Happy Valentines Day

I considered this past Thursday and Friday to be my weekend since I worked the real weekend.  I made some good progress on my BAP for Becky's challenge.  I'm liking this more and more.  I'm not sure I'm going to have enough floss, however.  I'm using a single strand but these Kreinik skeins seem very small.
Does anyone out there have past experience with them? I bought what the chart called for but it just doesn't look like enough.

On Saturday I got a surprise package in the mail from my Secret Stitcher. 

Here's the lovely Valentine's card.

Look at the beautiful hanging pillow that was made for me. I was almost in tears when I opened it, it's so pretty.  It's hanging between the two pillows of the month that I hang on my kitchen shelf.  My DH was standing next to me when I opened it and even he was impressed.

The back has a pocket.

I love the lace trimming and the button in the middle.

A Quaker pinkeep is attached to the back but I can pin it on something else as it has a pin backing on it.  Thank you, thank you to my Secret Stitcher. I LOVE it. You make my heart happy.

Mary Kathryn from eHandcrafts Stitching Room sent me the rest of my order and I got it yesterday.  I've been in the mood to sew and this looks like a cute little project to add to my list.

Love this little chart.  I can see some buttons in the middle of the flowers instead of stitches. 

Before I forget, hop on over to Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe: Lets do it again with another GRAND give-away!

All for now.  Hope you have a great day.

Marsha

BAP etc.

I sure hope Becky hasn't been checking my blog too often to be sure I started my BAP.  I started on the Stitchaway weekend but didn't like the pictures I took.  I picked Aqua Sampler by the Workbasket.  I love the colors, some of my favorites.  I'm using the silks called for which are Kreinik milkpaint colors and the linen is sand or sand dune, I'll check on that.

Note: The linen for this project is Lakeside
Linen's 'Dark Dune' in 36 ct. Over 2.

I'm not very far yet but it's moving along well.

I received this amazing hand knit felted bowl from one of my stitching peeps.  Ms. Adele.  Thank you so much.  I love it.

We all did a little stash enhancement on the weekend.  Barb brings along part of her shop and trunk shows. SEVEN trunk shows this year.  WOW.  Makes it hard to keep any change in your pocket.  So here are my wonderful buys. More of my favorite colors.

I had never heard of this designer but I loved this chart.  So cheery and happy.

I love to garden and feed the birds and flowers are my favorite mood brightener.  What's not to like from Shakespeare's Peddler.

Gee, more Workbasket.  The smalls that were on display were simply adorable and amazing. Love them.

And I've been wanting this chart since it very first came out.  Got the 1 inch linen banding from Violorium, now sadly out of business. Cute, cute ornaments.

Another of my favorite designers & buttons.  What's not to like?

Mary Kathryn eHandcrafts Stitching Room had a sale in her web shop last week so I had to pick some more of my favorites. 

Now for more real stitching. I have a FINISH!  Yeah, it's a little late but it will be gorgeous when it's framed. The frame is picked but while studying it in that process the framer said it needed extra leaves and snowflakes.  Because,,,,, when it was half stitched I saw the angel in the fabric above the house. She's right on the top edge of the fabric and I agreed it needed those touches.  So 4 more leaves on the top of the vines, 3 more snowflakes to round it out on top and initials and year in the wreath.  Just wait, it's going to the framer tomorrow and it's going to be gorgeous.

That's a lot of pictures!  Whew!

Marsha

Keepsakes Stitch Away

I can't believe it's been a week since Stitch-Away.  Sigh.  Last week at this time I was stitching away on 'I sigh not for beauty'.  I had spent Friday stitching on my BAP for BeckyBee's Stitching Hive.  I will show that in another post.  I was quite pleased with what I had accomplished.  It's so nice to dedicate hours to stitching and not have to worry about anything else.  I enjoyed myself, my fellow stitchers, the food, the shopping, gifts and ambiance.  It was a great weekend.

Here is a picture of our conference/stitching room.  I don't have a wide angle lens but this gives you a good idea of our set up.  This is about 2/3's of the room.

Here are most of us that sat at our two table pushed together.  We shared a great many laughs.  We haven't seen A. in quite a while.  She is very busy with her children and scouting and we miss her a bunch but we understand.  Diane lives in Indiana and it's been a year since I sat next to her at this stitch away.  It was great seeing her again.

Memories to take home.

C. was very happy to be stitching with us.  Her health is a quandary right now and we all hope she feels better and gets definitive answers real soon.  Indigo Rain is the blog she authors.

D. here helped me with my four sided alphabet on my BAP.  I knew I was doing it wrong and I knew she'd have that stitch in her memory and could help me do it correctly.  It caused some ripping but I was glad to get it right.  Thanks D.

This is D.'s lovely sister J.  These two are very accomplished stitchers.  Their body of work in the few short years I've known them is amazing.  They are very kind and helpful too. (See Linda in the background?)

Saturday evening includes a show and tell of our past stitching.  I remember this lady from last year going through a particular rough time.  She was stitching this then and now it's complete representing her new path in life.  A Thomas Kincaid piece. A lot of the stories were like that.  Very touching and meaningful.

This is half of table of completed projects with stories behind each.  I had a display way on the end and, of course, forgot to take a picture.

Here are some of my favorites.  I love this first one but have no idea who the designer is. Anyone know?

J. from above stitched this Erica Michael's piece.  It was originally charted on silk gauze.  Her sister D. said, save yourself some aggravation and stitch it on linen.  She did, Love it.

Here's Diane of Nan's Needlework Notions and me.

L. of The Inspired Stitcher and Diane.

By Sat. night we were having way too much and fun and tired.

If you would like to see more pictures of our weekend go to The Inspired Stitcher,  Nan's Needlework Notions,  One Stitch Closer to Nirvana.  They have great pictures of the shopping room, the gifts we got and other inspirations from the weekend.

Stay warm.  I'm off to work on ice slicked roads.

Marsha

more stitching

Do you think you can stand more photos of Christmas ornaments?  If not, skip on to another blog.  If you can, look at these beauties women from the Queen City Sampler Guild stitched for our ornament exchange.

Along with our ornament stitching we can bring in completed pieces that we've stitched throughout the year.  Here are a few of the pieces that were brought in to share.

I know Marsha G. stitched this next one.

Lisa P. stitched up this next group.  We helped organize the 'Long May She Wave' needle book class with Ellen Chester.  Lisa and I also stitched the Christmas SAL together. 

Mary G. stitched the Shepherd's Bush stocking.

Here, in all her glory, is Linda K.  I sent her secret stitcher goodies for 2011.  That thing on her head is mistletoe.  She's a nut and fun to stitch with - Love you Linda!

Marsha