Monday, October 16, 2006

Haberdashery

A weekend with the girls is simply a necessity now and then! I'm so blessed to have the opportunity to get away with friends and Grace Church's womens' retreat has everything we love to do: eat great food, talk and laugh uproariously, drink pots of coffee, be reminded of God's goodness, share problems, sleep if needed, shed a few tears, sing, pray, and shop!

The Bozarth mansion is owned by Gonzaga University, a Catholic uni. in Spokane, and our church women have been going there for over twenty years. In addition to the main house is a dormitory building so you can prepare for the day and end the day in your own room (bathroom facilities are shared however). It sits on top of a ridge overlooking a small, wooded canyon and the next ridge opposite. So although you are in town, you feel like you're in the woods as you gaze out the windows of the main and dining rooms. It's simply the perfect place for a retreat of this kind.

Saturday afternoon is free time to do as you please. My friend Joyce and I had lunch with a big group at The Mustard Seed, then we visited The Haberdashery, a wonderful needlework shop close to the Northtown Shopping Mall. This shop has lots of finished projects all over - and finished beautifully with special mats and glorious framing. There are several little curios full of those small projects we love to do. In the photo above you can see a bar with lots of nice scissor fobs dangling from it. All kinds of fibers hang from hooks on the wall or in cozy drawers. Lots and lots of button and charms nestle in several little divided cabinet drawers. The charts are very nicely organized and invite you to discover their contents rather than scare you away as some displays do. And best of all is the large wood table at the back of the shop that is always available for stitchers to use to while away an afternoon with friends; there were several taking advantage of it while I was there. The staff was very helpful and enthusiastic and even some of the regular customers were most happy to show you shop projects and talk about all the events they have.

I was bowled over! Spokanites are so lucky to have The Haberdashery right in their back yard and another shop out in the Spokane Valley. I'll be keeping an eye on their newsletter and perhaps making a special trip to Spokane for an interesting event. What did I buy? The new JCS ornament issue, a large zippered project bag, and a scissor fob kit as Lelia tells me I need more fobs to dress up my scissor family!

Next we drove downtown to the convention center where a lovely quilt show was being held. Lots of wonderful quilts and lots of wonderful vendors to tempt you to overspend - however my willpower prevailed and I bought nothing! There are so many projects waiting for me here at home that I just couldn't buy more - except for the tiny scissor fob, lol!

As soon as my camera batteries are recharged, I'll share a picture of the slight progress I've made on the SB ornament project.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you had a wonderfully refreshing weekend with that ladies from your church, Von. I'm so glad. :) Have a great week!

Wendy said...

Von, sounds like a perfect weekend, with shopping in a needlework store included! I love those mesh project bags and just got a couple more last month myself.

Anonymous said...

Wow sounds like you had an amazing time, aren't weekends like that wonderful.The Haberdashery looks pretty amazing too.

Tracy said...

oops I"m not really anonymous I just hit the button too soonLOL

Joanie said...

I love women retreats. Two years ago, I went to a Women of Faith conference. What a wonderful experience that was - such a time of renewal.

Haberdashery looks like a shop that I could spend a lot of $$$ in and I applaud your restraint. I couldn't have been as good as you...only buying a fob...quilting and stitching, that's the deadly duo.

Anne S said...

Your weekend retreat sounds heavenly ... and you even got to visit a LNS, that's the icing on the cake ;)

Chiara said...

Your week end sound wonderful!!! I need a simila week end too ;o)
cheers

lena-lou said...

Glad you had a nice time at the retreat, the shop looks pretty big and good on you for being disiplined with your spending....only saying that as I've been very good lately with my stash buying ;-) I do however have 2 needlework shows coming up soon though and lets see if I can be good then...lol!!

Cathy B said...

I agree, the Haberdahery looks like a wonderful shop! Very cool way to display scissors fobs! Glad you had a relaxing, enjoyable time on your retreat.