"Dancing and singing, moving to the groove"

KarenNY - you are a no-reply blogger so I sure hope you read this. Email me at pattynubs at gmail dot com. I didn't have any problems finding the airport and picking up my sister. We headed to Hobby House Needleworks for some shopping. I bought a piece of linen, a cute pair of scissors, and some floss.

We headed to the hotel, got her checked in, then decided to head toward the mall to find some place for dinner. The mall was only a couple miles away and we found a Mexican resturant that was excellent. We took a walk around the mall to get our steps in and this place was HUGE! They even had a merry-go-round in the food court!

For snacks I brought a coffee cake and pan banging chocolate chip cookies. The coffee cake was our breakfast.

Thursday night my sister helped me finish the angels. I sewed and she stuffed. I was so glad they were finished and gifted. I got to meet Brenda and Laura from the flosstube Brenda and the Serial Starter. What a couple of lovely ladies. I got big hugs from both of them, and they loved the tote bags and angels. Laura had brought her mother, and their friend Kelly was there too. We had met them over at Hobby House on Thursday so that evening while we finished up the angels, my sister put together some project bags and pouches for Laura's mother and Kelly as a little gift. It was so fun to see the smiles on their faces when we gave them their presents! Mom almost cried. I am so glad I brought extra stuff!

I gave my sister her tote bag. She was checking it out and found that when I topstitched the zipper I had caught the back of the pocket and sewed the pocket shut! LOL!!  I fixed that. My sewing set up sure came in handy!

My sister gifted me this cute hedgehog pin cushion, some butterfly pins (those came in handy for pinning the angels), and a sugar skull needle minder.

The trees in front of the hotel were so pretty.

Friday and Saturday there was a cash bar in the stitching tent/building. We had ourselves a cocktail. The space was nice a big, but the lighting was not so good once the sun started going down. I had brought my Ott light, but the battery must be dead because the light wouldn't come on unless it was plugged in. There were very few outlets and they didn't want cords running across the floors.

Saturday night they had a band that played for 2 hours. We were "dancing and singing, moving to the groove..." That was part of one of the songs they played. The one hit wonder by Wild Cherry which was Play that Funky Music.

Hobby House Needleworks

Then they gave us a chart of the building to stitch!

They gave us these charts, fabric and floss for making these small pillows. This was an collaboration between two designers for Heartstring Samplery and Plum Street Samplers.

They gave us this chart for making a pincushion

My sister and I gathered an armload of those pouches and walked around to pass them out. Everyone seemed to like them. I think there were 300 people there. We are planning to do another retreat together! We had a great time at the retreat and just hanging out together. We don't get to see each other very often. Here are the goodies I received

The route I took to and from the retreat was partly off the beaten path or otherwise meaning the scenic route. I went thru this cute town and stopped on my way home on Sunday to take a look in a couple of the shops that were open. I found a handmade chip and dip set (the bowls are separate) for $24.00. What a steal! Palmyra is in the area we were so I thought it would make a nice memento. I put some of the little things I was gifted at the retreat into it.

We left for the airport at 12:30 Sunday. I spent about 45 minutes in Mt. Morris, NY shopping, four hours later once I hit Ohio I stopped for a break and to get gas, and got home at 7:02 p.m. Traffic was light the weather was beautiful. My yard needed mowed and trimmed, so I did that as soon as I got home.

Monday I unpacked, did a load of laundry, and had to clean up the sewing studio. I had left it in a wreck! All cleaned up now!

Monday afternoon I got started on the Harley quilt. I have to get it done by June 5th. I have these two tank tops I took apart and need to fill in the neck and armholes so they can go into the quilt. These are the one I had to wait for.

This is where I am right now