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Meredith Willet and Phillipa Turnbull
Appleby-in-Westmoreland, June 2012
Greetings!
Is fall really here? We are still patiently waiting for cooler temperatures. Summer flew by for us! Our three week trip to the UK with the Lady Anne Needlework Retreat and Tour was "brilliant" as the Brits would say. We spent the first week in Appleby taking classes, visiting beautiful private needlework collections in castles and stately homes, and getting to know some lovely people on the tour from Australia, New Zealand, S. Africa, England, Scotland, Canada and the U.S. In the photo above, Meredith and Philllipa stand at the ready with their country's flag, as did we all, to view the Olympic torch being run through the small town of Appleby. Several of us stayed in rooms above a great pub in Appleby that served the most delicious food (The Royal Oak). It was an experience! In Scotland, we continued with our classes with Phillipa (crewel work), Meredith (needlepoint) and Jane Nicholas (stump work), had private tours in more castles and stately homes, and a tour of some very special collections at The Burrell Museum in Glasgow. A few of us even had some "ghostly" experiences in some locations! On our final night on the tour, we stayed at Gleneagles and had a lovely reception and dinner. Phillipa Turnbull (The Crewelwork Company, England) and her partner, Harry Williamson, did the most amazing job putting this tour together, herding 45 women, 10 husbands, coaches, drivers, meals, classes, etc. They must have been exhausted, although they talked about doing this trip again in the near future with a smaller group.
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Two days after returning from the trip, we picked Tony up at the airport for his eleven day stay with us for two back- to- back Canvas Embellishment classes. We had great fun with both groups of stitchers, saw some very interesting stitch guides, and learned a lot. You will see an announcement for our 2013 classes with Tony in this newsletter.
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We had a terrific Melissa Shirley trunk show in July, and many pieces for next year's canvas embellishment classes came from that show. Mark your calendars now for July 2013's TWO trunk shows. We are excited to bring you the wonderful designs from both Brenda Stofft, and also from Kirk & Hamilton for the entire month of July.
Somehow, amidst all the travel, classes, and running a business, we managed to complete a Michele Roberts correspondence course. We stitched goldwork thistles on our own tartans, rather than the tartan in our kits (this was an attractive option to us, but little did we know how much larger our designs would be, and how many extra months it would take to stitch those tartans with Chottie Alderson's plaid stitch technique). Both canvases were sent to Michele for critiques, returned, and are now at the framer's. We will show the final results in our next newsletter.
...and, last, but not least...it's our 9th Anniversary on Oct. 15. Wow! To celebrate, we are having a HUGE ANNIVERSARY SALE. Details to follow, but mark your calendars for October 5-16.
Until later,
Linda, Margot, Jean, Lee, Pat and Joan
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...also from Labors of Love
