Up Up and Away to the Silver Needle

The Silver Needle Retreat - Day One

DH kindly took me to the airport at 6 a.m.  This is very nice as he is not an early riser (actually, neither am I).
Only an hour flight to Minneapolis.  I'm meeting my BFF there.  I get some steps in at the airport in MN trying to find a place that will give me what I want for breakfast which is two egg whites and orange juice.  I give up and decide to stitch.  My BFF arrives and talks me into finding something to eat.  I'm really glad as I haven't eaten anything and we end up not even having lunch.  The flight to Tulsa is less than two hours and goes fine.  We get to Tulsa around noon.  Luck is with us most of the trip.  We call for the shuttle and it is there instantly.  I think it was on it's way out of the airport and swung around to pick us up.  We are going to the Doubletree Warren Place.  It is a really large hotel and very nicely landscaped.  When we check in we are given a chocolate chip cookie that is wonderful. My Bff and I get rooms right next to each other.  Handy.  We are really excited to get to the Silver Needle.  So we ask for the shuttle to take us over.   It is about a mile away.
When we walk into the shop, both of us say "Oh, wow!"  It is jam packed with stuff.  Where to begin?  We see designers we've never even heard of and books that are unusual and French.  There are tons of models.  And there is an abundance of patterns of the models so no trouble getting patterns if we see something we want.  Several designers are featured in displays.  There are extensive displays of Jeannette Douglas, Drawn Thread, Lizzie Kate, Bent Creek, Shepherd's Bush, Just Nan (of course, as she used to work there), Erica Michaels and more.  Wow.  There are many baskets below the displays with many patterns in them.  I know I am in trouble!  We are given a card called "Classy Cash".  If we spend 200 dollars, we get 15 dollars to spend in the store.  I see lots of stuff I want to get.  It is very busy in the store.  When we are finally done shopping (we'll be back later!) we head over to where the retreat will be held.  It is in an empty store nearby.  We need to claim a place at one of the tables.

There are somewhere around 25 tables. The finishing classes are just ending in the back of the room.  The retreat had about 150 people in it.  Many of the tables are already claimed.  So we keep walking to the back of the large room.  Then a lady at a table says that there are two spaces we can have at her table.  So we sit down. When we checked out at the shop we were given a Vera Bradley reusable shopping bag with our names tied to it.  I love getting free stuff.  There might have been something in the bags but right now I can't remember.  Maybe it was just our itinerary.

The other ladies at our table were Cindy (from my state), Linda from Colorado (on the left in the photo), Rebecca from Kentucky (on the right in the photo) and her daughter, Kerry from Ohio.  Everyone was friendly and nice and funny.  I decided to take a picture of the room but when I took out my camera I realized that the battery for it was still being recharged in the computer room at home!  Oh, no!  Well, the back up was my IPad.  So all my pictures from this retreat were taken with my IPad.
Then we  goofed around.  I think I stitched and talked until some food was brought in.  Three different dips and chips and crackers.  I wasn't sure if this was the "dinner reception" described in the retreat information.  But I was assured that dinner was yet to come.  The dinner was served and was very nice.  The owner of the Silver Needle's daughter made fancy drinks.  One was Strawberry Cheesecake and the other one I can't remember.  I don't like alcohol so I only took sips of BFF's drinks.  One involved half and half.  The thought of drinking half and half grossed me out.  So, no thank you.  Water and sodas were readily available.  We were introduced to Just Another Button Company's Cecile McPeak and her daughter Rachael.  They will do the class tomorrow.  Then we met Vicki Hastings who showed us the design for Saturday.  It is Halloween themed.  By the time we were done with the presentations, BFF and I were totally exhausted.  It was great to get shuttled back to the hotel and crash.  I had to lay out the stuff I bought and look at it.

I'll talk about Day Two tomorrow.
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