I am back at St. Peter’s Abbey for the 13th annual Saskatchewan Stitches Conference, a wonderful retreat for those whose live to knit, sew and quilt. This is my room again this year…I see they redecorated my room with new textiles! Our daily routine here is scheduled by the bells in the tower. Bells for the call to early morning masses, bells for lunch and bells in the evening…74 bells in the evening, I might add! After a few days, I scarcely hear the bells anymore, as they have become a part of our daily life. So I am grabbing life by the bells for the next two weeks!
The jewel in the crown of the colony is St. Peter’s Cathedral. Yes, a cathedral right here in the middle of Muenster (population 212) which doubles in size when the Sttitches Confernece is on!!!
Inside are the most incredible paintings on the dome of the altar.
There is St. Benedict standing at the right hand of St. Peter (upon whom the Catholic Church was built)
Benedict founded the order of Benedictine monks, which owns the monastery and all the lands around here.
In this above photo you can see part of Father Demetrius, of the Order of St. Benedict, who is our main contact at the monastery and our tour guide for the cathedral and the Abbey. Father D as we fondly call him, has been our guide for the 13 years of the Stitches Conference!
I teach bra-making here, not in the cathedral of course, but in St. Peter’s College which is on the monastic grounds! This year we have had a 3 day bra retreat as well as the regular 8 days of other bra classes. That means the students can work on whatever they want but I am here to help them with it. It’s a great opportunity for students to get some of those more challenging bra designs sewn up and fitted.
One student decided to cover foam cups with a stretch silk fabric. I never recommend woven fabrics – (just because it says “stretch” doesn’t mean it is a knit) but she was determined! Since woven fabrics won’t stretch enough to cover the cup seamlessly, we had to add small gathers to the bottom half.
She did 2 nice neat roll over edges and that was no mean feat using woven fabric! But the plan also incLudes lace over the bottom half to cover the gathered area…something like this.
This is another bra the same student whipped up! This gal had some amazing bras!
Abby life, Bra-making and Cathdrals – the ABCs of life here at the Stitches Conference. So once again, I am grabbing life by the bells, and a more heavenly place, I can’t imagine!
Next year for me. I wanted to come this year but life got in my way.8-(
It is a wonderful venue and Saskatchewan's best kept secret! Although it does get great local publicity. There are about 300 women attending the conference (and a few men who knit or quilt). Most are local or who do not need lodging but for those of who stay over, the Abbey guest wing is a great place to stay, unwind and sew!
We have attendants that come 5000 kms to attend (like me for example) and one gal from the east coast, one from Denver and maybe soon, one from Sweden! Who knows?
It looks like a beautiful place to hold a retreat, and sew/knit/make bras! How many people are registered for the conference? People are so lucky to be able to work with you in person.
Fascinating! If I lived closr than 8000 km away I'd be there in a shot! Have a great time.