Saturday morning was very foggy but most of us were up and at 'em in time for breakfast. Shay and Diane opted to sleep in and had told me they would not be at breakfast which was a good thing as I might have knocked on their door otherwise. For breakfast there was a cereal bar that included fresh fruit or you could have the hash brown egg casserole with cheese and salsa, I think there were scones that morning also and let me tell you those scones were delicious! After breakfast was over everyone walked back to our stitching building and got down to the serious business of stitching.
We also set out the Plum Street Sampler charts in case anyone was interested in purchasing one for Paulette's autograph. Quite a few were interested and I had to call her to bring a couple of extras. Calling her was a good idea anyway, I needed to warn her about the road so she didn't freak out.
At noon it was time to head over for lunch and since Paulette hadn't arrived yet, we left a note on the door telling her where she could find us. There was a salad bar for lunch along with hamburgers and for dessert we had brownies. I had just put my tray on the table when my cell phone rang. It was Paulette, wondering where we were (so much for leaving a note!) I explained our location to her and stepped outside the building so she could spot me and since she had yet to eat lunch, she grabbed herself a tray and sat right down to join us.
After lunch, I began introducing the ladies to Paulette but it wasn't too long before she just plopped down at a table and people were coming up to her to get their charts signed and to visit with an actual Stitching Celebrity! Not that Paulette thinks of herself that way because she doesn't. I think she was more than a bit surprised that everyone was so eager to meet her and get her autograph but she was so gracious to everyone and handled it like a pro! I have to interject here and say, this woman looks like a freaking 12 yr. old! If I hadn't met her before, I would have said she sent one of her girls in her place. I wonder if she keeps a mirror in her attic ala the Portrait of Dorian Grey? I'm just saying....LOL!!
Saturday afternoon we also exchanged recipes. Everyone, including Paulette was asked to bring 30 copies of their favorite recipe to exchange. I cheated and brought 2 but only because at our last Saturday stitch in March I had made Pizza Soup and everyone wanted a copy of that recipe but I had already done my recipe for the exchange and didn't want to waste them so they got an extra recipe from me. We also brought a massage therapist in on Saturday afternoon for those that were interested in getting a massage. It was well worth the $1.00/minute fee, let me tell you! Throughout the day on Saturday we also sold raffle tickets. The raffle prize was a tartan plaid pair of Sajou scissors. The proceeds of the raffle will be donated to a Scholarship Fund for Non-Traditional students.
After autographing the afternoon away, Paulette finally sat down to stitch and she says she did a whole 12 stitches before getting up and wandering around to see what everyone else was stitching but I think she's stretching the truth a little. I didn't actually see her put needle to fabric so I can't say for sure how much she actually did, but I would guess she did more than I did the entire 3 days. You won't see a stitching update from me on this post! At around 3:00, MaryAnn left to come back to town and pack up the store so we could have merchandise night. She and Jim got back to camp around 5:30 and then it was a mad dash to get everything set up before supper. After some pondering on Paulette's part she decided to stick around for supper before heading home. We were happy to have her stay. Supper that night was Roast beef, potatoes and carrots and lemon cake for dessert. I inhaled supper quickly and headed back to continue setting up the store. All too soon the ladies were back and chomping at the bit to shop! But first, we had Paulette draw the winning Raffle Ticket.
And the winner is.....ABBIE!!!
She and all the others helped us raise $250.00 for the scholarship fund! Thank you ladies, you are the best!
Sadly, time was passing and Paulette wanted to be back on familiar ground before dark so everyone said their goodbyes and she set off for home. Everyone was sad to see her go and we all hope she will join us again for our next retreat.
Here's what the room looked like before we let people in to shop.
And the shoppers browsing the store for goodies...
We closed up the store around 9 and spent the rest of the evening laughing, stitching and talking, the later it got the louder we got.
I think Shay and Diane were the first to retire for the evening. They had to get up to leave by 7 or 8 in the morning in order for Shay to catch her flight back to Chicago. It was 1:00 before the last of us headed to bed. Waaaay too late for me!
Breakfast Sunday morning was the cereal bar or French Toast and sausage. After breakfast we opened the store again for those last minute I thought about it and decided I wanted to buy it shoppers.
I have to tell you a funny story about Carole. She is the sweetest lady you could ever meet. She's always talking about how bad her memory is anymore and how she no longer needs to buy new books because she doesn't remember reading the ones she has so she just keeps re-reading them. I personally don't think her memory is as bad as she makes out but Sunday morning I had to wonder. She supposedly started the retreat chart on Saturday and when she retired Saturday evening she rolled up her piece and left it on the table. Sunday morning when she unrolled the fabric, there was no stitching on it! It was a completely blank piece of fabric. She stood there holding the fabric up as though the stitching would magically appear and protesting that she knew she had started that project on Saturday and what the hell could have happened to her stitching. The rest of us were practically rolling on the floor by this time because the look on her face was hilarious. She finally set the blank fabric down and wandered around for a few minutes and lo and behold when she returned to her table the stitching had magically reappeared! I still don't know who the prankster was in our group and maybe we shouldn't have found the incident funny but we did and Carole was such a good sport about it! We love you Carole!!
A lot of wonderful projects were worked on during the retreat and I would love to share some of them with you.
Below is Stacy. She drove all the way from Peoria with 3 kids in the car to attend retreat. She used to be a regular Last Saturday Stitcher until her husband was transferred. We miss her.
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| Merrilyn's Town & Country Sampler stitched over 1 on 40 ct |
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| 2 of Abbie's WIP's |
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| Abbie's other WIP |
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| Nancy found a WIP at the stash swap that she fell in love with! |
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| Elaine with her Shores of Hawks Run Hollow |
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| Merry worked on a Just Nan called Crystal Roses |
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| Mary worked on the Retreat Exclusive |
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| Sandy and her Little House Rosey piece |
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| Lois (our oldest stitcher at 82) and her butterfly |
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| Connie finished her Joyful Summer by CCN |
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| Diane working on her Fall Leaves picture |
Deb is new to our group but seems to be fitting in quite nicely. She had a heck of a time with her stitching though! She spent most of her time reverse stitching!
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| Denise with her finish |
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| Taking a break to have some fun! |
Connie was working on and actually finished the Sampler Roundy from Shakespeare's Peddler.
She gets the prize for most readers belonging to one person. And this is not her entire collection. She left some at home.
And even with all that help from the readers, she still managed to do this...
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| Seriously, how does that happen? |
Laurie finished her Primitive Needle chart By the Light of the Moon...
Nancy if you are reading this stop now cuz you can't see the next picture. Donna said so.
Donna finished this picture to give to Nancy. She must like her sister way more than I like my mine!
The morning passed by too quickly and before we knew it, lunch was ready. We had ham, au gratin potatoes, and jello poke cake. And then one by one the stitcher's packed up their equipment, loaded their cars and headed on down the road. The Stitcher's Recipe for Friendship Retreat was over and although everyone was a bit sad to see it end, I think I can speak for the lot of us and say that we all made some wonderful new friends that we will hopefully stay in contact with and perhaps see again in the future. Maybe at the next retreat!
And that is the end of my story. I must apologize for the quality of the pictures. My camera really does not do a good job indoors. One of these days, I will upgrade but not any time in the near future. If you lasted through this entire novel, kudos to you! Thanks for hanging in there and thanks for the comments! I appreciate them!
Take care till next time!
Julie
