PBS 2004 Retreat

The First Annual Portland Bead Society Retreat was a huge success! It surpassed my most imaginative dreams. I wanted it to be exciting but relaxing, busy but slow, and so much more, which it was. We had 42 attendees, four of whom were from the Northwest Bead Society. The workroom space was a little crowded, but with the success of this year, next year’s space doubled. Mo’s restaurant provided two very delicious buffet lunches.

We began with a nametag game. Three of the nametags were different and prizes were given to those who went around and found the differences. This got everyone talking to each other and learning names. Prizes were donated by Beadcats, Bead Happy, Dava Beads, My Tyme Beads, Tambrook Beads and individual donors. Tammy Hayne and Becky Hergert gave two gift certificates to a local bead store. Without the generosity of these donors our games wouldn’t have been as much fun. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. Periodically we played Bead Bingo. Bead related items replaced numbers on the game cards and we had to have the item at the retreat in order to claim it. Again, prizes were won.

On Saturday, our members gave mini workshops. The presentations were one hour or less. Topics were: Thread conditioning, Peyote tube beads, Anemone bracelet, French beaded flowers, T shirt Ndebele start and easy peyote start. Saturday evening a very informative forum was held with Toni McCarthy, Cheron Gelber, Charlene Morrison and Miki Chown discussing “Pricing and Marketing Your Work”. Thank you ladies for a job well done. The Hat Contest was delightful. Participants were asked to bring their hats in a black plastic bag. The bags were placed on a table and unveiled only when everyone had arrived. The hats were then removed and numbers were placed on them for voting. The three winners were: First place: Carol Perrenoud-$100.00: Second place: Fiori Cippoletti-$50.00: Third Place Jeannine O’Hagen -$25.00. Congratulations ladies. All the hats were fantastic, so voting wasn’t easy! I have already received several suggestions for next year’s contest. We had planned a Show and Tell with everyone showing their work and talking about it but in the process of events, it got forgotten…next year.

Our last event was an exchange of items we had made ourselves. The wrapped items were placed on a table, numbers were given out, and as your number was called, you chose a gift. Needless to say, the items were all beautiful treasures (mine was a pair of earrings). It was difficult to leave on Sunday and many hugs, addresses and numbers were exchanged as new beading buddies were made. All of this would not be possible if not for the help of Karmen Schmidt and Jennie Gallagher - my committee and all of you that attended. Thank you so much. I can hardly wait until next year!