Hands To Work

RETREAT!!!

Woo Hoo!  I have a price for the retreat!  I am so excited as I know this will be an awesome weekend.  Lots of fun, great teachers, good food.  Girls, I'm psyched.

The teachers for the weekend are Barb and Alma of Blackbird Designs, Kathy Barrick-Dieter of Carriage House Samplings and Maggie Bonanomi who is an amazing folk artist.  In addition, Liz Mathews (Kathy's very talented jewelry designer daughter) will be teaching a bracelet class which is priced seperately.  All of the projects are still being worked on by the designers and photographs with descriptions will be sent soon.

Here is the cost of the retreat.  The fee is $400 per person which includes most meals, all class materials and teaching fees.  You will be asked to bring some normal things to use such as scissors, needles, etc.  A complete list will be sent to each attendee closer to the time of the event.  You are responsible for making your own reservations at Hotel Strasburg.  You need to mention that you are attending the retreat and they are generously giving us a 15% discount!  You need to be there from Friday October 5th through Sunday October 7th.  The retreat ends late afternoon on Sunday the 7th. 

There will be a boutique in our class room for shopping and will be open the entire weekend.  Each designer will bring a trunk show with lots of charts and goodies for you.  And there is great antiquing in the town of Strasburg so save your pennies so you can take home wonderful treasures!

I am so looking forward to this weekend.  This is a small hotel and I can only have up to 28 attendees so be sure to save your spot asap.  I accept payment by check or paypal.  If paying by paypal, use my email address (riffletracy@aol.com) to send the payment.  $150 is due to hold  your spot and that is nonrefundable.  The balance will be due in September. 

Thanks everyone for being patient and checking often for details.  I look forward to hearing from y'all!

Have a great summer!!!

Happy Birthday To Me!

Wow.  47.  Shocking.  I certainly don't feel 47...more like 32.  But the gray hair, wrinkles and extra weight around the middle remind me that yep, it's really 47.  My son turns 26 today.  He was a week late to begin with and I was in labor in the hospital for almost 24 hours.  I tried to pop him out on Father's Day but he stubbornly refused and waited until after 1 a.m. to make his arrival.  Happy Birthday mommy!  He's a great kid and we have a special relationship.  Happy Birthday Matt!!!  Whew, that's a lot of birthday talk.

Have you seen Kathy's new designs on her web site???  That show towel is awesome!  Her creativity and drive is amazing.  After all the years, her designs are fresh and so dang cool.  How does she do it???

I know everyone is anxiously awaiting news on the retreat.  Alma is going to be giving me a price on the class that she and Barb are teaching and as soon as I get it, I will post the price.  I know several people have commited and have even reserved their rooms.  Thanks guys.  That is so cool.  Keep your fingers crossed that I can finalize everything in the next few days.

Okay, here is my big news.  Not the way or the time I wanted to announce it but it is what it is.  I'm going to be a grandmother.  My youngest daughter Elisabeth is expecting and Lily Paige is due November 13th.  I am trying to be restrained and not go crazy buying things and have done well so far.....but Carol Sims keeps tempting me to go shopping.  She's such a bad influence!

Speaking of shopping, I found this super nice girl that makes stamped charm necklaces.  I bought one and it's so nice.  Check out Lisa's blog and see pictures of her necklaces.  Her prices are good and you get your order super fast.  And she is a sweetie!

My designing has been nonexistent.  I open up my designing program every day and work on it but not much has come out of my playing around so far.  I know it will come back as it always does but my designing is very much tied to my stress level.  When I'm overwhelmed and super stressed, the creativity totally shuts down.  And that's where I have been for months.  I'm hoping to get a little vacation in early next month and maybe getting out of the house for a few days will help.  Sure couldn't hurt!

I'm babysitting the girls (Chloe and Violet, the great danes) since yesterday.  Didn't get much sleep last night as Violet was on the bed, off the bed, on the bed, licking my face, laying on me, wanting outside, wanting outside again.....she will sleep like a rock today.  Ugh.  My poor kitties hate it when the dogs come over.  And Maggie just tolerates them but sure is happy when they go home.  I think Courtney will pick them up later this morning.

Alrighty guys, happy second day of summer.  Hope you have fun days and lots of stitching time.  Check back soon for more retreat information.