This past Saturday was the Sampler Guild of the Rockies second annual retreat and a fun time was had by ALL!!!! I thought I would post about this fun event with LOTS of pictures. So here goes and I will do my best to remember it all.
First we came in the door and picked out a cute little pin cushion and got our name tag which was to be pinned on the cushion and served as our place marker at the stitching table and at the lunch table. See the pretty pins that came with it? The base is a painted wooden thread spool.
Then we got to choose a bag – here is the one I chose. I love roses! The first project we did was to make a name tag for our bag. See mine on the right handle? We actually finished something at the retreat!! We were given a choice of flowers and our name was done in 4 different styles. We just cut them out and put them in these cool frames. The flower and name tag are sandwiched between two pieces of glass in a metal frame. We then got to pick the color ribbon for our frame to attach it to our bag.
While waiting to start we socialized and enjoyed our choice of bagels, muffins, banana bread and a number of different homemade scones with lemon curd. There was also a boutique with tables for members to buy and sell items. Then we sat down at the table which had 8 clay pots with different flowers and ribbons tied around the pot. This was the one at my seat.
Later we learned that inside were three of the projects for the day (one of which I finished already). Wasn’t that a cute idea? I should probably tell you at this point that the theme of the retreat this year was “An Elizabethan Garden”. So we had lots of flowery stuff, blackwork and even information about knot gardens.
Now I am going to be a little forgetful in the order of the rest of these things, but not sure that matters much anyway!
We got a goodie bag (or two or three, or four). Everyone got a bag with these things inside. Going clockwise from the ladybug pincushion. A pair of Elizabethan themed scissors with cute fob; A felt covered notebook with stiched flower (colors varied); a mint tin (no mints inside, but a nice magnet to hold needles) with flower sticker; and a crow needlekeep. I have since been corrected it was a RAVEN not a crow.
Below is the goodie bag contents I recieved because I had a pink flower stuck to the bottom of my chair. Library bookplates and cute little thread winders.
This Vera Bradly tin was in the bag I got because I picked the number 4 from the basket.
This lovely scissor fob I recieved was because I had that medium blue ribbon tied to my chair.
These are the bags the goodies came in (with appropriate tissue paper of couse).
I got a door prize. Some great cloth project bags! There were a number of door prizes and we got to put our names in the basket of the ones we would like to win. I also put my name in the basket for the bags made with a kind of sampler type fabric, but did not win those : (. But these are sure pretty too and I am happy to have won them.
We got 4 projects in pretty cloth project bags. I hope to show you the projects as I work on them throughout the year.
We got a cool decorated paper mache box with goodies inside and a project (which I am currently working on).
Inside was a small round box mathcing the bigger box; the pink packet is holding 6 charms and the plastic bage underneath has the "knot garden" project that I am currently working on.
Here you can see the charms and that the small round box had a pincushion inside!
We got some charts and information on blackwork and knot gardens
This is a notebook (composition book) cover and the kit is for an alphabet with a cute bunny that you stitch and then attach to the front cover. There were numerous fabrics for the cover with the linen to stitch on and thread to match the cover inside.
We just kept getting stuff to open and look at, but at some point we did stitch! We could pretty much choose which project to start on and I picked one from the clay pot called “Tulip’s a Buzz” by Kay Cavnar of Lilybet Designs. It was a freebie distributed by Wichel Imports – I am guessing distributed to shops. The copyright is 2010, so maybe it is still available? Anyway I finished the stitching Saturday night and did the finish finishing on Sunday. All the finishing supplies to make a pin keep were included in the kit (except the pins on the side). I have never finished a pin keep and I thought the ribbon in the kit was too wide, so I used some I had on hand. I was not sure how to attach the ribbon, since I thought if I used glue the pins would not go through! So the ribbon is just pinned on. This is for show anyway so I won’t be taking out the pins!
I think that about covers it, already can’t wait for next year, but there were so many projects! If I can’t get them done by the next retreat, I may have to start going every other year. But it is so much fun anyway!!! I do believe everyone in attendance can’t wait for next year! OOPS I almost forgot to tell you about lunch. Two of the husbands cooked! They made a great soup for which I can’t recall the name, but it was a kind of minestrone with beans and tiny meatballs and pasta. They cooked it in crock pots and we could smell the yumminess as we stitched! It was accompanied by Olive Garden’s salad and bread sticks. For desert were some yummy spice cup cakes, a chocolate bundt cake and a raspberry bundt cake. All to die for.
Try not to drool on your keyboards!