I'm finally back with the rest of the pictures! (No, not the rest of the 180, but just a few I thought you might enjoy seeing!)

These aren't in any particular order, so I'll just post them how I find them. 🙂

Here is one from the Shepherd's Boutique.. I thought Jill Rensel did an amazing job on Button's Black; as usual, her artwork on mats is amazing:

I loved this one from Chessie and Me…

Since I explained in my last blog post how I didn't get a full photo of the Shepherd's Bush project, a few of you kindly emailed some pictures for me. Thank you! Here is Susan Ream's photo of Three Ships…

Btw, I still can't get over how warmly I was welcomed throughout the entire retreat. I even received some lovely surprises from some of the attendees, and I can't thank you all enough! Your generosity was so touching, and I will always remember these special gifts to me. Here are some of the lovely things presented to me…

Here's the back of the above pendant – the very pendant Bre tried to woo me out of when she spotted it…

And here is a pendant from Charland Designs… she had so many cool ones! I think Sabrina had her eye on this one, btw. 😉

And here's the back:

Even Sophie got some gifts, which thrilled her to death!

Here are a few of the sweet ladies in one of my classes…

Every morning, the Shepherd's Bush girls would go from classroom to classroom and deliver the most wonderful little wrapped gifts! I don't have photos of them, unfortunately, but they were needlework-related, and so very sweet to receive!

During the day, there were some of us who boarded the gondola to ride up the mountain. The Aspens were gorgeous!

Lots of dudes on mountain bikes were there as well, and you can spot one of them in the middle of the photo below. Charland's daughter, Sydney, couldn't find a single willing soul to make the bike trek down the mountain with her. I was very tempted to join her at one point, but then I suddenly realized that I don't like fear very much, so I declined.

Here are some of the things we got to make at the Cookie Swap… each person got to choose a tin to carry to different stations that were set up. At each station, we were taught how to make a certain type of "cookie," and we used our tin to store them in. I thought the whole idea was so much fun!

We made a Sandwich Cookie, a Truffle, and a Pinwheel Cookie. There were even little charms we got to attach to the tops of our Sandwich cookies…

Remember when I told you Cecelia Strickland of Threadgatherers not only painted fibers, but she also makes soaps and lotions and lip balms?

They all smell amazing! I've got the mousse on my hands right now, and I can't stop raising my hands to my face and inhaling. It's delicious!

And isn't the keychain the coolest thing?

On our last night, we all met in the ballroom for the Fa La La Feast. The table settings were so festive, and everyone was very excited to be there – whether for the ornament exchange or the food or the Christmas Trivia game or the husbands all getting up front to sing a jolly Christmas carol, each of us had a marvelous time. Teri and Tina are the most gracious hosts!

I love this picture of Teri and Cece…

…and Charland and Linda…

Here is a small portion of the ornaments, all ready for the swapping…

At the end of the night, Teri and Tina had one last gift for each person, whether they were naughty or nice. Judging from the collective "oooooh" in the room when everyone opened their stocking'ed gift, I'd say the Shepherd's Bush girls made a very good call with what they gave…

….even if I got one that said "naughty!" 😉

I'll leave you with a room full of happy guests, wearing their paper crowns that came from holiday crackers… everyone crossed arms and "cracked" them at the same time, to see what sort of toy was inside. That was so much fun to do!

If ever you get the chance to attend a Shepherd's Retreat in the future, I highly recommend you treat yourself and go. The only downside to going to one, I've found, is that you don't really want to leave. The scenery, shopping, and stitching are all so much fun, but I found that the real gifts of the heart were the new friends I made.

I sure enjoyed meeting you all and getting to spend some time with you. Thank you, thank you, and thank you again!

Goodness, I've been going crazy around here trying to get ready for my October release! My "to do" pile is larger than life, so forgive me for taking so long to post the next set of photos. 🙁

Teri and Tina chose the most gorgeous place for the retreat! We stayed at The Canyons in the Rocky Mountains, and between the beautiful lodgings and the Aspens turning their coats for fall, it was truly heavenly. 

This was my room (I had the upstairs loft, with my own fireplace, sitting room, and two bathrooms)…

Here was the kitchen…

And this was the view from my balcony. Every morning the moon would sit right on the edge of one of those mountain peaks, looking as if it was ready to roll right down…

After we were checked in and settled, we were on our own for dinner and then that night we returned to the ball room for a really fun project called The Great Cookie Swap. We made the most fabulous little ornaments from felted wool, and I can't wait to hang them on my tree this year.

The next evening we got to take a class with Cece Strickland of Threadgatherers. She taught us how to make a darling little wool booklet for our stitching supplies, and we learned a stitch that was new to me: the boullion stitch. (Mine looked more like the bull-kaka stitch.)

And what a sweet surprise this was: a gluten-free dessert, before the start of the class!

Also attending the class was Linda of Chessie and Me, Jeanette of Jeanette Douglas Designs, and Judy, who makes the best lemon biscotti in the universe. Mike has pretty much snarfed all of the bag she sent home with me.

Btw, the Shepherd's Bush girls set up a boutique full of fun things to shop, as well as mini trunk shows for the designers attending. It was so much fun to look around! I didn't get a whole lot of photos of the boutique bc the shopping crowd was steady, but I did manage to snap a few models and trinkets here and there…

(The model below is by From the Heart – Needleart by Wendy)

Jeanette didn't know she was in my camera frame, but you can see that she's getting ready to cause trouble…

See what I mean?

And speaking of Jeanette, I couldn't stop staring at these pincushions! And the ornaments she designed! I shall be making them all!

I love how Teri and Tina changed the colors of Garden of Eerie to a colorway more similar to their signature palette. Pink clouds! I love it!

I wish I'd gotten more pictures of the boutique.. many of the ones I took were blurred from excitement, so they ended up on the cutting room floor. 🙁 But trust me when I say that there were some gorgeous things there.

So far, I've tried keeping the photos in order, but I won't be able to keep that up bc I'm forgetting which days we did what. 🙂 So here's a random picture of a gorgeous barn we passed on our way to lunch in downtown Park City:

We ate at Robert Redford's restaurant that day, called Zoom. The food was absolutely delicious, and I highly recommend eating there if you're ever in the area.

And I liked that none of the glassware matched. 🙂

(Btw, we shared the Marinated Roasted Beets and I had the fish tacos for my lunch.)

I'll end Part 2 with the only photo of the Shepherd's Bush project I got. (You can slap me if you ever see me in person.) It was gorgeous, needless to say, but I must have gotten interrupted after this photo since I didn't get a picture of the entire thing. 

If you haven't given up on me yet, I'll be back with Part 3 soon!

I'm so sorry for those of you who are patiently waiting for more retreat pictures! I've been busy out of my tree, to say the least. My October online needlework show release is behind, so I've got to get on the ball with that one, but I will be back very soon to post more photos from Park City!

In the meantime, here are some delicious fabrics that were in the Shepherd's Boutique in the hotel. They were all so soft and wonderful, and I watched for what seemed like hours as Teri pulled each one from its box and gently placed it on its shelf.

Ah, the little things that we stitchers love to gaze at…

See you soon!

I've got all 180 photos loaded from the retreat, so go brew some coffee and get comfy! I'm kidding – there were 180 photos, but I won't burden your computer with all of them, no worries. For those of you who stopped by bc you'd like to see them, I'll break them up into manageable sections. 🙂

My flight to Salt Lake City was a short one, and I had the pleasure of sitting next to three other retreat attendees – Michelle, Edie, and Sylvia. What fun ladies they were, and if I wasn't excited about attending before, then I sure was after listening to all of their fun descriptions of how past retreats had gone. If any of you three are reading, thank you for making me feel welcome before I ever even got to Utah!

Sweet Mindy picked me up at the airport.. Teri had told me she was a darling, and she was. Mindy, you were a wonderful "chauffeur!"

Here we are across the street from Temple Square…

While we were there, she and I took a general tour of the Tabernacle and surrounding gardens, which was very interesting. The architecture is astounding…

And the gardens are vibrant and beautiful…

Inside, we got to see a scaled model of the Temple, which is only open to the public for a short time following its completion. After that, the Temple is dedicated to God, and the public is not allowed in.

There was also a scaled model of the city of Jerusalem.. the photo doesn't quite show how enormous this model really is. I can't imagine how long it took to build it!

There were many reproductions of wagons and tools used by the Mormon pioneers who settled here to build their new life…

These are some of the original glass panes; in person, you can see all the ripples in them…

And take a look at that pipe organ! This is where the Mormon Tabernacle Choir performs and records their music…

When our tour was over, Mindy and I headed to lunch at the Blue Lemon Cafe across the street, and then it was time for the drive to Ogden. First stop: Jill Rensel's studio! Can I just tell you that Jill is as charming and lovely in person as I imagined her to be? What a beautiful person she is, and I must have had a hundred people ask me if I got the chance to meet her. She's quite popular, yet ever so humble and soft-spoken.

Here she is with Mindy, who is holding her sweet little pooches (who were as gentle-natured as Jill, and nothing like the Yorkie that resides in the Stewart home)…

And needless to say, her shop is amazing, full of framed and matted pieces waiting to be picked up or shipped out…

Someone had even stitched Brother's Keeper over one.. I wasn't able to stay there and get a decent shot of the frame itself as there was quite a crowd there, but I did manage to get a sliver of the piece photographed…

After Jill's, Mindy drove me to the Shepherd's Bush shop… please pass the smelling salts; this place is fabulous. The building used to be an old blacksmith's shop, so you can imagine how much elbow grease it took Tina and Teri to get the place converted to one of the lovliest needlework shops in the country.

I'm spent.

Teri and Tina and all the friendly employees at Shepherd's Bush sure do know how to make one feel welcome. I actually didn't get to spend very long in the shop bc it was soon time to load up the vehicles and head up the mountain to the retreat. But I do plan on returning some day… how can I resist?

Btw, Mindy was quite the sweetheart, driving me around and making sure my blood-caffeine levels were normal. I believe she's visiting the Attic Needlework shop in Mesa, AZ as we speak (another of my dream shops), so if you're reading this, Mindy, I'm so happy Teri and Tina decided to volunteer you to be my taxi. 🙂

I'll be back soon with more fun from the retreat!

Oh my goodness, if you only knew how inspired I am after attending Tina and Teri's retreat this past week! What a fabulous show those ladies put on.. and the warm reception and kindness from all the attendees was completely overwhelming to me. For those of you who attended and are reading, thank you, thank you, thank you!

I also had the honor of meeting some of the most wonderful ladies in the industry… Besides the famously-lovely Tina and Teri (impossible to be around them and not be happy), I also got to meet Linda of Chessie and Me (loved taking pictures of her models!), Charland and her daughter Sydney of Charland Designs (the most clever and witty duo on the planet – I still can't stop laughing), Cece from Threadgatherer (not only does she paint threads, but she has an amazing line of lotions and lip balms), Ann and Pat of R&R Reproductions (my  soul sisters), and Jeanette Douglas of Jeanette Douglas Designs (I do believe we were seperated at birth).

I don't have my photos from the retreat loaded onto my computer just yet, but I can show you the projects I presented. My classes were so much fun, and not one single person threw a tomato (although I may have seen a few people reach into their handbags suspiciously).

This was my retreat sampler…  

And this was the project I presented with it, called A Lady's Pin Roll…

As you can tell from the scale of the spools, it was a tiny project, meant to hold various sizes of needles and pins, to be thrown into your project bag or purse (in case you're out somewhere and you drop your needle and can't find it – which I have done on more than one occasion).

Or in case you need an emergency safety pin!

It was a really fun project to make, and I hope the attendees enjoyed it as well.

Again, I can't thank you all enough for the kind words I received regarding not only my designs, but also my family and for the loss of our Friday. I felt completely surrounded by friends, despite not having previously met many of you. What a joy the entire retreat was… and rather than wishing I was home with my family, I wished instead that they were in Utah with me! Maybe another time. 🙂

I'll be back soon with pictures from the retreat! Until then, I've got lots of ideas to get down on paper, and lots of laundry to do.

ETA: A Lady's Pin Roll doesn't have a general release date planned, but A Yuletide Welcome will most likely become available in the summer of 2013.