Frosty Friends update

So I've made good progress on this one.  It's currently Sunday night and I started it on Friday.  But...I had a major frog issue tonight.  I had the word, "Friend," stitched on the bottom when I realized I had started it way too far to the right.  So much so that I couldn't add the letter, "s," onto the end of it and have it be center.  So then I contemplated just having it say, "Frosty Friend," instead of, "Frosty Friends."  But then I was worried that would mess up the symmetry of the remaining two snowflakes on the bottom.  So I just cut my losses and frogged it out...and then put it away for the night.  I generally find that if I have a major error I have to frog out, it's best to then put it away for a while to clear my head and come back to it later.  So perhaps tomorrow, cooler heads will prevail, lol.

Victorian Motto Sampler threads give away!

Go to her post to enter to win!  Such gorgeous colors!

Because I'm itching for a new start....

I'm usually pretty good about sticking to my stitching plans.  I plan my stitching out at the end of the year for the following year.  Small things and charity stitching get added into the plan wherever they are needed, but especially for my bigger projects, I generally stick to my plan.  I like my stitching plans and the way I stitch.  To me, it all feels very planned out.  To my friends...well, I'm sure it doesn't look that way and they nearly get whiplash trying to keep up with what I'm stitching on at any given time.  But that's because I have so many charity items and smalls for myself (like hand towels or pillowcases) that it seems like every time they look I'm working on something different.  But in reality, it's all a part of my bigger plan and my "first here, then there, and next hop over here," method actually results in finishes for me.  Which, to me, that is very, very important.  I'm not a serial starter.  I like to finish my projects.

Which is why I'm generally unfamiliar with that feeling that some stitchers seem to get quite often to start a new project....for no apparent reason.  Right now I have finished one of my big pieces and met my goal of finishing in June, only missing it by a couple of weeks.  I have finished Honeybee Happenings, which was my focus piece last year and then I picked it back up in April of this year.

(Excuse the wrinkles...I haven't ironed it yet.)

So that happened.  And I still have my other focus pieces for the year a well as stitching going on for no less then three charity projects.  (Two are mine and the third is someone else's that I just volunteered for.)  But with Honeybee Happenings out of my rotation, I started to feel a bit of openness in my stitching schedule.

And I started to get the itch.

You know the one.

The itch for a new stitch.

:0)

So I decided to give in and pick something out of my stash to start on.  I chose Frosty Friends, the Eskimo pattern by Cindy Smelcer.  (It's a Foxwood Crossings design)  I bought this pattern last year at Dixie Darlin's in Pigeon Forge.  They had this little Eskimo on their wall as a model stitch but stitched on a different fabric than what was shown in the picture with the pattern.  I immediately fell in love with the pattern and that fabric.  I told the shop owner, "I want that pattern with that fabric."  So she helped me find what the model stitcher had used.  I love it.  It's a 28ct Cashel called, "Crystal Dwarf."  It has the sparkle running all through it.  It's lovely and perfect for this little Eskimo.

I'm playing around with the colors on this one and taking the called for list of threads as a loose suggestion.  That green that I've started with is much more vibrant in person.  It seems the camera washed it out.  

As some of you know, my online handle is The Eskimo's Wife.  And I am that in the most literal sense.  :0)  My husband is an Eskimo from Alaska.  So I'm always on the lookout for Eskimo patterns.  I'm hoping I can get this one finished quickly.  It's not too big, so maybe I'll have another finish to share soon.  :0)

The Nashville Get Together 2015 Retreat

This past weekend I attended the 2015 Nashville Get Together retreat.  This was the first time this particular retreat had been held, so I didn't know quite what to expect.  But I have to say, it far exceeded any expectations I may have had going in.  It was **amazing**.

Hostesses and Vendors

The hostess for this retreat was Barbara Deets who owns TrulyN2Stitching Designs on Etsy.  It was co-hosted by Amanda Adams who owns a needleminder store online.  (Her link to come soon.  She is just now getting her website up and running, so I can't share it until it's ready.  I'll post it here as soon as I can.)

In attendance as both a vendor and stitcher was Katrina Boyd who owns Crossedthreads Needlework in the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area.  She sells a whole array of stitching supplies and if she doesn't have on hand what you need, she can order it for you.  Also there as a vendor and stitcher was Leslie LaFleur of Under the Sea Fabrics.   She brought a lot of fabric with her and it was all gorgeous.

Venue

We stayed at a Drury Inn and got a special room rate for our group.  We had exclusive use of the conference room all weekend long.  The staff was wonderful and accommodating in every way.  The Inn itself provides a full hot breakfast, an afternoon happy hour with drinks and snacks, a full hot supper, as well as sodas, coffee, water, and tea available all day until 10pm ~ all included in the price of your room.  Each room also had a mini fridge and microwave.  We also all brought snacks for the conference room.  So if you wanted to attend this retreat without ever providing for a food budget, it's entirely 100% possible.

Community Service

One very special aspect of this retreat, is that our hostess arranged for us to be able to donate to one of the local women's shelters.  She told us months in advance that she would set up a freebie table for us to donate our patterns and stitching supplies that we no longer wanted.  Everyone there was free to take what they wanted off of the freebie table and the things that were left at the end of the weekend would be given to the shelter.  Also, if we chose to, we could bring toiletries to donate as well.  By the end of the weekend, I think everyone had snagged some goodies for themselves off of the table and there was still a very good amount left over to donate.  We also brought in lots and lots of toiletries and one stitcher even brought a big basket full of vegetables from her garden to donate.  So by the time all was said and done, we were able to send a very nice collection of items to the shelter.  I really liked that and I heard several other stitchers mention that they liked it as well.

**************

Myself, along with a few others, arrived early on Thursday night.  We were the "Early Birds."  After we arrived and got settled in, we each got our swag bags for the weekend.  They went ahead and let us have them at the beginning because they knew there was something in there that the Early Birds could use the plans for that night ~ a coupon for the local needlework shop.

So let me take a moment and show you what came in our swag bags.  These bags truly blew everyone away.  We go to retreats to meet stitchers and make new friends, but to leave with gifts on top of it, is a ton of icing on top of the cake!

The Swag Bag Goodies

These threads are Carrie's Creation Hand-dyed floss Limited Edition.  We each got one dozen skeins!  The colors are so vibrant and gorgeous.  It doesn't really show up well in the picture, but these are all variegated colors.  I can't wait to use these but I'm not sure what I'll use them on yet.  Any ideas on that would be appreciated ~ please share!

Ok ~ next let's talk patterns.  See that folder up there at the top of the picture?  That folder was given by the local needlework shop and it not only included our coupon for shopping with them, but it was chock full of freebie patterns as well.  Lots and lots of patterns in there.  Very nice.  Next under that and to the left, the purple paper is a coupon given to us from Needleworker's Delight & Silkweaver Fabrics.  It has a special coupon code just for the Nashville retreat attendees.  Under that you'll see a White Willow Stitching pattern.  Each of these patterns in each bag was different.  Stitchers were free to trade these among themselves if they wanted to.  But I loved mine and kept it.  For many years I kept a flock of chickens, so this pattern with swinging chickens on it was perfect for me.  Lastly on the right, we got two patterns from Sue Hillis Designs.

Everyone also got one of these hand crocheted wash cloths.  Each bag had one in a different color.  I never did find out who made these, but I think it was probably our hostess or co-hostess.

Each bag had a 13x18 piece of fabric, given by Needleworker's Delight & Silkweaver Fabrics.  They were different colors in different bags.

Next were some fun and fancy threads from Rainbow Gallery.  I especially love the Whisper and Angora ones as I've been wanting some like that to stitch some fuzzy sheep.

Next we had a special little package put together for us by Wichelt Imports, Inc.  Eight gorgeous Mirabilia Memos postcards along with a container full of colorful beads.

Last but definitely not least, was a special bag put together by the hostess.  Each of these bags were a bit different but each contained one of her tuck pillows (varying colors,) and two other items.  In my bag I got a doggie picture frame and a highlighter.  Both perfect for me since I'm a dog mom and honestly needed another highlighter.

Thursday Night Early Birds

The retreat hostess and co-hostess had made special arrangements for us to go out to eat together that evening, if we chose.  Then after that, it was off to the local needlework shop.  So ~ the supper plans were perfect and adorable.  It just so happens that directly across the street from the needlework shop was The Loving Pie Company.  Since we were waiting for a couple of Early Birds to arrive via plane at the Nashville airport, we needed to be able to plan supper for 6pm. But The Loving Pie Company closes at 4pm.  However, when our hostesses talked to them, they agree to re-open on Thursday night exclusively for our group!  So we had the whole place to ourselves.  That was super fun.  It had cute 1950s decor and music.  And the food....the PIES...were out of this world.  It was truly a lovely evening and the staff were so nice and attentive.

By the time we got back to the hotel, it was just after 9pm.  My roommate and I want ahead and excused ourselves to go up to our room.  It had been a long day and we were tired.  We wanted to get our rest because we knew things would get started around 8:30am the next morning.  We also wanted plenty of time before that to go downstairs for a good breakfast.

Friday

Friday morning we got our early start as planned.  We went ahead and gathered up all of our stitching supplies and took them down to the conference room, scoping out a good spot at the table to leave them at.  Then we went back out to the lobby/dining area for breakfast.  Many of the other stitchers were coming down at the same time and we ate together.

Once we all got back into the conference room we set up our lamps, cords, projects, and also filled up the food counter with the snacks we brought.  I brought along my traveling project, which is The Beekeeper by Plum Street Samplers.  I feel good about the progress I made over the weekend.  The lady is (thisclose) to being finished and then all I'll have to do is the border.

After lunch on Friday when we got back to the conference room, we each had a gift from Leslie LeFleur waiting for us.  A little pattern from The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery (mine is a cute little cupcake) as well as a needleminder and a special coupon code for the retreat stitchers on the back of the card.

I also did a little bit of shopping.  :0)  I'm a bit of a project roll junkie and when I saw how well made Barbara's were, I knew I had to have one.  Not only did she have many gorgeous fabric patterns to choose from, but her project rolls are reversible.  I love pink, so I just had to choose this one.  I love, love, love it.

I also purchased a pattern from Katrina of a bee needle roll.  Actually, my roommate found the pattern and plopped it my spot at the table, lol, saying she found it when she was shopping and she knew I would love it.  She was right.  :0)

I also purchased a beautiful piece of mottled teal fabric from Katrina.  I believe it's 28ct from Wichelt and 11x18 inches.

Several of us in attendance decided to purchase the Aury TM design JOY (available for purchase at CrossedThreads Needlework) and stitch it together as a SAL.  It will be fun to see everyone's progress at next year's retreat.

Freebie Table Finds

As I shared earlier, we all took items from the freebie table we knew we could use.  Everyone was generous with bringing nice things, so we all got new to us items and the things that were left for the shelter were also equally as nice.  These are the items I chose:

You all know how I love embroidery.  This is a book of transfers to embroider.  I've already used a few of them ~ details to come in another post.

Some older cross stitch magazines and also some plastic canvas magazines.  Whenever I find these plastic canvas magazines, I try to snatch them up because they simply aren't sold anymore here in the US.

I kept coming back to this kit over and over again during the weekend.  It's the kind of picture I like to stitch and it continued to call to me.  When I finally flipped it over to see that black fabric with the printed design and the vibrant threads, I was hooked.  I'm really going to enjoy this one.

More bee items!  Again, my roommate found the banner on the right for me.  :0)  I love both of these and they will make for some fun stitching time.

I have been looking recently for some chocolate patterns.  So when I found this, it was perfect.

This is a country sampler that I wanted more for the alphabet than for the picture.  There are a lot of things I can do with this alphabet pattern.

And lastly, I fell in love with these carousel holiday horses.

There is one each for Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, Halloween, and Thanksgiving.

Door Prizes

Everyone in attendance won two door prizes plus a gift from the hostess.  There was also four "gold" gifts and one grand prize, and these were all large ticket items.  I didn't win any of those, but other stitchers did and they were all very pleased.  :0)  

First off, our hostess gave everyone one of her 8in Qsnap grime guards rolled up in a cute little canning jar.  Attached was a little wooden canning jar with the name of the retreat written on it.  I plan on turning mine into a needleminder as a cute little memento of the retreat.

Again, I love pink, so I had to choose this one.

The other door prizes I won were:

A copy of Cross Stitch Gold magazine.  I've gone through this issue and there are at least four patterns I want to stitch, so I'm definitely happy about this prize.

And also ~ this lovely pouch for stitching supplies.  It's sooooo very pretty.

Saturday Make It and Take It Class

Our co-hostess Amanda Adams held a "Make It and Take It" class on Saturday.  We made cute little paper boxes (that are surprisingly sturdy) to use as ORT containers.  It was a fun little class and I made my box and also was given an extra set of printed papers to make another at home.  These are really cute little boxes that would be good to put small gifts in for others at birthdays and Christmas.

We all had so much fun.  I had no idea there would be four vendors there and we would leave with so many thoughtful gifts.  We all also left with new stitchy friends which was wonderful.  My roommate and I - who I had never actually met before the retreat - have already decided to room together again next year.  There was lots of friending on FB and exchanging of contact info between everyone.

So in conclusion, this retreat was a lot of fun, we all left feeling like the hostess had done an excellent job in putting together a wonderful experience for us, and the hotel staff also took very good care of us.  I am definitely looking forward to next year!!!  :0)

Our Biltmore Estate tour and Downton Abbey exhibit, with stitchy souvieners

(Picture taken by my daughter.)

 

My daughter and I are on vacation.  We are in NC visiting my best friend ~ who is also an avid stitcher.  :0)  So I'm getting some awesome stitchy time.  But our first day here, we went on an excursion to the Biltmore Estate.  I have wanted to tour Biltmore for more years than I can count.  And my daughter was super excited because the mansion was also playing host to an exhibit of costumes from Downton Abbey.  It was so much fun to get to see all the costumes that we recognized from the show.  I think I was most tickled to see the purple dress worn by the Dowager Countess of Grantham.

 

 

The house and gardens were gorgeous, the food was wonderful (and more reasonably priced than I was expecting,) and the shops were delightful.  There was a confectionary shop, a Christmas shop, a toy store, a store that sold beautiful home goods, jewelry, kitchen wares and linens, a bookstore, and garden store.  There were also more restaurant choices than I expected.  There were a couple of sit down places that required reservations and also a few more simple places you could go to without any reservation needed....and an ice cream shoppe.  :0)  My daughter and I chose to go to the patisserie where you had a choice of many pastries as well as several different types of sandwiches and sides.  We had a lot of fun. 

 

My daughter is the photographer of the family and she loved taking pictures in the garden. 

 

 

It was a bit rainy in the afternoon, but we had come prepared with umbrellas so all was well.

 

 

After scouring every shop on the property, I found the elusive Biltmore Estate cross stitch kit!  I *knew* it would be there somewhere and you better believe I planned on getting it.  :0)  I did get a bit confused when it wasn't to be found in the shop that sold the lace and linens.  That seemed like the logical place to me and I was trying to prepare myself to be disappointed and have to leave without it.  But!!  In the last shop we went to at the end of the day, I found it!  And...it was the garden shop, lol!  Why they thought that's where it needed to go, I'll never know. 

 

But I did find it and I was sooooo happy!  I have purposely stopped my retail buying for stitching this year.  I keep it for special times like when I'm traveling or at retreats. At home, any spending has just been nice second hand finds.  So this was a treat to spend on my stitching, since I'm traveling and it's one of my "allowed" spending times I have given myself.  :0)

 

So here is the kit, designed by Posy Lough. 

 

 

After I got back to my friend's house that night, I went ahead and sorted the threads and bobbinated all of them.  All I will need to do now is stitch my zigzag around the fabric edges and this one will be ready to start.

 

 

And lastly, I got the cutest Downton Abbey inspired pin cushion.  There was a lot of Downton Abbey items for sale, since they are hosting the exhibit right now.  I may or may not have ticked off another lady by grabbing this and high tailing it to the register with it, right when she grabbed for it at the same time, lol. 

 

 

 So overall we had a delightful day and I'm so glad we went.  The fact that is was also a Downton "experience" as well, made it all the better.  And the cherry on top was getting a couple of stitchy related items.  It was definitely a very good day.  If you ever have the chance to go to Biltmore, definitely do it!  Such a beautiful place and worth the effort to get there.



Thrift store love, WIPs and current charity stitching finish

I have really made out like a bandit lately at thrift stores.  We only have one teeny little one where I live and I went there yesterday.  I ended up with a huge armload of hardcover books filled with patterns and tutorials for cross stitch, embroidery and needlepoint.  Also a few random patterns, kits and one discarded WIP.  Here's a picture of just part of what I ended up with.

But I have also discovered a crafting thrift store where I found two needlepoint kits, with canvas and yarn, still new in the package with the price tag from the store - $110 each - and I got them for $10 a piece.  Now don't you know I felt like a lucky lady that day!

I have been busy stitching too ~ not just stash shopping, lol.  My charity (see our FB page here) is winding up a project for a hospital nursery and I stitched four bibs and did one blanket, embroidering each of the four corners.  This was a lot of fun and I especially enjoyed stitching the blanket.

I have so far finished two of the ornaments in my Night Before Christmas Series.  I'm using 28 ct. Irish linen for these and I'm so pleased with how they are turning out.

I also did a quick 3-day stitch based off of a scene from the Harry Potter stories.  This one was a lot of fun.  It's on a hand dyed cashel linen and unfortunately the picture doesn't do the fabric justice.  It's a lemon lime swirl and as soon as I saw it, I knew it was the perfect piece of fabric for this piece.  (Excuse the wrinkles, this was fresh out of the Qsnaps.)

Garden Party is also coming a long nicely, although it has suffered one major setback.   My fabric got cut such that I am going to have to now stitch this in two separate designs instead of one.  Lucky for me, the pattern is such that I will be able to split it in a 2/3 - 1/3 manner and make two pieces out of it.  Not ideal, but onward and forward, yes?

And last but definitely not least, I'm working on a plastic canvas market tote.  So far I have the side panels, bottom panel and back panel finished.  Honesty, I've been seeing these squares in my sleep!  I was so glad to get them done.  The front panel will be much more interesting with lots of fruits and veggies stitched on.  This entire tote is stitched using the Continental Stitch, except for the overcast stitches I'll use to put it all together.

So that catches us up!  I'm off to pick up my needle and thread.  :0)

Nostalgia and Fabric Flowers

I have been doing a lot of thinking about how things in my childhood and in my family helped to shape my love and dedication to needlework as an adult.  I can look back and connect some dots now, that I didn't even know were being created as a child.

I remember when I was about 6-8 years old, we attended a church where the ladies put together a weekly fabric service project of sorts.  We would meet in one of the large classrooms on Saturdays to make fabric bouquets for any new names that had been put on the sick list that week.  My memory is foggy on how we made these flowers, but I think I remember enough that I could recreate it.  I have *never* seen this craft done anywhere else and have no idea who came up with it.

 

All the ladies donated materials in all colors and patterns.  So we would choose a color or print theme for each individual bouquet and lay out that material.  Then we would take pipe cleaners in a matching or coordinating color and cut them into thirds or in half, depending on how big we wanted the flowers.  Then we would bend them into a teardrop/flower petal shape.  Using fabric glue, we would glue them onto the material.  At this point, we would usually stop for a potluck lunch while the glue dried.  :0)  After that we would cut out each flower petal.  Then using yellow, orange, or gold pipe cleaners cut to size, we would bend one end down into a small spiral to be used as the stamen and pistil part of the flower.  We would take about 5 or 6 petals with the stamens/pistils placed in the center and start wrapping the base in green floral tape.  We would also attach green floral sticks under this with the wrapped tape, adding on a few leaves here and there.  (Green material with green pipe cleaners, made like the petals but in more of a leaf shape.)  Once all the flowers were done we would gather them into a bouquet and place them in inexpensive green glass vases and deliver them to their recipients. 

Even in describing this project, I can clearly see how these fabric bouquets had to have screamed, "1980s!!!!"  But even so, I'm tempted to try and recreate one or two bouquets for nostalgia's sake.  :0)