We had a delightful auturm Stitch-In; Anne, Peg and Meagan arrived on Friday (Eric is usually a part of these things but, unfortunatley had a conflict he could not reschedule).   We thought it might be fun if we explored outside our “comfort zone” so we each built a temari that was considerably larger than what we are used to working with.  Needless to say, there was a bit of grumbling about “slave labor”, “too much exercise”, “unusual cruelty”, etc.  (giggles) But in the end, everyone seemed to be quite amazed at what got created.  (Susan DID bring out an assortment of “vibrators” to help ease the sore shoulders after the wrapping… as Meagan exclaimed “I didn’t think it was one of “THOSE” kinds of parties!”… However, the shiatsu wand, “Embracer Relaxer” (that wraps around the shoulders) and the little 3-legged model seemed to do the job just fine!).  As 2 AM approached, we all decided that maybe we should send these on to Eric, since he was not able to come – so he could “have a ball” too!  Alas, due to the size of these things, it will be a while before they are completed.  I know for sure it will take me a few days to finish just the markings.  We did not make anything quite as large as Karen St. Jean’s.  Anne, Peg and Meagan’s are about the size of a very large grapefruit or duck-pin bowling ball, mine is Buster’s twin sister – about the size of a basketball.

        Though we were munching on some delight  and as 2:30 finally approached, we decided that maybe we should get to bed.  We got up about 10ish, and had a good breakfast and continued with the marking and for some, stitching, and "relaxing".   Meagan had to leave about 1 on Saturday, at which point Peg, Anne, Sue and Fujio (Sue's hubby) left to visit the local Japanese bakery, gift and grocery stores.  We had a nice lunch in the grocery store (has a small noodle-type place in the back).  Totally ran out of time to visit any of the thread stores.  Upon returning home, by 6 pm, we’d determined we weren’t very hungry so just continued to munch for "supper" and had much more stitching, laughing and story-telling until 2AM.

        Unfortunately Sunday brought an unexpected turn; one of us had come down with a bug during the night.  We got her tucked up in bed with extra blankets, buckets, Imodium, Tylenol, and ice water and left her to sleep (when she could) for the rest of the day and night.  Our remaining players stayed through breakfast, and we had a wonderful chat, with things winding up just after noon. Thankfully by Monday AM, our sick-bay resident was feeling a bit better, but still very done-in.  Her hubby came to pick her up (driven by their friend).  While we had offered to try and drive her home on Sunda, she just wasn’t up to it.  Monday she was definitely in better condition to travel.   So, here we go with some of the photos,  and all-in-all, it was a great weekend! (and yes, our sickie settled in at home and is all better.....)