All Good Things Come to an End

As the saying goes, "All good things must come to an end." It was a fun week at Joan's house. Our "Under the Sea" themed retreat ended today. I enjoyed spending Tuesday and Wednesday with my stitching buddies; on Thursday and Friday, I joined them in the evening after work.

Here are a few more pictures for you - first up - the four completed "A Token of Friendship" booklets. This is a design from With My Needle. Moving left to right: Cathy's, Joan's, Jill's, and Jackie's.




Two more books need to be finished yet. I'll try to post photos of those when they are finished. It was a lot of fun stitching these squares for each other throughout the year!

The other thing about this retreat that everyone looks forward to is putting together a little gift bag for each stitcher. Of course, the goal is to find things that are related to the theme. I shared my gift items with you on a previous post, but here are some of the others. You can see that this is a very creative bunch!

This first collection of items came from Jackie. She had taken a trip to Hawaii earlier this year and brought bags for all of us. They have sea turtles on them! Might I add, these will be really great bags for carting stitching projects around!



You can click on the photos to get a closer look at all the goodies, but here's a close up of the fish that jackie stitched for me. It's finished as a coaster!



Next up, Joan's gift. Joan always stitches themed pillow cases for us. This year we got a big one (for a normal sized bed pillow) and a smaller one to fit the pillow pictured. You will have to click on the photos for close ups. Joan's daughters got in the act; one daughter found the sea horse spreader, the other daughter found the fishy glass...



Joan stitched each of us a mermaid floss tag holder and adorned it with some hand made pins.



Lori gave each of us a project bag filled with goodies. Lots of fishy themed treats and other doo-dads. She stitched each of us a fishy fob but didn't have time to finish it because she was busy baking and cooking for the retreat. No worries though, we'll all have our fobs finished up in no time!



Finally, here's Jill's gift. Jill found some fishy fabric to adorn a project bag. As you saw in a previous post, Jill's mom crocheted us each a pair of fish slippers - I love them! Jill stitched an alphabet fish pinkeep(pattern from Carriage House Samplings), made a beaded needlecase (with a fish design), created a beaded fob that said "under the sea", and gave us each a fish scissors and fish shaped threadwinder. Wowzers, she was busy!



Here's a close up of the pinkeep and the beaded needle case:



I feel very fortunate to have been welcomed into this group of stitchers. It's fun getting together with them on Friday nights and I enjoyed getting together with them this week.

One more funny thing happened this week that I forgot to tell you about. On Tuesday, our friend Chris arrived to work on the friendship booklets. She brought with her a new Ott task light that she had just purchased at JoAnn's. Of course, after seeing it, we all had to have one too! Tuesday afternoon we made the trek to not one, but two JoAnn stores so that we could purchase five more of these lights! It runs on three AAA batteries and is quite bright. It's also very lightweight - will be a great light to take with when traveling.



Well, that concludes the retreat reports from this week. Since I've been gone most of the week, I think I better get busy and get some housecleaning and laundry done.

Until next time....Happy Stitching!

A Token of Friendship

(Warning - picture intensive post!)

Yesterday was day two of the stitching extravaganza at Joan's house. I had to visit the dentist in the morning, so I was the last one to arrive. We spent much of the morning working on any project of our choosing.

Joan is working on Rose Garden from Blackbird Designs:

Lori is working on her LHN thread bed (Needle and Thread) - she finished the stitching!



Jill started a new project. Anyone want to take a gander at what project she is stitching?



Jackie is staying on task with her Friendship book:



Me, well, I decided I better work on the Birds and Berries Needlecase from the Silver Needle retreat:



Just before lunch, a little visitor arrived - Joan's new grandson - what a little cutie pie he is! He babbled at us the entire visit and then it was time to go home he fell asleep in his Grandma's arms. I'm not sure that there will be any stitching in his future (only that done by his Grandma.) Here's a picture of the proud Grandma and her little guy.



After lunch, Jackie, Jill, and I decided to tackle the Friendship booklets again. Jill had to help Jackie and I along. It took me the rest of the afternoon and evening, but I went home with a finished booklet! Pictures really don't do this piece justice (of course I'm not the best at staging photos either!) But here are a couple of photos to give you some idea as to what the finished product looks like.

Ackworth Friendship Book
With My Needle
36ct Linen (I think it is Flax!)
Threadworx Fiber #10051

Jill and Joan are working at finishing their books this morning, and Jackie will finish hers soon too. Lori may take a bit longer finishing hers, but she will get it done! We're busy planning our next project now!

Here's a fun photo for the day. We took a picture of us all wearing our fish slippers! Jill's mom has always crocheted or knitted a pair of slippers for each stitcher, and finds a pattern that fits with the theme. Jill's mom crocheted these last year as soon as she knew what this year's theme was going to be. Those of you who read Jill's blog know that her mom passed away earlier this year. It was extra special to receive a pair of her mom's slippers this year.




The girls will be gathering again today for more stitching. Unfortunately, I have to head into work now, but I'll rejoin them later this evening. Will be anxious to hear what shenanigans they were up to today!

Let the Stitching Begin....

I took two days off of work to spend the time stitching with friends. We are all gathered at Mama Joan's house and our theme this year is "Under the Sea." Our stitching extravaganza started yesterday and will continue through Saturday. While I was off of work yesterday and today, tomorrow, I have to go back to work. :(

Each year we assemble gift bags for each other; we try to locate things that fit with the theme. Here is what I collected for the girls:



The bottom tray is like a three-part snack dish - it has "sea characters" on it (octopus, turtle, fish, etc.) Has anyone tried these smore flavored goldfish? In the middle section, a quilted pincushion that I made using fishy fabric, a mermaid scissor fob, and some threads (CC Shrimp Cocktail and CC Deep Blue Sea). On the right, some fish shaped soaps (need to keep my stitching buds smelling good, right?)



Here's a closer look at the fobs that I made - everyone has their special color! The "mermaid" is taken from a Country Cottage Needleworks pattern.



And here's a closer look at the quilted pincushions using fishy fabric:



I will post pictures of the gifts that the other girls brought after retreat.

Our task yesterday was to complete the "A Token of Friendship" booklets that we had been stitching for each other all year. We really underestimated the time that it would take to finish these books. Here's the group hard at work:



As of this morning, I have all of my blocks basted to the skirtex and all but two blocks have the lining fabric basted on the back. Today, I will continue with the assembly!



More updates on our retreat to follow in the next few days.

Before I go...check out the cute LHN ornament that I received from Joan from the LHN exchange a small group of us did. Isn't it sweet? The beaded edging is really cool! Thanks Joan!



Gotta run -- the girls are waiting for me!

More to Share

Thanks to those who stopped by and visited my last post. It warms the heart to read your comments. I have a few more finishes to share with you!

Last month, I stitched Lizzie Kate's summer fob, but didn't have time to do the finishing -- here it is:

Now I better dig out the spring fob and get that one finished too!

I also participated in an exchange recently, the theme was LHN. I stitched and finished this little ornament and pincushion/mason jar cover for Marie. Both are stitched on 40ct Iced Cappucino using the called for fibers.

Liberty and Justice
Little House Needleworks
40 ct Iced Cappucino

I've been cleacing the house today and digging around in my stitching stash today. Looking forward to relaxing in the stithcing chair tonight!

Disappearing Act

Sorry, didn't mean to "disappear" for such a long time! Boy, summer sure is flying by fast and before long the kids will be back at school and the leaves will be changing colors. We will be taking my daughter to college in less than two weeks; it's going to be a big change with her not at home!

I've got a few things to share with you. Despite busy days at work, I have still managed to find time for stitching at night.

I finished my blocks for A Token of Friendship (Ackworth). You might recall that a group of us have been working on these squares for the past year. We will all be getting together next week to swap squares and put our books together. Can't wait to see this project finished!

Next up, I finished my pincushion that I started at the Silver Needle retreat! The stitching was done (well, except for the cross stitched eye on the blackbird!) I put the last stitch in it last night and pulled out my finishing instructions and voila! It looks great don't you think?

Birds and Berries Pinkeep
Blackbird Designs (Silver Needle Class project)
30 ct WDW Baby's Breath
CC/GAST Fibers

Here's a side shot of the box so that you can see how we distressed them when we painted, sanded, and waxed them at the retreat.



I also forgot to share with you a pincushion Joan had given me at the retreat. She is always so thoughtful and good about marking the occasion with a stitched momento! (This is from the Autumn Tulip design in the Thank you, Sarah Tobias book by Blackbird Designs.)



And more Blackbird! I started stitching this design when we were down in Tulsa. I thought it would be good to work on there; I wouldn't have to pay such close attention to the pattern since I was using one color of floss! I personalized this with the year my mother was born and then stitched her name and birthdate on the back side. Purple is her favorite color!

Vintage Pincushion
Blackbird Designs (Joyeux Noel book)
R&R 30ct Antique Hydrangea
Belle Soie Elegant Eggplant

I have more pictures to share, but I think I will save them for another time. Thank you for visiting my blog. Have a great day!

BBD Part III

I still have many wonderful photos to share with you, I hope you don't mind if I continue to dwell on last weekend's Blackbird event at the Silver Needle!

One of my most favorite parts of an event like this is spending time with other stitchers who have a mutual love for the art of needlework. Ask Joan and she will confirm for you, I spend more time flitting around from table to table visiting with people than I spend on my butt stitching the project. Clearly this explains why Joan's class projects are already finished and mine are not! But I digress...

It's fun meeting other stitchers, especially those who I have met in blogland. I posted a picture of PJStitcher with my very first post. Here are some other blogger friends that we met up with at the retreat:

Here's a picture of Michelle and Karen. Please check out their blogs for more BBD reports!


Here's a picture of me, Edie (no blog, but stalks and comments, LOL!), and Joan.



See what I mean, Edie and Joan are both busy stitching! Me, I'm working the crowd, taking pictures!


One of the fun parts about visiting with others is admiring their finished projects that they brought with them. There was a table of ladies that had completed this 2006 BBD Loose Feathers called Secret Garden. Here's one of the finished boxes, inside and out - isn't it gorgeous?




Another lady had finished this box using this BBD Loose Feathers #33 Keepsake Box and Pinkeep (thanks Carol!)



And check out this beautiful box finish. This was a class project that they taught at Old Mill Stitchery in Liberty, MO. This stitcher did a beautiful on her box - it was so cool!




Finally, here is a pincushion. I believe this design is from the BBD Loose Feathers called Winter Wonderland.



There were other bloggers there who I really enjoyed meeting - wish I had taken even more pictures! It was a wonderful weekend and I hope to do it again soon!

Thanks for stopping by - hope you enjoy your weekend!