Back from 2016 Goldbar Retreat

The 2016 EGA Goldbar retreat is officially over.  It was one of the best retreats I have been to. Lots of door prizes, opportunity baskets and silent auctions.  (Of which I won none of the first two and two of the last.) There was a ton of great Trash to Treasure items.  And I set up a "traveling store" of consignment items for sale.

One of the fun annual traditions is the handing out of Franz chocolate "goldbar" to any stitcher who finishes a project at the retreat.  I'm happy to report that I finished 4 projects!  Actually since my DH is the recipient of the goldbar candies, he was also happy that I finished four projects 😊

Finish #1 is a needlebook by Wooden Spool Designs.  It finishes a set of smalls by Debbie Busby that I got in a class with her last year.

Finish #2 is by Stitches Through Time Christmas Tree ornament.

Finish #3 is  Rhodes Stocking by Karen Garinger needlepoint mini-stocking.

Finish #4 is Magpie Pincushion by Shepherds Bush.  One of the goodies from the Shepherds Bush retreat.

Some great show and share-

Yikes, this year has flown by!  I hope to have another post before the end of the year.

A Finish!

Here is what it looked like the last time I posted about it.

And here she is now! My only large finish this year.

Hillside Samplings

Ann A Tarbox

This picture gives a better idea of the actual color of the linen.

2016 Shepherd's Bush Retreat-Part 3

This is the last of the wonderful time I had-

On Friday night we had a cardboard Chinese take-out box on our table along with a pair of chopsticks.

Inside the box was a booklet with 6 pincushion designs (1 from each of the retreat teachers) and Shepherd's Bush had printed the pincushions in a small booklet and kitted all 6 pincushions, including the backing fabric!

Cece from The Threadgatherer gave a talk about the color red and gave us a free pattern for a beautiful reproduction sampler and a pincushion kit of a motif from the sampler.

Shopping opportunities-Shepherds Bush set up a store in the hotel and oh, my, what a bunch of wonderful items.  Each designer had a table. There was a free pattern each day and we could buy the kit for it.  Plus much, much more!

Here's the damage ($167) I did-

We even had some free time for shopping in the surrounding areas.  DH and I stopped at a wonderful quilt shop in Midway, Utah, that had a HUGE wool applique section!  More damage there-

The Saturday night farewell banquet was so fun!  The husbands sang a song together.  The food was delicious!  And our goodbye gift was a gorgeous wooden tray for the aforesaid pincushions-

Thank you, Shepherd's Bush!  It was a memorable weekend!

2016 Shepherd's Bush Retreat-part 2

Since I got into the retreat thru a cancellation, I was assigned to the teacher track of the person whose place I took.  It was a no-lose situation and I was in the B track with Shepherd's Bush, Chessie and Me and With They Needle & Thread's Brenda Gervais.

And OMG, I couldn't believe the wonderful projects these teachers had designed for the retreat-

Shepherd's Bush designed a sampler called On the Road to Paris. We also got a pincushion kit (I started stitching on it in the red hoop) with a plastic macaroon that holds buttons, and we put together a pinkeep of buttons and wool that looks like a macaroon cookie.

 This is Brenda Gervais' project O Tannenbaum including the wood box and a little bonus pattern below right.

This is the Chessie and Me project- a cute little casket with smalls

The Track A teachers were Blackbird Designs, Plum Street Samplers and Jeannette Douglas Designs. You can check out the Shepherds Bush blog to see the other projects from these great designers!

To make things even better, Shepherds Bush gave us a silver chain scissor fob (I call it a charm bracelet) at the opening get together and there were charms given at each class and gathering.  There were extra charms available to purchase.  Here is what my charm bracelet looked like at the end of the weekend-

Part 3 coming soon!

2016 Shepherd's Bush Retreat-Part 1

I have always read blog posts about the Shepherd's Bush retreat with a little envy.  And it only happens once every other year.

But, I spaced out this year and totally missed the day to call and register.

In March I called and got on the waiting list.  October began and I still hadn't received a phone call and figured that it wasn't going to happen this year.

WRONG!

Life happened and a last minute cancellation prompted a phone call from Teri to me! And one week later DH and I were on our way to Utah!

The retreat was held in a gorgeous ski lodge in Park City, Utah, VERY close to the Salt Lake City Olympic ski jumps.

There were over 200 attendees! The theme was Embrace the Journey. When we arrived we got a registration packet with a tote bag and a small opening kit-

Yes, I actually finished the luggage tag!

The retreat had a voluntary scissor fob exchange and the proceeds went to support sending girls to school in 3rd world countries. (sorry, I can't remember exactly which countries)

Check out all the scissor fobs that were entered into the exchange! 

 I made this Praiseworthy Stitches scissor fob and entered it and the Drawn Thread bee fob below. I added a pair of black/white stork scissors with the bee fob.

And these are the scissor fobs I got in the exchange!  Really beautiful stitching!

Part 2 coming soon!

More From Mom & Catching Up

While I was going thru photos yesterday,  I found some more things Mom has made for me-

This is a Halloween wallhanging that I have displayed on the back of the very couch where I took this picture.

This is an Amish style wallhanging for my bedroom.  The quilting was done with a variegated thread and the feather pattern on the border is easy to see.

This Halloween wallhanging came from my sister.  Evidently the 3 witches in the bottom right corner remind her of us three sisters (one of which is knitting).  And the 3 black crows on the tree branch represent my 3 daughters.

I also want to share with you a gorgeous Gay Ann Rogers piece that was stitched by a member of my local EGA chapter. She sold it to another EGA member who framed it.  Then that member sold it to me shortly before she passed away.

It's a thatched cottage sampler but I can't remember the name of the piece.

I love autumn-themed stitching but do not stitch Halloween.  It is my birthday and I prefer NOT to be reminded of it every time I pick up a project. :)

Then I got a bargain on ebay for $16 and a frame at Hobby Lobby for 50% off ($8) and couldn't be more pleased with the way it turned out.

Don't know the name or designer of this piece.  Can someone help me out?
Thanks to wenhkc, this design is by Rovaris and is called R-12

I am still working away on Crabapple Hill's Garden Alphabet quilt.  These are the most recent letters I finished-

I also finished tracing all the rest of the alphabet.  And have started on the coloring.