I've been so busy getting ready for events I haven't had time to blog...well, that's not exactly true, although I have been busy, but Elaine cleaned up and changed displays in Sea Trader, including my blogging spot and now I can't blog in there anymore because she removed the shelf I used. So now I'm home doing it where I should have been doing it all along. But when I'm home all I can think about is stitching....you see the problem? Anyway, it finally happened, after all this stitching, my behind is tired of my stitching seat on the sofa so I've moved over to the blogging chair at the table. I have a different chair for everything so I don't get bored in one spot. Anyway, the pictures on the left show what I got done for last weekend. You know I'm loving that large count linen, although I did find a flaw with it unfortunately, after I had already started stitching. I was working on
"Land of Liberty," a Brenda Gervais piece and at some point I felt it just wasn't going to fit on the cut of linen and decided I had started in the wrong place. Aggravated, I tore out the L and the Uncle Sam figure and started over. After stitching the LIB and Uncle Sam again I thought it looked too long for the cut of linen. This time I counted the threads per inch and found this friggin linen is not 20 ct as marked but is 16 in one direction and 18 in the other. I almost ripped the damn thing up, but of course I couldn't do that, and thank goodness I had another piece of this linen for another project and the cut was really bigger than needed and so for the 3rd time I restitched the darn thing. What I love is after calling Sara to alert her to change the count on those linens, she called the supplier and they actually knew it wasn't 20 and still sent it out as such anyway. What is that about? Not as enthusiastic stitching a 3rd time, but loved it when I finished it, so it was worth the aggravation. And it's such a fabulous size approx. 15" x 6" Makes a wonderful pillow for a chair or sofa. The third piece shown is "Long May Ewe Wave" which is actually a free chart, (when you purchase the beehive button) from Shepherd's Bush, stitched on 18ct. Raw linen and then finished into a pin cushion. Of course I changed one minor detail....I didn't stitch the bees but used the bitty bees instead (much to Sara's dismay I love the bitty bees). Sara gets aggravated because I keep using the supplies and she runs out....order more I said...for God's sake stop yelling at me because I'm using supplies. It's for the shop to begin with...a model...honestly I get no respect around here. The second piece is from 2015 Nashville Market. It's by Little House Needleworks, and called, "
Giving Thanks". The frame is an East Side Moulding frame which we carry in the shop. It was a fun easy stitch as were the other two pieces shown. Today I finished another of the pieces done on the "20" (yeah right) ct. linen, I've redone "Jingle Jingle" by Plum Street Sampler. I loved doing it the first time and this time I changed the color of the horse to greys and still love it. I've also started
"Cross Stitch Nation", (since I'm certainly a member,) but for this I went back to 32 ct. Sara wants me to finish it as a barrel pin cushion, so I'm going to give that a go....and I'll post it when it's done. But I must mention the last 3 events. First was our Sheri Jones class and we love Sheri so we knew it was going to be fun and she didn't disappoint. Friday she had a finishing class for any of her pieces that you might not have finished. You were able to bring in previous class pieces and she would assist in the finishing. It was very successful and Stacy Stinson went home with her Patriot Patty completed. Kudos to her. Sara worked on her Hare pocket and with Sheri's help she did get it completed. I'm so proud of her and she really did a terrific job with the finishing. So Thank You Sheri for all the time and attention you gave the stitchers. That's why your classes are so popular, because you care about the stitchers, and they sure do love you. I saw that Bernadette has finished her Garden Long Pocket and several had the band almost completed before they left for home. Such a gorgeous piece and well worth my struggle (of course trouble made by myself not by the piece.) The hardest part of the weekend is always what to pick for the next year. And I can't recall if they chose something and what it is going to be. That's always up to Sara and Sheri, I'm out of the loop (as usual). The next weekend we had the Delaware Valley Sampler Guild and many of these ladies shop with us so we are familiar with them and they are always fun. But this time I got a really good hint from the Jersey ladies who attend. Three of the ladies stitch a project a year together. Last year they picked The Flying Santa from Artist Collection. They brought it into the shop to ask a question as they were putting the pieces together and then mounting them on one of the "Stix" we sell. But it's how they put them together to use with the stick that is so interesting to me. I have done pieces which I have mounted on pointed things like the mini oil cans, etc. and this never ever occurred to me. They fastened a straw(regular drinking straw) inside the piece so instead of fighting with the sharpened point of metal against the stuffing, polyfil whatever, you simply put the metal stick inside the straw already sewn in. No muss, no fuss. They secured the straw so it wouldn't come back out of the piece so you can remove the piece from the display if you wanted and easily reinsert the stand. Fabulous idea. And that is the point of stitchers getting together. It's the sharing of ideas that is so wonderful so I thank Carol Wentzel, Robin Thompson and Pat Lerch for sharing. I will be using this technique in the future I can assure you. And then last week I got a really nice gift in the mail....Vera Means who was in the shop when her group, The Tangles, were in town and she found a kit that went missing and was later found while she was packing. Since she already had repurchased the same kit, she sent me her lost one, so I got a Boo Moon witch pin cushion kit from JABCO, which you will see as I am going to be finishing it next week. Thanks Vera...I love it. During Sheri's weekend, Stasi Buhrman gave me the most beautiful bone china tea cup and saucer and the pattern was I believe called petit point. It looks like cross stitch..how fabulous is that. As if that wasn't gift enough, Stasi then charted a floral pattern that matches the tea cup design so I will be stitching that up as well. She also brought me a bag of the old mason jar lids which I use for pin cushions. Thanks Stasi, I really appreciate the gifts. And Cynthia McCann brought me 4 of the 4" red tart pans which are going to be fabulous with some Christmas Designs I have. Oh, my I have been blessed. Thank you Cynthia....I love the colored tart pans. I'm even thinking a patriotic design would look good in it and Plum Street just released another one so perhaps that's the one I'll use. It's a stitching bonanza down here.....new supplies, etc. And then this past weekend we had 66 stitchers for our May retreat. The weather did not cooperate at all, and it was in the 50's and rainy and cloudy every day except Sunday when it was high 60's and sunny. But as stitchers we don't really care because it's about the stitching and friendships we treasure, although it would have been nice to be able to sit on the front porch to watch the ocean. But we still had a wonderful weekend. Sara made some fabulous appetizers and the lasagna dinner was wonderful, and Vernon spent the weekend behind the bar making the ladies orange crushes. Yes, food, drinks and stitching for the weekend...it just doesn't get any better than that. So thanks to all the stitchers who came to the first events of the year. We appreciate your patronage and can't wait to do it again. Of course we have Betsy Morgan here in June so I guess we will be doing it all again. I need to get the prestitch done....here I go again! Have a great week and I'll try to post more often so you won't think I've died. And for the stitchers who couldn't attend this past event due to a fall down the stairs and back problems, and the flu we missed you all and hope you are well on the road to recovery. We'll see you hopefully at another retreat.
I've been so busy getting ready for events I haven't had time to blog...well, that's not exactly true, although I have been busy, but Elaine cleaned up and changed displays in Sea Trader, including my blogging spot and now I can't blog in there anymore because she removed the shelf I used. So now I'm home doing it where I should have been doing it all along. But when I'm home all I can think about is stitching....you see the problem? Anyway, it finally happened, after all this stitching, my behind is tired of my stitching seat on the sofa so I've moved over to the blogging chair at the table. I have a different chair for everything so I don't get bored in one spot. Anyway, the pictures on the left show what I got done for last weekend. You know I'm loving that large count linen, although I did find a flaw with it unfortunately, after I had already started stitching. I was working on "Land of Liberty," a Brenda Gervais piece and at some point I felt it just wasn't going to fit on the cut of linen and decided I had started in the wrong place. Aggravated, I tore out the L and the Uncle Sam figure and started over. After stitching the LIB and Uncle Sam again I thought it looked too long for the cut of linen. This time I counted the threads per inch and found this friggin linen is not 20 ct as marked but is 16 in one direction and 18 in the other. I almost ripped the damn thing up, but of course I couldn't do that, and thank goodness I had another piece of this linen for another project and the cut was really bigger than needed and so for the 3rd time I restitched the darn thing. What I love is after calling Sara to alert her to change the count on those linens, she called the supplier and they actually knew it wasn't 20 and still sent it out as such anyway. What is that about? Not as enthusiastic stitching a 3rd time, but loved it when I finished it, so it was worth the aggravation. And it's such a fabulous size approx. 15" x 6" Makes a wonderful pillow for a chair or sofa. The third piece shown is "Long May Ewe Wave" which is actually a free chart, (when you purchase the beehive button) from Shepherd's Bush, stitched on 18ct. Raw linen and then finished into a pin cushion. Of course I changed one minor detail....I didn't stitch the bees but used the bitty bees instead (much to Sara's dismay I love the bitty bees). Sara gets aggravated because I keep using the supplies and she runs out....order more I said...for God's sake stop yelling at me because I'm using supplies. It's for the shop to begin with...a model...honestly I get no respect around here. The second piece is from 2015 Nashville Market. It's by Little House Needleworks, and called, "Giving Thanks". The frame is an East Side Moulding frame which we carry in the shop. It was a fun easy stitch as were the other two pieces shown. Today I finished another of the pieces done on the "20" (yeah right) ct. linen, I've redone "Jingle Jingle" by Plum Street Sampler. I loved doing it the first time and this time I changed the color of the horse to greys and still love it. I've also started "Cross Stitch Nation", (since I'm certainly a member,) but for this I went back to 32 ct. Sara wants me to finish it as a barrel pin cushion, so I'm going to give that a go....and I'll post it when it's done. But I must mention the last 3 events. First was our Sheri Jones class and we love Sheri so we knew it was going to be fun and she didn't disappoint. Friday she had a finishing class for any of her pieces that you might not have finished. You were able to bring in previous class pieces and she would assist in the finishing. It was very successful and Stacy Stinson went home with her Patriot Patty completed. Kudos to her. Sara worked on her Hare pocket and with Sheri's help she did get it completed. I'm so proud of her and she really did a terrific job with the finishing. So Thank You Sheri for all the time and attention you gave the stitchers. That's why your classes are so popular, because you care about the stitchers, and they sure do love you. I saw that Bernadette has finished her Garden Long Pocket and several had the band almost completed before they left for home. Such a gorgeous piece and well worth my struggle (of course trouble made by myself not by the piece.) The hardest part of the weekend is always what to pick for the next year. And I can't recall if they chose something and what it is going to be. That's always up to Sara and Sheri, I'm out of the loop (as usual). The next weekend we had the Delaware Valley Sampler Guild and many of these ladies shop with us so we are familiar with them and they are always fun. But this time I got a really good hint from the Jersey ladies who attend. Three of the ladies stitch a project a year together. Last year they picked The Flying Santa from Artist Collection. They brought it into the shop to ask a question as they were putting the pieces together and then mounting them on one of the "Stix" we sell. But it's how they put them together to use with the stick that is so interesting to me. I have done pieces which I have mounted on pointed things like the mini oil cans, etc. and this never ever occurred to me. They fastened a straw(regular drinking straw) inside the piece so instead of fighting with the sharpened point of metal against the stuffing, polyfil whatever, you simply put the metal stick inside the straw already sewn in. No muss, no fuss. They secured the straw so it wouldn't come back out of the piece so you can remove the piece from the display if you wanted and easily reinsert the stand. Fabulous idea. And that is the point of stitchers getting together. It's the sharing of ideas that is so wonderful so I thank Carol Wentzel, Robin Thompson and Pat Lerch for sharing. I will be using this technique in the future I can assure you. And then last week I got a really nice gift in the mail....Vera Means who was in the shop when her group, The Tangles, were in town and she found a kit that went missing and was later found while she was packing. Since she already had repurchased the same kit, she sent me her lost one, so I got a Boo Moon witch pin cushion kit from JABCO, which you will see as I am going to be finishing it next week. Thanks Vera...I love it. During Sheri's weekend, Stasi Buhrman gave me the most beautiful bone china tea cup and saucer and the pattern was I believe called petit point. It looks like cross stitch..how fabulous is that. As if that wasn't gift enough, Stasi then charted a floral pattern that matches the tea cup design so I will be stitching that up as well. She also brought me a bag of the old mason jar lids which I use for pin cushions. Thanks Stasi, I really appreciate the gifts. And Cynthia McCann brought me 4 of the 4" red tart pans which are going to be fabulous with some Christmas Designs I have. Oh, my I have been blessed. Thank you Cynthia....I love the colored tart pans. I'm even thinking a patriotic design would look good in it and Plum Street just released another one so perhaps that's the one I'll use. It's a stitching bonanza down here.....new supplies, etc. And then this past weekend we had 66 stitchers for our May retreat. The weather did not cooperate at all, and it was in the 50's and rainy and cloudy every day except Sunday when it was high 60's and sunny. But as stitchers we don't really care because it's about the stitching and friendships we treasure, although it would have been nice to be able to sit on the front porch to watch the ocean. But we still had a wonderful weekend. Sara made some fabulous appetizers and the lasagna dinner was wonderful, and Vernon spent the weekend behind the bar making the ladies orange crushes. Yes, food, drinks and stitching for the weekend...it just doesn't get any better than that. So thanks to all the stitchers who came to the first events of the year. We appreciate your patronage and can't wait to do it again. Of course we have Betsy Morgan here in June so I guess we will be doing it all again. I need to get the prestitch done....here I go again! Have a great week and I'll try to post more often so you won't think I've died. And for the stitchers who couldn't attend this past event due to a fall down the stairs and back problems, and the flu we missed you all and hope you are well on the road to recovery. We'll see you hopefully at another retreat.
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