Shepherd's Bush Trip - day 4

Friday (day 4) we got up rearing to go!  It was finally class day.  When you go to Shepherd's Bush retreat you sign up for a "Track" of three teachers.  You know what teachers you will have but you don't know beforehand what day you'll have them or what their project will be.

We discovered our first class was with Linda Lautenschlager of Chessie & Me.  No her name isn't Chessie!  That's the cat's name.  She says she gets that a lot.  LOL!

Here's Linda taking attendance!

Before we got started with class, one of the Shepherd's Bush elves came in and gave us our first Christmas present!  It came in the decorated library card pocket on the left.  Isn't it just so pretty?!

Speaking of gifts, isn't this the cutest little counting pin ever?!  Linda told us these were from Chessie.  She wanted us to think of her while we were stitching.  I used mine to score a line in my fabric so it works for that purpose too.  Love it!

Here's Linda's project again.  I love the fabric she chose.  It's called tarnished silver.  I also love the overdyed silks and all those cute little sheep too.

Here's Linda's demo of the long arm cross we'd be doing for the border.  I like this big stitching card she had.  She said she picked several of them up at Market this year.  The teachers really like these cards and so do I.  Great for a visual learner like myself!

Here we are working away at our projects!  Linda's class was a lot of fun and I enjoyed hearing her cat stories.  After class we made one more trip to the Christmas Shop and then into town for some souvenir shopping before dinner.

We were invited by these ladies to join them on their patio for a grill out!  How can you resist that?!  My friend Sara's girls made my favorite squash casserole just because they knew I was coming.  Aren't they the sweetest?!  It was really good too! We also had grilled burgers, corn, and peaches!  If you've never had a grilled peach, you must try one sometime!

 Here we all are enjoying a wonderful dinner together outside.  Great food and great company made for a memorable meal.  I could have stayed there for hours listening to stories and visiting but we had to scoot off to the hotel for our dessert project!

Here we are, all 178 of us!  At least that's the count I believe I heard.  Lots of stitchers happily chatting away.  The room was a buzz with excitement.  You can kind of see the dessert on the table in the lower right corner.  It was a layered chocolate mousse!

This is the inside of Cece's group project.  We were given the design to stitch the night before when we made "cookies."  Once it's stitched it will be backed with quilt fabric and made into a pocket.  You can almost see the tiny bee's wax snowman peeking out of the pocket in the lower right corner.  Cece said she used a vintage chocolate mould to make them!

This is the outside all completed on her example. We were given a packet with all the wool, floss, buttons, ribbons and embellishments to complete our own.  I've done wool applique before so this project should be a snap to finish.

That wraps up day 4.   Another great day!  Tomorrow we have class with Jeannette Douglas in the morning and R & R in the afternoon.  We also have the banquet dinner and ornament exchange too.  I'm not sure I'll be able to fit all that in one post but we'll see.


Still more to come,

The Inspired Stitcher