My First Retreat as a Designer

This past weekend I had the huge honor of attending my first retreat as a designer instead of a "regular person" (as my son put it).  I was invited by Jackie and Sharon, the owners of Stitches From The Heart in San Antonio, TX to join them and a few dozen of their customers at their Spring Stitching Camp.  I have to say, it was an absolute blast!!!

And since this was my first visit to TX (I don't count stopping at a hotel late in the night just to get some sleep and then heading back out first thing in the morning during my cross country move as "visiting" Texas), I just had to have my picture taken with this sweet elderly guy at the airport information center.  

 
The event was held at John Newcombe Tennis Ranch in New Braunfels, TX.   Friday night we were treated to a good ole soaking down pour for quite awhile.  It really reminded me of being back in Ohio with a good drenching rain, green grass and green trees.  I've gotten used to little rain, desert-scaping and palm trees in Las Vegas, but still love a good rain.  The grounds were beautiful and the scenery outside our conference room was lovely.

When the attendees arrived at the event, everyone had a spacious area at their table with a name badge for them.  They were made by one of the local stitchers that frequents the shop.  I thought they were really cute.  



Since I was going as the "surprise guest designer" I wanted to do something for all the attendees and the shop owners/employees for supporting me and the Stitchnmomma brand.  Anita at Stitches From the Heart loves my silhouettes and promotes every new one on their Facebook page, so I thought it only appropriate I design a silhouette that was exclusively for the attendees at this event.

Each person that went to the stitching camp received a mini-kit that had the chart, fabric and floss to stitch this little piece.  One lady stitched it the first night and a few others were working on it over the weekend.  I can't wait to see pictures of the various ways they finish them!  :)


 








As I previously mentioned, there were a few dozen people...somewhere in the neighborhood of 40.  I personally think one of the best parts of any stitching retreat is being able to walk around and see what other people are working on, accessories they're using, etc.  Take this picture for example.  In a million years, I would have never thought about using a thread spool rack to hold floss bobbins.  Genius!

Not only was there tons of stitching & chatting going on, but we there were a couple of silent auctions, some basket exchanges and food...tons of great food!


I was told I'm welcome back anytime and certainly plan on going again next Spring!  I have it penciled into my calendar and am already thinking about what the next exclusive piece I can design for them will be.


With any luck, as Stitchnmomma continues to grow, I'll be asked to attend other stitching events around the country and will be able to meet even more wonderful stitchers *hint, hint all you other shop owners and retreat coordinators*.

Me and my table-mate, Pat :)

Until the next time...Happy Stitching! 



Editor's Note 4/5/2016:  I've joined the Stitching the Night Away Blog Hop.  Can't wait to read some more fun & exciting stitching posts this way.  :)

Visit all the blogs in this round of the Stitching the Night Away Stitching Blogger Blog Hop:
Find the instructions on how to participate in this round by clicking here.  

A Weekend Stitch-In and "Wings and Things" Update #2

This past weekend I attended a weekend stitch-in with some of the ladies from the local EGA chapter I joined when I moved to Las Vegas.  It's held in the "middle of nowhere" on the edge of Death Valley, in a town I had not only never been to before, but had never heard of (Amargosa, NV).  I figured why not go and have a good time.  Lots of stitching was done, and it was a nice place with great views.  I thought I'd share a few of the pics I took with everyone.

This is the view I had from my seat.  The seat was nowhere near as comfortable as my recliner at home, but the view was 10x better, LOL!

 A neat cloud formation over the mountains

This is the pond out back that we could see from the veranda.  They call it a "lake".  Lots of ducks around the pond area all the time, including a really cool black & white one that I really should have taken a picture of.

The other portion of the pond.  The owner of the casino likes to collect antiques from the earlier days when it was a big mining town and was being settled, so you'll see those scattered throughout the property.  There are quite a few interesting ones around the pond area.

I've never been to California, so on Sunday morning when I was walking with one of the other ladies before breakfast, we decided to walk to CA so I could have my picture taken.  And we did walk past the sign just to make sure I was officially in CA.  And you're probably thinking "she WALKED to California?!".  Well, let me share a little secret with you...the casino we were at is less than one block from the CA border.  In fact, you can see the sign I'm standing at from the room we were stitching in.

A couple of pics of the view we had on our morning walk.  It was soooooo much better than the views of gym equipment and 2 flat screen TVs I get on the treadmill at my apartment complex!!  And surprisingly it was a "cool" morning, so the fresh air was a nice change of pace.


And yes, stitching was done.  I'm actually running behind on my stitching.  I've been extremely busy with life the last few weeks (including a trip back to OH over Labor Day weekend to see my son and his girls), and my hand and wrist have been giving me some problems.  My Labor Day trip was a great time to give my body a rest and let some healing occur so stitching can happen without pain.

While I was at the stitch-in, I finished the September/October Patchwork Pincushion models (they're already in transit to SnowBerry NeedleArts for finishing), started my next silhouette model and got some stitching done on my "Wings and Things" piece.

As you know, "Wings and Things" is supposed to be my thread a day piece.  Unfortunately that hasn't been happening.  I have been keeping track of my days though, and was able to do some catch up while I was there.  As of this morning, I'm officially 3 weeks behind, so it will now become two threads a day until I catch up.  I'll post another update for you in about 2 weeks.

So that's all my pictures I have to share with you for now.  In the next 2 weeks I'm expecting to have both the new silhouette and the next in the Patchwork Pincushion patterns released, so be sure to keep an eye out for those.

Until the next time...Happy Stitching!

Spring Stitching Retreat in Las Vegas

Last Sunday was a beautiful day.  Not only was it warm and sunny, which is the norm here in Vegas, but it was my first "outing" with people other than coworkers.  There are two stitching retreats in Vegas each year, one in the Spring and one in the Fall.  This past weekend was the Spring retreat.

There are no designers or classes at the retreats.  It's basically just a room full of ladies (and one man) working on whatever they want to stitch on for the day. To me it's more like a "stitch-in", especially given the fact the "retreat" is only 7 hours long.  Either way, it was a great day!

I got to enjoy views like this at the golf club where it was held:

And we received a free kit to make this:

It' not quite my "style" so it may end up in my stash and eventually go to a new loving home as part of a giveaway prize.

The biggest dilemma I had for the day was what piece to take to stitch on.  I'm always hesitant to take new designs with me places, as I've had a design "stolen" before where another stitcher basically copied what I was doing and released her own version of it before I did.  Big lesson there!  Sorry, I digress.  

Anyway, I decided it was time I pulled my Pinwheel Christmas Quilt back out. 

When I took it with me Sunday morning I had all of the solid green in the bottom left pinwheel was done.  During the retreat I worked on what will be the gingham pinwheels.  Not a lot of stitching for 7 hours, but there was so much to do...walk around and look at what people were stitching on, look at the displays of finished items, eat lunch, get lots of tips on places I should go check out (I had to tell a few of them more than once I had only been in town less than 3 weeks when they kept looking at me in dismay that I hadn't been to this place or that and didn't know all the quilting stores yet, LOL), and socializing with some lovely tablemates that I hope to call friends down the road.

I've decided this will be a "chill" weekend.  I'm going to Stitchers Paradise later to see about getting some fabric for a new series I'll be designing.  And I'm going to the library to get my library card.  Yay!  There is an art gallery in my local library (which by the way is HUGE!) so I'll check out the current exhibit while I'm there too.  
 
My stitching project for the weekend will be to finish the last 25% of my latest dog silhouette (yes, you can see a portion of it in the picture above) and get that released to my wholesaler, and then a little work on the PCQ.  

I should also have the next Modern Dictionary piece released soon, as it's currently off at the finishers getting some custom touches & the photography done.  Until then...Happy Stitching!