Mystic II

Mystic 2005 Fun Report - Continued

Deb from Maine with Knotted Tree Door Prize

MYSTIC TWO. Thea and I had Sunday off to rest and recover between the two Mystic retreats. Mystic TWO was to begin on Monday. Ever the early riser, Thea got up in the morning and decided she’d take a walk to downtown Mystic and explore the area. Ever the night person, I slept the sleep of the dead until a more reasonable 11 a.m. And even then I felt like the walking dead until I had a shower and coffee. Once I woke up I went to the retreat rooms to make sure things were cleaned up and then I set up for the second retreat. After awhile I realized I needed to eat and so was headed out the door to find some food when I ran into one of the Mystic Two stitchers -- Deb from Maine. Gee, it was good to see her again! She had just been at the Kissimmee retreat a couple weeks earlier where we enjoyed Jeannette Douglas as instructor. The two of us went together to Friendly’s Restaurant and had a great meal -- including Swiss Chocolate Almond Sundaes, a favorite for both of us. It was a great opportunity to relax and chat, just the two of us. How I appreciated that time with her!

A few hours later Thea gave me a call and was ready to eat, so we went to Friendly’s! LOL! It was another relaxing time and Thea and I enjoyed chatting away. She had a great walkabout exploring Mystic on her own during the day and told me about her adventures. We headed back to the hotel at a reasonable hour to make sure we were rested for the next day.

Right on schedule a new group of stitchers gathered in the lobby waiting for their fun to begin! Chris from Chris’s Collection and her friend Pam were there and ready for them with a wide assortment of stash and the wonderful Victoria Sampler Trunk Show. Fun Packs were waiting for each one of them along with cider, Vermont cheddar cheese and crackers. Yum!

Now this group of stitchers was different from the first in that intially they were more intent on getting to their stitching as quickly as possible. They tended to do their shopping more during breaks. I walked into the classroom probably a half hour before class was to start and they were almost all in there ready and waiting, with all their stitching toys ready at their command! They were quieter, too, but that was only at the beginning and was very deceptive! They ended up being one rowdy bunch! LOL!!

The Mystic II stitchers were from CA, CT, DE, MA, ME, NJ, NY and PA. Lori from Torrance, CA was the stitcher who traveled the farthest and so she received special surprizes. Here she is later on, having just received a door prize!

Linda from Maine was the “lucky” stitcher to receive a strange frog statue decked out in Christmas wear! Later on we heard Linda blame this poor innocent frog for her stitching mistakes as she had to rippit--rippit to correct the boo-boos.

Thea got us started on our wonderful Gingerbread ornaments. We did a lot of laughing in this class! What a group! Thirteen of them had never attended a Stitcher’s Hideaway retreat before and many of them came by themselves, but they quickly became stitching buddies and had a great time! Kathy from MA was actually in Mystic with her husband Bruce who is also a stitcher. While Kathy was busy in the retreat classes, Bruce was busy in his hotel room stitching away on a large cross stitch project. Bruce joined us at meals, for stash enhancement, and for our Show ‘n Tell. How cool to have a stitching spouse!!

Oh! Here’s Bruce’s back at the Victoria Sampler Trunk Show! Hi, Bruce!!

The rowdy stitchers. Hey...wake up, Laurel!! Wake up!!

As with the Mystic One retreat, our time together was peppered with door prizes, door prizes, door prizes! Woo-hoo!! Everyone enjoyed seeing what the other received.

Door Prize from Cherished Stitches

Doorprize from Stitchy Kitty


*Door Prize from A Whimsical Element*	*Door Prize from With My Needle*

I even received a surprise at this retreat! Chris and Pam from Chris’s Collection presented me with a beautifully quilted carrier that is perfect for bringing small stitching projects to work! I was very surprised and I guess everyone there knew it! LOLOLOL!!! It’s very pretty and is in one of my favorite colors -- turquoise.

I always enjoy seeing who comes to each retreat, their level of stitching experience upon arrival, and all that they learn during the retreats. At this retreat there was Kathy, who had never attempted to stitch on linen before and hadn’t cross stitched in years. She just amazed us. She quickly picked everything up under Thea’s expert instruction. We had some good laughs watching her stock up on Thea’s designs! A new addict is born! LOL!! Kathy bought some of Thea’s Beyond Cross Stitch kits and some others, too. It really was amazing to see how quicky she picked it up. Kathy enjoys a number of crafts, including stamping and scrapbooking.

Here’s Kathy with a great door prize from Kreinik.

Fortunately I remembered to take some pictures of our Show ‘n Tell during this second Mystic retreat. Sometimes I just get wrapped up in what’s going on just like all the other stitchers and forget to take pictures!

Here’s Kerri telling us about some of her stitching. She’s made some interesting stand-up pieces that we all enjoyed seeing.

Here’s Laurel showing us some of her masterpieces.

We put our Show ‘n Tell items out for display so that we could all get a closer look at everything.

Gee, it just seems like time really flies at these retreats! We had such fun getting to know one another, enjoyed our meals, learned so much from Thea, and stitched and shopped to our heart’s content...oh, it was just great!!

It’s so sad to see each retreat come to an end -- and it was so sad to have to say goodbye to Thea!! But many of the stitchers from the two Mystic retreats wrote to both of us afterwards. Your thoughtfullness touched us tremendously and has encouraged us both.

Your thank you notes to the doorprize and fun pack donors have meant a lot to the designers, too. Linda from Lavender Wings wrote, “I just wanted to send you a note to let you know how pleased I was to be a part of your Mystic retreat this year. As a designer, we get lots of requests to supply charts for things like this ... and occasionally we get a response from an attendee. But NEVER have I gotten the kind of response that I received from the Mystic stitchers. What a wonderful group!!! Not only was the card sent by you and signed by everyone a real treat, but I also received lots of email notes thanking me for charts won ... and even a few hand written snail mail notes. I *think* I've responded to everyone who wrote to me, but I wanted to send a general "thank you" to everyone thru you, too. You obviously do a GREAT job putting together this retreat; it sounds like everyone had a wonderful time and most said they'd be back again next year. Some days when sales are slow I wonder where all the stitchers have gone ... now I know ... they're all with you at Mystic!! Again, thanks to all, and for letting me be a part of this. - Linda”

Thank you, Mystic Stitchers! You were a JOY!!!

Sue

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