Shepherd's Retreat, Day 2

Today we had to hike down the hill to get to our class—it looked harder than it was. Merry Cox was our teacher and her project was "Sweet Little Blossoms." We always enjoy learning from her, especially her finishing technique--she is justly well-known for her finishing. This project consisted of a small bag, a needlecase, pin-keep, and scissors' case. We worked on Queen, or Rococo stitch, Nun’s stitch—I already knew both of those—and Buttonhole Wheels, which I didn’t know. During class we got another very adorable charm designed by Merry. Each teacher designed a charm for her class and I thought we wouldn’t get the charms from the classes we didn’t attend, but I found out later we could buy those, so I did. Two of them were sold out, though, so I don't have them, yet--they're on their way.

After class, lunch from the Pizza Hut next to the hotel. They’re doing construction on the path there, so a little hiking was involved I should have taken a picture. We had to climb down into a culvert and then back up the other side. Although the hotel is very nice, the service is lacking, and this is one example. A sign indicating the closure, and a suggested detour would have been nice.

Oh, yes, and we had to sign up for our banquet table—they are all named after Jane Austen characters. We chose Colonel Brandon’s table. There was a run on the Colin Firth and Mr. Darcy tables--we had no chance to sit there, lol.

After lunch we had much free time, which we spent napping and stitching. Then off to dinner at Zoom. This is Robert Redford's Park City restaurant. It is most famous for its macaroni and cheese, but I've had that before--it is really good--and tried something else. I had the 5-spice salmon. Generally I avoid seafood in a landlocked state, but Redford's restaurants are an exception. The food is always fresh and good. This was no exception. It came with a mango salsa, wilted spinach, asparagus, and mashed potatoes. Those were almost, but not quite, as good as Dan's, but they were much fluffier. We suspect a ricer was involved. I have to admit that, as good as it was, I wish I had ordered Nancy's dish: Halibut crusted with herbs and asiago. Same sides. That was what my taste buds really wanted. Dessert was the best creme brulee I have ever had. Firm enough, and supersilky. White chocolate with lavender.

Then back to the hotel for a lecture by Jacqueline Holdsworth of Needleprint, on the Ackworth Samplers. I have to admit I'm not particularly a sampler person. The bands can be a little boring (not to stitch, but sometimes to look at), and a whole lot of antique samplers make me wonder why I'm supposed to be impressed. Because they're old? Certainly not the composition or technique. But these--these could convert me. They are amazing. Ackworth was a Quaker, co-ed school founded in the late 18th century (1779, I think), in England. It was for children, "not of affluence," and the girls stitched these complex, well-designed, well-stitched, beautiful samplers on their own time. I believe Jacqueline said the girls entered school at 8 and left at 14, so they were pretty young.

And because this was another retreat session, we got another charm and another project: "Quaker Wreath," charted by Jacqueline from the samplers we had been looking at. This project came in a beautiful bag--I chose pink. Yes, I've turned into a girly-girl who loves pink in my middle age.

Oh, and we had a wonderful chocolate mousse in a chocolate cup. It was good; too bad I'd already had the creme brulee:

And the lemon tart? With the shortbread crust? It didn't travel too well. By the time we got to it, next morning, the crust was too soggy to eat, or even find. Oh, well, I'm sure it was good.