Stitching retreat report

I had a blast this past weekend! The stitching retreat was loads of fun!

It was held at a Baptist camp west of San Antonio on the Frio River. It was a beautiful place and the weather was nice. We stitched in a large conference room, and our motel-style sleeping rooms (with hotel-hard beds) were off of the conference room. The food was camp food, but I didn't have to cook it, and I'm not a picky eater anyway. Those that went hungry from meals could make up for it at our snack table. It was literally covered in food.

There were around 40-some-odd ladies in attendance, many of whom had been coming to this retreat for years. Everyone was friendly and ready to show others what they were stitching on.

We had two VERY nice projects to stitch on. One was an eyeglass case that I actually managed to finish at the retreat. I don't have a picture yet as I paid five bucks to have the retreat organizer, Jackie, finish it for me. I don't yet have my sewing machine accessible and I hate doing linings. I'll post a picture when I get it back in the mail. The other project was a Redbird Designs exclusive. Lorraine had done three previous seasonal designs and she had agreed to do the last one "Summer Sun" for this retreat before she stopped designing(!) and moved from Texas to New York(!!). I didn't start that one, but I will do it. The projects included floss, fabric, needle, pattern, and embellishments and they came in one of those zippered vinyl pouches - high class!

We also received some fun gifts which included a Shepherd's Bush kit - mine was a Halloween design - and a great tote bag with a few stitchy goodies inside. We also had door prizes - Sandi won a real nice scissor fob and Mary and I got chocolate. There was also a goofy bag that you reached in a grabbed something. I grabbed Silly Putty. There were things in there like water pistols, Gak - basically silly kids toys, but lots of fun. (I LOVED Silly Putty as a kid and drove my mom nuts with it.)

Stitches From the Heart, a cross stitch shop in San Antonio, had a sales table set up, and I bought a couple of the vinyl zippered bags. I did that before I received my retreat projects. So now I have several nice bags to stick WIPs in; they are much nicer than ZipLocs!

There was a raffle for three items (which were all very nice, but nothing I needed) that were donated. The items included a crocheted afghan, a knitted shawl, and a quilted tote. The auction on Saturday night (the auction $$ are used to help fund the next retreat to keep costs down for the participants) was a hoot. I didn't bid on anything, but a lot of the ladies really got into it. Some of the bidding was pretty competitive. My DH's three floss sticks (pictured below) brought in $76.00!

And of course, there was an orphan table with lots of unwanted patterns, kits, and other stitchy stuff. I managed to find a leaflet with deer patterns. DH has already picked out the one he wants me to stitch.

On Sunday, after we left the camp, we drove to San Antonio and stopped at Stitches From the Heart and spent money. I found several more Redbird Designs that I wanted to add to my collection, and I picked up some Caron Wildflower floss to try.

And I also met Cindy in person! We’ve been reading each other’s blogs and it was nice to put a face to a name. *waving!*

All in all, it was a great weekend (although I missed DH), and I'm planning to go to the next retreat in September.