Reflecting on 2012

The other night I got home from work kind of late.  It was too early to go to bed and too late to stitch or start any other kind of project.  I read my blog.  Yep, I started in January 2012 and read the entire year.  It was great fun looking back on all that I had done this past year.

One of the things I enjoy most is meeting designers; hearing about how they got started in the business, getting to know more about them and where they get their inspiration from, and learning more about their designs and their tricks and techniques to creating beautiful needlework.  This year I had the opportunity to meet and learn from four wonderful designers.

Last April, at the Stitchville retreat, I had the honor of meeting Thea Dueck. We stitched and finished this beautiful Victorian Pedestal Pincushion.  The project looked daunting at first, but in the end, it wasn't so bad!.After all, I completed it!

In August, I attended the Needlework Guild of MN retreat for the first time ever.  There I had the opportunity to take a class from Jackie DuPlessis. What a talented and creative designer she is!  I thought the project was going to kill me, but instead it helped me overcome my fear of stitching over one.  The project was the Briar Rose Etui.

October was a very busy month.  On a short weekend trip to Indiana I made an excursion to House of Stitches in LaPorte and met up with Ruth Ann Russell.  We visited for a long time talking about her designs and her current project (which I look forward to stitching when the pattern is released next year!)  I am the self-proclaimed president of Ruth Ann's fan club; in 2012 I enjoyed stitching two of her designs, "I Sigh Not for Beauty" and "Heavenly Paradise."

And last but certainly not least, it was a great pleasure to meet Ellen Chester in October.  Such a delightful lady.  She shared with us her knowledge of hornbooks and sewing boxes and we learned a variety of different stitches all used in her class projects, "Fruit of the Vine Sampler Huswif" and "A Lady's Worke Box" - I haven't had time to work on these projects but will be pulling them out again soon now that the holiday's are almost behind us.

2012 was a very good year....