Are You Sure It's December?

I have been home almost a week.  I have another cold.  (ARGH)  I've been getting stuff ready and sent to the kids and gift cards to the rest of the family.  Rain was threatening when I went walking this morning but how could I not walk outside when it is 57 degrees?  The bathrooms are clean.  I have braved the Post Office.  I got lucky, the line was not out the door yet.  Then I braved FedEx and braced myself for the the cost of sending a box.  It's so expensive!
Now it is quiet in my house and I can show you what I have been working on.

This is Patrizia.  She is all done!  She isn't perfect. I took her apart and put her back together again trying to make the skirt fit around her waist.  I am tempted to try and redo her apron.  It doesn't fit around her waist like I would like either.  I made her little basket.  Cute!

I love the pins that go with her.

I changed her skirt from purple to green dupioni silk.  Note that I did not break any of her fingers.  She is fragile and I was very careful with her.  (Knock on wood)

I am so excited to see that my hero, Amy Mitten, has new tutorials coming out.  But that means I have to get busy and finish up Harmony and the Quaker Bag.  It took about half and hour to locate Harmony's sleeve that I started before I left.  I'll show you how I'm doing tomorrow.
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Last Day of Classes

The retreat has gone so fast!  This is our last day.  I am done with my scissors fob for Behold Thy Beauty.

We talk about finished the bag.  My mind is whirring.  I'm thinking of ways to make it easier.  Can the bands be all stitched together?  Can I find a motif that is not over one?  What if I change the colors?  Do I have to make the bag inside? Maybe I could change the words?  The finishing is pretty complicated.

This is the last opportunity to go to the Boutique.  I find some Romy threads.  They are used in a couple of charts that I have so the opportunity to get threads is tempting.  But I don't know what colors I need.  I end up getting a bunch of pretty colors.

 My BFF talks me into some pins with flowers on them.

 I see a tube of rice paste and I'm intrigued.  I might need rice paste sometime, you never know.

We have an hour and a half for lunch.  We have those delicious grilled cheese sandwiches again.  Then we are off to take a friend to the airport.  She has to be back at work tomorrow and must leave early.  Luckily we get back in time for the afternoon class. I've worked hard and finished the scissors fob for this class too.  It is supposed to have a tassel on the end but I haven't done that part yet.

Tonight is the Illumination which is fireworks in Williamsburg.  Too many people in too small an area.  Not my thing.  We opt to stay at the resort.  Unfortunately, the main restaurant is closed on Sundays so we go to the one across the way.  I was afraid we wouldn't be able to get in but we were able to sit with two other retreat attendees and it worked out fine.  I tried some fish that I hadn't heard of before called corvina.  It was good.  All the food at this resort is good.

Tomorrow we leave early in the morning to go to the airport in Richmond.  I've had a great time but I am ready to go back home now.  When you are at this retreat they tempt you by showing the projects for next year.  Jackie showed us her paper concept of a linen box that unfolds and has sweet peas on it and a beautiful wooden sewing box.  I love both of them.  Then Sherri Jones had a paper mock-up of her project.  Lovely.  So BFF, friend and I all signed up for next year.  We are suckers for nifty projects.

Back to the real world tomorrow.  It will take me all day to get back though.  At least I don't have to go as far as British Columbia or Oxford, England like some others.
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Second Day of Main Classes

The resort where we are staying is called KingsMill.  They always have an elaborate gingerbread house this time of year.  This year it is a ginger bread clock.

I thought they cheated and used some wood but I heard the chef telling how he made it look like wood grain.  It really is all gingerbread.  Wow.

 There is always a train running around the bottom of the Christmas tree.  The whole place is done up for Christmas and there is Christmas music playing all the time.

I must be getting very old because I found the Christmas music annoying.  There is a man who stands outside the main door and greets each person as he or she goes in.  That poor man has to listen to that music all the time.

I wanted to show you photos of the boutique.  There were about four very long tables with things for sale.

 My friend and I were trying to resist buying another one of Giulia's half dolls.  I have the pattern for Monica and there was the Monica doll right there.  But it was expensive.  On Saturday, I caved in and bought it.  Then my friend did too.  I ended up going to the boutique three times.  I heard of a lady spending quite a lot of money.

So we had the second day of main classes.  In Behold Thy Beauty, Jackie gave us a doodle cloth to try a new stitch.  First we tried it larger than it really is and then we tried it actual size.  This was a good way to learn this stitch.  I worked hard on my scissors fob.

Then in Tuscan Shades of Marble, Giulia went through all the finishing.  I was ready for a stiff drink at the end of the day.  I know someone who skipped out and had a nap instead.

My friends and I decided to eat in the main restaurant off the lobby.  The food was good.  The time is going too fast, tomorrow is our last day.
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More Williamsburg

I was racking my brain yesterday trying to remember where we ate supper when it dawned on me that on Thursday after two Early Bird classes and a visit to the Boutique there was still one more event.  There was a dinner for everybody at the retreat.  After we took a friend over to see Haus Tirol and went back to our rooms to look at our stuff, we went to the dinner.  We got there pretty late so our seats were way over in a corner.  Whatever.  We got an Annie's bag with stuff in it as we came in.  The stuff was pretty lame.  Forty year old charts of frogs.  I'm not using valuable space in my suitcase to take that stuff home.  I would have preferred a candy bar or nothing at all.  The dinner was good especially since I was really hungry.  There was a good speaker who talked about samplers at the DeWitt Museum and had slides to show them.  There is a new person in charge at Annie's and she talked a bit.  They gave away 10 prizes.  A friend won an opened box of note cards.  Other prizes were nicer.  Boy were we tired after such a long day!  The sunset over the river was beautiful.

So for the next three days we have a morning class and an afternoon class.  More kits!  My morning class was Behold Thy Beauty with Jackie DuPlessis.

I wanted to make the unique bag with the wooden frame.  First off, she gave us a kit for a matching scissors fob.

A lot of the stitching is over one.  My mind is churning about how I may want to change this a little.
We have a great lunch at another one of the restaurants at the resort.  It is like a malt shop.  I have a really good grilled cheese and some ice cream which they make right here at the resort.
My afternoon class is Tuscan Shades of Marble with Giulia Manfredini Cornali.  This is a half round box with smalls.  I decide to start on the scissors fob.

  Look at all that thread!

For dinner tonight, we are meeting friends at a French restaurant.  We went to Le Yaca last year and the food was wonderful.  Third driving mistake.  I turned into the exit lane instead of the entrance lane when we turned into the strip mall but nobody was coming so it was not a problem, thank goodness.

 This was my salmon:

 My friend had scallops.

 Of course I had dessert!  Three sorbets.  Yum!

 We really enjoyed the restaurant and had fun talking to friends.
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Early Bird Classes

When I go to a retreat, I usually take as many classes as I can to make it worth the trip.  I was delighted when I saw that I could take two Early Bird classes this year.  The first thing you have to do when you come to the retreat is to check in.  This is the desk where we check in:

You get an envelope with your name tag and coupons for daily gifts and the dinner and luncheon.  You get the daily itinerary.  The classes start and end at different times on different days so you really need this.
My first class is with Giulia Manfredini Cornali.  This is our classroom.  The chairs are really nice.

We are making a half doll called Patrizia.  The kit comes in this bag:

This is what is inside:

We just have the morning so much of the class is explaining the finishing of the doll.   She has a new way of doing it.  I really like the design and the porcelain doll.  This will be fun to make.
We go to one of the restaurants near the main building of the resort for lunch.  It is delicious.  I have Seafood Crepes and they are very good.
Now another class!  How did I get so lucky?  This afternoon I am taking Jackie Du Plessis's Simply Delightful.  It is a tray for the main project of Behold Thy Beauty.

The finishing looks pretty easy.  We did two hemstitches just so we could learn the differences.  So I didn't even start the project yet.  But I was glad to figure out the differences between Antique Hem Stitch and regular Hem stitch.
Two new kits, you would think that would be enough for one day.  But no!  The boutique opened just after our class ended.  There is always a long line to get in.  Everybody wants to see the stuff in the boutique.  There was a line for just scrims (vacuum cleaner attachments!)  I didn't buy any.  I saw a Jackie kit for the tray of One Moment in Time.  The wooden tray is just beautiful.  So I got that for Santa to give me.  (Santa has this so I can't show you)  I love this little bird cage kit.  I was so hoping I could snag one.  And I did!

More classes tomorrow!
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Wednesday

On with my story... We had a lady take us around the main house. It started off with a short video.  There were only three of us in this tour and we could ask all kinds of questions.  The library was left the way it was when the owners lived there.  The rest of the house was set up as much older.    This is the stuff I got at the Agecroft Museum Shop:

I got a postcard of the embroidered portrait:

After we were done at the Agecroft Museum we started our drive down to Williamsburg.  We had a slight detour when we stopped to see a bead and rock shop in downtown Richmond.

We got to Williamsburg in the afternoon and went straight to Haus Tirol as we weren't sure when it closed and we didn't want to miss it.

 We saw several people we knew in there.  They have a lot of Barbara Jackson kits.  We always want the one they are out of.  Murphy's Law.  They had two trunk shows.  One from JBW designs and one from Carriage House.  It was fun to see all the models.  Here is what I bought:

See what self control I had?  I only bought a few things.
We went to check in at the resort.  Our rooms weren't ready so we decided to go look for a Pizza Hut.  BFF and I like to have a personal pan pizza every once in a while.  We were really hungry since we hadn't had lunch.  Boy, did that pizza hit the spot!

We are so lucky this year.

 We got rooms with a view of the James River.  Cool.  I love it!  The retreat starts tomorrow bright and early.  I am excited!
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Going to Williamsburg

So last Tuesday I started out my journey to Williamsburg, Virginia.  I left late in the day so I could get to Richmond and have all day Wednesday for sightseeing.  I met up with my BFF at the airport.  The flights were unremarkable which is a blessing.  We got to Richmond and it was dark.  We rented a car because Williamsburg is about an hour away.  We found out later that a taxi to the resort was about $160 so it was well worth it to rent a car.  Our hotel bragged that it was right at the airport.  What they meant when they said that was that it was on the airport grounds.  We have found that signage in this area is pretty bad.  I was looking for the Richmond Airport Hotel.  We drove around until we were convinced that we'd gone too far.  Of course, finding things at night is not so easy.  I turned around at a McDonald's.  But when I pulled out into the road I found myself facing a median.  I didn't know what to do so I drove over it (it wasn't that high and it +didn't take off the muffler!).  First driving mistake.  We couldn't find the hotel so we finally got out my GPS, that I call Matilda.  She got us there, thank goodness. There were no name signs for the hotel.  We had a chatty receptionist and a slow computer at the hotel.  I thought we'd never get checked in.  We were exhausted but the rooms were fine.
Wednesday morning we had a nice breakfast at the hotel.  That was a good thing because we never had lunch.  Our goal today is to visit Agecroft Hall Museum,  drive to Williamsburg, shop at Haus Tirol, and check into the resort.  Our first challenge was finding the Agecroft Museum.  Matilda does not like rainstorms.  She could not find a satellite.  I printed out directions to get there just in case.  But I took a wrong turn. (Second driving mistake.) We had the scenic tour of downtown Richmond. ARGH.  It took us forever to find the museum.  It is in a residential area.  It is a very nice place to visit.

 This was a house from England that was very old, like 500 years, that was disassembled, put on a boat and rebuilt with a great deal of updating in 1926 in Richmond.  They guy who did it wanted to make an English style village.  Unfortunately he died in 1928 and then came the depression.  After having been in Scotland and England recently, it was very interesting to see how the house compared to places I'd seen.  The museum is very interesting but we couldn't take any pictures inside.  There are some lovely gardens although this is not the time of year that they are lovely.  There were some very nice embroideries there.   Among them were wonderful 17th century gloves and a book cover as well as an embroidered portrait.

 A wicket door.

An original window from the England house.

This was a pear tree.

 The house is along a river.

One of the gardens.

A little gazebo in the gardens.

More tomorrow.

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