Chix Packin Stix Retreat

It was a hot 106 degree Fahrenheit day in northern Texas on this sunny day in August. It was the day I went on a crafting retreat, held in Gainesville, TX and located at a wonderful campground. One of the fun things for me, was to see the Texas cowboy them throughout the facility.

 

Here is our hotel. Clean and neat with comfortable beds!

 

Here is the view from the porch. This let's you see the typical Texas country view. Can you feel the heat?

 

Every guest room door had a sign of a famous cowboy. I stayed in Gary Cooper's room.

 

The western them was even carried into the public meeting room's bathroom.  This is the light switch cover in the Ladies room. :)

 

 When entering the building from the side door, you are greated with John Wayne. At least we think the statue is John Wayne.  He did protect us and was nice enough to let JoJo sit on his rifle.

 

One of the projects we worked on at the retreat, was a charity blanket. Each person was asked to bring a piece of fleece fabric for a blanket and then crochet an edging onto it. Here is mine. It is for a children's hospital in Dallas, and I decided that there are older children in the hospital who may not was a Minion blanket, so I used a plaid.

 

We had classes and they were all so much fun!  This is Astrid's hooked rug project. Astrid taught us about traditional rug hooking and how to do it.

 

We received supplies for drawing our own design and to start hooking.  After much thought, I drew a sheep. :) I still love folk art and I still love sheep, even after all these years.  I did start my rug, as you can see, but decided to finish it at home, with the wool strips and yarns that I have here.

 

We learned pine needle basket weaving too. Here is my little basket. It is about 4 inches in diameter and 1 inch tall. The center is a walnut. I did finish the basket!

 

 

All during the weekend, Sara, would put on her feathery hat and the room would hush. Imagine, 50 women hushing. :) Yes, we did.  Because Sara would call out names for door prizes. Everyone received a door prize to take home.

 

 

We also had a class on making shawl pins. We shaped the wire and then hammered the design. Hammering the wire caused it to set in place as a hard design, so it will hold its shape! Wonderful. We made the posts in the same way and then used a fine sandpaper to sharpen and smooth the end of the post.

I had a great time, meeting new friends and visiting with long time friends at this retreat. The atmosphere was very relaxing and the food was great too!  I have put my deposit down to attend the next one, in March 2016.