I have been woefully remiss in updating my blog lately. It’s been a combination of being out of town for the retreat and dealing with everything for my surgery coming up on Thursday (April 12). I’m not sure how soon I’ll make an entry after my surgery, so I did at least want to get in an update about the retreat beforehand.
I had a BLAST at the retreat. I went there not knowing anyone but felt right at ease immediately. I had a wonderful roomie and we hit it off right away. Her name was Beth and she lives in Louisville, so we had that whole girls raised in the south connection. 
Here’s a pic of us taken on our last day:
As we got checked in to the retreat, we received a goodie bag. Once I got up to the room, I checked it out and was amazed at all of the cool stuff in it! One of the highlights, for me, was Eliza Jane’s Needlekeep from Brightneedle. This is a piece that I’ve drooled over in the past, so I was so excited to see we got it on the goodie bag. We also got a skein of the new Weeks color that is coming out in June. It’s called Guacamole and is a beautiful color! There was also an adorable bunny chart (how perfect for me! 
) called Bunny Love from Trail Creek Farm. There were also lots of freebie charts and some chocolate. 
Here’s a pic of the goodie bag. I realize it’s difficult to see what everything is, but there was so much stuff in it that it was hard to get it all into one photo.
While at the retreat, I had my main 3-hour class with Ann Pettit and Liz Knudsen of Brightneedle. The class piece is called Sakura and is just beautiful. Here’s a pic of the kit:
I really enjoyed their class. Ann is a great teacher and Liz is just so much fun. I couldn’t believe just HOW quickly the 3 hours went by! It seemed like no sooner than the class started that it was time to wrap things up.
I also took an optional 2-hour class from Amy Bruecken and Koneta Hurlstone of Sisters & Best Friends. Wow, talk about a FUN class … those ladies are a hoot! The piece for that class was called Stitcher’s Chicken which was a complimentary piece to the Stitcher’s Sheep kit they had for the people who took their 3-hour main class. I liked the chicken so much that I ended up buying the sheep kit in the shop since I wasn’t in their main class. Here are pics of those:
There was some discussion during the class that they should do more in this series. I really hope they do. I would love to see a cow and pig in this design series, too. 
Our last morning there consisted of three 50-minute round robin classes. In addition to round robin classes from Brightneedle and Sisters & Best Friends, we also had the pleasure of having a class done by Charland Gavin of Charland Designs. She had been there for the whole retreat and had her gorgeous silver available for sale in the market. The round robin was the only class that she taught during the retreat. Here are pics of the round robin pieces. The first piece is from Brightneedle, the next is from Sisters & Best Friends, and the last is Charland’s piece.
I did pick up a few 
other items at the retreat market. I don’t have pictures of those, but I can give links to some of them that are available for purchase. Some of the Brightneedle kits I bought were from their Private Reserve line which is available for purchase only for retreat participants, so I don’t have photos of those. A couple of these are for gifts … wonder where they’ll end up? 
Brightneedle Christmas House
Brightneedle Small Samplings
Brightneedle Quaker Season pincushion (private reserve)
Brightneedle Made for Each Other needlebook (private reserve)
Brightneedle Lake Country Spring (private reserve)
Sisters & Best Friends Have a Holly Jolly Christmas
Sisters & Best Friends Count Your Blessings
Heart in Hand Courage
Heart in Hand Peace
Heart in Hand Easter Sampler
Heart in Hand Commemorative Heart kit (exclusive)
In addition to everything already mentioned, we all received 3 door prizes throughout the course of the retreat. We got a 10th anniversary retreat t-shirt. We also got some cool freebies from the teachers, too. Here’s what I got:
Door prizes:
A pre-made tea cup cozy with stitchable insert
2 small punchneedle kits and a 3 punchneedle set (1 strand, 3 strand, and 6 strand)
A wool applique bunny purse kit (again, perfect for me )
Freebies:
Small mesh bag, logo self-stick note pad, and logo scissor sheath (Brightneedle)
Itty Bitty Pear Doll chart (Sisters)
Spring Bunny chart (Sisters)
Winter Sheep chart (Sisters)
Olde World Ornaments chart (Sisters)
I also won a special prize from the ladies at Sisters. They had a contest in one of their classes for the person with the most scissors with them. Another lady and I had 4 pairs each with us, so we both won a prize. Here’s what I got in that package:
Bad Maid
Little Boys chart
Little Girls chart
Have A Cow chart & mini tote bag
Since I’m not a mom, I gave the Bad Maid, Little Boys, and Little Girls charts to a couple of very nice ladies I met from Fond du Lac, WI. I had several of my meals with them and they were such nice ladies.
I do have a lot more pictures from the retreat, but I won’t post them all here. If you would like to see them, they are in my online photo albums. Here is a direct link to the retreat album:
2007 Stitcher’s Retreat
There was one other highlight of the retreat. I got to meet Michele from Washington who is one of my buddies from the Shepherd’s Bush BB. The funny part was that we didn’t even realize we “knew” one another until after the retreat was completely over. We were having lunch together with a couple of other stitcher’s after all the formal activities had ended and she finally made the connection of who I was. It was too funny. I noticed on her blog that she’s already signed up for next year as well, so it’ll be fun getting to see her again at next year’s retreat.
I had such a great time at the retreat, that I went on and signed up for next year’s while I was there and gave the organizer my deposit check. The retreat next year will be held in early May at Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. The scheduled teachers are Maureen Appleton of The Heart’s Content, Sam Sarah Design Studio, and Chessie & Me. I’ve signed up to take the Maureen Appleton class.
Ok, I have clearly rambled enough for one day. I hope everyone is has a wonderful Easter and gets in some quality stitching time. Happy stitching! 
