Another Finish

For several years at our annual retreat which is in August, we have chosen a "group project" to work on together during the next year and then gather as a group to do the finishing day. This past year we stitched Ellen Chester's "My Needle's Worke Box". Last weekend, those that actually did follow through with it gathered and we did finishing. I have been stitching/finishing for many years and yet, it still amazes me how much time finishing takes...yikes! We worked on it Friday night and Saturday. After I got home it probably took me about another 3 hours to completely finish. But once it is all done, it is sure worth it.

 

I am pretty happy with with and so glad that it is done. Thanks to MamaJoan for letting us come over to "Joan's House of Everything" and share in the finishing task with good friends.

Our project for next year is THIS! We are changing up our plan a bit for this next one. We are NOT going to save everything to finish all at once. Since we get together on Friday nights, we are going to try and do the "smalls" on some of these nights. Hopefully this will work a litter easier.

I have a very wee start on mine.

That's all I have for today. Thanks for visiting.

Happy Stitching!

JillMN

What to Work on Next

In previous posts, I mentioned starting something new and finishing some fair squares.

I had received some gorgeous squares for the Fair Square Round #23 from Kim V. They have swavorski crystals on them and are beautifully stitched. I finally finished them up.





This next piece, I had started some time ago but I did not like the thread I had chose. I had to rip it out and started again with a different thread. So its a new start to me.


This is With My Needle's "Mrs. Waddelows Huswif" stitched with Belle Soie Creme de Menthe on 32ct. French Vanilla linen. I am so happy with it. Now I have to go find 6 different fabrics so I can finish it.

Last Friday, I received the 2nd part of Mamen's Hardanger-a-long. Yesterday I finished it.



There is a total of 6 parts to this and they come out every 2 weeks. If you love hardanger, go to Mamen's blog. She does gorgeous work.


Now, to the title of this post. I always have to kind of "re-group" when I finish something before I go on to the next. This time it is taking particularly longer. I am just not sure what I want to work on. I'm sure the problem is that I have way too many things to choose from.


I am starting to see some of the finished "Soar" Samplers. I am now kicking myself for not buying this pattern, she only sold 100. I would be interested in borrowing, trading or buying one if there is anyone out there that would be interested.


Thanks for stopping by and Happy Stitching :)

JillMN

Good Times

I am sad to say that our retreat is over and I am back home to everyday life again. 5 days and 4 nights was a wonderful time with great friends...laughing and stitching...priceless!

I have lots to share as I wasn't able to blog during the retreat. Joan and Cathy both did and you can go to their blogs for additional info.

We always give each other a little goody bag. Our theme was Under the Sea and I went with fish--a school of them!



These pinkeeps I made are based of a Carriage House Samplings pattern, "Big Fish". I used DMC Variegated threads in each persons designated color and added a pocket on the back.





The next thing I made was beaded needlecases.

I made an extra one of these, the pink one. I gave it to Joan's daughter, Kelsey. She and her hubby, Dunncuan, live with Joan and her husband. When us stitchers are over there, Kelsey is alway willing to do stuff for us. Cooking, running to the store and running to pick up dinner are just a few of the things she has done. Thank you Kelsey!

These needlecases are so fun to do! I just love them! I have made quite a few different ones now and I am sure I will do quite a few more!

I also made beaded scissor fobs for us.


These were fun to do also!

Of course you need a new scissors for these fobs...


Aren't these great? I got these at Silent Stitches. I have to say that they work great too! They are sharp and work smoothly. I used mine during the whole retreat.

It was a bittersweet moment when everyone opened these from their bag.



My mom had made us slippers for the previous 2 retreats. When I came home from last years retreat, we were at Joanns that next Tuesday looking for a fish slipper pattern and yarn. I bought all the supplies and sent them home with her. I found the bag of finished slippers in one of her closets when we cleaned out her house last December after she passed away in November. They are awesome! I know she was smiling down at us. She loved to hear about our retreats.

I also gave everyone one of the Kelmscott Fish Winders with the floss that I used on their pinkeeps.



First, Cathy, gave out her goody package--


Cathy made us a very cute mermaid scissor fob and a fabulous pin cushion, which is very cute! She also included some fish shaped soaps, 2 GAST (Shrimp Cocktail and Deep Blue Sea), and S'more flavored Goldfish. All set in a nice tray with sea life on it. Thank you Cathy!

Here is what everyone got from Jackie--


Jackie and her family went to Hawaii for a vacation earlier this year and she got the most wonderful bags for us. It has sea turtles on it and we each got one in our designated color. Inside the bag was a cup with fish on it, a fish shaped bowl, notecards and post it notes, a coaster that she made with stitched fish on it, a scissors and tape measure that both light up, a goldfish on a key ring that the eyes light up and makes bubbly noise and fish magnets. Great finds! Thank you Jackie!

Next, was Lori to distribute her bags.



Lori gave us paper plates and napkins, a small ort jar with painted sea life, a fish candle, a fish key ring, a fish cookie cutter, note cards that her mom made, gold fish crackers, swedish fish candy, a nice project bag and a zipper pull that has my name on it with a fish! Look closely at this, it is attached to the bag. It is very cool! Lori also stitched a scissor fob for us but ran out of time to put together. I put mine together at the retreat. It is pictured below. Thank you Lorus!

And finally, Joan, and her goodies.


First off, Joan made us a quilt. Last year our theme was Snowmen and she bought all the materials for quilts but did not get them done because of them moving and all. She made them for this year and are very cute! She also made us a mermaid floss tag with several crystal adorned pins, a regular size pillowcase and a pillowcase for our "retreat" pillow. She also gave us some note cards, post it notes, some homemade clay sea creatures, a cheese spreader and a pencil. Thank you Joan and thanks to you and your family for allowing us to "move in" for 5 days. It was great!



After we exchanged our goody bags, we started the finishing on our group project we worked on during the last year. We made With My Needle's "Ackworth Friendship Books". There was 6 of us that participated in this. Cathy, Joan, Jackie (no blog) and I completed all finishing.




Mine is the purple and green one--


These were more putzy and time consuming than what we expected. Some of us were not very happy with the tedious work. Kudos to Jackie for being the trooper who kept at it until it was done and never complained. I am glad it is done.

Chris (no blog) came just for Tuesday to complete her book. She had been to Joanns last week and found something new.


A new ott lite...table top...battery operated...OMG! Perfect for our finishing project. Within a few hours, Jackie, Joan, Lori and Cathy went to buy all of us one.
It is incredible. A definite "had to have". The bonus was, when they got to Joanns, they were 50% off...no coupon! YAY!

ADDED NOTE ABOUT THESE NEW LIGHTS: It's a good thing we went and got these. On Thursday, we lost power 2 different times for about 1.5 hours total.

I worked on my book all day Tuesday and for about 4 hours on Wednesday. When I finally finished it, I got to stitch on whatever I want. Here are my finishes.



I stitched Shepherds Bush "Home", Lizzie Kate's Cat Flip It, LHN's Libery Belles and finished the stitched fob that Lori gave me. I did work on a couple of other things but no finishes.

On Wednesday, Joan and I quick ran to Joanns right away. I needed some floss and she needed some fabric for something. I had mentioned to Joan that I wanted her to make me a zippered pouch for my mom's knitting needles. She was keeping them in a plastic bag from newspapers. Eagle eyed Joan spotted one in the clearance section at Joann's. It was regularly 32.99 and I got it for 7.97...What a deal! There was also a knitters handbook to match for 5.00. They came home with me.


I am going to try me hand at knitting now that retreat is over. I have all of my mom's knitting stuff so all I will have to every buy is yarn.

Well, I think that about raps up my retreat. If you are still reading...thanks. This was a long post.

I need to do a little organizing today. Thanks for visiting. Happy Stitching:)

JillMN

Ackworth Friendship Squares...and more!

I stitched my last Ackworth Friendship square today. YAY!!! I am so glad to be done with another project. I must say I liked having a designated day to work on a particular project. I may have to continue that.

Here is square #12.

We each stitched our own front and back square. Here are mine.

I had to stitch 2 squares for each of the other 5 girls. We each picked out our own color of fiber. The following pictures are squares for Lori, Chris, Jackie, Joan and Cathy.






Yesterday, my husband took me to the Stitching store, which was a nice treat. Some of my purchases I can't share as they are for a gift. Here is what I got for myself.

Yes, I got another scissors. What is it with us stitchers that we just can't have enough scissors? After all, we only use one at a time--for the most part. I have admired this one on other blogs for quite some time. It is the Tutor Rose scissors from Kelmscott.


I heard today that Moni received my Friend Through Threads Fall exchange.



This is "Pumpkin Etui" by hearty-craft.blogspot.com. It is stitched on 32ct. Belfast Raw linen with dmc as charted except outside border, it is Silk n'colors autumn bouquet.

Here is the entire exchange.



That's all I have for now. Thanks for visiting and have a great week.

What a Weekend!

It has been quite a weekend, and it is not over for me yet as I don't go back to work until Tuesday.

We had to take my mom to the ER on Friday night and she is still in the hospital. She now has Atrial Fibulation and will be getting a pacemaker. But early this morning she decided to get out of bed by herself, which she was instructed not to do and fell. She has a fractured C2 vertabrae on her right side of her neck and will have to wear a neck brace for 3 months. YIKES!

I did manage to go over to my friend Joan's house (Minnesota location) and stitch for awhile on Saturday with the girls. They had birthday cake (yum) and presents for me! Oh boy!

Cathy gave me a Shepherds Bush kit and a pink ribbon magnetic pin that lights up alot!


Thank you Cathy! I think everyone knows how much I love getting "pink" stuff and I do like Shepherds Bush stuff.

Lori gave me 4 bottles of my most favorite Coffeemate, Peppermint Mocha. Girls, if you have never had this you must try it. It is delish! Unfortunately it is only in the stores this time of year for the holidays. I highly recommend it.


Thank you Lorus! I already cracked one open this morning. Aaaahhhhh. Love it!

Joan gave me a beautiful Just Nan peacock pattern and the fabric and floss for it. I think I will be making the needle book. It has a lovely peacock charm. Joan also gave me 3 skeins of silk and a very large lobster clasp. I need to find out where she gets these.


Thank you Joan. I love all of it. I can't wait to stitch the peacock and use those silks. They are yummy colors!

Chris made me a special fob for my Mia scissors. She stitched the 2009 Prairie Schooler Santa on 40ct (over 1). For the back stitching, she had to "split" a strand of floss otherwise it was too thick.


This is really something. Here is a picture of the fob with the ornament that I had already made.


Thank you Chris. This is a treasure.

Thanks to all the girls. For the great afternoon/evening, gifts, birthday cake (you know that is a food group, don't you), food and fun! I appreciate all of it.

When I came home last night, I had a special surprise waiting for me.


Simba, my niece's cat, was waiting for me at the top of my steps. We take care of him about 2 times a year while his mom and family go see Mickey Mouse. They are leaving on Wednesday for 10 days. He is a really good cat and we enjoy his visit which is really a vacation for him also. LOL!

Today I finished my 11th Ackworth Friendship square.


I only have 1 left. YAY! These have been really fun to do but I am grateful for another commitment to be almost over.

Well, I just watched the Minnesota Vikings beat the Green Bay Packers--YAY and now I am going to watch the World Series.

Thanks for visiting and I appreciate all the wonderful comments.

Happy Stitching!