Surrounded by Talent and Inspiration!

Today was a great day for stitching - but then, what day isn't?  A group of us gathered at Rosebud's in White Bear Lake.  What a wonderful time we had.  Lots of beautiful needlework to admire!  This post is a bit picture heavy, but so worth it!

A couple ladies were working on their Spring Fling Chessie and Me samplers.  Mary is making great progress...

LuAnne just finished hers last night!

Pat was working on a beautiful hardanger piece; it's almost finished...

Jana was starting a new project from Lizzie Kate...

Jeanne brought lots of show and tell - a finished quilt top and some embroidered sections which will eventually be joined together to make a finished quilt top...

More hardanger - Nancy is going to make these hearts into bookmarks...

And a finish from Pam - love the carrot!

Joyce loves everything Just Nan - check out her bunny and her bumblebee finishes!

Joyce was working on the Blackbird Designs piece from the Lady's Prim Society...

And more hardanger...Chris is an amazing stitcher...

And for you quilt lovers, Julie was hand-piecing some hexagons together!

I missed a couple of people....Vicki was working on hardanger and Judy was working on a Chessie and Me piece.  And me??? What was I working on??? I'll show you in a few days when it is finished.

A good time was had by all!

Stitching with Friends

Yes, another edition of "Stitching with Friends" -- a group of us gathered yesterday at our favorite stitching spot...Rosebud's in White Bear Lake.  I took pictures, and I guess I thought I took more pictures than I actually did!  I tried very hard to do less visiting and more stitching; that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

A couple ladies were working on some beautiful Hardanger.  I only have pictures of two of the projects...

One of my friends brought in some of her recent finishes, including this beauty in all of her framed glory!

Many of us working on our pre-stitching for next month's Stitchville retreat.  The designer at this retreat will be Linda from Chessie and Me.  This stitching is just for the Friday night project, we have another project for Saturday which we will be a surprise until we arrive at retreat.

There were about eight of us there yesterday that are going to the retreat; not all were working on their Chessie and Me project.  It was completed in various stages, from this:

To this....

To this....this lucky gal has her pre-work finished!

I'm excited to see how these pieces will be finished.  Gotta run...toodle loo!

Starting the New Year out the Right Way!

Seems like there is a lot of crud going around - coughing, sneezing, sore throats, chills.  I fell victim over the New Year holiday and I know of several others who have been sick.  Rest up and get better!

As a result, I had to "jump start" my new year and did so in a most appropriate way.  For the past year, a group of us have been gathering at Rosebud's Cottage, a local quilt shop, in their classroom.  We gather about every two months or so for about six hours of stitching bliss.  The faces in the group change a little bit each time because some will have conflicts, but for the most part we have a core group that is there every time.

Why do we do it?  We enjoy socializing with other "like-minded" people!  It's fun to spend the day together. There's always good conversation and lots of good laughs.  When there are tears, we comfort each other.  We enjoy seeing each others projects and trust me, there's a fair amount of enabling going on.  And did I mention food?  The gathering usually involves lunch; many take a quick break from stitching to enjoy a wonderful meal at the cafe next store.  We enjoy getting together for all these reasons above!

Today was our first gathering of the year --- we had a full house!

 

Here are just SOME of the projects that were being worked on...

And a couple friends brought finishes to share with all of us; aren't they great?

This little mouse is just to die for!  I need to get mine out and get it stitched!

A great time was had by all.