Spook 09

Stitcher’s Hideaway
Mystic 2009

Spooky Retreat
Fun Report

What an unforgettable weekend we had!! LOL!! What a riot!! This was the first-ever Stitcher’s Hideaway Spooky Retreat, and I’ll definitely have to plan another one! The attendees arrived ready for a good time and brought a ton of fun with them. What an enthusiastic bunch! A group of 7 arrived from NJ, 5 from California, and the rest from AZ, CT, MA, ME, NH, NY, VA, and Wales! Many of those who had traveled a long distance arrived early and toured CT and MA. They set a spooky tone right from the very start by decorating the doors of their hotel rooms and appearing in costume! It was hilarious! The hotel staff enjoyed us all so much, that on the second day they baked us a huge batch of chocolate chip cookies! LOL!

Denise and Judy arrived in Super Frog costumes -- capes and all!.

Barbara & Yvonne at the entrance to their room.

Peggy decked out for the occasion.

Peggy & Yvonne are quite the talented mother and daughter team. Peggy, Yvonne and pal Barbara made really cool Halloween totes, and gave me one, too! I love it! It lights up and plays “Ghostbusters.” LOL!!

Here’s the front of the bag...

Here’s the sideview. Note that the skeleton has a frog for a heart, and is missing its right arm (my stitching arm!! LOL!!

They made several of the totes and each one was very different from the other.

Here’s Ann and I with the wild girls from New Jersey!

Ann Pettit of Brightneedle was our instructor and her Ghoulies and Ghosties Etui was our retreat project. This class piece is based on the 16th Century prayer: “From Ghoulies and Ghosties Long Leggitie Beasties And Things That Go Bump in the Night Good Lord Deliver Us.” The etui is adorable -- and so is Ann! She was a fun instructor and we enjoyed her so much! All the little details in this piece made it is much fun to stitch. It’s hard to do the project justice in a picture, but here are some closeups of the front and back of the etui. Don’t you just love the roof on the house?

This lined etui was stitched 1 over 1 on 29ct Glenshee Natural linen using a variety of silk and cotton flosses. The specialty stitches used were eyelets, long stitch, scroll stitch, coral stitch, couching, colonial knots, nun stitch, double cross stitch, ladder stitch, wrapped stitch and tied double cross. There was also a small lined pocket on the back which holds a small stitched needlebook.

As a special thank you for taking the class, Ann gave us an additional little design -- an itsy bitsy teensie weensie Ghoulies & Ghosties biscornu which is absolutely adorable!!

Between all the crazy stitchers and our retreat project, we were all ready for some spooky fun!

Our Fun Packs and doorprizes were great! Donors shared some of their spookiest designs with us, and, of course, Stitcher’s Hideaway had many surprises as well.

Don’t you just love our furry fun packs?!? {giggle}. Fun Pack donations came from Calico Crossroads, Chris’s Collections, Elizabeth's Designs, Glory Bee, Lavender Wings, monsterbubbles, Morning Glory Needleworks, Needlework Finishing by Dawn Boisvert, Nordic Needle, Olde Colonial Designs, Rosewood Manor, The Prairie Schooler, Trail Creek Farm, and Victoria Sampler. As if that wasn’t enough, the California stitchers made up little gift bags for each of us! (I had a Frankenstein ruler in mine...heh-heh..).

The doorprizes were donated by Blue Ribbon Designs, Brightneedle, The Gift of Stitching, Jeannette Douglas Designs, Karen Capella (a friend of Stitcher’s Hideaway), Kreinik, monsterbubbles, Morning Glory Needleworks, Rosewood Manor, Stitchy Kitty, Trail Creek Farm, Weeks Dye Works, and Victoria Sampler!

There were so many goodies and treats and they just seemed to keep on coming and coming! Some stitchers had concerns that they might have to pay for excess baggage fees for their flights home -- Ha! They probably did!

Stash enhancement was lots of fun! Chris and Pam from Chris’s Collection set up shop for us in one of the hotel rooms. Here’s Pam on the left luring us into their lair! It was amazing how much stash they had in that room!

We had such a good time just being together, being silly, stitching, shopping, and eating the delicious meals from Mystic Market Caterers!! Time just flew by. It was so much fun getting to meet new stitch addicts. Lynne came all the way from Wales! She had a great time and made many new friends. We all enjoyed her so much! Here’s Barbara in her lovely pink wig with Lynne, who bravely sat next to her! LOL!

Sure, we stitched...and learned a lot, too....but it was just plain fun being together, too!

Ann provided plenty of individual help with our project as needed.

Later that night after yet another delicious meal, we gathered together to car pool to a mysterious location for some spooky fun!! We went to “Nautical Nightmares -- Blood of the Mutineers” at Mystic Seaport! How I wish I had some pictures of what took place, but we weren’t allowed to take photos! We all arrived not quite knowing what we were getting into! Not even me!! We entered a room to await our turn for the experience. I think we ended up in two separate groups. There was a nip in the air and so we were all bundled up. Here you can see us waiting, giggling and in great anticipation!

In the dark of a full-moon lit night, each group was led into Mystic Seaport Village where we encountered a newspaper reporter from the late 1800’s who breathlessly told us about a horrible murder that had taken place. We were led throughout the Village, onto a ship, and into historic buildings, as we met character after character who revealed bits and pieces of a mystery that was unfolding around us as actor after actor met their death! LOL!! There was a vengeful captain, a villainous mutineer, a witness driven mad and a jury of the damned! It was so much fun!! And...strangely relaxing to walk about the Village at a leisurely pace with the fall leaves rustling under our feet. My husband Michael joined us. He and I only misbehaved once...stomping our feet as we walked through a very long and near pitch dark barn-like structure. Heh-heh-heh.....people thought it was part of the show! Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!! Michael came out with some terrible puns that had us laughing, too.

The next morning it was back to class for us! I was kept busy giving out some great doorprizes sent by some very generous donors!


Lucky Connie! One day she received a doorprize of glow-in-the-dark threads from Kreinik....	...and another day received a design from Stitchy Kitty that called for some of the threads she won from Kreinik!

Cherie received a doorprize from Brightneedle

Linda received a design from Morning Glory Needleworks!

Peggy received a design with frame form monsterbubbles.

Terri received a cool scissors fob from monsterbubbles.

Stacy received a design from Blue Ribbon Designs.

Mary received glow-in-the-dark threads from Kreinik.

Here I am gathering some doorprizes to give out to the lucky recipients.


Denise designed the Mini Haunted Quilt and gave the chart and instructions to every one of us!!	Here’s a close up of the Mini Haunted Quilt. Thanks, Denise!

Here’s a little design I created for everyone. The complete kits came in cute little pumpkin bags!

Lynne received a doorprize from
Victoria Sampler...

...and Liz received a doorprize from Stitchy Kitty!

Joanne received a doorprize from Brightneedle...

...and Barbara received one from Karen, a friend of Stitcher’s Hideaway.

Deb received some beautiful floss and linen from Weeks Dye Works!

Oh, wow....this webpage is really getting long.....I’d better start a second one!

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