Woodland Forest Retreat - Part 1

I had the pleasure of attending the Woodland Forest Retreat in Syracuse, New York sponsored by A Stitcher's Garden.  I had originally intended to leave for retreat on Friday morning after completing a full morning of errands.  At luncthime on Thursday I check the weather forecast.  There was as Lake Effect Snow Advisory beginning Thursday evening and continuing through the day on Friday.  I decided that it would be in my best interest to leave right after work on Thursday night and hopefully beat the snow.

Thankfully, I had assembled my name tag on Wednesday evening and ironed my completed pre-stitch.  Each year there is a name tag challenge.  A Stitcher's Garden and the Retreat Committee provide fabric, floss, and a theme for the challenge.  You can finish it any way you wish and use any embellishments you desire.  I kept mine fairly simple this year.  I finished it by putting it in a Tin Pin,  a nice, easy finish.

I used white and gray squirrels because I see them in my neighborhood. 

The pre-stitch looked like this.

I arrived without incident on Thursday night.  It did snow the last half hour of the trip.  It was dry snow that swirled like fog on the roadway.  I find that type of snow to be hypnotic when driving at night. 

I awoke Friday morning to find that it was still snowing and continued to do so for most of the day.

Late in the afternoon I picked up my schedule for the weekend.

I made a visit to the boutique conveniently located in thehotel to say hello and browse.