2003 Goddess Getaway Weekend Revisted

STITCHING GODDESS GETAWAY 2003
REVISITED
The 2nd Annual Stitching Goddess Getaway 2003 was held at the Empress Hotel in La Jolla, hosted by Bernice Abernathy of Needle Nook of La Jolla and David McCaskill with guest teachers Libby Sturdy from Illinois and Gay Ann Rogers from California. This year's attendees came from all parts of the country, from as far away as New York and as close as La Jolla. The evening's festivities began with a reception catered by the Manhattan Restaurant with Jerry Abernathy, Bernice's husband, at the keyboard. Later that evening, a coronation ceremony was held to welcome the Stitching Goddesses for 2003. The Goddesses were presented with silver and pearl crowns to be worn on their lapels, a porcelain keepsake box with a custom designed needlepoint design and a basket of snacks for their rooms. The returning Goddesses from 2002 were also presented with rose corsages.
Cassie Prescott and David	Shirley Fetterolf and David	Jerry Abernathy at the piano
Lori Mendez, who brought her husband Rick to golf while she stitched	Jan Slonkosky and David	Liz Lennert and Ginger McConnell proposing a toast

Libby Sturdy and Jerry Abernathy

Mother and Daughter, Lillian Kennedy and Sue Vander Noor with David

Over the next three days the Goddesses attended classes. The classes were held in the banquet rooms of the Empress Hotel and at Needle Nook. Gay Ann Rogers had designed a jeweled box top with stitching accessories.
Liz Lennert, Carolyn Elworthy, Mary Hamilton and Bernice	Gay Ann with her class	Pat Britton
Carol Kaarle	Ginger McConnell	Leslie Durst
Carolyn Elworthy	Mary Hamilton	Liz Lennert
Leslie Durst, Carolyn Elworthy and Liz Lennert		Carol Courington

Libby Sturdy and David co-designed Mrs. Santa and Her Kitchen and each taught individual classes on Sunday.

Libby and David with their class

David teaching a technique to Lillian Kennedy, Sue Vander Noor, Lori Mendez and Shirley Fetterolf

Libby assisting
Sally Williams

Shirley Fetterolf

Mary Ramsey with David

Sumi Nolan

Ann Upton

Sue Vander Noor with David

Each afternoon the classes took a veggie and dip break with door prize drawings.
"See no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil" while waiting to hear their names drawn are: Leslie Durst, Liz Lennert and Ginger McConnell	Leslie Durst	Carolyn Elworthy
Jan Slonkosky	Mary Ramsey	Pat Britton and Carol Kaarle
Carol Courington	Cassie Prescott	Ann Upton
Sumi Nolan	Katherine Becker	Liz Lennert

On Sunday evening our farewell dinner was held at the Manhattan Restaurant.
Jerry Abernathy, Sally Williams and Shirley Fetterolf	From the shop, Pat Wagner and Jacque Welpott with Ann Upton and Libby Sturdy	Mary Hamilton, Cassie Prescott, Pat Britton, Carol Kaarle, Chris Fellner

During dinner, the waiters not only served a wonderful dinner, but they also serenaded the Goddesses with Italian operatic arias and popular sing-a-longs.
Cynthia Collins	Katherine Becker

Throughout the weekend, David and Bernice evaluated activities and efforts. After dinner, awards were given to all of the participants.
David gave Bernice a jewelry box as a thank you for being his co-host	Carolyn Elworthy with her prize for winning the "Avid Collector" award	Sally Williams was awarded her prize after winning "The Devoted Wife" award by attending the retreat and running home to care for her husband
Cynthia Collins with her prize for winning the "Came The Farthest" award		Shirley Fetterolf with her "Stitching Excellence" award
Sumi Nolan proudly won "Twinkle In Your Eye" award	Ginger McConnell and Liz Lennert shared "The Devoted Friends" award	Lori Mendez proudly held her new tote bag after winning "The Excess Baggage" award (her husband)
Chris Fellner won "The Foot in My Mouth" award after saying something that left David speechless. And if you know David, that was a major achievement!	Mary Hamilton won a Furreal cat after winning "The Funniest Personality", the second year in a row	Gay Ann Rogers was award the "Ms. Congeniality Wanna Be" award

Gay Ann's Groupies:
Gay Ann Rogers, Leslie Durst, Carolyn Elworthy, Ginger McConnell and Liz Lennert

David was presented dead flowers and a ribbon crown from Gay Ann Rogers as an inside joke after Gay Ann tried unsuccessfully to solicit votes to become Ms. Congeniality and lost.

Voted Ms. Congeniality by the other participants, Lillian Kennedy was crowned and awarded the top honor of the weekend, Stitching Goddess 2003, and given a needlepoint pillow.

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