Mira, Mira on my wall, a recap of the 2013 Mirabilia Minions Retreat

OMG, I met Nora Corbett! And she's awesome. And she likes my angel RR. Heaven, for me, was in Greenville, South Carolina this weekend as I attended the Mirabilia Minions Retreat organized by the awesome, amazing and fabulous Leslie of Under the Sea Fabrics.

There were about 45 of us there, from most parts of the US and we were two from Canada. We laughed, we shopped at one of the cutest and friendliest needlework stores I've seen, Panda's Crossing, we mobbed and fawned all over Nora, we fondled fabric, we ate, we laughed, we even cried a couple of times. Oh, and of course, we stitched, though some more than others. I fall into the category of "talked too much, didn't stitch much" and I let myself be talked into a new start. Leslie had made arrangements for copies of the newest Mirabilia pattern, Gypsy Mermaid, and I had ordered her along with the threads and embellishments called for. And then I found this amazing piece of fabric that Leslie had dyed, Volcano, on 28 count opalescent Lugana. I had been thinking navy blue for Gypsy, but the fabric was so beautiful and the colours amazing against it. Plus, it was right there!

And so I've started Gypsy Mermaid. Below is my WIP, which is pretty much all the stitching I did this weekend. I'm also including a pic of my other new project, Siren and the Shipwreck. That's on a piece from Sunny Dyes, Hydrangea Garden. I decided to use Spring Glade for another Mira mermaid, Merchant Mermaid. What can I say, I like Mira mermaids!

In the next few days, I'll post pics from the retreat after I've sorted and organized them. I will also post pics of all my new stash -- expect your computers to freeze up as I was spoiled this weekend and also bought quite a bit. And I will have pics of my new, freaking amazing artwork by Nora.

Like I said, Greenville was heaven.

P.S. Full disclosure, the title of my post was borrowed from the t-shirts some of the local attendees had done up. Don't you love it?