Shepherds Bush Retreat

Sorry to be late in getting this report out to you, but I've been swamped with orders for the new fall designs and since I've always been taught...business before pleasure......I had to attend to that first. Oh, and by the way, the little book boxes for the "Autumn Sewing Book" design are again available from DCC Crafts...YEA!!!!!

Now, on to the fun stuff!!!!!!  OMG!!!!!! What a Retreat!!!!  Tina and Teri have out done themselves Again!!!!!  I was sooooo happy to be asked back to teach and the whole experience was as good, if not better, then I had remembered!!

I guess I'll just start at the very beginning......Sweet Nancy C picked me up at the airport and I immediately was enveloped in the majesty of the mountains as we drove toward Ogden.

Before going up to Park City, of course we had to stop at cross-stitch Mecca...better known as Shepherds Bush !!!!

Even the entrance just pulls you in to investigate future....."Why do those sheep all have hats on?".......on top of everything else...it's Shepherds Bush's Birthday !!!!!

Of course, as you walk into the entry way......treats galore !!!!

When I first arrived the shop was teaming with customers..... I bidded my time until it cleared out a bit, so I could get a few shots of the sheer "jammed packedness" of cross stitch goodies this shop holds.  It's really quite staggering!!!!

Just choosing designs from the models covering every inch of wall space is overwhelming.

Around every corner, there's another hidden pocket of treasures.

Yes, that is a wall of linen as well as ALL the Christmas stocking assembled in one spot!!!!   Who could choose just one?

After a tiny bit of shopping, it was off to Park City , and the beautiful Canyons Resort!!

They put the designers up in two condos that were absolutely FABULOUS!!!! I got to room with Cece (The Thread Gatherer and Charland & Sydney (Charland Designs) and we had a ball together. Cece brought her espresso machine and I got to play with it all week...they all decided that if this "cross stitch" thing doesn't work out for me, I could start a new career as a Batista!!!   Syd taught us EFT (Emotional Freeing Technique) which works wonders for relieving stress !!  We managed to get a little stitching in each evening between the laughing and gabbing....not much sleep .....but hey...who wants to sleep when there's so much going on!!!!

This was the view from my master suite balcony.

Wednesday night, Teri and Tina took all the teachers out to dinner......a great time to renew old friendships and establish some new ones !!!!

Thursday was registration and "make it and take it" day......everyone one got one of these darling bags and a little booklet that we had all done small motif designs for .  It was fun to see how people chose to arrange the motifs on their bags. It's always amazing to me the see how all of our designs seem to fit together even though we never see them in advance.

Thursday night was the "BIG REVEAL".  The theme this year was "Christmas".   No one had seen any of the projects , including the teachers, so it was a hugh surprise when each of us got up and talked about and showed our design for the first time .  It can be kind of scary, as one after another project is revealed, thinking that yours will be the "ONE" no one cares for.  However, that didn't happen....... every project was unique and wonderful !!!!!

R&R's was "Home of the Holidays" and came with a special thread card painted by Liberty Hill.

Jeannette Douglas's was "Be Merry and Bright" and was stitched in all wool.

Charland did an adorable stitching roll..."Memories of Christmas", which she presented out of a hugh Santa sack, much to the audience's delight!

Paula (Plum Street ) designed a wonderful sampler, "A Yuletide Welcome" and the class project was a tiny pinroll that used motifs from the sampler.

Tina's design, "Three Ships"  was of course "darling" and just as wonderful as everyone had hoped for.

I never did get a picture of my piece, so I'll include the scan that was in the kit.......it's called (surprise, surprise) "Shepherd's Christmas" ........I fell in love with the verse, and the design just evolved from there.

After the "reveal" we all lined by like "celebrities on the red carpet" so everyone could take pictures.  What a "hoot" !!!!!
However, I know, as soon as this retreat is over, I'll be back home ....cleaning cat boxes and doing laundry...a celebrity no more!
You can see a little peek of Cece's project with Teri that they taught on Friday night.  It was a shared stitches piece that consisted of a wool book that Cece had designed appliqued portions of and Teri did a cross stitched linen page that formed a pocket when completed....and the best part was......."elves" had already sewn the books together, so when you finished the applique and cross stitch, you had a COMPLETED PROJECT !!!!!!

These are my teachers pet!!!!  They all did matching fobs and sat in the front of class with them on display.....we had a lot of fun together....they really were a wonderful boost for my ego!!!
Thursday night we also did the "cookie exchange"......each person got a cookie tin and then proceeded to different stations where we made various kinds of "cookies" which all turned out to be some kind of stitching tool......tape measure (pin wheels), marking pins (sprinkles), etc.  It was very clever and Jeannette D and I went around together and were proud to say....we completed all of our cookies !!!!!

 Friday afternoon we had some free time, and Syd, Cece and I took the cable car to the top of the mountain (8100ft).  The views were breathtaking!!!!   Literally!!!!!!

Here are a few views of the classes.......although all these ladies were serious stitchers ..........we did a lot of sharing of crazy stories, cat pictures and laughing at each other!!!! Oh, I mean with each other!

Those "teacher's pets" again, this time with "teacher" as well.

I must say , all of the classes were filled with some of the friendliest ladies I've ever had the pleasure to teach.........not one had a bad word to say all weekend....everyone was very upbeat and enthusiastic and full of lovely complements.  I know a big part of that was due to Tina and Teri......you NEVER saw them without a hugh smile on their face....despite any craziness that went on behind the scenes...and believe me there was lots of behind the scenes craziness!!!


And before we knew it......it was Saturday night and time for the big finale......The Christmas Feast !!!!

The tables were beautifully set , the meal wonderful....very English in flavor, down to the crackers and crazy party hats!!!

We played a rousing game of Christmas Trivia, were entertained by attending husbands who were forced to sing carols for us and just generally laughed, cried and promised we'd all do this again  as soon as possible!!!!
It was a wonderful end to a fabulous retreat and as usual...over much too soon !!!

All the teachers got together for a farewell breakfast  and final hugs before several had to leave on Sunday.

Tina, Teri, Charland, Sydney, Jeannette, and I were able to stay over another day, which we spent just lazing around and unwinding over shopping and wandering about the historic section of Park City.

We shared a final dinner together at "Zooms" which is Robert Redford's restaurant built in the old train depot.......wonderful food and again great company!!!

It was Sydney's birthday, so of course they brought out a special desert for her, complete with the greeting spelled out in chocolate !!!!

And now, I'm back home with a renewed sense of wonder at all the amazing friendships and experiences this love of cross stitch has brought my way......Thank you, thank you, thank you, one and all !!!!!!



P.S.  To see some really grand photos, go the Paula's (Plum Street Samplers)blog......turns out she's a PROFESSIONAL.......and carries around a camera bigger than she is.....who knew?????