Fall Elim 2021

We had a lot of fun at the Elim stitching retreat this weekend. It went by quickly because we were only there Friday to Sunday.  Trillium Guild usually books from Thursday to Sunday but this one wasn't our retreat. We were filling out the numbers for the Ganaraska Quilt Guild. 

Jen1 and I drove up Friday morning, arriving at about 10:15. We went to our assigned rooms in the motel. They were very comfortable, double bed, table and chairs, efficiency kitchen with kettle, toaster, microwave oven, full fridge, plates and utensils. It was very cozy. It's such a treat to have a room to myself.

We took up most of one side of the chapel; one per table because of COVID spacing. We could remove our masks if we were sitting down but wore them any time we were standing up and moving around the room. It wasn't all that conducive to a lot of chitter chatter but was conducive to getting lots done.

Likewise, the quilters had lots of room to spread out.

I had decided to stitch on a rotation on Friday so every hour I switched projects. First, I wanted to finish up the little bits of my Strawberry Thief piece.

I then got a good start on the companion piece. It's not a great photo but the fabric matches the photo above.

Then I did the outlines of the peace lily which was this week's Steady Thread Blackwork SAL flower. I outlined the 'white' flower with grey and finished it up this afternoon by adding the green stem and yellow interiors.

Later on that day I started my Token of Fall by Hello from Liz Mathews.

I had a few issues deciding which light blue I would use. I did have a Dinky Dyes colour Ningaloo but it didn't go well with the darker Gloriana Northern Lights so I defaulted to DMC 932 for the lighter blue. I'm liking working with the silk threads and am stitching 2 over 2 to get the best coverage on the 36ct Zweigart Cream and Sugar fabric. The darker green is a bit fuzzy after stitching so I'll try my SnagNabIt tool will help that. I'll have to be careful with the silk threads and stitching in hand.

The rest of the weekend was spent stitching Token of Fall, perusing books and magazines on the giveaway table, setting up the raffle of donated items, 

snacking on the many treats provided, eating meals, looking up future retreats online, visiting in Jen1 and Poppy's 'suite' after hours, setting up a Show and Share table, doing the raffle, etc., etc.

After lunch yesterday we vacated our rooms and Jen1 and I got home by about 3. We did take time for a group photo before departing. It is a lovely setting in the fall.

Jeanette, Siobhain, Sue, Mary, Poppy, Janet, Shelley, Immy, Phyllis, Geri, Jennifer, Sylvia and Marilyn.

I was really pooped when I got home and had to have a nap while Skip prepared a delicious roast beef dinner. We had 20 trick-or-treaters, the most we've had in several years and turned out the lights at 8pm. 

This morning I have what Jennifer called a retreat 'hangover'. I didn't do much except a bit of stitching and unpacking. 

I have a couple more projects I want to kit up, inspired by a couple of the magazines I got from the 'giveaway table'. Kim has the supplies so I will be making an order soon. 

I also want to get my ornament done for our guild's Christmas ornament exchange. JenP found a Secret Santa app so we've picked our recipients. Mailing deadline is December 1. If delivering in person, it needs to be done by Dec. 13, (preferably anonymously) so the ornaments can be opened and the Secret Santas identified at our December meeting via Zoom on December 15. The exchange was very successful last year and we have as many participants again this year.

Several of us are very excited about StitchNorth which will be held April 1 - 3, 2022 at the Courtyard Marriott in Brampton. Our guild's April Elim retreat is tentatively the last weekend of April.

So we have lots to look forward to and hopefully by late spring it will be safe enough for us to resume our road trips and not have to have a costly COVID test to return home.