Apr 20, 2016

Hoosier Retreat 2016

A couple weeks ago, I made the 7.5 hour trip to Camp Riverdale in Mitchell, Indiana to spend several days with the Hoosier ladies. 



I spent three days stitching on JG and made a bunch of progress.  Here's what it looked like at the start of the retreat.


 My goal was to finish the 6 o'clock branches.  Tada!


I also finished the left and right bridges, the blue border, and started the gold metallic.  Woo Hoo!


These are the orts that resulted from my retreat weekend:


Not only did the camp cook our meals, we all brought snacks. We were never without food!


Everyone also brought items for the Show & Tell table.  Wow, a bunch of talented stitchers...






Somehow, two charts from the freebie table found their way into my hands. I don't know how that happens.


Fancy Works set up a "shop" table.  It was so hard to resist.  I ended up purchasing some small pieces of fabric and Liberty by Heart in Hand.  If you ever get a chance to visit Fancy Works, I highly recommend it. The shop owners are awesome.

 
Fancy Works also provided a goodie bag for every attendee.  Thanks, ladies!


These were the Mystery Boxes that stitchers brought.  It's a volunteer exchange that's similar to "Dirty Santa".  I didn't participate, but it was a lot of fun watching packages being stolen and seeing what was in each one.


Deborah exclaimed, "Oh, $100 worth of edible panties!" after looking in the Victoria's Secret bag. LOL

We experienced several types of weather during the few days we were at stitch camp (term coined by Jodi -- loved meeting you!).  The first day it rained and sleeted. The next morning, I woke to a marvelous sunrise.


The day I drove home, it rained... and rained... and rained.


Salt Fork Rest Area is one of the more beautiful rest stops along the interstate in Illinois.  It has walking paths, picnic areas, a pond, as well as the usual restrooms/vending machine building.  I took advantage of this photo op:


There were a couple of takeaways from this retreat:

•  "Head down, Shut Up, and Stitch!"  We all thought this would make a great tshirt. - Thanks Vonna for the phrase.  It was great spending the weekend with you!

•  Did you know there is a Hoosier Stitcher Sisters signal to be able to signal to other Hoosiers in a crowd? It's like a secret handshake.    I'll just say that involves using your hands to pretend to jiggle the girls. LOL  Thank you Nancy for enlightening us all.

This was my second time going to this retreat.  Reuniting with some and meeting new stitchers was awesome.  We all had a great time laughing, eating, and stitching.

31 comments:

Vonna Pfeiffer said...

It was a fabulous time! :) And your photos are beautiful reminders of that time! I adore, adore, adore that photo at the rest stop! GORGEOUS!
Nice meeting you Meari, I hope we meet again soon!

Justine said...

That sounds like a fun retreat! I'm amazed you managed to get some stitching done too.
You are all such a talented bunch too!
I love that Last Stitch Cemetery finish.

Anonymous said...

Hope to make it next year! In Colorado this year but had an awesome time last year... Pat Dugan

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you had a great time in spite of wet weather. JG is looking terrific! Any thoughts on a target completion date?

The photo at the rest stop is beautiful! Thank you for sharing!

Betty W

Robin in Virginia said...

It sounded like you had a fabulous retreat weekend. I enjoyed your pictures especially of the flowering trees at the rest stop. You made good progress on your JG project. Go Meari!

Vickie said...

Great progress on JG.How very nice to meet some fellow stitchers finally.

Deb said...

What a lovely retreat. Would love to find one here. The goodie bags look wonderful!
JG looking fabulous.although, i don't know how you managed to get anything done with so much fun going on!

Faith... said...

I am so jealous! Looks like you had a wonderful time and the scenery at both the retreat and the rest stop is gorgeous! You also made terrific progress on JG! A few more retreats and it will be finished!!

Carol said...

So glad you got to get away, meet new stitching friends, eat great food, see those wonderful finishes AND get more done on JG, Meari! What a great time you all must have had :)

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you had a wonderful time at the retreat and it is so nice to meet up with fellow stitchers.

Great progress on your JG. What lovely picture of the area for the rest stop.

Marl

Linen Stitcher (Carol) said...

I had such a good time attending this retreat. It was a pleasure to meet you and the other stitchers! You made some incredible progress on your project—such a beautiful piece! Thanks so much for sharing your pictures!!

Jocelyn is Canadian Needle Nana said...

So many beautiful projects. What heaven for a stitcher to be surrounded by other stitchers and all that inspiration. Happy Stitching and btw, make no mistake, Celeste is in charge!

Debbie said...

Looks like an awesome retreat! Great progress on JG.

Unknown said...

What a wonderful time you must have had! You're the envy of so many of us! Thanks for sharing it with us.
Blessings, Donna

Cricket-bug Corner said...

Rats! Im a hoosier how did i miss this? Looks like a grand time!

Anonymous said...

Wow, Meari. Sounds like you had a great time. It is always nice to go to a retreat and meet like-minded stitchers. And congratulations on making so much progress on JG. It looks really awesome!

Glad you made it back home safe and sound.

Dorrie

Pam in IL said...

Wow, what a great retreat! Glad you were able to go and had a great time.

Anonymous said...

Meari,

Your Hoosier retreat looks and sounds like a lot of fun. Great stitching!

Tara

Anonymous said...

It's gorgeous. You must not have slept!

Patti

The Indigo Butterfly said...

Oh my gosh I'm famous!!! I was just mentioned on one of my very favorite blogs!!! Vonna! We are big shots!! Haha

Seriously, I was so pleased to finally meet you, Meari! You have brought me so much joy and it was awesome to finally stitch together! Stitch camp was the best!

Jodi

Brigitte said...

I also read on other blogs about this retreat after what you all say it must have been a wonderful get-together where everyone were having a ball. Nice progress that you made. And all these show and tell pieces, a real dream.

Katie said...

It was a wonderful time indeed! You got so much done! I did more talking than anything else haha. It was so great to see you again. Hope to see you next time!

Vickie said...

Wow!!! JG is looking fantastic!!! Your stitching retreat looks like so much fun!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Meari,

I loved your pictures of the retreat. It looks like and sounds like it was lots of fun.

Kim in CA

Anonymous said...

Great update! I was wondering. Seemed like the tables had stitching lights. Were their use provided by the retreat?

Deb

Anonymous said...

It sounds like you had a great time on your retreat they are so much fun and you learn so much. Stitchers hideaway keeps calling me!

Karen V
Fitchburg MA USA

Weronika said...

You must have a wonderful time there. You've made a lovely progress. I always wanted to take part in such a retreat. It must be fun.

Anonymous said...

It sounds like you had a great time at the retreat, Meari! Awesome progress on JG!!!

Karin in CA

Pam said...

Looks like you had a blast at the retreat. Congrats on your progress!! Happy Stitching =)Pam

Lillie said...

What an amazing retreat. The show and tell is awesome.
It must have been a wonderful session for all participants.

Akila said...

Sounds like the retreat was a blast. Great progress on JG!!