Jackie DuPlessis was in the house!

Jackie's classes were over a couple of weeks ago now and I was thrilled to have her pre-stitch done at the time and when I saw the completed piece which she finished, I knew all the work will be well worth the time.  I also found there were other, like Debbie Liming, who received her kit about 2 weeks before the class and she had hers finished and loved every stitch.   Because of her work schedule, Debbie usually can't complete all of the pre-stitch on classes where there are multiple numbers of pieces involved or the design is really involved.  But here she waltzed in with her 95% done after only 2 weeks...she couldn't say enough about how much she loved the stitch.  But the one point we do agree on is the finished project, fabulous!  So, I don't have to love every single stitch to take the class, I just have to love the finished project.  And what we learn from classes is invaluable for future finishing.  If you have never taken a class before, treat yourself, you will enjoy the journey, and get such useful information and great techniques.  Every teacher shares endlessly and we've had wonderful teachers here, including Jackie, Sherri Jones, and Betsy Morgan just this year.  Most shops today offer  classes and events, so check out events at your local needlework shop.  You will never regret it!  For stitchers, the designers are our rock stars, unfortunately we don't have any academy awards for them.  Perhaps we should!  Anyway, the weekend started out early with Ginny, Betsy Morgan  and Jackie arriving on Wednesday, Debbie and the other students arriving on Thursday and Friday morning the fun began with September Morning and Jackie's new finishing stitch.  Such a beautiful project with several beautiful scrims.  Oh, My, my wallet was hurting after the weekend, but the scrims are a must have and sooo worth it.  Several regulars were here for the classes and it's always good to reconnect with stitchers and see their works in progress.  It's inspirational to see what others are creating with linen or canvas and thread, plus we got a sneak preview of Jackie's next piece which is unbelievable.  A designer's mind works in mysterious ways.  I don't know how they keep coming up with the projects they come up with for class.  But I'm so thankful to all designers who work so hard and invest so much of their time to help us develop our skills to a higher degree.  You make the world a better place for us to live in, to say nothing of the beauty you add to a stitcher's world.  Anyway, we had a great time here at Salty Yarns that weekend.  However, I'm so out of practice working it darn near killed me physically.  (let's not discuss the weight issue and what that is doing to me, right now it's about the weekend rush)  On The Saturday night when I finally closed (because Sara told me to close and go home), I stumbled over to the lobby and joined Jackie, Stacy, Sara and Debbie in the lobby.  Sara kept looking at me and whispering "Go Home" because she knew I was exhausted, but I just smiled and sat and joined the discussions (one of which got a little heated, but I still sat even though Sara glared and said, "I need you to leave", and yet I sat on.  I finally left around 11:15 and when I got home I text Sara and said, I couldn't leave earlier because to tell you the truth I was too tired to get up and leave.  It's really a wonder I didn't just lay down on a sofa and let Mary wake me up in the morning when she came to work.  Wouldn't that be a lovely sight as tenants came down in the morning to get their coffee and English muffin.  Well, even I knew that wasn't a solid plan which is why I dragged myself home.  I was too tired to stitch when I got there and just went to sleep, but got up the next morning to stitch and ended up miscounting and having to take the stitching out.  Damn!  I hate when that happens.  We also had Dana Spernal not only taking the classes but cutting fabric so that was really a bonus for me...since that is not my favorite thing to do.  Thank you Dana.  I love you and Stasi Buhrman because you two always help out in that department, with smiles on your faces.  What a help!So if you are in the shop and I shout "Cut your own fabric" please don't be offended, it just means I too darn tired to get up and do it.  stitching I thought I was going to do, but I also haven't been working as hard as Judy and now Dana Spernal who came down for the weekend to cut fabric so I wouldn't have to  (cutting linen drives me nuts anytime, There were events during which  I've spent 6-8 hours doing nothing but cutting fabric with no breaks because at some point people were just piling the fabric with notes about the cut they needed and their name.  But for some reason, I haven't figured out, Stasi Buhrman and Dana both offer to cut for us.  Bless their hearts!  Sara and I are so blessed to have such friends, we truly know we are.  That's one of the reasons I love this industry....we have made wonderful friends through it.  Well, I shall post this now since it's been sitting here for 2 weeks waiting.  Have a great day now that the rain has stopped!