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!