Retreat + Gift Exchange = Stash Influx! (Retreat pics included)

I recently met with my stitchy friend and the two of us had lunch and a day of shopping before we both headed over to the Nashville Stitching 2016 Retreat.  

So. Much. Fun.  On both accounts ~ our day out and the retreat.  My stitchy friend and I love to shop for each other and decided to do a stitching and book related gift exchange. When we met for lunch on our day out, this is what she gave me in our exchange.

She stitched this awesome Harry Potter themed pillow for me.  I'm a huge Harry Potter fan, so this was so perfect.

This beautiful A Stitch In Time themed coffee mug.  Love it!  I've got a few of these patterns as HAED QS's.  :0)

Patterns.  Love!

Beautiful necklace.  :0)

Matching set with scissor fob, needleminder, and frogger.

This Harry Potter themed bag from SewMuch2Luv.  Eeepp!!

Gorgeous zippered bag and qsnap cover set with Victorian ladies.

And since we're both avid readers, this copy of The Great Journey by David McCullough as well as The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan.

There was also a travel thermos and candies.  All of this was also contained in another lovely green chevron printed tote bag.  

Exchanges with friends.  It's such a fun thing to do.  But ~ she had one really big surprise left for me!  This was completely, 100% unexpected.  :0)  She had asked her husband if he could make a stitching stand for her, made from pvc pipes.  He did and she had him make me one too!  What an *amazing* surprise!

After lunch we went to Parnassus Books where I picked up this lovely stitching themed edition of Little Women.  I've wanted this one for a while and was so glad to see that they had it.

We eventually made it to the retreat.  It was so much fun.  All of our old stitching buddies were there and there were several new people as well.  So much fun to make new stitching friends.  

There were lots of door prizes and give aways at the retreat.  Leslie from Under the Sea fabrics gave all of us one of these pretty mermaid scissor fobs.

I purchased two froggers from Nicole (The Cole Collection.)  I just love them.

Barbara who owns TrulyN2Stitching was the hostess and had lots of qsnap covers, zippered bags, project rolls and other items for sale.  I purchased three qsnap covers from her.

We were given several free patterns and this is one of them.

Here are some more retreat pics ~ merchandise tables, finishes, etc.

Sunday morning upon leaving the retreat my friend and I went to Shoney's for a good breakfast before saying our goodbyes.

The Kentucky Get Together Stitcher's Retreat

This past weekend I went to the Cumberland State Park in Jamestown, Ky.  I attended a long standing retreat, but it was the first time for me to go.  It was about a 5 hour drive from my home and I took a pit stop in Nashville to pick up my friend and retreat roomie who lives in Texas.  She had flown in and we went to the LNS in Nashville and lunch before hitting the road to drive to the Pumpkin Lodge in the Cumberland State Park.

I took a lot of pictures that I'll share ~ I'll just give a brief explanation of the pics and if you have any questions or want to know more, just let me know in the comments.  Also, this post doesn't contain pictures of every person there and every WIP.  I only took pictures one afternoon and some were out to lunch and I only took pictures of those who were there to give permission.

This is Pumpkin Lodge.  We had the place to ourselves.  Meeting room, two kitchens, restroom, and large living room here in the front and then our personal rooms were in the same building around back.

These three pictures was our view at meal times.  It's the Cumberland Lake and it's the largest man made lake in the country. 

You could see the marina through the trees just outside mine and my roomie's room.

This is the bead table set up by Cole Godby of The Cole Collection.  She makes gorgeous needle threaders and froggers.

I purchased two threaders from her and I am in love with them.  I think I've found a new obsession.

Our fearless leader/hostess for this retreat.  

:0)

Sweet friends...

Here I am with three of my charity members.

We had a gift exchange and I got a really nice bead box.  It's pictures like this that give me a jolting reminder of exactly how red my chosen hair color is, lol.

There were several other vendors there as well.

Needle minders sold by Mandy Adams.

Crossed Threads was representing.

One of the stitchers sells these bags and gives the proceeds to charity.

The above items were from TrulyN2Stitching.  I purchased two Qsnap covers and one zippered bag from her as well as getting a pillow case for a tuck pillow from her freebie pile.  I love, love, love the things she makes.  I wish I had her talent with a sewing machine.

These are pictures of the van belonging to the owner of Crossed Threads out of Pigeon Forge, TN.  The van was affectionately named, The Thread Box.  :0)  It's basically a traveling LNS.  Quite the sight to behold!

Here are some of the WIPs and finishes that were there.  There were more, but these are the ones I was able to get during the time I was taking pictures.  Some people had stepped out to lunch and I only took pictures of those who were there and could give me permission.

This is really just a small taste of the weekend.  I really enjoyed seeing all of my friends and we had lots of laughs and also lots of stitches put in place. 

Until next year...

:0)