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April 2, 2008
Hello Everyone!
The first ever Stitcher’s Hideaway Alumni Retreat was held on February 22-23. We had a cozy, wonderful time stitching, chatting, eating, and shopping together as snow fell and the wind blew outside. It was great! What better place to be during a snowstorm then to be with your buddies and your stash! I have just posted the Fun Report, so stop on over and read all about it!
STURBRIDGE RETREAT NEWS. Jackie du Plessis of It’s Fine-ally Finished will be teaching her unique Buttons A Bounty project. What a treasure for stitchers! This is sure to be a heirloom. The materials in this kit are exquisite, which you can just imagine if you know Jackie! The hand dyed linen and fibers are so rich.
Also at the Sturbridge retreat, Jean Contino, Coordinator of Crafts and Households, and Rebecca Nourse, Collections Manager at Old Sturbridge Village will present Out of the Woods: Textile Designs Inspired by Nature! We’ll learn about artifacts from the Village collection which feature design elements inspired by nature, and we’ll see examples of sewing tools, stencils, factory printed fabrics, quilts, stuffed work, and embroidery!!
AND...I have received a donation of a very special door prize for one very lucky Sturbridge stitcher! I hope to have a picture of it to post here soon.
MYSTIC RETREAT NEWS. I have some exciting news!! Sandie Vanosdall of The Sweetheart Tree, instructor for the November retreat in Mystic, CT, has sent me a picture of the projects she designed for us!! They are GORGEOUS! I will be working over the next few days to get all the information on the website and open registration!! It will happen very soon!! Those on the mailing list will receive a notice as soon as the pictures are posted. (REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN!)
STITCHER’S HIDEAWAY IN THE NEWS! Look! Kreinik featured the November 2007 Mystic Stitcher’s Hideaway Retreat! http://www.kreinik.com/reflections/jan08/community.html
SPRING! Today I noticed that there are buds appearing on Connecticut trees -- YAY!!! We are still having some low temperature dips, but have also seen some upper 50’s weather. Spring is beginning to...well, spring!! I think of all New England’s glorious seasons I enjoy Spring the most. It takes place very gradually over a couple months time in Connecticut, turning greener every day. I’ve noticed some tulips and crocuses already fighting to come up, so very soon now we’ll see sprinklings of brilliant color.
Just talking about spring reminds me of a time in my life long, long ago. LOL!! Oh, dear. You gals who know me know you’re about to hear a story from me! LOL!! So sit back and relax and enjoy....or flee quickly!! I wrote this for a publication many years ago....
The long winter had finally passed and the world seemed to explode in green. The grapevines in the back yard showed signs of life once more. The birds woke the neighborhood up each morning with their celebration. Kids were out running, laughing, and playing after months of being forced in out of the cold. Everything and everyone seemed full of life that spring long ago...except for me.
It was a number of things that had gotten me down, but the end result was that my faith, in God and in man, was at an all time low. To make matters worse, I was recovering from major surgery at the same time. To regain my strength, I determined to go outdoors and force myself to walk up and down the driveway a little more each day. I found myself going through these motions mechanically, seeing little more than the pavement beneath my feet. The fresh spring air was something I barely noticed. Bright green grass was almost completely ignored.
 I don’t know how long it was before I noticed the crocuses, perhaps a week or more. But there they were...little shoots pushing through the soil in a scrap of a garden running along one side of the house. Once I noticed them, it became a daily ritual to stop and check their progress. Before long there were dozens of closed buds where once little shoots had stood. I knew any day I would walk out and find they had bloomed overnight.
That morning finally came. There they were – dozens and dozens of them–bright yellow, white, and purple. I bent low to closely examine them in all their delicate beauty.
Delicate? Did I say delicate? My attention was drawn to one amazing purple crocus. Somehow this fragile, little flower had emerged from the earth with a big clod of dirt the size of a golf ball on top of its blossom and stood strong and firm in the spring breeze. What a strange sight! And then, as I had experienced in the past, I sensed God trying to tell me something. Hope seemed to rush inside my spirit. If God would bother to help a crocus bloom in spite of the weight of all the dirt, He would help me, too. I didn’t have to let the dirt around me keep me down either. I could bloom in spite of whatever came against me, I could stand strong and firm. I no longer saw just a purple crocus with a chunk of dirt on it. I saw a survivor...and I knew then that I would make it through, too.
Michael and I have planted dozens of crocus bulbs in our front yard. Each spring when they make their appearance I can’t help but remember that day long ago. And I remember some other flowers our Lord once used to teach His disciples: “Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothe the grass, which is today in the field, and tomorrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith.” (Luke 12:27, 28)
As the saying goes, “take time to smell the flowers” this spring. You just might learn something from them!
Happy, happy Spring!
Sue
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