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I love it all: embroidery, canvaswork, quilting, crochet. So much to do, so little time.





Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Fancy Works Retreat

Hey Blog Buddies,

Did you know that there's a needlework store in Bloomington, Indiana?  I didn't until a couple of months ago. This past weekend, my friend Joyce and I were two of the attendees at their first annual retreat.



Yes, the name of the store is Fancy Works,
owned by a sweet lady named Dianna.


The location of the retreat was lovely:
The Canyon Inn at
McCormick's Creek State Park in Spencer.
The inn was originally a sanitarium!

The retreat ran from Thursday afternoon
through Sunday morning,
and for me the weekend just flew by.

There were lots of goodies lining the walls
in the stitching room to tempt us.

Vonna, The Twisted Stitcher,
conducted four finishing classes:
two on flatfolds and two on ornaments.
She has a wonderful blog
with all sorts of helpful information
for finishing needlework;
if you're not familiar with it, click here.

This is one of the finished flatfolds.

And this is the finished ornament.
Everyone who took a class
left with a finished item.

I chose not to take either of the classes
because Averyclaire! does all of my small finishes,
and I'd rather be stitching than finishing.

On Friday morning, Stacy Nash
made a surprise appearance at the retreat.

Dianna is on the left, Stacy on the right.
It's fun to meet designers that you've
been following.

The retreat organizers thought up
all sort of games for us to play so that we 
could be entertained and win prizes at the same time.
The scavenger hunt was particularly
crazy and diabolical (but fun).
If you didn't win any of the games, not to worry.
There was a steady stream
of free stash given to each attendee
starting before the retreat even began
(a small chart was included with the retreat schedule
and directions that were mailed out),
through and including Sunday morning.

It's hard to show all of the freebies--
the table isn't that big.

And did I mention that a $75 gift certificate
to the Fancy Works store was included?
This is how I used it to further enhance my stash.

There was a wonderful masseuse available on
both Friday and Saturday.
Joyce threatened to take a photo of me
getting a massage,
but fortunately that didn't happen.

Most of us participated in a gift exchange, too.
I forgot to take a photo of what I gave away,
but here is what I received.
Yes, it's an Easter-themed basket
with jelly beans, a floss-filled egg,
four Easter/spring charts and some white linen.
Fabulous!
I was actually thinking of buying an Easter chart,
and now I have several.
I've already kitted one up;
over half of the threads came from that egg!
You'll see it here later this month.


Old Friends Meet New Friends

The seating was six to a table and,
let's be honest here,
sometimes you find yourself seated next to a pill.
But I'm happy to report that
everyone at our table was very congenial.


From the left: Carol, Donna, Joyce, me, Claire and Liz.
It was a bonus to meet four new friends.

As for what I stitched, I took
only three projects to work on:
Needle Delights Originals' Spring Logs
Barbara Ana's Funky Bird and
Lizzie-Kate's A Bit of June (below).


I started this at the retreat,
and finished it after I came home.
I did make progress on the other two,
but they are not quite "blog ready" yet,
and this post is way too long already.

Dianna announced that they are having
another retreat next year,
and there was general merriment
when the attendees heard that bit of news.

A big Thank You goes out to Dianna, Sandi,
and the many Elves who worked so hard
and made this retreat so much fun for all of us.

That is it for now.
Hope your April is getting off to a good start.
Thanks, as always, for visiting.

12 comments:

Robin in Virginia said...

It sounded like a fabulous retreat weekend with goodies galore, fellow stitchers (old and new), and learning to finish with Vonna if you chose. Like you, I prefer to stitch over finish. What memories you created!

Beth in IL said...

Wow! That looks like fun. One of these days I will make a retreat.

Julie said...

A lovely picture of you and your 'tablemates'. What a great Easter basket you were gifted and lots of lovely stash you came home with too.

Linda said...

Oh it looks like such a wonderful retreat. Sounds like you had a great time. I would love to go to one someday.

Linda

Mom55 said...

So good to have met you, glad we were at the same table! Liz

Marilyn said...

That looks like an awesome retreat!
Glad you had a good time with stash also.
Marilyn

Justine said...

Sounds like a wonderful retreat! I would love to take a finishing class from Vonna. New stash and new friends too!

Terri said...

Fancy Works is my LNS, but I was unable to attend the retreat. Looks like everyone had a great time! I'm glad you got to meet Dianna and Sandi and lots of other "Hoosier Stitchers" too!

Anonymous said...

What FUN! Someday I will visit that shop!

Tricia B said...

Thanks for the great summary! And it is so nice to finally see a picture of you - beautiful! I've never gone on a retreat weekend and am jealous of everyone who has. But, I am registered for the Tomorrow's Heirlooms retreat in July. Your pictures are great and I love your little finish.

Jo who can't think of a clever nickname said...

What a wonderful retreat! Please put my name down for next year, hubby assures me that we will win the lottery by then LOL.

I like the idea of having a massage while you are there too, great way to ease the aches of hunching over your stitching!

Unknown said...

We did have a good table. Hope we can all make it again next year. Thanks for the nice write-up.Claire