The Retreat Begins

I forgot to tell you a couple of things yesterday.  As I was shopping at The Attic, who should walk in but a cross stitch designer from Massachusetts - Marcia Brown Smith.  I had her for a class from our guild but she doesn't know me.  Then I forgot to show you the trim I found.  It is from Access Commodities and I think I might be able to use it on my trinket box or my casket.

I also found some of the GPA pins.

 They are a splurge and I think I'll put them on one of my half doll pin cushions.  Evidently I am collecting queen thread keepers.  I couldn't resist.

Now we are up to Friday.  Again I wake up early and go walking.  This time I walk a different way and go walking in the neighborhood in back of the resort.

 There are very fancy houses back there.  The streets are so winding that I'm afraid I'll get lost so I go back out the way I came in.  Meals for the today and tomorrow are included in the retreat cost so I go to the breakfast buffet.  It is a very nice spread.  The waffles are delicious.  I meet Rae and Ron Iverson.  They are so nice and friendly and welcoming.  I'm seeing a few people who I've seen before in other classes.  They must be hard core cross stitch addicts like me.  Most of those in the retreat have been here before.  We are talking so much that we don't realize that it is almost time for the retreat to start.  Several girls at our table and I go with Rae and help her carry stuff down to the class room.  I'm so excited!
The room is large.

 Each person has plenty of room to spread out.  I meet Rebecca and Mary who sit on either side of me.  Rae is so organized.  Her kits are notebooks with all the supplies and directions in them.

She also has some special treats.  Since we are making a gaming purse, we get a small deck of cards to put in our purse.  She give us other gifts for our purse during the day.

 Our first order of business is to finish the pre-stitching into a hedgehog.  I'm learning that Rae has thought out all the aspects of this design.  I wonder if she was a teacher in her other life because she is very good in showing us how to finish our hedgehogs.  I'm learning too that Rae creates challenging designs.  We add ears and a mouth.

 This one with the gold pins is Rae's.  Scissors fit under the hedgehog.  What a cute bow!

We have a choice whether to use a bead or to do detached buttonhole over felt for the nose.  I decide to try the more challenging detached buttonhole.  It's not perfect but I like the texture of the nose.  Many of us are quite delighted to finish our hedgehogs.  We give them a name and put them all together for a photo.

One of the most fun aspects of a class is to see stuff other people have made.  There were some amazing projects.  One lady's project was her own interpretation of Home Sweet Home.

 She had another amazing original design. The inside of the box was all stitched also.

 I got to see Gwen's Strawberry Lace project.  It is beautiful.  I'd love to try making that someday.
The snacks in the classroom were great.  It's a good thing there weren't any cashews left as I cannot resist those.  Lunch was much more than I expected.  You could have had a turkey dinner with all the fixings.  There were several salads as well.  I tried to behave myself.
The day went really fast.  Dinner was at 6 which is 9 my time.  I debated on whether to go or not.  I decided that I would go and see if I could get salmon.  I sat with some people I didn't know.  They were so funny and friendly.  Heather, Teresa and Jean.  They were on Eastern time too.  Salmon was on the menu.  But dinner took over an hour to arrive.  By the time our food arrived I was ready to go to sleep.  I told the girls at my table about The Fractured Prune and they actually went there the next morning.  Jean even had the bacon donut.
By the time I got back to my room, I was totally wiped out.
A