Vacation Week!

Hello dear stitchy friends.

I am pleased to share our first day of vacation with you. Mike and I are off all week. We don't have any big trip planned, but intend to take some smaller day trips this week. We started the week off with one of my picks ;). Spring Green, Wisconsin and The Country Sampler!


I hadn't been to this beautiful shop for a long time...! It is about 3.5 hours north of our house. What a treat to visit again. Even tho I am not 'into' quilting I do enjoy beautiful quilts. They have lots of them here! I did pick up just a couple of charts tho,




I saw this Star chart somewhere online awhile back and really like it. I found it as a kit. It's by Summer House stitche works. The other chart is
Liberty House by With Thy Needle and Thread. You can see my Autumn piece stitched in the background.

I decided to stitch Needleworker after my last finish. Here is my progress




It is going fairly quickly and has been fun to work on.

Before we left for Spring Green today, I had to get up early...I had made a 7 am grooming appointment for Harry... I don't know what I was thinking when I did this! But I was having second thoughts about my sanity when on first day of vacation my alarm went off at 6 am! Mike just groaned and rolled over. I got up and showered and off we went. I have to admit we got it out of the way early! But, Harry looked so handsome after he was done!




I had to share a picture of my two handsome guys!

Well it will be interesting to see what the rest of the week brings. But today was a great start, plus the beautiful Fall weather I've been waiting for has finally arrived. I hope it's here to stay for awhile.

Happy stitching friends!

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Finished!

Hello Stitching friends!

I just have a stitching finish this afternoon! The Sunday NFL start allowed me the chance to finish this piece.




Flag Day by With Thy Needle and Thread. I'm not sure how I will finish this. I should probably frame it, since it would fit in well with my other patriotic themed pieces in our computer room. Some of my friends at stitch group were bothered by the fact that the woman has no eye.... But it's folk art... I think it will be fine the way she is.

Now, I can think about what I want to start next.... I have a few choices ;) I will have fun pulling out some charts and seeing what I need to be ready to start.

I finished a great book last night in the early morning hours.... How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny. I gave it 5 stars on goodreads. I think she is one of my favorite authors. If you haven't started these yet, I would start with her first one in the series, Still life. They are mysteries set in Canada.

It's funny how often a cross stitch finish happen on the same day.... A new start for both reading and stitching. How fun is that?!

I will have to organize a new start before Monday night since I'm hosting our stitching group at our house..

Happy Stitching!


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Stitching updates

Hello Stitching Friends!

I don't know where the time gets to between posts! I have been busy stitching among other things.

I'm very pleased to say I finished my retreat piece!





With the speciality stitches it was a bit fussy for me. I don't stitch them that often, but I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. I don't seem to be able to get the picture to rotate, sorry!

Then I have been working on the patriotic woman with the sheep.




She is coming along. I've been enjoying working on her.

I also was able to pick up a recently framed finish from my LNS.




I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.




The frame is really pretty.







Harry keeps us entertained. I've been trying to get out several times with him to the park for a walk. It's good for both of us. He is my perfect walking partner with his short legs and slow gait... :).

Hope all of you are finding some quality stitching time my friends.

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Friday tea

Hello Stitchy Friends!

I just have to share this beautiful tea party with you.

I was invited to a good friend's house for tea after work today.










What a lovely start to the weekend!

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Monday updates

Hello Stitching Friends!

I haven't posted in awhile again. The time seems to get by me at a quick pace. I have been stitching tho. So many projects are waiting for my attention. I am usually a one project at a time girl. I guess my fear of having too many things going at once is that I won't get back to them and finish them.

But with the retreat last month and starting the Halloween Cricket piece, I felt like I needed to stay with it awhile. Here's where I am currently




I have been diligently following instructions. There are speciality stitches that we were instructed to leave until last. That is why the witch has no mouth and eyes are not finished. I started on the diamonds at the bottom last night. Can you believe it was my first time with working with silk threads? Some of the diamonds are stitched with two different variegated silks. What smooth stitching! I may have to splurge and use silks once in awhile!




You may remember this was the project that was in my hoop before the retreat. She is going to be kind of largish but wasn't up to stitching over 1 on 35 count. The eyes are getting older and find that much over 1 stitching to be a big challenge! Especially in the evenings.

There are so many pretty designs out there, and I've seen more that are due to be released at St. Charles. But I have to keep telling myself I have more than enough in my stash to last through a few lifetimes! If we lived long enough to stitch what's in our stash, we wouldn't die for many many years!!!

Well the washing machine needs reloading and dryer needs to be emptied so I best take care of that.

Here's hoping for a good week ahead for all of you, and Happy Stitching!

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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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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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