April in Paris

Hey Blog Buddies,

I'm ba-a-ck!  Didja miss me?  Didja?  Huh?  I was away on a little trip.  No, not Paris, although for many people, Paris is the ideal.  There's even a song about it.  I was lucky enough to find out at the last minute that there were still one or two openings at the Nordic Needle Stitching Retreat in Fargo, North Dakota!  My friend Cathy was going, and she alerted me to that fact.  The festivities in Fargo began last Wednesday with a Welcome Dinner and ended Sunday with a Farewell Brunch.  I'm so happy I was able to go because the Retreat was fabulous!

Each attendee got to pick four classes to attend.  Many techniques are taught:  hardanger (of course!), Brazilian embroidery, Naversom, Huck weaving, blackwork, canvaswork, pulled thread, Ukrainian embroidery, surface embroidery, needle painting, Wessex, and the list goes on.  Each class lasts a half day, so you have plenty of time to relax, stitch, sightsee and visit The Shrine (no, not the wood chipper from the movie--the Nordic Needle store!). 

There was also an ornament exchange, bookmark exchange, stash exchange, Stitcher's Showcase and many attendees brought edible goodies to share, so there was always something to nibble on, in the unlikely event that anyone got hungry. 

Roz' daughter Jess was the official photographer of the event.

(Roz is the owner of Nordic Needle.)

She never went anywhere without her camera...

...and she was everywhere.

You can see that she has an outgoing, bubbly personality.

Yes, I ordered the DVD with all the photos.

People came from all over for the retreat.

Many states were represented, as well as

Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway!

There was even a male attendee who was an accomplished stitcher!

I was lucky enough to be seated next to

this gracious lady from Norway at the banquet.

We had a wonderful chat.

That's Ann from New Zealand (with the

butterfly on her head) and Roz.

Ann is as zany as she looks.

She was in two of my classes.

This is Cathy with Terri,

who taught the Ukrainian embroidery classes.

Unfortunately, her classes were full when we registered,

but Terri is coming to our guild to teach

the technique this September!

(You can see some of the Stitcher's Showcase in the background.)

Monica Ferris came for a book signing.

She is the author of many mysteries whose sleuth

is the owner of a needlework store.

And did I mention the free stash?

Everyone got a bag stuffed with stash

the minute they checked in at registration.

There was at least one gift at every meal,

and there was a drawing for stash at every class.

At one lunch in particular, everyone got a large bag of stash,

gifted by Nordic Needle's generous suppliers.

Two of the prizes were packages of

what appeared to be at least 100 cards

of Rainbow Gallery threads!

Betty (that's The Uptown Stitcher's new name)

was speechless for once

when she saw everything I brought home:

magazines, leaflets, beads, threads, kits,

a tote bag to embroider,

a threadkeeper system with its own DVD,

and lots of other stuff.

You can only see the top layer in the photo. 

Of course, I also brought home

four new WIPs!

I will show them later in the week.

In the meantime, sing it with me:

April in Far-go

Stitching and eating,

Stash at each meal,

and every class....

Thanks for visiting!