I'm home and loving it. The dog cried..... you know how they run around you, so excited and giving you kisses and then this sort of crying sound..... oh gosh, makes me feel like I can never leave again! As you can tell by my not posting right away, I was tired and needed to recharge.... it had been alot back to back and I needed to spend time with my family and friends, walk the dog, and enjoy the wonderful fall Calgary has had after such a wet June.
The weekend getaway with Crafty Ewe in Ohio was amazing! We enjoyed it so very much, and I think I speak for everyone, Carol did such a lovely job making the retreat a special time. Thank you! Makes my job easier when I come. The ladies were so enthusiastic and are so talented, it was lovely to see how everyone took their project whether they were doing the sampler or the needlebook and made it their own. The units at the Staybridge were excellent and the room for the event, just the right size and we got to eat outside, love that! Thank you ladies for making me feel so welcome - I enjoyed it very much. I hope that by now you have your little quaker pincushion chart from me via email and the ones who needed initials - have their initials. If you don't email me - info @ jeannette douglas .com - without the spaces.
Then off to the Viriginia Beach event with Dyeing To Stitch retreat at the Cavalier Hotel, yes, right on the beach! All I can say is that having super weather really helps! It makes that sunrise on the eastern side -Atlantic Ocean amazing - having seen many more western sunset type things living out west. The ocean was so blue and we saw dolphins feeding several times quite close to shore, quite a treat! Tina and Teri of Shepherd's Bush and I tried to run out and enjoy beach moments in a beach chair whenever we could! How wonderful that is, visiting with my kindred spirits in a spot like that. Pam and Bob of Olde Colonial were so very kind and picked me up at the airport so we got to have a good catch up since seeing them in the summer. The event is always a huge success and fun was had by all. I think a few gals have already finished a few projects from the retreat and that is wonderful to see, check it out on facebook. Our last night was a dinner where you had to dress for an occasion - the ocassion - the decade you were born in. What fun! Thanks Pat and Ann for a great retreat, enjoyed it immensely. Please check out Paulette Stewart's blog -Plum Street Samplers - as she did a spectacular job on writing a great blog on the retreat with pictures!! http://plumstreetsamplers.typepad.com/ She and I were roomates and what a delight she is - she calls me her Canadian sister and I name her my American sister, needless to say with that, our week of rooming together made for late night talks and some big laughs and missing her the morning of my return.
To round off the 2 retreats, Pat and Ann, Cheryl and Norma, Paulette and I spent a few days in Washington, DC together. What a wonderful few days, mind you I have never been so wet as I was at Mt. Vernon..... oh my, Paulette has a most dreadful picture of me.... sopping wet! But you know I had on clothes that dried quickly, that worked out. Seeing the monuments was amazing as I tried to get my presidents straight! Surprised myself as I did know the white house address! I love history so I would say I need to go again and see things that were closed because of government shutdowns.
My thanks to you all for making my time away so lovely and memorable, look forward to next year! I will post on the events page soon, a few things are still somewhat undecided - like dates- so we will post when I have a firm date. But look for me in Nashville, TN in February for the wholesale needlework show, in Florida at Needlecraft World in March, at Celebration of Needlework in New Hampshire in the end of April beginning of May. In the fall 2014 back to 2 of my favourite places!
Enjoy your fall projects!
As ever, jeannette
