Early-ish fall seems to find the MidWest folks getting together each year, on a now-annual basis... here's this years outcome, held in Ft Wayne, Indiana..... thanks to Anne W and her "StitchInners":

From Anne: The first to arrive was Jane from Ohio.  We had a nice time introducing ourselves to each other, and I even got to meet her son and grandson.  Her grandson had a wonderful time meeting my rabbit, "Whiskey".  I'm sure his mother had many questions about what kind of house I had when her little boy got back to her talking about whiskey when she asked him what had gone on!  Anyway, we didn't waste any time but got right down to "talking temari".  So much to say and so little time.  Next to arrive was the "Freshman from Chicago" Gloria and her husband (who can divide a C10, by the way), Ray.  We got the introductions out of the way and got down to sharing almost immediately.  Sue H. arrived next after dodging bad traffic from Columbus to Fort Wayne.  Then, Eric got here and we got down to some serious eating before we broke out the stitching.  Tom cooked wonderful hamburgers and hotdogs on the grill, and we also had the regular "picnic" stuff.
 
Gloria and Jane both stayed in hotels, so they left "early", but Sue, Eric and I stayed up until the wee hours doing more talking than stitching, I'm afraid, but we had lots to catch up on...
 
Saturday morning we started our C8 sampler balls.  Since there were only 5 of us, we each had to do 2 faces on one of the temari, but, they all got finished beautifully.  We had a hard time convincing a certain "freshman" that there weren't any "tricks" to stitching and that there really isn't a "wrong" design....  Stitching skills are stitching skills, and unless you're trying to reproduce a certain pattern, go with it and have fun.  (THAT'S the trick!).  Gloria and Ray brought some wonderful things from an Italian "deli" to share with us for lunch.  Knowing I have Italian heritage really spurred their generosity and we had ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS meats and cheese for lunch.  (The tastes took my right back to my Nanna's kitchen when I was a kid!)  Sue brought all kinds of Japanese treats- red bean "cookies" which sound weird, but really are delicious-and wonderful gummy candy.  So, along with the "American" lunch meat I already had on hand for our meal, we really had an "International buffet!"  After eating we got right back to stitching.  Sue demonstrated dividing a C10 for Gloria while Ray caught it on video, and Eric made my little "measuring devices" for everyone.  I handed out pouches of fibers to everyone, then we went to a local thread shop to find more.  SOMEBODY complained about having to buy $60 worth of fibers to go along with what was in the pouch I gave him, but, I won't mention any names!
 
Supper was lasagna and cheesecake with the help of Sam's Club.  I didn't want to spend time cooking-there was too much fun to be had, and I didn't want to miss any of it!  After that, we exchanged our take home color GITS, took pictures, then Jane and Ray and Gloria went back to their respective hotels.  Sue, Eric and I didn't stay up quite to late, but, it was still after midnight.  At one point in the evening Ginny called to check on her "chicks" to make sure we were behaving to a certain extent....(Mother hens will do that!)
 
Sunday morning we had brunch, took some last minute pictures of temari, and laughed a LOT more.  None of us wanted to quit talking....(not just ME for a change...)  However, we finally got everyone loaded up and on their ways and our wonderful time together was over, but certainly not forgotten!
 
Temari seems to attract the BEST people, don't you think?  :>) 
 
From Gloria: I was fortunate to be invited to Ann W's  home for a stitch-in.  Ann, Jane W., Eric C & Sue H were there and they have all become my sensei.  I learned so much and now my brain is overcrowded but happy.  What a great time we had.  Ray asked me on the way  home, "Well, did you get anything out of this weekend?"       answer:  I had a wonderful time, I met greatly generous people who plied me with their knowledge and I could actually understand their language!  It's not easy being The Freshman from Chicago but now I feel I can reach out and get a pat on the back every once in a while.  My daughter and my mother loved what I brought home, my mother looked at the 8-ball and gave me a look which I interpreted as, 'so you think you can do this?'  We had lots of laughs.  Tom, you routed us perfectly.  What a beautiful countryside and the Amish community is like a picture book.  Thanks for the tour...a Must go now, I have at least three balls I have to work on!.....The Freshman from Chicago, Gloria A

From Jane: We did have a great time didn't we!  I enjoyed every minute.  My only regret is that I didn't get to look at all the books and Eric's Temari. (Anne called us for dinner and that lasagna really smelled good). Oh well, we will just have to do this again!

From Eric: Just wanted to toss out that I made it home safe and sound.  I also wanted to thank everyone for such a delightful and inspiring time.  It has been WAY too long since I enjoyed the company of other temari makers.  And Anne, special appreciation for opening you house and hospitality to us.  What a blessing to all of us! My best to all your families!

From Sue H: Glad to hear everyone returned safely.  My journey, too, was safe and sound. Many thanks to Anne for hosting another fabulous stitch-in.  It was a delight to meet two more of our TT family.  I never fail to return from these stitch-ins with more ideas and inspiration; not to mention the bonding and camaraderie that gets fostered.