Mad Hatter Tea with Retreat

i know, i know all retreats are great, but this was the best. we laughed, talked about anything and everything, we sang to the radio while we stitched, we even dance to get those kinks out of our necks and backs from sitting too long, we shed a tear for memories and those we loved, and then with all of this going on we ate. i think for most of us food is a big deal, but with 5 women it was an important part of this retreat. you will see by the posted pictures above that Becky and Julie of "In the Company of Friends" put on a "Alice In Wonderland Mad Hatter Tea" that couldn't, no way could be beat. this was our second retreat on Guemes Island and we talked about the menu and assigned dinners and lunches so we wouldn't have all the left over food we had last year. we even stayed an extra day in hopes that  it wouldn't happen or maybe it was to really stitch an extra day. needless to say when we packed up on Sunday we had tons of left overs. I think we need to try this again next year. i think it will take time, years maybe to get it just right with the food thing.

we had the best weather, cool but so sunny and a walk on the beach was delightful.

yet the one thing i am always amazed at is what creative goodies we make for each other. Julie and Becky even with all the goodies to eat with the tea made incredible boxes with pin keeps,needle threader, hat pin cushion, scissor fob with scissors sat by our name tag. we ate talked and ate some more. the menu was endless.

Beth made delicious waffles with a fruit compote on Saturday.Jan made shrimp risotto :) on Friday and i made lasagna Saturday. we did have allot of great delicious food.

 Beth made beautiful necklaces that she stitched the inserts each different, and she also gave us an acrylic needle holder just off the presses so to speak. mine was a beautiful blue and my necklace has a wonderful blue flower in the design.

Jan made each of us a paper weight with a replica of the little red house we stayed in.

i decided to make each of us necklaces with some old lace i had bought in Ireland and then i had Tshirts made with a pair of scissors and the Red Barn Ladies retreat stitched on it and a needle with Guemes Island written out. of course we had to take a picture of us all wearing our new shirts

how do we top this year, we don't have to we know that just making time to get together to stitch and share is enough. Friendships are like that. i feel so lucky to have these ladies as friends and i always look forward to our next adventure together. i know we have many more years to create memories.

thanks friends!

here is our Mary Wigham's slowly getting done!