Back from Retreat...Warning...Pic Heavy

Good Afternoon (it will probably be evening by the time I get this finished)!

Today was literally the first day I have had a large enough span of time to sit down and get the pictures from retreat edited and it has taken me since 9 this morning (it's 3:30 now).  My behind is numb and flat after that marathon but I promised myself that I would git 'er done today and so come hell or high water that's what's gonna happen!  

Let me start my retreat report by saying what a wonderful time we had!  The company was awesome, the food I am told was good and the eye candy was beautiful!  Now lest you all think I didn't eat the entire weekend let's just throw that idea out the window!  I ate.  Just not a lot.  World's pickiest eater here and most of what was served was not to my taste.  There was however plenty of snacks and the ever present peanut butter sandwich.  I also need to say a big THANK YOU to my husband Dan for all of his help with the many projects involved in retreat this year.  We couldn't have done it without him.

I have a ton of pictures to share so I will need to split this into at least 2 if not 3 separate posts.  So with that being said, grab a cold one and we'll get this party started!

Let's start at the very beginning...I hear it's a very good place to start.  Anyone wanna chime in with the next line of the song?  Sorry, I digress.

To announce retreat this year I wrote  a little poem and prefaced it with this:

Choosing a theme for retreat is a lot of work.  It starts with a glimmer of an idea that needs to be researched and thoroughly thought out before being brought to life.  It involves hours and hours of endless wandering thorough craft stores to get ideas, hours and hours of lying in bed at 3a.m. tossing thoughts around in your head, and hours and hours of hand-wringing as you stress over whether or not the idea is original or even good.  And while the subject of this year's retreat has been spoken of, memorialized in song, and written about by Dr. Seuss himself, they haven't been celebrated in quite this manner before.  It seems as though our particular theme is something of a taboo subject in polite society.  However, we've never claimed to be part of polite society so...

Without further ado, we would like to cordially invite you to...

                                                              The Stinky Feet Retreat!!

Now don't get offended,

we aren't saying yours stink,

It's just that all others 

have been done so we think.

Dr. Seuss wrote a book 

About feet of all kinds,

But the stinky feet ones

He put out of his mind. 

It rolls off the tongue, 

so nice and so neat!

What choice did we have

but to choose Stinky Feet!

Set aside your misgivings,

prepare for a treat. 

We have lots of great plans

To make our Retreat sweet!

~J.  McConnell~

I received a lot of raised eyebrows with this theme, I'm not gonna lie.  Most folks were wondering what in the world I was going to do with Stinky Feet.  That was exactly the response I was hoping for!  Are you wondering too?  

I won't keep you in suspense any longer.  No point in doing that.  Retreat is over.  

On the day of Retreat an email was sent with the following poem:

Big Feet, Little Feet

Pretty Feet, Ugly Feet

Feet with nails painted bright

Feet whose nails are quite a site!

Some Feet will travel east

Some Feet will travel west

Safe travels to you all

On your stinky Feet quest!

When our retreaters arrived at camp, they were mostly (some arrived early) met at the door and were given a helping hand with getting their stuff out of the car and to their rooms where they were greeted with a shoe full of candy on their bed.  

I found the pattern for the shoes online and after searching all over for paper that I liked, Dan finally just printed it out for me.  Then I printed the pattern onto the card stock and cut them out after which Dan put them together and then I added the jewels.  Very time consuming but oh so cute I think! 

  

After settling into their room, everyone checked in at the desk where they were given a shoe box, a goody bag, and a coupon for the door prizes.  They were asked if they wished to sign up for a massage and/or the finishing class and then shown the model of the retreat project and the model showing the finishing technique.  If they wished to take the finishing class they were given some fabric and floss along with instructions so they could get their homework done in time for class.  After that it was time to head down to the stitching area, stake out a spot and get down to the serious business of stitching!

Somehow I forgot to take a picture of the shoe boxes all set up at retreat so this picture of them in our library will have to suffice.  

Inside the shoe box was everything they would need to stitch and finish the Retreat project. 

This year Jan from Tree of Life Samplings designed the exclusive chart for our Retreat.

When finished, it's a miniature footstool that looks like this:

Connie and I did ours a bit differently than the model. I'll show you mine at a later point. 

The goody bags this year looked like this sitting on the piano in the library.  Amy was not happy about this and was thrilled when they were removed. 

see the stinky feet we stamped on the bags
 and if you look close you can see the  paper clips too.

And greeting the stitcher's at retreat...

Inside was a plethora of goodies designed to hopefully tickle the fancy of  our retreaters.

There was a bottle of water with a Stinky Feet Label on it.

There was a quilted coaster (or a very flat pin cushion, haha Stacy!).

A 3 x 3 inch Stitch Starter , a Flip Flop Note Pad and Feet shaped paper clips

Socks

Needle Pin Inn chart: 

The finishing class Mary Ann taught was really more of a demonstration but it was a technique the ladies would need to know in order to finish the above pin pillow.  

A flip flop ort container:

Polka Dot Scissors:

A Barefoot Wine Cork Scissor Fob:

This is the fob Dan made special for me

Connie tied one of these cute flip flop buttons to each bag with ribbon. 

  

And last but not least...something that every Stinky Feet Retreat needs to have.  Foot Scrub!!

That takes you through check in so I think now is a good place to stop.  I'll post part 2 this weekend. 

I hope you are enjoying this retreat story.  I know it's long but hopefully it's not too boring.  

Take care till next time!

Julie