Farm Girl Gatherings Retreat - Amana, IA

Just returned from an extended weekend in Amana. It was relaxing and fun, but re-entry is hard! I just woke up from a two-hour nap after the long drive home.

I love Amana. It’s peaceful and quiet, the air is clean, and it’s a beautiful place. The fields were ready for planting, trees were budding, spring flowers were blooming, and the cows were everywhere. Saw lots of baby cows in the fields on my way out of town today! Here are some of the photos I took on Friday morning of Amana and the countryside surrounding East Amana.

I arrived on Wednesday afternoon. My friend Sue and I met at Fern Hill in South Amana. Nice mix of gifts and antiques, and the entire second floor was filled with quilt fabric.

We also went to the Amana Furniture Store and to Amazing Grace in Main Amana and then finished out the day at the Ronneburg Restaurant where I had some delicious chicken schnitzel for dinner! I had to take a piece of pie back to my hotel room, well, because it’s a tradition. This piece of coconut cream pie did not disappoint! 

The retreat officially began on Thursday morning. It’s held at the Price Creek Event Center in Amana. The trees and flowers surrounding the event center smelled so good!

Paulette Stewart of Plum Street Samplers was the featured designer and her exclusive project was amazing. She said her combined her love of nautical and America inspired this design.

Will thoroughly enjoy stitching this wonderful project!

The fun continued in Amana! They were celebrating Maifest on Friday night and Saturday. The town was decorated with May poles, ribbons, and flowers. On Saturday morning there was a parade and there was live music and food trucks in the lot just next to the event center. Very festive!

Here are some pictures of Paulette’s models from the trunk show she brought with her!

It was a great weekend! Now trying to get my head in gear as the reality of a new work day returns tomorrow. Grateful to have had such a wonderful weekend!

 

March Update

I forgot to come back at the end of March and share my finishes with you! I had three finishes.

First up is this red sampler from Needlework Press. This was a class piece through the OCSG Sampler Guild. When finished, it will be a drawstring bag and hold clothespins. (That was how it was originally used.) It was an enjoyable stitch.

Next up, is the needleroll from the Shepherds Bush Fold. You might remember this round box and collection of needlework pieces from several years ago. I finished all of them, except for the needleroll. This will need to be finished soon.

Finally, I finished four more pages for Erica Michael’s sampler book. I and J were actually finished in February; I stitched the over one in March. Completed K and L entirely in March!

There are a couple other pieces that I stitched on in March; hopefully they will be finished this month.

Hope April is going well for you and that it is filled with lots of stitchy goodness.

Another Good Stitching Month!

February was another good stitching month.

I finished stitching two more squares for the Erica Michael’s Sampler Book. Actually, I do still need to stitch the over one labels at the bottom. I’m saving this for when I go on retreat later in the month.

I also stitched this hornbook design from JBW Designs. I’m not a big fan of over one, but this wasn’t too bad.

Next up is the Dutch Tomato Pinkeep from With Thy Needle and Thread. It was really fun stitching all these little motifs. It was also a quick stitch on 36 ct. Vintage Country Mocha.

Last but not least, I stitched the 2002 Collector’s Heart from Heart in Hand. I swapped out the 32 count linen for some 36 count.

I think there is going to be another finishing day in my not too distant future.

Thought I’d leave you with this fun selfie of Lizzie and Me!

Red Stitching in February

My mission in February was to stitch all things red. At the end of January though, I was so close to another finish, so I kept working on this Stacy Nash piece until it was done. Here is Butternut House Pinkeep. I’m not sure how I will finish; it’s kind of big for a pinkeep, but I’ll figure that out another day.

When Butternut House was done, I started stitching red. I started a red drawstring bag from Needlework Press, the three red pears designed by Annie Beez, and a red hornbook from JBW Designs.

Red Pears from Annie Beez is done. The picture is a little dark. I noticed that she designed three blue pears for market. These will be really cute when finished.

No picture for the hornbook from JBW, but I’m closing in on a finish, so you’ll see that one soon enough. I’m also contemplating starting the Needlework Press piece over; I don’t care for the linen that came with the kit.

Last time I posted I did not include a photo of Lizzie and my mother asked about it. So, Mad Tatter, this photo is for you! Lizzie is on the left and our daughter’s dog, Nala, is on the right. They are keeping tabs on the goings on in the neighborhood!

January Finishes

Back on January 6th I posted 10 WIPs that I wanted to work on in January. I successfully finished stitching six of them, plus I finished stitching one other project. Seven finishes total! January was a very good stitching month! Here are pictures of my three latest finishes:

What Remains is Love by Blackbird Designs

Feliz Navidad by Blackbird Designs

Exclusive tree design for the Delaware Valley Historic Sampler Guild by Hello from Liz Mathews

Winter Wind by Prairie Schooler

I also made good progress on Butternut House Pinkeep from Stacy Nash, but it’s not finished yet. I’ll keep plugging away on it. The other WIPs are going back into the WIP basket. I think I will be working on red pieces in February.

Oh, and did I mention that my Partner In Crime and I spent a weekend at Welcome Stitchery’s 24 Hours of Cross Stitch? Carolyn Manning was there. Great fun!

Thanks for stopping by.

Stitching at the Ranch

Experienced almost five days of stitching bliss this past weekend. Here are the projects I worked on:

Sampler Book from Erica Michaels - G and H blocks are finished!

Another Erica Michaels project that I had started and is now finished - The Orphanage Sampler.

This Prairie Schooler chart entitled Winter Wind is almost finished. Just need to complete the filling stitches at the bottom.

Last but not least, this is one of Liz Mathews trees. This was designed as a special project for the Delaware Valley Historic Sampler Guild. Just need to complete the filling stitches at the bottom of this one too!

I worked on one other project for a few hours before realizing I had made a major counting mistake. Not sure what I’m going to do with it. I would need to frog quite a lot - it might be easier to restart.

Overall, quite a productive weekend.

Leaving you with this sweet shot of my happy pup!

Whittaker and Feliz Navidad

When posting my WIP photos the other day, my intent was to take them to my upcoming retreat and finish them there. Well, I won’t have to take two of them with because they are finished!

Whittaker from Stacy Nash was such a relaxing stitch! I don’t mind stitching all those filling stitches. He’s stitched on Fox and Rabbit 36ct. Baked Clay.

Whittaker and Paisley are going to make a lovely pair!

Today, I also finished Feliz Navidad from Blackbird Designs. The picture below does not do this piece justice. It is really pretty. Stitched on 36ct. PTP Legacy with the called for threads.

I have a couple more finishes from our Finishing Extravaganza weekend that I forgot to post. First up are these really sweet scissor fobs from Samplerbird Stitchery. The kits are available on her Etsy site.

This sweet little pillow is from the Prairie Schooler chart “January”.

Thanks for stopping by. Need to figure which WIP to finish next!

WIP Parade #1

Tonight I organized some of my stitching; I will be going on another stitching weekend soon. I pulled out some WIPs that I’d like to focus on finishing. Some of them are pretty close!

1. H. Purdy from Needlework Press. This one is not close to being finished, but it is a fun stitch. One color  ( CC English Ivy) and I’m stitching it on 36ct. Fox and Rabbit Saltbush.

2. Feliz Navidad from Blackbird Designs. So close! Called for threads on 36 ct. PTP Legacy.

3. Winter Wind from Prairie Schooler. DMC on 36ct PTP Fog. Still a bit of stitching left, but it’s possible!

4. Butternut House Pinkeep on Stacy Nash. Called for threads. I think the linen is R&R American Chestnut. There’s a lot of stitching in that house!

5. Remember this one? The Sampler Book from Erica Michaels. I need to keep plugging away. DMC on various 32 ct. Belfast Linen. The letter G is next!

6. I thought I had finished this one! This was a special kit offered by the Delaware Valley Sampler Guild. Of course, it’s one of Liz Matthews famous trees!

7. Early Christmas Morning from Blackbird Designs. Stitching over one with called for fibers. A recent start so quite a bit to go!

8. What Remains is Love from Blackbird Designs. Stitching on 36 ct Lakeside Linen with Amy Mitten silks.

9. Harvest Huswife from Chessie and Me. This was a Quilter’s Station project last fall!

10. Bristol Berries from Erica Michaels. Not sure of the linen; stitching with a pretty red silk.

Wish me luck!

2022 Finishing Extravaganza Part II

Very snowy here in Minnesota! Winter has arrived and is taking up permanent residency!

Here are three more finishes from the weekend. The needle-book on the left and the pinkeep on the right are both designs from Stacy Nash. They both are so sweet!

The finish in the middle is the Round Red Sampler from Heart in Hand. It sits on top of their red heartware bowl. I stitched mine on 40 count and adjusted the pattern so that it more closely matches the top of the bowl. It’s so petite!

One more day until the weekend. Woo Hoo!

2022 Finishing Extravaganza

My Stitching BFFs and I decided to go out in style. We spent the New Year’s weekend together and focused on finishing! It was a productive two days for all of us. Here’s a picture of our collective finishes.

I will share my finishes with you over the next few posts, but here are a few to start with.

These two ornaments have been stitched and finished into a pillow since 2020. All they needed was cording! Sad that it took two years to get the cording done.

This is the La D Da project from the Quilters Station retreat in September 2021. Lori had most of the finishing done for us, we just needed to stitch the front and finish putting it all together.

I think this might have been a make and take at Needlework Galleria, but Cathy did have them available on her website (Hands on Design) for awhile. The design is stitched on perforated paper. There’s a piece of wool felt in the middle and it’s backed with another piece of perforated paper. Sweet needlebook!

Enjoy. Will share more soon. Happy New Year!