Wonderful Retreat Weekend

Last weekend I was lucky enough to drive to Terre Haute, IN to a stitching retreat held by Jan Alexander who designs under the name Tree of Life Samplings. This is the third of Jan's wonderful retreats I've attended, and I have to say, Jan always outdoes her self making sure everything runs smoothly and works hard to be sure everyone is happy.
 I went there Wednesday to spend the afternoon and evening with my good friend Jan and helped her get some of her wonderful hand-dyed linens labeled and ready to take to the hotel on Thursday. Thursday evening was spent getting to know each other and stitching. There were twelve of us there, some old friends, Mary and Brenda, on-line friends Judith and Carole, and fivenew friends, Vonna, Yvonne, Diane,  Karen, and Sally, Mary's mom. We received the chart for the wonderful  retreat piece Jan designed for us, and it came kitted up in this cute envelope made by Natalia.

  Friday was busy with stitching time, a trip to Jan's home, sharing finished and WIP projects, and an ornament small exchange. I took two pieces to exchange a PS pinpillow

and a La-D-da pinpillow that I don't have a picture of. I was lucky enough to receive two pinpillows in return. One stitched over-one by Brenda and the other stitched by Carole.

Yes, they are the same BBD design but finished so differently and beautifully. Wasn't I lucky?!

Saturday was the day we were all eagerly anticipating. The talented Vonna taught us how to mount our stitched pieces, that Jan designed and we stitched ahead of time, on a box top with chenille trim and how to line the box. She told us how this same technique could be applied to other finishes.

Sunday morning found us saying goodby to all our old and new friends and hoping we would meet again next year.  I didn't take many pictures but Vonna and Yvonne have great pictures on their blogs.It was a wonderful retreat and I think I got my stitching mojo back.
Here is the progress I've made so far on the retreat piece Beauty and Grace. Two turbo-needle friends, Vonna and Brenda have finished their pieces and they are gorgeous!

Have a wonderful Fourth of July! We are off to a cookout at our oldest DD's and hoping the rain stops.

Until next time, happy stitching and thank you for the wonderful comments!
Kathy