Day Two - Quilter’s Station

There was more fun waiting for us on Day Two of the Quilter’s Station retreat! In the morning, Lady Dot (Lois) led us through the construction of a needlebook made with vintage Blackbird fabrics.

Most of us were able to have a good amount of it done by the end of the morning session. I just have a little bit more finishing yet to do.

Last but not least, Beth Twist from Heartstring Samplery shared her project with us. It was titled “The Americana Mamas” - paying homage to three ladies in American history - Lady Columbia, Lady Liberty, and Rosie the Riveter. All three could be stitched on one piece of linen or we could stitch them as three individual pin pillows.

And just like that, it was over. This was a fantastic group of teachers and we had the best time!

On the way home, we stopped in Lemoni, Iowa to grab a picture with our most favorite cows at the Amish Country Store.

Good times! Already looking forward to the next Quilter’s Station retreat in April!

Quilter’s Station Retreat

Time for an update! Shortly after my last post, my stitching buds and I headed south to Lee’s Summit, MO for the Quilter’s Station Retreat. This was the fifth QS retreat for my PIC and I, fourth for others, and a couple of our friends were attending for the first time.

We went early so that we could do some shopping the day before the retreat started. Our first stop was at C.C. & Company, another cross stitch shop in the area. I wish I had taken photos of some of their models. Many pieces were stitched over one. Stunning to say the least.

We also shopped at Quilter’s Station. They always have a nice selection of needlework linen. Of course, lots of beautiful fabric for quilting.

And then we headed to the antique shops in Greenwood, MO. One of them has the most delightful tea shops and that’s where we had lunch. I have to share a photo of my chicken salad on croissant and chopped beets. And for dessert, one of my friends and I split a delicious peach bread pudding with caramel sauce.

Now for the retreat! Our designers on Day One were Alma from Blackbird Designs and Linda from Chessie and Me. Great projects!

Alma designed a sweet little huswif based on motifs from a Welsh sampler she has in her collection. Linda  designed a Christmas pillow for us. Both will be so fun to stitch!

All of the designers brought trunk shows - here are some snap shots of Alma’s and Linda’s…

Before I close out this post, I want to share a photo of Linda’s project from QS Retreat in September 2022. Three of us in our group had finished the project!

Last but not least, a Griffin and Rosie update - both are growing fast! Griffin is four months now and Rosie will be turning six months soon.

Catching Up

It’s been a busy summer! My last post was in July. Holy smokes!

I spent a good part of July stitching on an Amy Mitten reproduction sampler: Forgery #14 Sarah Verrier 1737 Sampler. It was supposed to be a Sunday stitch, but truth be told, I was enjoying it so much, I worked on it most of July. The sampler is The Lord’s Prayer in French. I have put it away for a bit and will come back to it in a few months.

More recently, I’ve been on a finishing kick. My PIC and other stitchy friends and I will be heading to Quilter’s Station next week and I wanted to finish last year’s Chessie and Me piece before we went. Linda from Chessie and Me will be there again this year. Appropriately titled: Harvest Huswife.

Do you watch Lady Huzzah on Flosstube? After seeing her episode dedicated to Merry Cox finishes, I was motivated to finish one of my own Merry Cox pieces. This was a class I took through the Orange Coast Sampler Guild. The design is called 1871 Sewing Set. I stitched 1889 on mine; the year my maternal grandmother was born.

This past weekend I finished some smalls that go with the Birds and Bees Sewing Roll from Stacy Nash. Joy finished the sewing roll for me. I finished the biscornu and the scissor fob. The set is now complete!

My final finish - I popped this Prairie Schooler design into this simple frame! (I don’t remember the chart number, the name of it might be Autumn Leaves.)

Our two babies are getting big! Rosie is about a week shy of five months old and weighed in today at 36 pounds. She’s a happy pup and makes my smile every day. Lizzie has adjusted to having another puppy in the house too. They love their walks, they watch for the mailman every day (he has treats!), and they love to play in the yard.

Last but not least, and perhaps the most important of all, is Baby Griffin! Griff just turned three months and he is developing quite the personality. His mom and dad are going to be in trouble when he gets older!

That’s an update on what’s been going on in my world! Hope you are well and stitching to your heart’s content.

Floss Friends Retreat

What happened to June? Before I can talk about July, I have to finish telling you about June. My PIC and I squeezed in one more stitching weekend. We attended the Floss Friends Retreat held in Waverly, IA.

It was held in a community room in their City Office building right in the heart of downtown Waverly. In fact, we were just a block away from Fiberworks, the needlework store in Waverly.

It was a great retreat - comfortable seating, great lighting, excellent food (we had some great lasagna one night made at the local hospital cafeteria!) Two local stitchers had hosted the event and they put in a ton of effort to ensure we all had a great time!

The highlight of the weekend was meeting Jacquelyn Fox from Waxing Moon Designs. She is a local designer, based in Osage, IA. We’re always up for meeting a cross stitch designer that we haven’t met before!

She brought a trunk show with of her designs…

And she designed a patriotic piece just for us!

We had a great time with old friends and new friends!

Before I sign off, let me share a couple photos of Griffin and Rosie. Griffin is our grandson. He was born at the end of May and is just a little over six weeks old now. In the last week or two his personality has really started to show. He loves to have his hands up!

And Rosie is our new lab. She is 13 weeks old. We decided that Lizzie needed a companion. They are getting along famously.

 

Have a great weekend! Keep on stitching!