I’m heading to Big Bear to have some fun stitchy time with my SoCal Stitcher friends.

I will be cross stitching all 4 days.

Here’s my project plan:

Thursday – work in the morning and finish packing. Then get all my stuff into the car and drive up to Big Bear. There’s no snow or rain in the weather forecast so I anticipate a smooth ride. My gas tank is full as well as my snack bag.

My project for the day is Gamer:

Friday – The place we stay at offers breakfast and last year the breakfast was delicious. Not the all you can eat buffet I’m accustomed to but the sit down and they’ll serve you kind. I am hoping this is still as good as I remember.

I am hoping it’s not too cold and I can take a nature walk around the area as well as find a yoga studio to take a class at. Cross stitching is so sedentary that I’ll need to remind myself to get up and move some.

Project of the day: MFE 2023

I also bring my small daily projects with me and hope I spend about 15 minutes a day on them.

My knitting: Gardengate sweater

My ‘Tender Embroidery’

My San Francisco project: I haven’t worked on this in a couple of months and I’m debating if I should continue with it. But I brought it because I love the threads and want to put some stitches on.

Saturday – I am hoping my room is the same as the one I had last year because it had a big jet tub. My plan for this day is to do the same as Friday but add time in the tub. I love taking baths but my tub at home is not great and I don’t like to use it for baths. So when I’m in a place with a nice tub I try to enjoy it.

Project for the day: Titania

Sunday: day to go home. The worse day of any retreat is the last day. And it’s because I have to pack everything up and say goodbye to my friends. But at this point, I usually miss my kids and my own bed. so by the time the bags and car are packed and my table is clean I’m ready to go.

Project of the day: Blossoms

I haven’t been great at stitching daily because of The Great Move. But my normal stitching routine is that I work on Gamer daily for about 15min- 1 hour every morning before work for the first half of the month. The second half is replace Gamer with MFE 2023. and that’s it. That’s my rotation.

At retreats I bring out my favorite old retreat projects: Titania (Mirabilia) and Blossoms. Sometimes I change it out to some other WIPs I miss playing with. I have a lot of WIPs and even more kitted projects and over a hundred patterns to be kitted. I’ve reached SABLE many lifetimes over but I do enjoy my stash and with the economy being so uncertain I can at least keep myself stitching until it gets better.

Keep stitching,

Melanie