The Retreat Starts

Being on Eastern Time, I woke up very early.  I made myself stay in bed until 5:30.  Since I was up so early, I decided to go walking.  It is so different walking here than at home.  It is very quiet.  The scenery is mountains and palm trees.

 People are out golfing already.  The temperature is nice.  It feels like 72 but is really warmer than that.

After walking, my BFFs and I enjoy breakfast in the hotel restaurant.  It is included in the cost of the retreat.  Then finally, it is time for the retreat to begin.  First we have to check out the stuff that is for sale.  There are 18 (eighteen!) thread cabinets that have been restored.  They are gorgeous!  I already splurged this year so I can't buy one.  There are fabric rolls.  They are a really good deal.  Like I need more fabric, but it is too good a deal to pass up.

Then we find a place to sit and see what our project is.

 Wow.  This is going to be so fun.  Rae is so organized and is such a good teacher.  We take our pre-stitching and finish it into a slipper.  That sounds simple but it takes all day.  We break for lunch which seems like dinner to me.  It is so unusual to have a hot lunch.

The retreat room is so cold from the air conditioning that a temperature outside of 105 feels good.  Really.  I love that there are snacks and drinks available all morning and all afternoon.
When it comes time to sew the top of the slipper to the bottom sole of the slipper, I have to learn a new stitch, the Cretan stitch.  It takes a while for me to wrap my head around it but I think it is a very useful stitch to know.  I'm a little messier doing it but I know I'll get better at it as I go along.

It is nice to have dinner all together.  I had the cod and it was good.  The desserts were really good too.  By 9 p.m. I am pooped and want to go to bed.  But what a great day it was!
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