Monday, July 22, 2013

Tulsa!!

Hello Stitchy Friends!

I am back home after spending the last 5 days away. I went to the Silver Needle Retreat in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was the first time for me to attend a retreat. We had a great time! My sister, Karen and her daughter, Amy travelled from Minnesota, and met my niece, Barb and myself there.




It was Hot in Tulsa! But we had a great time!

Vickie Hastings from the Cross-Eyed Cricket presented the cross stitch portion of the retreat. She has been designing charts for 31 years! It was interesting to hear her story. She had a Halloween project designed for us to work on.




This photo is of the stitched model.

I had to get a picture of Vickie with one of my favorite designs




A Walk in the Woods. I have stitched this one, as well as my sister. One of my stitching friends in our stitch group has done this one three times, as gifts for family and friends.... Vickie shared her design process from idea and inspiration stage to finished chart.




She was very friendly and gracious. I had to purchase a chart for an autograph!

We also took finishing classes by the famous Mona. I learned some new techniques







We also were treated to a day of fun with the girls from Just Another Button Company. I will never look at another one of their buttons and not appreciate the work and effort that goes into creating it!!!

We spent a whole day learning of the button making process and made some of our own.




We worked as teams, these were the results of our group. We created yellow flower buttons.




We also had time to create random designs.




These were made by some of the other groups. We were able to take home an assortment of buttons made by each group.




These ropes of clay are waiting to be sliced into buttons and baked.

It was a wonderful retreat, Lindy of the Silver Needle and her staff made sure everyone had a great experience. Between the classes and the shopping, we had a great time!!

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Sunday, July 14, 2013

We have progress

Hello Stitchy friends!

I just wanted to share a quick picture...we no longer have a headless woman here!




I was hot here today, so I found some time to spend in my stitching chair. So, I have to share the progress!

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Saturday, July 13, 2013

Summer is flying by...

Hello Stitchy Friends!

I can't believe it's been so long since my last post... I apologize. Things have been flying by at a fast speed it seems.

Today is bittersweet, our daughter Holly, has moved out from home into her first apartment. We will miss her being here. But, she was very excited to make this big step. She recently got a job also, which she was thrilled about. However, I should say she is staying in our home town, so it's not like we won't see her often.

Our son asked me what I was going to do with the empty room..without hesitation I said craft room! Lol. He laughed and said you've been thinking about that for awhile...

Mike and I will be adjusting to our 'empty nest'. Of course not so empty with four cats and Harry....

The times they are a changing.

Things have quieted down here late this afternoon, so thought I would have time to share some stitching updates with you.

The Melicent sampler is finished!


I just finished giving it a press so it would be photo worthy.

I of course had to find something new to start...




This has been in my stash for awhile. I didn't want to stitch it on 35 count linen over 1 as the pattern suggested.... That's just too small for me to stitch comfortably.

So I found some linen in my stash....




And I have a start. It has been fun so far. Sorry for wrinkles and hoop marks but you can see my progress.

I have other Americana themed pieces, so this will fit in nicely with those.

I took something to my LNS in Clinton for framing, so I will share a picture when I get it back.

I am getting quite excited because you see, on Wednesday this coming week I am leaving for my very first stitching retreat! Months ago, my sister proposed the idea when she saw The cross eyed cricket would be featured at a retreat at the Silver Needle in Tulsa, OK! So, we talked it over and decided this would be doable. Our niece from California is joining us and my niece from Minnesota. So, the four of us will be Oklahoma bound soon. I will share pictures and news from the retreat on our return.

Harry got a visit to the groomer last week, so he's sporting a shorter look for summer.


We also made it up to Michigan for a short weekend trip before the Fourth of July.




Mike enjoyed himself getting some pictures.

Happy stitching!

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