VS Retreat - 2017

All through the cold, snowy winter and the dreary, wet spring I've been comforted by the thought that the Victoria Sampler retreat was coming up the end of April and I'd be driving and seeing friends and stitching for three days. Believe me, it was worth the wait!

The last retreat I attended was in 2011 and Thea was ready to be done with organizing retreats. But she ended up having another after a year's break and then this year is the 20th anniversary of VS so another retreat was necessary to celebrate. Thea and her crew of Lisa and Kathleen went all out for the 20th anniversary celebration. The venue was the Harbour Towers, as usual, but this year the hotel offered a different classroom in a new wing on the second floor, bigger with perfect lighting! It was the best! The only thing I missed was the amazing view from the upper floors of the hotel.

But before getting to Victoria, I stopped overnight Wednesday in Lacey to visit my dear friend Connie. No matter how long in between visits, we always pick up right where we left off and don't skip a beat. Guess that's from having been friends since 1977!

Next day I drove up to Port Angeles to catch the Coho ferry, a 90 minute ride that takes you right to the Inner Harbour of Victoria. While waiting I was watching and watching for my friend Jo-Celle who I thought would be coming at the same time. Boarding time came and no Jo-Celle. So I got on the ferry and settled for a bit, then I took a little walk. Guess who almost didn't make the ferry, having been detained by a very well-meaning priest she was visiting before catching the Coho! But Jo-Celle made it and we had a grand time gabbing while rocking and rolling over the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Probably the roughest sailing I've had yet! The sun was shining, but the wind was whipping up the water something fierce.

As soon as we entered the lobby, stitching friends began to appear and the retreat was off to a fun start.

 This was my table, I'm there on the far left. We were the "naughty table" having way too much fun to stop for instruction, lol!

Here you can see the large windows. With the great overhead lighting, I never used my Ott light the entire retreat!

Marty and Jo-Celle

Beth and Brenda

Me and Rita

Of course, there were goodies that appeared at the table. Here's my haul.

And gifts from attendees:

And I couldn't leave the VS Studio without purchasing one new design!

I even made some progress on the retreat project!

The top of the project

The bottom

I was the only brave soul to stitch the project on a different linen than the sand Cashel that came in the kit. While it looks great on the sand, I'm really happy with my change to smokey pearl. The white stitches really pop off the linen!

On Saturday evening we had a special anniversary dinner all together at the hotel and Thea gave us all a very special gift, which I've not taken a photo of yet. Stay tuned for my next post when I'll share.

Happy stitching!