Event season is upon us...everyone is too busy for words....

Mary is not only manning the front desk, but she's also housekeeping as well, when our 2 final housekeepers are overwhelmed, taking care of the office...etc, etc, etc.  Sara is going nuts ordering, mail orders, shop schedules, etc,  now that we've lost so much of our shop help and of course taking shifts while fitting in food prep on items that can be done early and frozen.  The men are busy staying out off our way, and helping out when we need them and what am I doing to help?  I'm staying home so I'm not in anyone's way.  I have been feverishly trying to get models stitched and finished along with a few other fun items I love making.  But it is a mad house all over.   My dining room table isn't even visible as I have cutting mats, ribbons, fabric, craft supplies strew across it....honestly even I can't wait to put all this stuff back where it should go.  Now I'll show you some of what I've been working on.   First of all I finished Erica Michael's, "Scary Berry" done on linen (I used PTP Helix).  Many of you have seen the adorable 40 ct. gauze Scary Berry Stasi Buhrman stitched which is seriously detailed, a lot more than the linen one and while I love it...I didn't have the stamina or time to get it done before the events.  My hope is that Stasi gets hers finished and brings it with her for show and tell,  because if I had the time to choose I would have chosen the gauze piece because of the detail, however, that being said, I do love all the berries and will enjoy seeing mine now that's it together.  Linda put cute BOO charms on the top of hers, but I didn't have those so I put a black ribbon on the top to hang my berry and I brought the ribbon through a small pumpkin I had, just to give it that little extra (shown on top of the berry in the second picture.  Can't wait to do another one.  Looking at the second picture I noticed it looks like an ice cream cone with a little pumpkin on top instead of a cherry.  Or maybe not!

 

The next picture is "The Cat and the Moon" by Brenda Gervais.  I started this on 40 count Italian linen (40 ct. is what was the suggested linen) however after 15 minutes of stitching on the Italian linen, which seems really dense to me, I said the hell with it and was struggling to figure out what I could do with it if I stitched on a larger count.  I was thinking a tart pan, ornament and then it hit me.  I decided to use 20 count linen and stitch over 1...so much easier and it comes out the same size.  Since it was over one, I used 2 strands of the floss called for and had it finished in no time.  Love it!  I was a little concerned about the finishing of this however.  So I started gathering supplies.  I knew I wouldn't use crepe paper but felt I could use ribbon or fabric, and then saw someone else on Facebook used ribbon so off to Michaels I went.  They had all their Halloween merchandise out and 40% off so it was a win for me.  It took me forever to pick a ribbon and wasn't sure I would like it until I put it on the pot.  While she called for a peat pot to be used, but I walked into my laundry room and was searching for something (I didn't find that), but looked up and saw a 3" clay pot from who knows where, I simply can't force myself to throw stuff away because I am certain I will use it someday....and this proves my point (that's my story and I'm sticking to it.)  When I finally sat down to finish, I started with the double stick tape on the inside of the pot.  I  gathered the ribbon by pulling on the wired edge on one side and it worked perfectly.  So wire on the bottom which I left alone and gathered the fabric on the top on the wire.  The double stick tape didn't work and I was too lazy to get the hot glue gun so I used the thick white glue that was already in the dining room.  Worked fine.  Then I got out Brenda's directions and realized I had cut the fabric short on part of the circle of fabric....why God do I do this just about everytime.  I never learn.  She gathered the linen after stuffing the piece and used a rubber band around the bottom which wouldn't show as it would be inside the pot.  I gathered the bottom and used my carpet thread wrapped around the bottom and then stuffed it in the pot.  At first it was just to see how much smaller I needed to make it....but after looking at it I said, DONE!!  So it's just stuck in there.  The only thing about my finishing is I can never get all the creases out of this type of finish. If I gather around a matboard circle I cut, I can get a perfect finish, but if no matboard is used directly under the stitched piece, it's a crap shoot.  And the matboard on this piece has quite a bit of polyfil on top so it can be used as a pin cushion.   But I love the piece, think the finish is cute and believe it or not, I can enjoy it without stressing too much over the creases.  So the second picture gives you the view from the side and the clay pot.  I did not make a handle, because I think it's so cute without it and although I was in Home Depot, I decided my version doesn't need the handle.  I topped it off with a couple of specialty pins. a Jack-O-Lantern and a pumpkin, which you can see on the top right corner of the picture and I've shown them at the end of this blog for a good look.  

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The next project was  already stitched but I wasn't able to put it together until I painted the spool. This is the Hands on Design "Wild Salt Air:"  I showed the tray, etc. in my last blog .  As is often the case with my do-it- myself projects, this didn't go well.  I purchased two different blues which were the only 2 at Michaels that I thought would come close.  Neither of them did!    Sara suggested I just take navy and white, mix them and go with that, but that would not have worked because the blue of the tray actually has gray in it I think.  So I decided to take midnight blue, add it to a little white to get a gray and then add that to the blue.  I gathered my paints and when I went to add the white it was just a solid mass, but not hard yet.  So I dug a blob out, got some warm water and started the process of slowly getting it liquid enough to add it to the midnight blue and then added in the lightest blue.  Finally it was close enough I could finish the spool.  While I'm certain I could have done better, I wasn't able to get to Michaels and of course I was ready to finish the project come hell or high water.  Project done....close enough.  White paint on my list for my next Michael's run.

After finishing the Cat and the Moon pin cushion, I thought about pins for it.  Every pin cushion needs fabulous pins to anchor it.  I happy to have just made a couple of pins using small jack-o-lanterns and pumpkins and deemed them perfect for this piece.  Yeah!  

And now I must move on to finish more projects.  I'm almost done with another Heartstring Samplery  piece, Festive Fobs-Beekeeper Edition.  Can't wait to show you and I picked up the latest Halloween Short Stack from Hands on Design....oh, yes I'm very busy in anticipation of our events.  Today I'm going in to the shop to see the stitchers from The Tangles Group who are having their own retreat this week in Ocean City right down the boardwalk from us (so they can walk here anytime they feel like it).  So Vera will be in the house today....we welcome all the stitchers and love to see what they are all working on.  I'll be busy meeting and greeting during the day and working feverishly on stitching for the Delaware Guild who has their retreat next weekend at the hotel and the weekend after that is our Fall Retreat here so I don't have a minute to lose.  Have a great weekend and I hope you area able to put needle to linen or aida too.

To my southern friends, stitchers and shop owners,

I have been thinking of you for days, praying that you come through the devastation of Florence and emerge on the other side of it victorious, a little wet perhaps, but moving forward, getting the clean up behind you and opening the doors to a new week of sunshine.  You have a lot of friends praying for you and cheering you on as your get your homes and businesses put back in working order.  So keep you head up and know we are there in spirit if not in person wishing you the best. 

Well another fabulous weekend with Jackie DuPlessis

A huge Thank You to all the stitchers and Jackie DuPlessis for the fabulous weekend we had at Salty Yarns.  It's always exciting for us when events are coming up.  There is such a flurry of activity with Mary getting the rooms and apartments ready (with a real lack of workers as most of the foreign staff have returned to their home countries), so Mary has to help housekeeping and of course Sara has been on high alert for a month getting supplies for goodie bags, making sure the shop is fully supplied and the men....well they are on stand by in case we need them.  And then there I am, home stitching like there is no tomorrow and finishing to get new models in the shop.  Friday finally arrived, with temperatures in the 90's making it hard to breath and function, but the stitchers started arriving in high spirits because they knew Jackie was going to be teaching them fabulous new projects.  While I was told to stay home, I wasn't needed (this was just a tad hurtful, since I have been at every event working we have ever done) Shiela Fitzhugh and Bud were here all week (she was not an attendee for the event) and she sent me a text asking if I  was going to be at the hotel at all as she wanted to see me and show me what she had been working on.  She always does such beautiful work and large projects...I wouldn't want to miss seeing what she had completed,  so I told Sara I would be there on Friday but not to work just to see Shiela and then I'd go home.  So Shiela and I rocked on the front porch and I wish you could have seen her projects, well as a matter of fact I'll take a picture of 2 of them because she left them for us to display in the shop.  Thank you Shiela..you are a gem.  But the project I'm most fascinated by is her Heaven and Earth Nativity.  Over one on 25 ct., the detail on this piece is unimaginable.    I seriously don't know how she deals with the constant color changes.  Forget parking the threads you would never be able to untangle it from the back to stitch.  This is a masterpiece if ever there was one.  I started a Santa a few years ago and gave up after about 1 day.  It's making me rethink that and I plan to tackle it again this winter.  Anyway, Shiela informed me that Sara told her she wished I would show up so that the stitchers could see me as they were asking for me. (Thanks ladies...otherwise I'd be sitting home all weekend wondering what you were doing.)  So I came up Saturday and Sunday.....stayed out of the shop so I wasn't bothering anyone and chatted with the stitchers.  I love to see what others are working on and hearing their stories.  I didn't get a bit of stitching done at all during the entire weekend.  Anyway, Thanks to one and all who came to support the shop.  we  love you all!  Now, for my show and tell....first thanks to Cathy, Hands on Design, for deciding to do a general release of Wild Salt Air (formerly an exclusive called Dream of the Sea.)  The original kit came with an aqua scalloped tray that is no longer being made but Sara researched this and found they still made the scalloped trays in other colors and there was a light blue and a white one which would go with it.  So here is my finish using the light blue tray....it is missing the spool because I have to paint it to match the tray, but the stitching is done so now it's just finishing before it joins the rest of the project.

Sorry this is so dark but you still can see it a little

Front of the piece and the stitched pin cushion.  She does give you directions for making the wool pumpkin shown on the chartpak, but I haven't made it yet.  I also did a fob with the flower you see in the center of the vase, but I haven't actually assembled it yet.  

This is the back, obviously, and while there is still blank space it doesn't seem to bother me plus it would have been hard to do a design in that space for me.  I am so use to transferring her designs to 18 or 20 count over 2 to make pillows and banners it was strange at first to be working on 28 over 1, but I loved it and will now start on Summer in Baltimore. 

And the final show and tell which I had ready for Jackie DuPlessis weekend were  3 of the Stranded Jacks, a nautical set of Halloween ornaments from Plum Street Sampler (actually released in 2012 but I just got around to it).  

I found the mini fall milk can at Michael's and had an excuse to assemble the ornaments on dowels.  Such a cute way to use an ornament if you don't have a  year round tree.  I had seen a Halloween mini milk can just like this but decided I had spent enough at Michael's but when they went to 70% I decided I could afford it and went back.  By then the Halloween was gone but the fall was still there so I went for it.  The ornaments were stitched on 36 ct. Weeks Confederate Grey using the suggested fibers.  Since I've already done 8 of these types ornaments for Noah's Ark Christmas by Plum Street I can whip them up quickly, thank God!  So that's my show and tell for now.  I'm busy working on more fall for the Delaware Guild retreat.  I'll keep you posted.  Hope those of you who are in the path of the hurricane stay safe inside and have lights to stitch.  I've made sure I've got batteries in my clip on lights so I'm covered and hopefully we are all safe and this bugger just knocks itself out.  Now back to stitching for the Delaware Valley Sampler Guild.  I think I have enough time to do a few more smalls.  Fingers ctossed!  Have a great week, and for those of you anywhere near the path of Florence, keep your head down, stay inside, I'll be praying we all stay safe while she swings by.  Don't forget batteries for you clip on stitching lights.