Retreat update...

The theme for this years retreat is: Under the Sea!!!

Here is day one of retreat. This was fairly early when it was just Jill, me and Lori. As we were waiting for the other 3 girls to get here, we did start working on our Friendship Book.

This is just before we handed out our goody bags. The fun was just beginning.

First up were these bags from Jackie. She bought us these bags when she was in Hawaii last March. We each have a color assigned to us so to speak, so Jackie got us a bag in "our" color. The items in the front of the bags are what were in each bag.

Another picture of our goodies: a fish cup and bowl, a stitched coaster, fish magnets, a scissors with a light on it, a tape measure with a light, a fish key ring that lights up and make noise some note cards and turtle note pads.

Cathy's goodies for us were wrapped up in this cute paper, with a personalized name card.

Here is what we received: a mermaid scissor fob, a fish themed pin cushion, fish soap, goldfish S'mores, a very cute dish and two skeins of Crescent Colours thread--Deep Sea Blue and Shrimp Cocktail.

A close up of the pin cushion and fob Cathy made. How cute are they. Each fob was stitched in our color, mine is green.

Jill wrapped each of our goodies separately.

The goodies revealed. Jill's mom crocheted each of us a pair of fish slippers before she passed away. It was a bittersweet remembrance from her mom. This is the third pair of slippers Jill's mom made for all of us. We will miss not having a pair next year. Jill also stitched a fish pin keep, beaded up a fish needle case, included a fish scissors with a beaded fob that says: Under the Sea, a Kelmscott thread winder,a vinyl project bag, a scissor charm from her mom's stash, pencil and some candy.

A close up of the needle case.

This is the goody bag from Lori. A great mesh project bag filled with:

these goodies:

Some cards Lori's mom made, a fish candle, fish napkins and plates, a fish cookie cutter, some homemade chocolate dolphins, an orts jar painted with Under the Sea theme, stickers and candy, plus a fob which we will all finish ourselves as a group project.

Today the girls were busy stitching and talking. It doesn't take long to settle in with all of our stuff.

Thought I would include a picture of our snack table. Seems we could have used a bigger table!!!

Cathy is working hard on her Friendship book. She is staying on task.

Yesterday because of our friend Chris, four of us had to take a break and make a Joann's run to get these new Ott Lights. They are battery operated LED lights. Nice and bright and portable. You can also buy a DC adapter cord for it. That will be my next purchase. You just can 't have enough lights!!!

Last but not least here is the progress on my Friendship Book. I have the first two pages together. This is a very intense project and is taking longer than we expected. There is a lot of hand sewing to do before you can put this book together. So I have decided to do a little work each day.

This is the other side or the inside of my book.

The rest of my book. All the hand sewing is done, lining is on and they are ready to be put together. So I will do that tomorrow.

So there is the first day and a half of retreat. Sorry for such a long post but we have been up to a lot. Tomorrow I will have to post the goodies I had for the girls, just remembered that I forgot my goodies. Thanks for stopping by. Hopefully I will have another update tomorrow. Still three days of stitching fun left:)

Happy Stitching:)
Joan