Baa Baa Banquet

The Banquet is always the perfect ending to the perfect retreat! Since the Shepherd's Bush logo is a sheep, sheep abound in our gifts to one another and now our "attire" selection for the banquet.  Yes . . . our friend Tamara found the perfect dress for us to wear . . . there was even a wolf in sheep's clothing in the pattern. It came in lots of color choices and we all picked our favorite.  I also found sheep "boot slippers" that were great!  Myriam gifted us sheep PJs and I believe it was Lisa that gifted us sheep earrings two years ago.  We made quite the herd "baaing" our way into the banquet!

The food was not only beautiful, but tasty!

In keeping with the theme "Embrace The Journey" and the tradition of getting the spouses involved, the men were asked to perform "It's A Small World"!

We played a game . . . note the tables had different country flags.   Our table captain was Lisa . . . perhaps those little hands slowed her down?

Gifts abound at these retreats from Shepherd's Bush and friends.  We were given charms to complete a journey scissor fob, charts for smalls and a beautiful wooden tray!

Other random Retreat Fun:

Wonderful gifts to one another like our friend Nancy who gifted us Turban Towels that proved to be a challenge for me . . . couldn't quite get it to wrap properly . . . good for a tearful belly-laugh!

Catching up with friends:

The Humanitarian Project this year was to send a girl from an impoverished country to school.  If you wanted to participate, you could stitch a scissor fob to exchange and donate $5.00.  They had over 100 fobs entered into the exchange as well as many, many generous donations from tons of people.  Shepherd's Bush matched all money raised, and were able to send 10 girls to school and change the lives of those children and their families.  What inspiration and kindness.

 I made this tiny stitched over one, biscornu scissor fob.

And how lucky was I to get one from Margaret at our table?

Beautiful Utah: 

 It was a fabulous Journey once again!

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They're Back!

We were so happy that Barb & Alma, of Blackbird Designs, were back teaching at the Shepherd's Bush retreat in October!  Always enjoy them and their classes!  We signed up for the track with Jeannette Douglas (such a joy), Paulette Stewart (so fun) and Barb & Alma (yes, we're groupies).

Ready . . . set . . . go!  We're up for Jeannette and her cute box!  She's such an animated person and so thorough in her teaching. Don't you just love the postage stamp in the upper right hand corner!

Paulette's piece is sooo pretty!  It's called "Heritage Sampler". . . very patriotic starting with pilgrims, George crossing the Delaware and Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln . . . and the colors on that fabric . . . I just LOVE it!  What? No pictures of Paulette in class?  What's up with that?

Blackbird didn't disappoint . . . like they ever could!  Not only are the designs great, but their other ideas are just darlin'!  They have all these boxes that they put sewing finds in including old pictures of people they find at flea and antique markets and sort of make up stories in their minds about them.  How sweet! Always with the clever ideas!!!

I just have to drag this out a bit longer . . . the banquet was just great fun . . . tomorrow . . .

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On To The Retreat!

Not only is the Shepherd's Bush shop Mecca for cross-stitchers, but their retreat is also a bucket list item for most,  They never fail to make it a great experience!

We started off our stay in Park City getting checked into The Silverado just down the hill from The Grand Summit where all the activities were held.  We had been bumped from The Grand Summit because of renovations and wound up getting a larger 3 bedroom suite for the 4 of us due to some maintenance complications . . . lucky us!  They even provided shuttle service for the short trek uphill!

Before the Retreat officially started we had dinner with friends.  We have met so many kindred spirits at these retreats over the years and favorite designers we can call friends!

The retreat always has a theme and this time it was "Embrace The Journey".  The theme shows up everywhere throughout the Retreat . . . in the activities, games, designs, gifts, etc.  The most anticipated part is "The Reveal"!

Linda (Chessie & Me):

Barb & Alma (Blackbird Designs)

Jeannette (Jeannette Douglas Designs)

Paulette Stewart (Plum Street Samplers)

Brenda Gervais (With Thy Needle & Thread)

Tina and Terri (Shepherd's Bush)

CeCe from The Thread Gatherer gave a talk on dyeing, particularly the difficulty of dyeing with reds.  We got a little chart from an antique sampler she has.

Lisa was being a naughty girl during the lecture and cracking us up with her "little hands".

More about classes and the final banquet tomorrow!

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