Finally, it had arrived, time to head to Pennsylvania for a stitching getaway! Get ready of lots of pictures...
Linda and Annette @Cross Stitch and More by LinAnn Events hosted this absolutely fantastic weekend, many thanks to you both! I hope you decide to come back here next year, but it not, I'll go wherever you choose!
Here are the goodies we received - patterns, needle minder, scissor fob (with our own initial on it!), telescope magnetic pick-up tool, and we got to choose three colours for the tree pattern. I think I got it all!
I won a door prize on the left, and then won a prize for most creative bag in the exchange (I think that was the title?) more on that later. I went from having zero scissor frogs to having two - awesome! Now I need more scissors.
Karen gave our table some homemade lip balm made from the beeswax from their bees, and NY Annette gave us a Halloween themed needle minder. So sweet, thanks ladies!
Although I didn't take her class that was offered while there, I do love the patterns designed by the lovely Sue Hillis.
Seeing them all stitched up and finished made them look even more amazing!
And the other part of her display.
I was only going to get the Stitches for the Needleworker, but seeing the Happy Thanksgiving framed made me want to get that one too. And a sweet freebie was included also.
And there was another fabric table too!
More finished treasures, so tempting.
After one of my purchases with them, I won a $15 gift certificate so I had to get another piece of fabric. I could have sworn I bought another pattern, but maybe it was one I liked but they sold out.
The bag was made by Sarah, isn't it beautiful? Can you see the "butterfly"?! 💀
It was such a beautiful day, Karen and I stepped out for a walk to enjoy the sunshine. The trees really hadn't started changing colour yet, but it was still pretty.
After a most delicious lunch earlier, we thought we would wait until later to have dinner, but when we got back to the stitching room, everyone else had gone to eat.
That left us alone in the room... trouble! 😉
But instead, we joined everyone for dinner. The lunches and dinners were delicious, and the desserts... even better! It's a good thing our room was a bit of a walk away, I was still able to get my steps in!
Then it was time for the CIDER exchange. Each item had to begin with the letters in cider. These were mine, C - Christmas chart, I - invisible thread, D - DMC floss, E - Etoile Floss (2 Halloween and 2 Christmas colours), R - Ribbons for finishing.
I also stitched this without the beads and altered it to fit the theme. I finished it there but couldn't show it as finished piece and ring the bell since it was added to the bag!
Here it is put together. I made the bag on Thursday night, nothing like waiting until the last minute.
These were all the bags, so many creative ones! We played it like the white elephant or dirty Santa game. Lots of "stealing", laughter, and luckily not too many tears!
This is the gift I chose, it came from Edie - thanks, Edie!
C - Christmas, I - Igloo, D - Drink, E - Embroidery thread, R - Red. Did you notice the two Sue Hillis charts?! I told DH I was stitching the pink drink for his bar, he just rolled his eyes!
And then there was the giveaway table, I brought a box and still ended up bringing a lot home! I guess I'll be bringing it to the next retreat in two weeks.
These are some of the treasure I couldn't pass up.
There were so many gorgeous finishes, this was NY Annette's adorable mouse! It was the first one she put together, with Fran's help, and turned out great.
Although I didn't finish, I'm getting closer! Just the Harvest Moon to go, wishful thinking to be done by the full moon on the 12th.
And then all too soon, it was over. 😢
Thanks to Helene for sharing our two tables group pic! I made lots of new stitching friends, such fun! Even the darn frog joined us, he definitely made his way around the room.
So until next time, I'm already looking forward to it!
And on the way out, some colour to tease us.
