Monday, April 07, 2008

Camp Wannasew

Now with more wine coolers and beer...

My trip to Tulsa, which started painfully early on Thursday morning--my cab arrived at 4:15 for a 6:05 flight--is over much too soon. I was in denial until I stepped off the plane in Philadelphia, and even today my hands reject typing and long for the feel of fabric.

When bestpal and I first went to camp in 2003, I didn't even think we'd make it through the whole weekend. (I used to have a fear of the south.) I never imagined I'd still be attending, especially not "by myself." I've made new friends, so I can hardly say I'm going by myself when bestpal doesn't come along. Our original group of six dwindled to only two this year, but I think we may have managed not to alienate everyone we met to make new friends.

If last year's camp motto was "it's all about freedom," this year's started out as "that's part of the charm." We decided that the seemingly inevitable missing flosses and people getting lost on the way to Amish dinner was going to be a fun part of the camp experience. And then? No missing flosses. No lost campers. Not to say that camp was not fun. There was booze! There was raucous laughter! There was nude pillow fighting! (Not really.) Camp was down to 18, but let me tell you how much quieter it was in the halls while we were trying to sleep. Now if 18 people can manage to speak quietly in the bathrooms and not let their doors slam, what is it about the other 20 people who can't manage it? Let them stay home, I say.

Our projects were great! We got to choose a Quaker inspired sampler (Quaker Virtues or Quaker Christmas) and a whole skein of Belle Soie silk (is that redundant?) to design our own set of stitching smalls including a scissor fob, biscornu, and a scissor case. Maybe this year's theme should have been it's all about freedom. I chose "blue heaven" which is sort of periwinkle. You can see the results below. I didn't finish any projects this year but I'm really happy with what I have so far. This is a first. I think I was shooting my mouth too much. But there were new people to hear my boring old stories. The other project was Lizzie*Kate's limited edition kit, My Country. We got both a Silver Needle version (fuzzy fibers, large count fabric) and the original kit. I'm thinking of doing the latter for my cousin's kid as a birth sampler. Our helpful input was heeded and next year spring campers won't be making anything Easter or patriotic. Yay! I have only kept one of each; I usually give the finished Easter projects to my sister and the patriotic to my grandmother; they both appreciate them more than I do. My grandmother will just have to suck it up.

My choices for fob (acorn, monogram), biscornu, and the beginnings of her scissor case.

I bought a ton of stash. Way more than I planned, but I still spent less than the entry fee for a national chess tournament.

Not pictured: fabrics, flosses. It was the fabrics that put me over the edge.

Our goody bags were full of freebie charts, flosses, cookies, and Vera Bradley. I'm not a fan of chintz but I was really excited because we got a pair of VB slippers. I needed new slippers, and the pattern (Kensington) is attractive.


I worked on Hillside Samplings Threadkeeper on the plane and on Thursday night. Here's what it looked like before.

I finished Rose Bunnie by Liberty Street Designs on the plane. Stitched on the called-for linen with substitutions (GAST Harvest Basket for the bunny, Weeks Carrot for the carrot, and white whisper for the tail).

I had been thinking that we might want to do something different next year--it's our sixth camp in Tulsa and it's more difficult to get to Tulsa from PHL (I was up and down three times both ways). But I had so much fun this year, I can't wait for spring!

12 comments:

Nic said...

Sounds like you had fun!

Cheryl said...

Sounds like a fun time! Great stash too!
Your stitching smalls look good, that's a lovely colour you chose to stitch with

Katrina said...

Sounds like a great weekend! Glad you had fun and the stash looks wonderful. My favorite is the BBD house piece. I have it kitted and ready to go.

Anonymous said...

Ohhhhh! Sounds like fun...and not so many uptight people! It makes doing a "milk-man's run" (the 3 legs) to Tulsa worth it. I'm glad to hear you had a good time.

Jacque said...

Sounds like you had a great time....lucky you!

Hope you're feeling better also.

Rachel S-H said...

That sounds like an awesome retreat.

mainely stitching said...

What fun! What great stash! What amusing stories! I'm curious what kind of hits you'll get on the nude pillow fighting remark - LOL!

Chelle said...

Sounds like another great year for Wannasew. The SLS girls all reported that they had a good time. Love your piles o' stash. The Bareroots stuff looks great.

Anonymous said...

excellent. i love the stitching smalls. what a great time!

Anonymous said...

NOTHING DIFFERENT next year! I want to go back to camp - was so bummed to have missed this year!

Michelle said...

Oh it really does sound like so much fun. I will have to save my pennies. I love the stitching accessories you've started.

Sharon said...

Sounds like a nice retreat! I have often thought about attending-but everytime I think of some other excuse not to go. I love Silver Needle and I have visited their store however.