Dec 22, 2010

Workshops and more

Spoke with Kathrin this morning and she was telling me that she is going to be working on the writing up the workshops for the Needleworkers Marketplace over the holidays.  This means that soon the workshops will be posted and thinking about what workshops you want to take can begin.

I know I am looking forward to seeing what workshops are being offered so that I can decide which ones I am going to take. 

The Gitta's Gang also wants to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas and all the best in the New Year.

Dec 19, 2010

Answering some questions

Now that the retreat is getting closer I will try to answer some of the questions that we have been hearing from people.

Today's question is:  How do the workshops through the Needleworkers Marketplace work for those attending the retreat.

Workshops being offer through the Needleworkers Marketplace are workshops that anyone can attend. Therefore, even those attending the retreat must sign up for the workshops separately and the cost of these workshops are not part of the retreat price.  These workshops are going to be offered on Saturday and Sunday during the day.  Keep an eye on the Needleworkers Marketplace website as the workshops will be posted there.

For those attending the retreat there is going to be an exclusive workshop held on the Friday night just for us.  This workshop is included in the retreat price and only available to attendees of the retreat.  This means you can attend the other workshops if you wish during the weekend and no miss out on this one.

Now if you think of questions you can always post them in the comment section and we will work on answering all of them.

Dec 12, 2010

Early bird draw for Room Upgrade

This is just a reminder that the draw for the 3 room upgrades will take place on January 31st, 2011 for all those registered by that date.

For those of you that have registered or that will be registering for the retreat don't forget to start stitching your name tag (3 x 4 inches) so that you aren't stressed about it just before April 1st.  It is fun to see all the different ideas that people come up with for their name tag. 

I know everyone is asking us stitchers what we want for Christmas so why not whisper to Santa that you would like some Gitta's Gift Certificates to put towards your retreat.

I have heard that the designers are busy with their workshop ideas so hope to have some news about them soon.

Dec 4, 2010

Registration number has increased

Today was the Open House at Gitta's and it was fun hearing all the talk about the Gitta's Getaway.

People that attended last year were talking about what the retreat was like and how much they are looking forward to the April 2011 event.  Hopefully more people will sign up now that they heard about all the fun that the group last year had.

The number of people registered for the retreat has increased to 25 so that is good news.  We have reached the half way mark for the number registered so will see how quickly the rest of the spots are filled.

Keep checking back here as well as the NeedleWorkers Marketplace website as they will be more news. 

Nov 23, 2010

Some goodies

Preparation for Gitta's Open Hpuse on December 4th, are keeping everyone busy in the shop. Kathrin and Barb have found a bit of time to shop for the Getaway. They have found some wonderful MaggieB mini bags to hold all the goodies from our sponsors, for the Welcome Packages at the Getaway.

Nov 18, 2010

2 more vendors for NeedleWorkers Marketplace

Two more vendors have been confirmed as part of the NeedleWorkers Marketplace.  Carolyn Mitchell and Christine Allan ( Swedish/Huck Weaving) have joined the Market to exhibit as well as teach.

Since our last update we have also have 4 more ladies sign up for the weekend which is great.  We currently are at 23 spots sold and look forward to seeing more sign ups.

Will continue to post information here about the weekend as it becomes available.

Nov 13, 2010

Gitta's Getaway Retreat 2011

It's hard to believe but it's time again to start thinking about the Gitta's Getaway Retreat.

Registration has opened and everyone is starting to get excited about another weekend away from all the stresses of home. The 2011 Retreat is April 1 - 3 and will be including a Needleworkers Marketplace. Tickets for the Needleworkers Marketplace will go on sale in February 2011.

Be sure to check out the link for the registration form if you are interesting in attending the entire weekend.

More information will be posted on here as it becomes available.

Jun 1, 2010

Thanks for the memories.

Gtta's first Getaway has come and gone, and everyone had a great time. Friday Night's Pajama Party was filled with games and prizes to encourage everyone to mingle and to get to know one another. After a couple of rounds of Get to know-each-other BINGO we were all good friends, and by Sunday phone numbers and e-mails were exchanged.


This weekend was exactly how I envisioned it. A fun stitching environment to met other stitchers and to our love of stitching. The project parade was phenomenal; each piece was different and inspirational.

Saturday afternoon, Charland Garvin of Charland Designs joined us with her daughter, Sydney for an afternoon of stitching. They had brought with them a collection of Charland's designs and their stunning silver charms. At dinner Charland's speech was both uplifting and moving.  Stitchers are a very special breed.

Thanks again to our sponsors
Xs and Ohs
The Victoria Sampler
Caron Collection
Gloriana
Colonial Needles
Doodling Around
Camus International
Coats and Clark
Brenda Franklin
Just Another Button Company
Picture This Plus
Jeanette Douglas
Kreinik
Sue Hillis
Ice Watch
Lizzie*Kate








May 15, 2010

Saturday Shenanigans - Part 2

My apologies for the long gap between posts. I'm afraid that my real job sometimes gets in the way of all the fun stuff - like posting up more pictures from the getaway!

On Saturday evening we held a fabulous banquet. Here's everyone sitting down and working away on a little puzzle we had at each place setting:

And another shot of some of our stitchers socializing (although I interrupted and asked them to look like they were having fun!):

We discovered that one of our stitchers chose to spend her birthday with us, so of course, her dessert came with a candle and a little song:


Naturally, we had more prizes to hand out. Here's a view of the table of goodies, before they were handed out:


Everyone received one of the packages on the left - the rest were all special prizes....
Kathrin spoke to the stitchers:


and she thanked Charland for spending the day with us by giving her these:

And finally the stitchers got their goody bags - it looks like they enjoyed opening them:


We had a lovely evening with lots of fun and friendship!

....next up I'll unearth the photos from Sunday......

May 3, 2010

Saturday Shenanigans - Part 1

Saturday dawned and the stitchers were all up and ready to go....The first workshop class started at 9 with Kathrin teaching her beautiful Dragonfly Scissor case. Here are some of the stitchers at work:And more stitchers at work:In part because we had soooo many prizes and in part because it's just fun - we had random prize draws through the morning and afternoon. Here's Sue (having just won a prize herself) getting ready to draw the next winner:

What was the strangest occurrence over the weekend were things like this:

Sue drew Connie's name from the box - the person sitting right next to her. At least 4 or 5 times when we did these random draws, the person drawing a name pulled the name of the person sitting right next to them. It was strange, but fun!
The Stitcher's Lounge was a busy place too:Lunch time seemed to arrive awfully quickly... The hotel tried to feed us well - look at our dessert! Creme Brulee - yummo!

By lunchtime folks were starting to think a little more about just who our Secret Stitcher would be. Our guessing time was over and it was time to find out.......

Our lounge got some beautiful additions while everyone was eating:
So who was it?

Haven't you figured it out?
No?
Maybe I should make you wait longer, although I imagine some of the attendees will let it out of the bag..............

Okay, I won't make you wonder any longer.
We were so pleased to have this wonderful lady, designer and stitcher join us:


Charland Garvin from Charland Designs

Charland, along with her daughter Sydney were kind enough to join us for the afternoon and evening. They brought along a huge quantity of Charland's beautiful sterling silver pieces along with a whole big bunch of Charland's charts.
We were so lucky to have them come and join us and we spent a relaxing afternoon doing a little shopping, a little stitching and a lot of talking.

Here are some more pictures of the lovely things Charland and Sydney brought with them:


There's still lots more pictures to come, but I think I'm already taxing blogger's ability to cope. I'll try to post more later today or tomorrow. I still haven't discussed the Banquet!

May 1, 2010

The Friday Night Pajama Party

The ladies all arrived and received their welcome packages. Nine o'clock came and so did the stitchers, ready to stitch and all comfy in their jammies:Lots and lots of projects were brought to show off to one and all:


Being that we're all newly met, we had to play Bingo our way - to fill out your card, you had to find people that matched up to our clues. Everyone had a different card and it wasn't as easy as it looks (finding someone whose favourite colour is orange proved difficult and someone who finished a TW wasn't simple either!):
Naturally, we had to have a contest for who had the best jammies, who brought the cutest stuffed animal, who had the best slippers and a special secret surprise winner!
So, without further ado:
Best Jammies
(her shirt had a list of 10 reasons to cross stitch!)
Best Slippers
(who can beat Killer Bunnies!)


Next up - cutest stuffed animal:


(we're not entirely sure just what it is, but it *is* cute!)

And lastly, our mystery winner. We included a curler for everyone in their welcome package. What we didn't tell them was that there was one lone blue curler. The person who wore their blue curler won a prize, just because...

We love the jammies too!

Time to see what today will bring!

Apr 28, 2010

Getaway Gossip and Secret Stitcher Clue #4

The days are quickly passing and the Getaway is just days away now! I can't believe how fast time is passing and how many things still need to be done... Then end is in sight now though and we're just about ready for all the stitchers that are coming to the retreat. There are so many great things in store for this coming weekend. Everyone in the shop is getting very excited.

We did a little math and we've estimated that just for attending the Getaway, folks are going to receive goodies worth a minimum of $150 - and that's just to start with. There will be lots of opportunity to win more goodies!

It's time for Clue #4 on our Secret Stitcher Guessing Game:

Our Secret Stitcher once owned a needlework shop.

Figured it out yet?

Apr 25, 2010

Getaway Gossip and Secret Stitcher Clue #3

Sorry for being a bit late posting Clue #3. Barbara and I have been working like crazy to get everything ready. I can't believe the Getaway is only 5 days away!

We had another sign up this past week (yipee!) and Kathrin tells me that she's heard from some of our attendees that they've been shopping for new PJs for the pajama party. I bought mine a couple of weeks ago. I found slippers today too.

So without further ado, here's Clue #3:

She has designed collaboration projects with other well-known designers.

Have you figured it out yet?

We'll be posting clue #4 on Wednesday as some stitchers will be travelling on Thursday and we don't want anyone to miss one.

Apr 23, 2010

There's stash and then there STASH

So today was spent doing some more sorting of things that have been donated to the getaway.... I finally remembered to bring my camera with me.

How about a preview?



Is that helpful? No? Maybe this one is better....



Still not helping much, is it? Well let me say, we've managed to cover 3 6ft. long tables with stash. And I didn't take pictures of what's hiding on the other side of the room.

So do you think our stitchers will be spoiled rotten? I sure do!

Don't miss out on all the goodies - sign up today - there's only a few rooms left!

Apr 16, 2010

Getaway Gossip and Secret Stitcher Clue #2

It's Friday again. Just a few Getaway updates and reminders.

Guess Who's Coming to Stitch Clue #2: Our Secret Stitcher favours samplers.

Don't forget to work on your Name Tag - you could win a prize!!!!! Don't loose any sleep though, just your name in a funky font will do.

There have been a few inquiries regardting the Random Act of Kindness draw. Only those preparing a gift pack will participate. It is not meant to cost you anything, just go through your stash, pick a few items that you do not need any more, but would be a nice new gift for a fellow stitcher ( approx. $20-40 value). Pack it in clear wrapping, and at Sunday Brunch you can then choose a different gift pack to take home.

Another item you will want to bring, is your entry for the Project Parade. We will have a tag for you to fill out at check in, with your name, project name, and why it is dear to you.

Other news:
This week we have finalized our room assignments for the Getaway Weekend and there are only a few rooms left. So if you're still thinking about how to spend your tax refund, why not spend it relaxing and stitching in a posh hotel with award-winning food.

The sponsor contributions have been phenomenal. No one will go home empty handed !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Check out the list on the left - and there's still more things coming in!

Apr 14, 2010

And the winner is......

We're running a bit behind, but we have had the draw for the last room upgrade.

Our winner is..................

Donna C.!!!!


Congratulations Donna! We hope you enjoy your room!

Apr 10, 2010

Getaway Update and Secret Stitcher Clue #1

The Getaway is fast approaching....and there are so many prizes and giveaways that have been donated that it's getting hard to keep track of them all. More are due to arrive in the next week as well. The sponsor list just keeps growing and growing!

I'm enjoying reading people's guesses for just who our secret stitcher is going to be. We'll be giving away a prize at the getaway for the person who guesses correctly. If more than one person guesses correctly, we'll draw from the correct answers to find the winner. That does mean that unless you're attending the retreat, you can't win a prize. But you can still guess!!!!!!! (and if there are enough on-line guesses of non-attendees, I will likely do my own draw and send my own prize to the winner, just because I'm a nice person and it's just fun!)

Anyway, for the next couple of weeks, I'll be posting a new clue to help everyone figure out just who might be coming to dinner!

CLUE#1:
Our Secret Stitcher has artistic prowess that goes beyond charted designs

Kathrin is in the process of getting set up to post to this blog herself, so she'll be mostly taking over the blog soon.

Don't forget that the draw for the upgraded room is on Monday, April 12th. Sign up today!

Mar 29, 2010

Another Giveaway for the Getaway...

One of our grand prize winners of a room upgrade has elected to turn down the prize. So, that means that we're going to have a second drawing for a free upgraded room. We only have one room up for grabs.

So, if you have registered already, you're in the draw. If you haven't registered yet, you have until April 12th to sign up. We'll draw a new winner then. Hurry!

We're just full of contests, aren't we? Don't forget to enter the 'Guess who's coming to dinner?' contest too (scroll down to the Mar. 22 post to find it)!

Mar 26, 2010

It Almost Feels Like Christmas.....

Barbara and I spent some time on Thursday at Gitta's sorting through the boxes and boxes of things that will be given away at the retreat. At last count we had 6 boxes (and they're not little) of wonderful things for all stitchers. The generosity of our sponsors has been overwhelming. The attendees should feel spoiled.

Here's a partial list of some of the folks who have donated things:
  • Lizzie*Kate
  • Ice Watch
  • Sue Hillis
  • Kreinik
  • Jeannette Douglas
  • Picture This Plus
  • Just Another Button Company
  • Brenda Franklin
  • Coats and Clark
  • Camus International
  • Doodling Around
  • Colonial Needles
  • Gloriana
  • Caron Collection
  • The Victoria Sampler
  • Xs and Ohs
I'm sure there's more, but I can't remember them all! What's stopping you from registering?

Mar 22, 2010

Guess who's coming to dinner.... (and to stitch!)

Kathrin has invited a celebrated designer to stitch with us in the Stitcher's Lounge on Saturday and stay for the Banquet on Saturday evening too!

Can you guess who it is? Comment on this post and you'll be entered to win a prize!

Here are some clues to help you figure it out:

  • Enjoys cross-stitch, but has dabbled in many different techniques
  • Started designing more than 20 years ago
  • Has taught at the CreativFestival
  • Resides in Canada

Good luck!

And speaking of prizes, Kathrin has really been outdoing herself finding us great, great gifts from a whole host of designers and manufacturers. Last time I looked in the boxes (yes, there's more than one), I spied things from JBW, Jeanette Douglas, Zweigart, Thea Dueck (The Victoria Sampler) and many more..... Have you signed up yet?

Feb 23, 2010

Drumroll please.........

I'm very pleased to announce the following winners of room upgrades for Gitta's Getaway:

Penthouse Suite: Donna G. (Ottawa)

Deluxe King #1: Teresa K. (Brampton)

Deluxe King #2: Eileen L. (Richmond Hill)

The winners will be notified by phone (if they haven't already been!).

Congratulations to our winners!

Don't forget that there's still time to sign up for the retreat!

Feb 22, 2010

The Winners are coming, the Winners are coming....

The draw was held. The winners names have been pulled from the lucky bag.

But they won't be announced until tomorrow evening.

It'll be worth the wait!

Jan 31, 2010

Registration Packs are in the mail!

Earlier this week all the registration packages for people who have registered for the getaway were mailed out. Anyone who registers in the store will be given a package right away.

Hope you enjoy reading more about what we're planning!

And, don't forget that draw for an Early Bird prize is coming up quickly! We'll be drawing for a free room upgrade in just 3 weeks - make sure you're registered before February 19th in order to win!

Jan 17, 2010

The Facebook Page is up & Class Details!

Kathrin has started a Facebook page to keep folks updated on what's going on next for the retreat. Check it out here. This blog will get updated as well as the Facebook page - so you won't miss anything if you're not on Facebook!

The first of the two classes that will be offered at the retreat has been decided upon and designed. Kathrin will be teaching a beautiful dragonfly scissor case and fob. There will be lots of speciality stitches used in this piece -
cross stitch using variegated thread, cross stitch over one, padded braid, half Rhodes, Blackwork, whipped backstitch, backstitch, Smyrna, fly stitch, and beading. It will be stitched on 28-count vintage linen with some gorgeous threads - silks, metallics and cottons.

Details on the second class will follow soon. It will be an exclusive class just for attendees of the retreat!

Don't forget to sign up before the early-bird deadline so you can be eligible for the draw for the room upgrade! And check out the pictures on the Waterside Inn's website - the rooms are gorgeous and so luxurious it's hard to believe we'll be just a 5 minute drive from the shop. Then again, maybe you'll love the locale so much, you'll never leave!

Jan 13, 2010

Contest News!

We're continuing to get things ready for the Spring retreat! Anyone who has registered already will be getting their registration package soon.

We're also going to have a contest! If you register and pay your deposit on or before February 19th, 2010 you'll be entered to win a free room upgrade to either a Deluxe King room or a Penthouse Suite!

If you've already registered for the retreat, you'll be automatically entered in the draw for the room upgrade.

The Registration Form is now online as well. You can download it here.