Brrr...It's Cold

Just a little less than 24 hours ago, I was enjoying this sunset....

The temperatures in Phoenix this weekend were in the 70's; when I arrived home this afternoon it was -6 degrees.  My body went into shock...almost.

You might be wondering what I was doing in Phoenix?  Let me tell you....I was here:

Yes, for the very first time ever I visited Attic Needlework - it's actually located in Mesa, just outside of Phoenix. My friend Judy and I have had this on our bucket list for some time.  We decided to attend their Sampler Symposium that was held this past weekend.

Now that I am home, I realize that I don't have a single picture of Jean our hostess and owner of the Attic.  She is just as delightful in person as you would expect her to be (based on her newsletters). Her staff at the shop was also very friendly and extremely helpful.  Judy and I enjoyed our afternoon of shopping on Friday very much!

The weekend's festivities began on Friday night...we each made one of these:

Mine isn't quite finished yet, but it will be soon and then I will share a picture with you.  We had done the stitching in advance and then worked on putting the books together when we arrived Friday.  Vickie Jennett of Needlework Press walked us through the process.  At one time, stitchers (in the 1800s) relied on these little books for their patterns.

Here's a look at some of the antique books that Vickie has collected:

And a look at some of the pages that would be folded up inside these little books:

And another look:

It was a fun little project and a great way to kick off the weekend!  If you are interested in reading more about these little books, dig out your old SANQ magazines!  Vickie wrote an article about them and you can find it in SANQ volume #32, Summer 2003.

Just a little taste to "whet your whistle"...as you know, I like to savor weekends like this, so I'm going to draw out these posts for a couple of days!

I've got to find a blanket and my stitching now and warm up!