Photo Gallery of the 2005
Victorian Stitching Holiday

Held October 13th - 17th, 2005

Thanks to all the participants for your camaraderie and your enthusiasm. Cathy Lisa and I had a wonderful time with you all, and I hope these pictures are fun for you to look at to remember your holiday. Any bad pictures are totally my fault and any errors in the captions are Lisa's fault!

Our special 2005 VS holiday description with photos:
   

What a wonderful time we all had this year!  With our new cosy format in the Huntingdon Manor, our returnees were thrilled with the 'one class, one project' idea. They felt so happy that this year they got to know everyone so well throughout the holiday. Our newer attendees all seemed to enjoy their weekend so tremendously, that many people decided to come back again next year.. !  I'll include a few of their notes and letters at the end of this little description, so you can read for yourselves how they felt!

    
Table 2 - In the foreground you can see Linda O'Brian, Ginger, and Sue from England.

We started off with a joyful evening Welcome Reception, where old friends were re-united and online friends met in person for the first time amidst squeals of recognition. Quite a few stitchers had arrived a few days earlier. For instance, Birgitta had arrived from Sweden as much as a week before the event so she could make the most of her holiday and first trip to Canada! Arriving early and leaving late, many stitchers and husbands combined their own holiday with ours, to make their trip to Victoria all the more exciting.

At Table 1 - Susan and Donna, two friends from Arkansas, and Kathryn from Vancouver, are all three studiously bent over their fabric.

But it seems that all of us had been impatiently counting the days when we would see each other, and to finally get to stitch together. The happy chatter in the reception room on the first evening was sometimes deafening, and was also helped along by some delicious munchies and drinks. There were so many people who had returned from previous VSHolidays, that I'm sure I inadvertently missed some of the newbies that evening! I hope they understand that it was just hard to keep track of who came in the door through all the happy laughter and talking!  I believe we would have partied on into the wee hours, if we hadn't arranged for our stitching tables and chairs to be brought in early on that evening!

One of the lucky winners of one of our door prizes, Mina beams as she chooses her gift! About half of our door prizes and gifts were donated by some of our suppliers. You can see a list of our donating friends at the end of this photo essay. :)

Table 1 again, Donna, Kathryn and Vivian from TN, facing me, and I believe Carol W from WA and Patti W. from ID are in the foreground!

I'm so delighted that our students brought so many bright worklights..!  The natural light that was pouring in the library when I first viewed it, was not as bright on the days that it was cloudy outside. We want to improve the available lighting for next time! However, it was still very very cosy stitching together this way. Anyway, it was delightful to just be together, and our project was not too detailed.. so it all worked out beautifully.

Patti W and Tedra from AZ are sharing a great story together!  It is so terrific to see such wonderful friendships formed so quickly throughout the holiday weekend!

 A bird's eye view of Table 1 at the top, and table two at bottom of this photos. What a great view from the loft!  From top left to right, Jo-Celle, Patti W, Carol, Janine and Lynne from TX.  The middle row, from left to right is Birgitta from Sweden, Vivian, Kathryn, Donna and Susan. The bottom row at Table 2, from left to right is Karen from WA, Lisa O'Brian from PN, and Mina Tyler from Alberta, then Ginger from WA and finaly Sue T from England in the pink neare the window.  Such a happy group picture!

The first night, our Lisa Archer stayed overnight. She invited everyone to come back to her room to stitch. About twenty people took her up on her offer, and apparently they all came to ease the tensions of the first teaching day with wine, chocolate and much laughter. I didn't know what the cause of all the laughter was until the next day!

Then, on the morning of the second day, Lisa taught her finishing class with great aplomb. Many people really learned a lot from her wonderful workshop, and I especially want to thank her for her willingness to share her finishing techniques! 

She then guided all our guests, except for one husband, on the tour bus to the VS Studios! The day was sunny and bright.. the tour of Victoria took our group past some of our gorgeous Victorian houses, and they arrived safe and sound at the foot of our driveway!I was waiting for them on my front deck, and took a shot of the bus as I waited for them to walk up. What a wonderful group of happy laughing people! Cathy had made her special finger sandwiches, and I had spent the morning tidying up the office, the studios, so we were all set to enjoy the afternoon. The time really passed way too quickly. From our group photos in the backyard, and our studio tour and Catalogue, to tea and goodies upstairs, we just loved every minute of the visit!  My place has not been so busy since last Christmas at our Open House. In fact, perhaps that's the term that best describes the feeling that afternoon. Everyone was happily milling about, enjoying each other, as well as some models on my walls. Of course most of my models are hanging at the Button Catalogue down in Victoria, but I kept some of my own favorites here.  Have a look at the following pictures so you can meet almost all of our VSH 2005 guests as we took pictures on the back lawn!

We got everyone together in a long horizontal group, and took a group picture. I have divided the group into two pictures so that we can see all their happy faces..:

From left to right at back: Patti W, Ginger (2), Carol, George W, Lisa O'B, Patty R and Doug R, Sheila L from AZ and Lynn from TX. 

Then in the front row left to right..  first is Victoria Sampler's own Lisa Archer, Jo-Celle from WA, Karen from WA, Lisa O'Briand's sister Mina, Debbie B from CT, Pamela from OR (behind Debbie), and Kathryn.

Here is the second picture. From left to right at back are:  Nancy and Larry L from CO, June from New Brunswick, Lynn's husband Jerry, Birgitta, Susan, Viv, Marty from IA, and sisters Kris and Liz from OR.

Then, from left to right at front are Janine from Missouri, Vicki, Pamela’s mom, Donna, Debbie F and Kathy J from OR , Tedra from AZ, Sue, and Sue B from Edmonton.. and of course me!

We were so sorry that our local stitchers, Thelma and her daughter Marnie weren't here for the group pictures, although they did arrive at our studios in their own car a bit later. Also, Ken, Cathy and even Yvonne were not in the group picture shown, although Cathy was very much involved with the organizing, and also helped so many people in the Catalogue. She was so busy, that I didn't get a chance to take a photo of her in action except for this one! Here's a small picture of Cathy, posing on our back lawn so I could set up my camera for the group shot! Cathy is a budding VS designer, with a style all her own. She surrounds herself with country folk art, and her designs reflect her own artistic vision. You can view Cathy's whimsical and artistic folkart designs in our online Catalogue, just click here.

Cathy's beautiful denim jumper was all hand-embroidered with silk ribbon around the neck. It was made and given to her by our Yvonne, who came to visit during the open house. She is pictured at right talking to a previous student, Viv. I invited Yvonne to come and join us at the VSStudios for afternoon tea and conversation. A much loved Victoria Sampler teacher-designer, Yvonne taught for us at previous VSHolidays. She has since had to pause in her designing and teaching due to her health, but loved seeing so many of her former students!  Who knows, we may still see her return to designing! To view Yvonne's beautiful sampler and Silk Ribbon chartpack designs click here.

Outside on the deck, Patty and Doug, Birgitta, and sisters Lisa and Mina were the enjoying the good weather after touring the studio. Our October is fairly changeable, but this day was beautiful and warm, and everyone enjoyed our view of the blue blue ocean.

Back to the Library for stitching on our third day, Sunday. This is table two and you can see June studiously stitching in the foreground, while Ginger is smiling over the others' heads at the back near the window. On the opposite side of the table, there is Patty R in apricot VS T-shirt, and Kathy Joyce beside her. Looks like everyone is back in fine form after their lovely outing the day before! Below you can see Kathy and Patti again, and at far right, behind their lights, Nancy and Marti are plying their needles. It really wasn't as dark as it looks.. my camera seems to have really picked up the bright areas!

This was my table, and I took this just after we first arrived. Everyone looks relaxed and happy, waiting their turn to order. I always love this part of any dinner, the anticipation of a good meal, some lovely wines, and good friends. This picture doesn't show the fun we had as Liz and Kris told stories about their pumpkin carving contest, or June and Lisa talking about their families and homes. Lovely memories of lovely people..!

Tedra, Pamela, Vicki and Sheila are all ready to eat their tablecloths. Anticipating is half the fun.. I am wondering what was in the iced tea, ladies??

Because the Gatsby is a restored heritage house the rooms are intimate and as they might have been during the late 1800's. However, the staff helpfully pushed together a few of the small tables, so that we were able to sit together more easily. The smaller tables at the windows and at the sides of the room remained there, and were perfect for our husbands and wives, as well as special friends. We all sat where we ended up, and a happy mix of people had dinner.

Kathy Joyce and Debbie Ferguson are also close, and have come to our Holiday before! They are pictured here seated at a prime table near a beautiful stained glass window.. beside this picture is a lovely picture taken by Sue, of the view from her window.. overlooking the garden and the inner harbour beyond. The wonderful thing about coming here to stitch is that there are oodles of things for our guests to do!  An extended stay will allow lots of lovely sightseeing trips to our local highlights. First and foremost, the Butchart Gardens is fabulous, even on a foggy day in Autumn.. full of subtle colour and foliage. Visits were made to Craigdarroch Castle, and of course frequent multiple power shopping visits were made to our local needlework shop called the Button and Needlework Catalogue. Kim and Mike donated lovely individual gifts to our guests, and we appreciate their unstinting generosity and generous welcome to all our guests, thanks to them both.. as well as to their staff.

We also want to thank the following companies: the Needlepoint Inc, Gentle Arts, Gloriana Threads, Lakeside Linens, Nordic Needle, DMC and Notions, Birdhouse Enterprises, Kreinik Mfg. Ltd., and Weeks Dyeworks. Also, thank you's go to our Victoria Businesses, thanks so much to Roger's Chocolates, the Dutch Bakery, and Broadmead Gallery for their terrific support..! We really enjoyed all of your generous gifts!! THANK YOU!!

And now a few very sweet letters from our attendees.. I couldn't include all the letters and group reports, but here are a few of our favorites.. thanks to all who attended, miss you already and may we see each other again soon!!

xoxoxo  Thea :)

A few descriptive Letters from our VSH 2005 Attendees

Kathryn's Full Report to our VSCyberstitchers group:

I'm back from VSH and I had a wonderful time!  It was great to finally get to meet so many of you and put faces to names.  I actually met some of you before the holiday officially started - in the local needlework shop of course (Button and Needlework Catalogue). 

I arrived at about 1:30 pm on Thursday, checked in to the hotel, and then walked up Government street to visit DH's cousin at a local art gallery and then on to the needlework shop.  There I met June, Birgitta, and was introduced to a few others including (I think) Tedra, Sheila, Marty, Ginger Frazer....Somewhere between there and the hotel I met Janine W for the first time, and a few of us went to dinner at Santiago's, a quasi Mexican/Spanish restaurant near the hotel.  Formal holiday intros happened later in the "Library" room at the hotel where we all met everyone else including Thea (pronounced Tay-ah !!!) and Lisa.  It was wonderful to meet Viv and Jo-Celle, Patti W, and many new friends at that time.  We also started our UFO exchange that evening, and received wonderful goody bags from VS !!!   (I love free stuff - I love free stuff...!!!!)

Stitching class the next day was fast-paced and fun and I learned how to stop what I was doing, re-thread my needle and start something new whenever Thea moved to a new stitch or technique - which doesn't come naturally to a plodder like me.  There was LOTS of laughter and cameraderie during stitching class!

Later we met at the Empress Hotel for a decadent and delicious High Tea - even better than I imagined it would be.. Most of us didn't need to eat anything else for the rest of the day after that yummy tea.

On day two we gathered in the classroom for a finishing class with Lisa, where I for one learned a lot about finishing, since I'm not very experienced in this area.  Others who had more experience in finishing said that they also learned a lot and picked up some good hints.  We had time for lunch and shopping, and many of us wore a path in the sidewalk between the hotel and the needlework shop with plenty of stops along the way for tea, books, soaps, and  a wide variety of gifts and other souvenirs.   Later that afternoon we had a bus tour of Victoria and a trip out to Thea's home and studio.  There we had our Christmas gift exchange, with coffee/tea/wine and goodies.  (One regret I have is that I found out on the bus ride home that Yvonne R had been at Thea's and that I didn't get to meet her. Yvonne - I didn't know you were there!  I'll be back next May, though, so hopefully we can meet then...) 

Thea's studio is a true stitcher's heaven - I just can't describe it without starting to drool.  I did consider "accidentally" missing the bus back to the hotel and sneaking back into the studio to roll around in all the stuff.  Aaaaahhhhh.......

Day three saw us back in the classroom and I managed to keep up really well.  Many of the faster and more experienced stitchers got quite a lot more done than I did, but I felt perfectly able to listen, learn and try out all the techniques right along with everyone else. 

That night we all met at the Gatsby Mansion for our big final dinner.  We made so much noise - it was LOUD with talking and laughter. 

After dinner a lot of us started in with goodbyes - several people were leaving the following day (including me) and making early starts, so the hugs were flowing.  Throughout the holiday we all received many goodies from Thea and other donors - and most of us made multiple trips to the needlework shop as well.   I had to lug a lot of bags down to the car when I checked out.  What a hardship - NOT !   

I did leave a little earlier in the morning than I had previously planned - there was a massive labour demonstration planned for the lawn of the Parliament Buildings, in support of our province-wide teacher's strike, and I didn't want to be stuck in the melee!  I managed to make the 9:00 am ferry back to the mainland and had a lovely final visit with Janine W on the boat.

I had a truly wonderful time.  It was a real first for me to meet and spend time with so many stitchers and I would highly recommend it to any one of us.  I'm already scheduled to go back in May!

Kathryn :)

Another report :

I'm back from the VS Holiday and just wanted to pop in and say how much I enjoyed it.  Kathryn's post gave you some of the flavor of  the weekend so I thought I would do something different and post my suggestions as to how to get the most out of your VS Holiday.  I'll  post a stash list later and promise to post more here and lurk less.

1.  Pack lightly.  I did OK but I could've packed one nice outfit to use for both the Tea and the last night dinner.  Unless you spill clotted cream on yourself at the Tea, you'll be fine.   Most of us wore casual clothes/jeans and we fit in OK.  Bring walking shoes and wear them.  You'll want to tour the lovely city and visit the shops
and you don't want to attempt it in heels.  Do bring a raincoat and an umbrella if you don't like to get your hair wet.  Victoria has some drizzly days but you have to see the Government buildings at night all illuminated in the light drizzle.  It was lovely.  I would bring a couple of short-sleeved shirts to wear in the stitching room.  Save room in your suitcase for stash or bring an extra bag.

2.  Bring a stitching lightbulb and/or travel light.  Let me say that again:  Bring a stitching light.  Have you ever been in a hotel room with enough light for stitching(except maybe for the bathroom)?  The light was really useful in the stitching library as well.  I saw a portable Ott light that two of the stitchers had and I am coveting.  A friend
lent me a music stand light with a positionable neck and insisted that I bring it and I was glad I did.

3.  Now I know I said you need a light to stitch in your room but here's my next advice:  Don't stitch in the room!  What I am really saying is don't stitch alone.  The VS Holiday ladies were just the nicest, friendliest group I have ever met.  The first night, I stitched with Ginger, the two Sues and some others in Ginger's room and it was a nice way to break the ice and get to know them.  The next nights, we stitched in the stitching library after dinner and visited.

4.  Don't be shy!  I am shy and feel awkward around people I don't know but I am glad I made the effort to introduce myself to people.  I got to mingle with lots of the ladies and I never felt I was just tagging along.  If you come with a friend, make sure you also go about with others.

5.  Go out to eat in a bunch.  Don't like Mexican food but the ladies are going to Santiago's?  Go anyway.  You'll find something to eat and you'll have so much fun laughing and talking that the food doesn't matter as much.

6.  You can rest at home.  Go out and do stuff.  Two ladies mentioned they'd wanted to try fish and chips and Lisa told us of a place on Fisherman's Wharf.  A bunch of us and Lisa trooped down there for lunch the next day and not only had great fish but also got to sit outside on a glorious sunny day; watch the water taxis, examine houseboats and watch some harbor seals get fed.  Kathryn and I enjoyed vicarious shopping with Susan and Donna at Murchies where we watched them stock up on teas and other neat things.  I had my first Chocolate Martini with Carol and Karen.  Darth Vader entertained Kathryn and me with his violin playing.

7.  Indulge in some stitching Zen.  Unless you are an exceedingly fast stitcher, you will not keep up and don't let it bother you.  Thea's directions are terrific and I wrote them down for later.  I was very anxious the first day and stitched frantically but when I accepted the fact that it was really OK to just follow along, I had more fun. Hope these suggestions help the ladies lucky enough to be doing the next holidays!

  Janine

A wonderful enthusiastic letter..

I'm ALMOST at a loss for words in my post-event report of the last several days.  As a first-timer for a stitching holiday, the "rhythm of the room" as I entered the library that first welcoming evening left me not wanting to EVER leave!  Thea and Lisa are the ultimate hostesses, having prepared goodie bags and nametags for each of us and making sure to personally welcome us individually.  That evening was
the beginning of a long weekend I won't soon forget.  I was prepared to be in a classroom with 30+ other passionate stitchers, but unprepared for the amazing, wonderfully-diversified, CARING ladies susrrounding me...all of them now cherished as friends that bring a smile to my face each time a memory "snipit" passes through now that I've had to return to the REAL world!!!

Suffice to say, I HIGHLY recommend a stitcher's holiday.  Even my husband (who also attended and participated in high tea as well as our final dinner) was "caught" by the "rhythms" and since our return home proudly rambles on to his grease-monkey friends of his awesome weekend in Victoria.  Their hesitating glances indicate apprehension about the future "girlie" stuff they'll have to tolerate when he's around, but they're faithful friends so they'll tolerate him until the polish wears off!   

A HUGE THANK-YOU HUG TO THEA, LISA AND ALL MY HOLIDAY FRIENDS,

Jo-Celle

Email Letter to our VS office:

Thea, Lisa and Cathy,

Just a quick note to say thank you for a very inspiring weekend.  It was a pleasure to meet all of you and to have you share your experiences with us.  I enjoyed learning all the new "to me" stitches and look forward to practicing them and using them in the Christmas piece; which I will eventually finish.

Thea, being invited to your home and studio was a real treat and I especially want to thank you for that. Thanks again and I'll look forward to seeing you again in the future.

Vicki Fisher

     Hot Links about VICTORIA

http://www.city.victoria.bc.ca    a good link for Victoria info
http://www.northolympic.com/coho/    great website for all the links to do with Victoria