The Silver Needle--wow!!

Last Thursday I flew to Tulsa, OK for a class with Amy Bruecken and Miranda Weeks at The Silver Needle, and I am really glad that I went outside my comfort zone to attend because it was a blast!

Amy had mentioned on FB that this would be the last class that she would have, then at the retreat she told us that she was actually going to be retiring soon, so I am doubly glad that I went and had the chance to meet her--she's a hoot, and so nice! Her project was called Spring in a Jar, and I was able to finish it a few hours before the end of the retreat:

I took the opportunity to grab quite a few of Amy's charts while they're still available (I might have gone just a bit overboard, but I don't want to regret not getting ones I really love!):

She even finished the bottom of my little chick pillow to show me how to do it, then I was able to complete the bunny pillow myself. Here we are at the end of the event (doesn't she just look like a fun person?):

The other part of the retreat was getting to meet Miranda Weeks of Weeks Dye Works and dabbling with dyeing some different materials. It would have been great to have had more time to play with the colors, but space was limited and time ended up being too short to try as many colors as I would have liked. We dyed one piece of linen and velveteen each on the first day, then some floss and four pieces of wool on the last day (and received a carrier bag and a pack of wool and floss as extra goodies):

I wish I had had a piece of opalescent linen, because this blue/black combo is one of my favorites (Sugar Maple Fabrics used to have a color called Cursus that I was trying to replicate, though hers had a softer/smoother transition between the colors):

This photo was shared on The Silver Needle's FB page and shows Amy, Lindy (the shop owner) and Miranda with everyone's linen and velveteen pieces:

The shop itself is absolutely amazing! I was going to take some photos Saturday afternoon before I left, but the wool dyeing went until the store was going to close, so I didn't get a chance to do that. The stitching room/She Shed was very nice, with good lighting and really comfortable chairs:

I would definitely consider attending another class/retreat at The Silver Needle, so I'll be watching to see what they have available next year since I'm already going to Charlotte for retreats in July and October this year. Apparently, my dog Murphy was pretty inconsolable while I was gone, so he's really going to be unhappy when I leave in July and am gone for a day longer.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!