was able to find one of those big wicked green metal hands that has sold out at our are Hobby Lobby stores.  I will post a picture later.

I spent a lot of time preparing for the retreat to make some gifts for a few friends that we have met across the miles.  In addition to making home made Pumpkin Fudge, I made a few gifts including bookmarks made on my Babylock...

Wool needle books...

...and I had these project bags made for Janie and I for the retreat by Faye Rigsbee, aka Carolina Stitcher.  

In addition to the hand makes above, I made a pin cushion for the exchange that they are having at the retreat to raise money for the Heifer Project.  Here is mine to exchange...

More later...

Best Stitches,

Sue