StitchNorth 2022

Poppy, Jeanette, Siobhain, and I attended the first annual StitchNorth retreat in Brampton this past weekend. We have been waiting since we registered two years ago. COVID forced two postponements but it finally happened.

We were joined by Yvonne and the 6th chair at our table was occupied by Lorraine (a friend of Yvonne's) and then Renata (a nighttime Toronto Guild member).

We did a LOT of gabbing and a LOT of stitching. I had to take out about a quarter of what I stitched to fix mistakes but the do overs were good after the practicing that I had to take out.

Poppy and I arrived on Thursday at about 4:30 and got settled in our room. We hooked up with Jeanette who had arrived a couple of hours earlier in time for her nap. We went down to the lobby to find the big room where the event was going to be held and met Caroline, the organizer of StitchNorth and her assistants Hannah and Matt. We scoped out the room and determined that we wanted to sit in the far corner so there would be fewer people passing by. Poppy said she'd go down Friday morning and save all our spots. Then we went for Mexican food in downtown Brampton.

Friday morning Poppy was down in the room by 7am to grab our seats and start stitching. We got all registered and I picked up my and Barb's goodie bags and joined Poppy at our table. The other 3 showed up and we started stitching. 

There was a Wendy's/Tim Horton's across the parking lot so we went to Wendy's for lunchtime salads. Then back to the hotel to stitch. Pizza was served at 6pm and we, being the farthest table, got to go first to select the pizza of our choice, salad, and desserts. We decided rather than risk getting food on our stitching stuff to go up to Jeanette's to eat our food. Then back down for more stitching and draws for door prizes. There were several vendors - stitchery, flosses, patterns, needle minders, etc. who made a killing, I'm sure, with their target audience.

The next morning, Saturday, I had a muffin (I brought several) for breakfast, coffee and started stitching. Then there was the smalls exchange. 

I gave away the red triangular scissor set. It included a pair of scissors and a coordinating scissor fob.

I received a padded project bag with stitching on it. It had a front zipper pocket and a zipper on the top. The saying is "Good friends make each other laugh. Really good friends go for the snort".

Inside was a hoop, 4 silicone peels/bobbin holders, a wooden maple leaf needle minder, a wee pair of scissors,

and a nifty Dritz needle holder with a magnetic piece that slides to the bottom when the needles are inserted. When a needle is required, the tube is inverted, the magnetic piece slides down and the needles are revealed, yet stay attached because of the magnet. Very cool.

Lunch was at Wendy's again. Italian food was decided for dinner so we headed back to downtown Brampton to the exact same area where we'd had Mexican food two nights before. The meal at Mt. Vesuvios Ristorante was delicious (I had handmade beef ravioli in a delicious tomato sauce). Then back for more stitching and door prizes. Then more stitching 'til bedtime.

Sunday morning Poppy and I had muffins again and stitched 'til noon. When we checked out we were able to get separate receipts so we both could claim the Ontario Staycation Tax Credit on our 2022 taxes next year. We then packed up Poppy's car and sped home. She dropped me off by 1pm. 

I didn't do much the rest of the night. Skip cooked a pork stir-fry dinner and afterwards I went upstairs to watch some TV while he watched the women's NCAA basketball final downstairs. We're keeping a safe distance for a few days until I can test negative a few times after attending the retreat. My test today was negative. I will test myself again on Thursday and again on the weekend. That should take care of the incubation period.

For all the stitching we did, I didn't complete a single project but I did work on four of them. In no particular order:

I hadn't touched this whitework piece since Elim in the fall and got the part done from the red line downwards.

I did 'a, b, c, and i' of my 'Token of Fall'. Then found the counting to place the letters too tedious with all that was going on around me so put this back in its project bag.

I got the bees done on the scissor fob. (Oops! Just noticed some missing antennae).

I have to decide if I'm going to do the eyelets in the Kloster squares or HotFix bling - or a combination of both. All the other stitching is done.

A while back I stitched these two sides of a biscornu with DMC 4210 - Radiant Ruby

I'm on the home stretch of the Wildflowers Hearts with the same floss. 

I have made so many mistakes that I've had to take out. I finished all of the filigree in the inside and 3/4 of the satin stitch outside of that. I did the rest today. Once I get the outer satin stitch finished, I'll backstitch all the way around 4 - 6 threads out from the satin stitch. Then select lining fabric and finish according to the tutorial. 

I'm on the hunt for other square stitching that would work for a project like this. I'm also working on designing a template that anyone could use to design their own.

I took a look at the rapid test I took this afternoon and there was a faint T line which under normal circumstances would indicate a positive COVID test. However, it was well past the 15 minutes required for accurate reading. It was several hours past the recommended time and had all dried out. It was a concern, though, so I took another test and it was negative again after 15 minutes. Phew! It did freak me out a bit. Lesson learned. Throw away the test cartridges after the 15 minute time period.