The Final Mystic Post

Every Stitcher's Hideaway features an exchange and a Show and Tell Night.  These are both very popular features as one gets to know quite a bit about the fellow participants by looking at their work and listening to their stories .  I will start with the Exchange since that took place on the first night.

Only five people participated in the exchange this time around: Sarah who made a knitted little mouse with red braids, dressed like a late 19th century school girl, just like Anne; Sue who made a miniature needle roll; Chris who made a somewhat larger needle roll; the lovely lady who made the tin I came home with and myself.  I made a pin pillow with a friendship theme: two houses connected by a path.  You can see it in the lower right. Chris got the pillow and seemed pleased with it.

I was delighted with what I drew: this gorgeous little Altoid tin completely covered and converted to a marking pin keep made by a lady who sat at one of the middle tables.  While I don't know her name [it might be Linda], I know her stitching from previous retreats and it is very fine as is her finishing.

I also want to show a photo of the interior of this exquisitely finished little stitching accessory.

Normally, I take a lot of photos of Show and Tell but this year I was too wrapped up in the doing to remember to do any recording.  I suppose that is a good thing and a true measure of just how much I enjoyed myself.  I am not one of those people who takes a picture of every Kodak moment that comes along, anyway.  I have to make a conscious effort to take photographs. As a responsible blogger, I usually do manage to make the effort to document a special event such as a retreat.  Just not this time.    I am sure Sue, who is much better with a camera than I, will have loads of pictures up on the Stitcher's Hideaway website soon.  I refer you here ... just give it a little time.  Sue also collects photos and comments from the participants, so it takes a little while for her to write what she calls Fun Reports.

Finally, here is a photograph of Sue Donnelly's own design, a Kindred Spirits pin pillow.  One of the nicer bonuses of attending one of Sue's retreats is the little kit she always gives us commemorating the theme of that retreat.  She clearly spends a lot of time searching out just the right materials to express her ideas.  The charts are usually straightforward and simple, stitching up quickly, resulting in the immediate gratification of a lovely souvenir.  This is especially pleasing since the class projects tend to be complex and take time to complete [in my case, sometimes years to complete].  It feels good to have something tangible to remind one of the retreat.

And an update on my small Kindred Spirits project,  I didn't have very much time to stitch yesterday but I did manage to get a little further than I had planned.  I hope to finish the stitching today and assemble it as well.