The sun is out ...it's a glorious day!!!

OMG...they are saying it should get up to 50 today and the sun is shining so bright you need sunglasses...a glorious day to behold. And now back to business. While it is hard to imagine what this project will look like, you can see a picture of it completed by the company on our web site..."Just add Tinsel". Here is my work in progress. The top picture is the outside cover of the box in the works....the other three pictures are of the smalls which I decided to stitch first to give myself the encouragement to finish the box. I love working on this piece and save working on it for when I'm in the shop. At home I work on something completely different....A Stitchers Treasure Box...so I'm loving my stitching right now in the shop and at home. If you have looked at the completed design shown here you may wonder why my needlebook is done in 2 pieces instead of one piece and I could kick myself but

that is my fault and I've decided to make it work and finish the two pieces separately and then join them together as I don't want to have to restitch it. I was so interested in making the best use of the piece of fabric I didn't notice that the needlebook was suppose to be in one piece (as most of them are). The Star shape will be a reindeer pinkeep, the red birds are a scissor fob. Each piece is stitched back and front. The tree box is stitched on the top, and inside bottom and all outside pieces. It's guaranteed to be an interesting finish...just hope I'm up for the challenge. I'm scared but it's not going to keep me from finishing it. We got the latest Just Nan in yesterday... White Heart Humbug. It's really pretty, delicate in appearance and very wintery, especially with the snow pin stitching in it. The snowflake pin is only available with this piece, not sold separately so you might want to take a look at it and order if you, like I, are a collector of the Just Nan Garden Pins. We also got in the Snowy Owl pin which is very pretty. It appears as if it has been snowed upon, a glossiness to it. Anyway, a fine addition to the set. We actually had a few stitchers in yesterday....and some who weren't stitchers. And we also had, "I need a spring scene, where would I find that." Sara just looked at me, I shot her the look that says, "Please help me from killing myself," and then tried to narrow down the choices by asking for more specifics, which the person was unable to give me so I finally just had to say, "To tell you the truth, every rack probably has spring on it since each designer does spring and

we rack by designer." I'll be honest here, I feel as a true stitcher that I would never ask that question until after I had searched a little bit. I would also have a few more specifics and not that I needed a spring piece or I needed something to fit a 5" x 7" frame (you know that also annoys me). But going into a shop our size and asking for something so generic means someone is going to have to search every rack and point out every spring item...wouldn't it be less trouble just to search yourself? And if you are a true stitcher wouldn't you want to search yourself. Now after looking through a couple of racks I can understand if you need to move faster and then come up with specifics like a spring garden, a farm in the springtime, a bouquet of spring flowers, anything...but not a spring piece and that's it. I don't think that's asking to much. That would be the same as going into the book store and asking if they have any books about little girls. Just too wide a topic...narrow it down if you are going to ask in any store. Thank you! We do try though, we do a search on Hoffman's site to find the topics and which books they are and then check our computer to see if we have them in stock. I don't mind working, it's just I need some specifics. We're also getting excited about our Superbowl event coming up. We have our usual group from Pennsylvania here for the event as a retreat...and their numbers seem to grow each year and we love these girls because they are a hoot. And Kay Fletcher and her stitchers will be here, and hopefully Kay will be able to make it (which would mean her husband is doing well)...we're keeping our fingers crossed. It's a non-stop party weekend. Jody King called yesterday to question the date of our Spring Retreat. Every few years, (3 years ago it also happened) this event falls on Mother's Day weekend, and this throws some of the stitchers off a little. I personally feel that a retreat is the best gift any mother could receive, but apparently my thinking is not yours. But for all you mothers....you can still come to the retreat and be home Sunday in time to go to dinner with your mother, or your family. We do so much as mothers for our families, we also need time for us. This is it. A weekend without having to do for others, it's all about stitching, getting together with friends and having fun. Ask your husband to pay for it as a gift for you...I think that makes sense! But if you can't attend, we'll miss you and hope you join us again next year. But before that takes place we have our Jane Timmer weekend the weekend after Easter this year. Most have already either started their stitching or have already finished their stitching. If you have not started, just make sure you have it done by April (plenty of time left right now) as this is a pre-stitch class. Also make sure you have your box preference in to Jane asap. In any event...I'm late for work....I'll talk to you later. Have a great day!