A Great Weekend with Betsy Morgan....

We had a spectacular weekend with Betsy Morgan which started on Thursday as all stitchers made their way to Ocean City.  We were thrilled to have Paola fly in from Luxenburg.  We just don't get to see enough of Paola so when she's here it's a special treat.  This year we had several new friends come so it was expecially nice to see so many new faces.  I've talked about  her blog, well,  Amy Wilson was here with her bff, Kathy.  Amy writes the blog....threadinhand.BlogSpot.com,  so that was exciting for me.  I've been following her blog since April and she is a fabulous blogger.  She writes everyday and adds tons of pictures.  She's also is a prolific stitcher.  She and Paola must stitch 23 hours a day with only 1 hour of sleep.  And the pieces they stitch are fabulous.  Class pieces...mercy they each take numerous classes each year, so their "show and tell" was multiple class pieces, and so exciting .  It is inspiring to see so many gorgeous pieces at one time.  It's a shame Paola doesn't blog...darn I should have taken some pictures to show you.  (why do I always think of this after the fact...drat!)  Check out Amy's blog though and see what I'm talking about.  And both Amy and Paola brought show and tell.  Now that was exciting.  Paola is now stitching on 45 count (omg..are you kidding me?)  And she has taken home some 52 count.  I thought I was doing well when I stitched the Halloween pieces in the watch fobs that you see above on 40 ct.  Amy loves to change up the designs to suit herself which is what you should do but so many of us don't.  You must see her Shepherd's Fold.  It is very different than the Shepherd's Bush original and looks wonderful.  You can see it on her blog.  Anyway, Betsy's class started Friday morning and went all day.  Then the stitchers  made their way to the lobby where they stitched and talked for the rest of the day with a break for eating dinner and then mingling during Sara's reception.  A whole lot of work was done on Day 1, followed by an equally demanding Day 2.  And while the stitchers were a little exhausted by the end of Day 2, they were excited about the progress they made.  Friday saw them finish the crown pin cushion....so darn cute.  Saturday saw them finish the Thistle needlecase...just gorgeous.  Sunday, exhausted but undaunted they attended their 3rd day of classes but thankfully it was over around 2:30 and then they came to the lobby to hang out, stitch and talk about what they did.  Betsy does such a wonderful job of teaching, and putting together her kits that you really don't care how much work goes into the finishing of the projects.  Her finishing directions are complete so you will have no trouble when you get home finishing your project.   If you have never taken a class you will be amazed at how you learn.  There are many wonderful teachers out there...if you haven't taken a class before I encourage you to take one in your LNS.  As for me...well I worked the shop all weekend (which apparently made me lose my mind since Monday I sat home stitching and didn't show up for work...the first time ever!)  Sara called me and asked what I was doing and I said, "Just sitting on the sofa stitching" so instead of saying, "Mom get your lazy behind off the sofa and come to work," she just said, well have a great day.  I didn't find out I was suppose to work on Monday until Sara came to my house at the end of the day on Monday to bring me something.   In my defense, I really thought I was suppose to work on Tuesday, which is usually Renee's day but I thought I was working her shift because she had a doctor's appointment.  Apparently now I'm delusional as none of that was correct.  But I'm back on track now....of course I'm off all week (working 4 days apparently made me lose my mind).   Now about the pictures in the beginning of this post.  On the far left are the 3 fobs from Brenda Gervais, "With thy Needle & Thread".  I just love her designs and was thrilled when she designed for the watch pendant as I have seen what the rest of you are doing with them and I was dying to stitch one.  Now, of course, it's my new obsession.  Anyway, they are stitched on 40 ct. Weeks Confederate Gray linen, over 2.  Despite my eye issue, with my peepers, clip on magnifiers and my Daylight magnifier...I had no trouble seeing this to stitch.  I had such fun and was able to stitch each one in just a matter of a couple of hours.  The hardest part of finishing these was the cutting out of the lettering.  They suggest using an old book, or scrapbooking lettering, but I don't like to cut up books, and the scrapbook lettering...well, what I had at the time was too large.  God forbide I actually get out of my p.j.'s to go find some.  Anyway, in the end I did find an old, old library book that the library had put on sale to get it off their shelves.  The lettering was perfect so that problem was solved, however, getting them from the book to the project was almost my undoing.  I decided to stiffen up the letters by using double sided tape to attach them to card stock.  My fingers are too big and I'm too clumsy to handle such small pieces of anything.  I'd get them all set and then I'd hit the table and they would move.  I finally got them glued (yes I said glued) in place and after struggling to get the back off the watch pendant, I was finally finished.  I Love Love Love these pendants, fobs whatever you want to call them.  Now, of course I'm looking for other designs.  While I was really so excited about this, Stasi Buhrman comes for the weekend with a finished one (designed by her with the focus on the Bee...and stitched on 52 ct).....only smaller than the Tim Holtz pendant so that put me on a whole new hunt.  Wednesday, which was Paola's last day with us, I took her to Salisbury so she could go to Michael's and then Hobby Lobby.  We made a day of it and I found the smaller pendants (win, win) among other little goodies and Paola found a few treasures and then we came back home to sit in the lobby and stitch.  We agreed to meet in the lobby after my tutoring session with Michael and we were going to stitch for the rest of the night.  We made it to the lobby, however, neither one of us lifted a needle.  Paola and Sara were busy setting up her Fitbit, which we picked up in Salisbury and I was helping Michael write a 10 page paper (can you image 10 pages for a 13 year old).  He had to write a story that involved 5 different continents.  He was just struggling so Paola, Sara and I helped him out.  Paola and Sara were on tech devices and I was busy typing it.  Michael was on a computer as well and I was telling him what he should be looking for.  In the end before the evening was over, we had a paper alright...but it was only 5 pages and we all decided that was good enough since I don't think the teacher is even going to read them since they have 2 half days left and report cards are handed out on Friday.    So I bid Paola good bye and then I made my way home...tired but excited to get started with my stitching.  I pulled out my Welsh cottage, saw I made a mistake, tore it out and said, "That's it" I'm done.  I'll start on this tomorrow.  So in the end....no stitching was done on Wednesday.  The middle picture is Drawn Threads "Autumn Jumble"...which I loved stitching so much I'm now going to do Summer Jumble.  In fact I might start that tomorrow just to get my stitching back on track.  The final picture is my 6 year old grandson, Solomon.  He had been taking Karate classes now for a couple of years and Saturday he went to get his black belt which I'm thrilled to say he earned by passing the test.  6 years old.  We're so proud of him.  Anyway, I've been sitting here since 3:00 a.m. and I do believe Candy Crush is calling my name.  Talk to you soon