2025 Black Cat Makerie : Imaginative Embroidery with Adriana Torres

IMAGINATIVE EMBROIDERY WITH ADRIANA TORRES

Three remarkably inspired days of creative nourishment through needle and thread, delicious chef-made farm-to-table meals, and a beautiful community celebrating awe through collective effervescence. 

DAY 1 : THE FOREST ALPHABET
On the first day of this retreat, for which no prior experience is necessary, we will explore a new alphabet inspired by the flora and fauna of the forest. We’ll learn many embroidery stitches, such as Colcha stitch, Towel stitch, Quaker stitch, Argentinian Knot, Argentinian square knot, and The Argentinian Picot, among others. These are brand new stitches that Adriana will share for the first time during this tour through Europe, America and Asia.

DAY 2 : PLAY AND STITCH
If you love embroidery but don't know what to design or feel blocked when it's time to embroider, this session is for you. Whether you're an expert stitcher or have never held a needle in your life, this session could be the opportunity you've been waiting for. Through a playful game, Adriana will guide you to create your own version of a sweater-chair, reframing any insecurity as energy that guides our creativity and imagination.

DAY 3 : DESIGN AND STITCH YOUR OWN LETTERS
During the third day, Adriana will share with her process for designing an alphabet inspired by nature. We will have the opportunity to design letters by observing the shape of the surrounding elements and seasonal blooms at Black Cat Farm, ultimately building up to stitching a word. We will apply the knowledge learned during the previous days from embroidery stitches to shapes, from colors to composition, to create one-of-a-kind pieces of work, and also the knowledge to develop your own alphabet.

VENUE

The workshop will be held on Black Cat Organic Farm, the most ambitious farm-to-table operation in the United States. James Beard Award finalist Chef Eric Skokan and his wife Jill have created a 425-acre organic and regenerative farm that supplies the bounty of their farm dinners, the downtown Boulder restaurant Bramble & Hare, the recipient of a coveted and rare Michelin Green Star, which honors restaurants that demonstrate true commitment to sustainability, CSA’s, and a Boulder Farmers’ Market Booth. Depending on the weather, classes will either be held in a renovated 19th-century cozy boutique barn that used to hold a community blacksmith shop, or on a brick verandah surrounded by gardens and acres of fields of vegetables, herbs, legumes, and grains. Mountains capped with snow for much of the year decorate the farm’s western horizon. The setting itself, however, is extremely pastoral, with sloping fields full of vegetables, fruit trees, a broad strawberry patch, and flowers everywhere when in season. Black Cat Organic Farm’s Toulouse geese, Akbash guard dogs, and strutting groups of chickens wander the property all day, evidence of the constant symbiotic relationship of life on a working farm.

CUISINE

Using Black Cat’s Certified Organic farm as a source of creativity, Chef Eric Skokan creates an award-winning cuisine vibrant with seasonality. The culinary team behind Bramble crafts our Black Cat Makerie meals, all of which closely reflect the seasons. The kitchen draws heavily from the farm’s more than 250 varieties of organic vegetables, legumes, grains, herbs and flowers, as well as its large flock of heritage sheep and its robust population of heritage pigs, paving the way for a limitless palette of flavors, colors, and textures from which to build each food experience. From artichokes to chickpeas, tomatoes to arugula, basil to wheat to winter squash and much more, Black Cat Organic Farm nurtures it all, transforming these stellar ingredients into gorgeous dishes. Each day of the retreat begins with a delicious homemade morning snack, followed by a hearty, fresh-from-the-fields lunch, and a delectable afternoon nibble. New this year! As an optional add-on, one very special farm dinner will be shared with our retreat community as part of the Black Cat Makerie experience. Surrounded by pastoral beauty and pampered with warm hospitality, guests who attend Black Cat Farm Dinners enjoy culinary experiences unlike any other in Colorado. The farm team devotes hours every day to harvesting these ingredients, then crafting them into outstanding dishes that mirror what is thriving in the fields. Many guests dine in private, glass-walled cabanas spread out across the farm, with views of rolling hills, organic agricultural fields and snow-capped mountains. We can’t wait for you to experience it all for yourself.