NGM Retreat

Two weekends ago I attended the Needlework Guild on Minnesota retreat. Our retreats are back on track. Last year we found a wonderful hotel to host our retreats. The rooms are comfortable, the food is great, and the lighting in the stitching rooms is great. The theme of the retreat this year was, “We the People…Stitch!”

During the retreat, I had the opportunity to take three classes with Cissy Bailey Smith.

Many of Cissy’s pieces are designed to be self-lined, which means, they are fairly easy to finish. You have to love the nun stitch. Lucky for me, I love to do the nun stitch! Here are the three projects: 

In My Heart Needlebook:

Margaret’s Holdall based on motifs from the Margaret Mutter 1793 sampler:

And the We the People Patriotic Etui:

(Note that the etui model was not completely finished which allowed for us to fully understand how to join the nun stitches!)

The personalization for all three projects was updated and/or Cissy provided us with a variety of options so that we could personalize to our liking.

Thank you, Cissy, for coming to Minnesota!

We have some catching up to do…

Hello! I haven’t been very good about posting regularly, so now I am behind in sharing my finishes with you. Let’s delay no more!

My most recent finish is this patriotic design from Plum Street Samplers: Pledge of Allegiance. It was so much fun to stitch; a combination of the linen color and the threads. I stitched it as charted. I’m sad that it is finished!

Fully finishes continue to happen around here too. Remember that monthly Betsy Morgan project I worked on most of last year and a little bit this year? There were 12 designs - they are now finished into a book!

In my last post, I shared my stitching finish of George and Martha. It’s now finished into a scissor keep. There’s a strong magnet on top of the drum which keeps the scissors in place. This was a Shining Needle Society offering designed by Barbara Jackson.

An update to an earlier finish I shared with you, also designed by Barbara Jackson. I realized that I was supposed to add my initials and the year in the blank spaces on the front of the box. Voila! I added a couple of pretty buttons and it looks more complete now.

This sweet sewing roll is from Erica Michaels. It was a teaching piece for shop owners at Nashville a few years ago. There were two colorways offered. The finishing kit was from Lady Dot. It’s called Lions, Tigers, and Bears!

More soon. I have a retreat to tell you about! Take care.

Tri-State Shop Hop

We completed the final leg of the Tri-State Shop Hop yesterday. Started the day in Beresford, SD at Shanty Stitchers and ended the day at Welcome Stitchery in Blue Earth, MN. (We all stopped at the third shop, The Stitchery Nook in Osage, IA earlier in the summer.)

We now have collected all parts of the complimentary pattern, “Red. White. Blue.” from Hands on Design.

Of course, days like this are really about friendship, fun, and food. Oh, and a little shopping.

Thank you to all three shops for making this annual opportunity possible!

Weekend Stitching

It was a good weekend for stitching. With a heat index in the 90s, there was “no place like home.”

On Saturday, I participated in a zoom class to learn how to finish all 12 of those Betsy Morgan blocks that I stitched last year. Hopefully there will be another fully finished project in the near future.

Since I was in a Betsy Morgan frame of mind, I stitched the next band on the My Favourite things band sampler from Betsy. The Willow Tree Sampler Guild out of Dallas, TX is working on this project this year.

On Sunday, I wanted to finish up the stitching on two other class projects I have been working on.

I joined the Hands on Design Patreon group so that I could stitch the three gingerbread houses and learn how to finish them as a triptik (spelling?) This is the first gingerbread house. I opted to use beads rather than try to make a Palestrina knot. Ready for embellishing and finishing!

I’m also working on a Barbara Jackson piece that was offered through the Shining Needle Society. It’s also ready for finishing.

That’s all for today. I’ve got errands to run with my mother and it’s time to go!

A Mini Sampler Book

Stitched in 2025 and finished yesterday. This mini sampler book was designed by Linda Stolz of Erica Michaels; finishing instructions from Lady Dot. This class was offered to shops at Nashville Market a few years ago and then the full kit was available to shops that took the class. The pattern (without supplies) is now available to all.

Wish my photography skills were better!

Nametag Ready!

For several years, I have been creating nametags for myself for various retreats. Most of these pictured were stitched to align with the Needlework Guild of Minnesota retreat theme. This year’s retreat is coming up soon and the theme is, “We the People…Stitch!” 

My nametag this year is a slightly modified version of a complimentary chart from Snowflower Diaries. My nametag is ready!

Note that the nametag in the first photo with the bear on it was stitched by my PIC; all the others were stitched by me.

Mary Beale Update

Today is going to be a beautiful day! Our temperatures have returned to normal and there’s even a bit of a breeze outside!

I’m keeping up with my progress on Mary Beale’s Days of Advent. Rather than stitching it as a sampler, we are hoping to create a book. (Full explanation on my April 23 post.) There are six of us working on this project. Yesterday, I completed the fifth block. I’ve got 20 more blocks to go. As the saying goes though, slow and steady wins the race, right?

Here’s block #5 - Elisha (I still need to refresh my memory of this bible story!)

Here are the first four blocks that I stitched:

And here’s the entire piece so far:

Keep in mind, we started in the middle and are working to the end. When finished, we’ll go back to the middle and work the first half in reverse order. Looks like my toes snuck into that photo - oops!

Well, I need to get moving. My new little grandson (almost 6 weeks old) is coming to visit so his mom can go get a haircut. He’s such a little sweetheart.

Have a great day!