Winter Peacocks and Victory Garden

You have been waiting for some stitching pictures; today you are going to get them! While at retreat, I stitched up both of these and yesterday I completed the finishing. Both projects are designed by Threadwork Primitives and both were from this year's Ladies Prim Society club through Dyeing to Stitch.

Victory Garden is stitched on two different pieces of linen: Prim Green and Old Mill Java. They are then sewn together and this is finished off as a pillow. I stuffed mine with fiberfill...not quite happy with the lumpiness...I think I should have used the crushed walnut shells!




Wynter Peacocks is my absolute favorite of the two! It's a primitive sewing pouch!






It sure was nice to get a couple of projects finished!

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Retreat Gifts

It's always fun to receive little stitching goodies at retreat. This year's theme was "Sisters of the Heart"; coming up with theme related gifts was quite easy.

Our retreat goodie bag consisted of a project bag (can never have too many project bags!), a needle and some wool felt, and an ort catcher made with heart themed fabric. Not pictured is the water bottle with the NGM logo on it.




Here are some of the gifts I received from friends at the retreat...








We had a Secret Sister exchange this year. It was great fun giving and receiving small gifts each day. We didn't find out until the last night of the retreat who our Secret Sister was.

My Secret Sister surprised me with many goodies including diet Pepsi and sweet treats to keep me going through the retreat. She also included some beautiful handmade cards, needles, a scissors with hearts on it, and a handmade scissor fob!




The exchange was such a success that I think our group will be doing it again next year!


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Make and Take

Remember these?



We provided an opportunity for the retreaters at guild retreat to come make their own needlebook.

This is what the room looked like when they were finished...




A good time was had by all!


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Quaker Hornbook

Recently, one of my stitching friends and I agreed to co-chair the Evening Counted Thread group meeting for our local needlework guild. One of the first projects we decided to do as a group is the Quaker Hornbook from Ellen Chester.

We passed the kits out at our July meeting and are working on getting them stitched. We will work together on our finishing at the meeting in September.

Here are some progress photos. Everyone chose their own color palette. One of the stitchers is already finished with her stitching!





















And a couple of stitchers have not started yet, but we will coax them along!








Hoping to have some finished hornbooks to share with you next month!

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Sisters of the Heart - Part Two

Thought I would share a few more pictures with you from this weekend's retreat.

The weather was beautiful all weekend. Here's another snap of our wonderful view!



This is the main stitching room. I took this picture in the wee hours of the morning when the happy stitchers were all tucked away in their beds!



The group that I stitched with was in one of the smaller rooms. They will tell you that I wasn't there very much - gotta work the crowd you know!



Our stash of treats was very popular with those who had classes on our wing of the facility. All the important food groups were included: chocolate, caramel, other sugar treats, and salt...




Let's play a game of I Spy...do you spy the Vera bags and other items in these photos?









Four of the ladies in our room had a "Nova" day. A total of 64 blocks were conquered!




In keeping with the theme, I had some small gifts to share. My mom tatted small hearts which I tacked down onto a piece of wool felt - an instant needle keep!




Maybe tomorrow I will share with you some pictures of the projects that I worked on...

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Sisters of the Heart

I just returned from four days of stitching bliss. The Needlework Guild of Minnesota hosts its annual retreat in August. The retreat center is in Buffalo MN and many of the sleeping rooms and stitching rooms look out at this beautiful view of Lake Buffalo:



One of the best parts of the retreat (in my humble opinion) is Show and Tell night. There is so much talent in the group and I enjoy seeing all of the pieces that the members have finished during the past year.

Since this year's theme was "Sisters of the Heart" the was a section of the room dedicated to pieces that fit within the retreat theme.

Quite a collection of Heart in Hand hearts!




This was the Stitchville retreat project from Chessie and Me. The stitcher used elements from the design to create an additional needlebook and pincushion.



This piece was stitched by a friend of mine. It's a design from Barbara Jackson that was in a magazine many years ago.



There were many other heart finishes that I loved; wish I had taken pictures of all of them!

Now, buckle up...let's see what else was on display!

This is Hapsburg Lace, a design from Tanja Berlin...



A beautiful Northwoods themed quilt...



One of the projects from Jackie du Plessis' classes last year; expertly finished!



A beautiful hardanger piece...



Two completed Briar Roses from Jackie du Plessis...



Two completed Fruit of the Vine Huswifs (Ellen Chester)...



A stunning quilt - Sylvia's Bridal Quilt...



A completed Ann Bowers...



I liked this frosty guy!




And another design from Jackie du Plessis...



A finished piece from The Drawn Thread...check out the buttons...




Schwalm embroidery...gorgeous...




Recognize this one? My Rhapsody in Blue from Jackie du Plessis!




A completed Houses of Hawk Run Hollow...



And a beautiful sewing set designed by Merry Cox...




And there was so much more! It was quite a collection of beautiful stitching all in one room!

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I Heart Fobs

I have been very, very busy...




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Two Pincushions

These might be the last two; I've run out of lids. I used oversized ric rack trim in a coordinating color. These are going to be gifts....




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Celebrating 15 Years

Today we celebrated my 15th anniversary at work. When I started back in 1998 I wondered if I was even going to make it past 15 weeks! Working in the airline industry can be like a roller coaster ride, the highs are really high and the lows are really low, but it's been fun, exhilarating ride and a great learning experience.

Congratulations to me!




I'll try to find some stitchy pictures for you tomorrow...

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Holy Green Beans

When I was a little girl we had a huge vegetable garden in the back yard. I remember having to pick the green beans and I hated picking green beans. There always seemed to be a lot of mosquitos and I was sure that they were going to eat me alive. I'd end up with bites all over my arms and legs and they would itch for days.

Tonight I picked green beans. It wasn't so bad. Maybe I'm not as sweet as I used to be..

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