Oh Dear Lord will it never end??? Retreat Part III Pic Heavy

Happy Hump Day!

I spent my day running around town looking for some items that might be needed for retreat next May if I stick with the idea that popped into my head this morning as I was all cuddled up and warm in bed.  It was pretty darn cold this morning and stupid me, thinking it was spring/summer had my windows open!   Said windows will be firmly closed tonight!

I left off with Friday night in my last post so I guess it would make sense to start off with Saturday  in this post.  Unless you all want me to cut to the chase, skip to Sunday afternoon and end your misery?  But if I did that you would miss some pretty incredible eye candy and we can't have that now can we?

Saturday morning dawned bright and early, breakfast at 8a.m. followed by more stitching.  Mary Ann taught the second batch of  stitcher's the finishing technique and the masseuse arrived to help work out the kinks most of us had acquired over the last couple of days.  The swap table was still open for business so some were wandering in and out of that area, Doreen and Stacy played the piano again for us and stitcher's moved around visiting with other stitchers.  Note:  I have tried hard to keep the pictures to the day they were taken but I think some of the following were actually taken on other days.  Please forgive any out of order pictures!

Joyce telling a story

Donna and Sally

L-R:  Kolene, Karen and Anna Marie

Jocelyn and Roxy

Not sure what they were laughing about but it must have
been good!

Linda, Laurie and Stacy

Joyce and Deb B.

Kay's beautiful bead work.

Laurie

Harriet and Patty

Patty, Cathi and Deb C.

We had a some finishes during the day also:

Doreen

Stacy

Laurie

Nancy

Deb C.

Donna

Joyce

Linda's false finish.  She still needed to add her surname
under the house but we let it pass for a finish.

We asked our stitcher's to bring one or two pieces they had stitched that were their favorite or that they were especially proud of.  We displayed these  pieces for all to enjoy and throughout the weekend people would wander over and admire the stunning display.

Amazing, aren't they?  

Saturday afternoon, Mary Ann and I headed back to Papillion to meet up with our husbands to pack up the shop and haul it out to the retreat for shop night.  It's a big undertaking but the ladies seem to enjoy it.  

  

Once shopping was finished it was time to give away the door prizes. 

Connie treating us to a pole dance routine prior to the giveaway.
Last year she did  Gangam Style.  Not sure which was better.
LOL!!

 5 extra special winners received a lovely Lucky Rabbit's Foot in keeping with the theme.  They were thrilled!

In reality, those 5 got the "Grand Prize" door prizes.  Sadly I didn't not take any pics of the door prizes.  

Once all the excitement was over it was back to stitching, visiting and snacking.

No chance of starving at our retreats, that for sure!!  Just look at all that food, and 99% of it was not good for you.  But it sure was good!

We had a tragedy occur at retreat this year.  A terrible terrible tragedy.    See the lady on the right in the picture below?  

That's Denise.  Denise has been stitching on the same piece that I showed you earlier.  The one Nancy is doing called I love my Garden.  She actually started it before Nancy.  While at retreat, Denise discovered she had been stitching the design on the fabric the wrong way.  Kinda makes the bottom fall out of your stomach.  Lucky for Denise,  stitcher's are wonderful people and before she knew it several ladies had volunteered to help her frog the piece.  

First up was Karen.  

After Karen worked on it for a while Kolene took over.

and after Kolene, Jennifer stepped up.

and when she was done Denise was presented with a clean slate to begin her piece again.  This time the right way!  Good job ladies!  

I was hoping to wrap this up tonight but I don't think I'm going to make it!  One more post should do it I think so watch for the final chapter this weekend.  

I sent emails to all those that have posted questions, if you didn't receive them please let me know.  

Thanks to all that have read and commented, I am truly touched that you all take the time to read what I have written.  

Have a great week and take care till next time!

Julie 

World's longest Retreat Post Part II

We had a Thursday through Sunday option and a Friday through Sunday option again this year.  The facility requires a minimum of ten if you wish to have meals.  Last year there were only 9 of us so the shop paid for the ghostly 10th person but this year there were 15 of us.  Those that arrived at 2 o'clock sharp had 4 hours of stitching time in already when it was time for supper.  After supper it was a wonderful laid back evening of good conversations and many laughs along with some excellent uninterrupted stitching time.

This is most of the Thursday group

Poor Carole, she staked out a table and had to sit all by herself since the rest of her peeps didn't come until Friday and she didn't want to move her stuff twice.  We made sure she got in on all the good conversation so she wouldn't feel too ostracized!

Those that intended to take the finishing class worked on their homework and a big fuss was made when said homework was finished!  Ya just gotta celebrate your finishes...even the very small ones.

Doreen's Homework Finish!!

There were a lot of beautiful projects being worked on...

/Diane

Connie A.

Jennifer

Jocelyn

Linda S's wip

Laurie's new start

Mary's Santa's Village

Pam's cats

Sue's Wip

but don't ask me what the names of most the projects are cuz I don't know most of them.  I could ask if you're really interested though.

Everyone drifted off to bed in the wee hours of the morning.  Breakfast is at 8 a.m. so most are up early but a few decided to forgo eating and slept late instead.  Friday morning was spent once again stitching and chatting.

Carole didn't do her homework Thursday night so she had to work on it Friday

Except for when she was up walking around (which was often)

Carole and Mary Ann

Long about the time Mary Ann, Connie and I were thinking we would head upstairs to prepare for the onslaught of Fridays stitcher's, what or I should say who should come down the hall but some early arrivals!  It wasn't long after their arrival that the onslaught began and we were pretty darn busy for the next couple of hours getting everyone situated and explaining the homework to the new arrivals.

18 more stitcher's joined us on Friday with Sally being the last to arrive and shortly after she did we headed over to supper.

Quite the crowd!

After supper Mary Ann took those with their home work done into the other room and taught them how to do the finish technique for the chart that was in their goody bag.  

Bad me didn't take a picture of Friday nights class
so this is actually Saturday's class

The swap tables were also opened up Friday night.

And of course there was a lot of stitching and visiting being done that night also.

Cathi's hands and WIP

Connie A.  and Linda W.

L-R from Corner:  Joyce, Deb B., Deb C. and Connie A
Denise (back to camera)

Connie N. with her Hometown Holiday finish!

L to R:  Deb C., Connie A. , Connie N. & Jocelyn 

Diane's hands and WIP!

Doreen's Egg

I originally chose these colors for Denise and Nancy liked them
so much she decided to use them too!

Jennifer's  Just Nan finish!

Joyce's wip.  

Linda and Kay

One of  Deb C.'s WIP's

Hello?  Anyone still there?  I'll continue this post most likely on Wednesday.  Lot's of excitement still to come!

Take care till next time!

Julie