Beautiful Fall Day

It's been such a long time since I've posted and I apologize for that. I don't know what has happened to me - I guess I've volunteered for a few too many things, or maybe I'm just not as organized as I used to be. At any rate, there just don't seem to be enough hours in the day to get everything done! Unfortunately, blogging always falls at the bottom of my to-do list.

This morning I was working on our local EGA chapter's newsletter. I took over this job last spring and it has turned out to be a bigger job than I thought it would be. We only produce a newsletter six times a year, but it's time consuming (and 12 pages long!) Today I had to put the stamps on the newsletters, make sure that I had mailing labels for all of the sharing chapters and advertisers, and then just do some general organizing! It's all done now, whew!

On the stitching front, I have been working on a few things. So here comes an update...

Fair and Square Round 3 - I think I had until Nov 2 to mail for this round, but I decided to get mine stitched and mailed early. Tuula was my partner for this round and I think that she likes her square. I took elements from LHN's A Stitcher's Prayer and combined them to make the 50x50 square. I had picked up a couple extra copies of the JCS Ornament issue and so I sent one along with my square; I figured that they might be hard to find in Finland.


Last night I completed a small pink Hardanger doily that I'm going to send to Jean at Attic Needlework for their Silent Auction for Breast Cancer in November. I'll snap a picture of it later today after I have steam pressed it. I met Jean at the Hands to Work retreat earlier this month - such a nice lady!

The stitching is complete for two of my upcoming exchanges - Specific Designer exchange (Little House Needleworks) and Eye of the Needle (dedicated to love of stitching). I just have to do my finishing and these will be ready to go by the deadline of November 15.

Today I need to go through my patterns and find some designs to use on Lauren's Neighborhood RR. She has selected a winter theme for her neighborhood. Oh darn, I have to go through my patterns today????

The Hands to Work retreat was fabulous! I am so glad that I went. It was held in Strasburg, Virginia (about an hour from Dulles airport). I had never been to Virginia before and the scenery was beautiful. We had time to drive through the Shenandhoah mountains and the colors were just starting to change. Just a beautiful area!

Tracy Riffle from Hands to Work did a great of organizing this retreat. The space was perfect for stitching, well-lit and comfortable. There were four classes - a wool applique needleroll from Maggie Bonanomi, a tulip pincushion and a beautiful needleroll class with Barb and Alma of Blackbird Designs, and finally The Virtuous Woman Stocking with Kathy Barrick-Dieter. It was such a treat to meet these four ladies! Another surprise - Anne Brown, the Goode Huswife, was there selling her new book which include reprints of ten of her most popular designs (of course, I bought it!) I haven't worked on any of the four projects since returning home, but I will be tackling the tulip pincushion soon as I don't have much left to do on it. Here's a picture of some of my new friends plus Tracy (back row left), Alma, and Barb (back row right). I'm in front of Alma and Barb. They are two of the nicest ladies!



If you ever have the opportunity to take a class from Barb and Alma - do it!

Well, since it's almost noon, I think I should probably get dressed and start doing some cleaning around the house. I need to make a trip to the post office with all of those newsletters too! It's going to be a beautiful fall day here. For the first time in I don't know how many days we have clear skies and no rain.

Have a great weekend and Happy Stitching!