OMG...something went terribly wrong with my blogger update...

I've been trying to figure this out for almost a week.  I went to post pictures through my Iphone and it tells me I need to update, however, there is no app for the Apple update yet.  For God's sake now I have to wait for that?  It's killing me.  I've grown attached to the sleigh ornaments and have now done 4 for Halloween and I can't show the latest ones yet.  God knows how long this will take.  First of all I'm not savvy enough to understand what the hell the message is even telling me to do, so I brought it down to the kids to interpret and Brian says I have to wait for the app to update.  Crap!  I'll keep trying and I'll get back to you the minute we have victory!  OK it's a small victory, I called Sara and asked her to post it to the blog using her phone which doesn't solve the problem, but at least I can finish the blog.  These are the final two models for the shop and I have to say, the finishing, if using the Sue Hillis method, is so simple I wonder why I didn't try it the first time.  Anyway it does give you a smooth finish.  Got to use my specialty ribbon again, always a plus, but of course now I'm worried I'll run out.  These are just two of the designs out of her Monster Mash leaflet.,   And now stitchers I'm done stitching Halloween for the shop. 

 As for Jamboree, we had a great group here and the teachers all got A's from the stitchers.  The newest thing for most of the stitchers was the class on stitching with gold threads.  Deborah-Merrick-Wilson was the teacher and she was so instructive with handling gold thread the students learned a lot and loved the class.  And the sample I saw was magnificent.  If you think gold work is done with just strands of gold thread, you are mistaken.  It might be instructive for everyone to take a class from her I think you will be amazed.  Then Sue Hillis taught the stitchers to finish an easel piece which they had pre-stitched, so everyone went home with a finished easel.  Wonderful class and many of the stitchers found this so easy to do they are going to repeat it with their Christmas gifts.  I think this is what I love about learning to finish a variety of items,  we are able to reproduce what we've been taught and able to use the same method over and over again.   This is the importance of classes.  The final class was taught by Gloria Moore from Milady's Needle.  She taught the students to finish one of her beautiful wooden spools.  The design she created was a Halloween scene and was so adorable and stitched on 40 ct. over 2 which was a challenge for some, but with peepers and magnifiers everyone struggled through it and Candi was at Stitch 'n Bitch on Tuesday and had it completed.  So once you get going it becomes a fast stitch.As I said, the teachers were wonderful, the stitchers were great and we feel we had another successful Jamboree.  Big thanks to both students and teachers.  We are so thankful for you all, bor without you we would not exist. Debbie Liming, Stasi Buhrman and I had made a decision to work on the finishing of Stitcher's Heart together and since Stasi isn't going to be here for C.A. Wells weekend, we decided to do it on Sunday of Jamboree after the stitchers left so I would be available.  So at 3 p.m we gathered in one of the hotel apartments and of course I noted immediately that while I had to papers for the inside of the box, I left the finishing kit for the small pieces at home.  But since I feel I can finish the smalls, I was concerned about the box as decoupage was involved, I didn't stress over what I left at home (especially since I didn't meet the goal of having everything stitched).  .  Now my mother was the queen of decoupage, if anything stood still for more than 5 minutes, she decoupaged it onto something.  So I should be fully versed in it, but of course I felt I remembered but wasn't sure enough on my own.  Debbie had painted her box already so Stasi and I were already behind.  So we painted our boxes and while we let them dry Debbie was sanding hers and we were all looking at the paper to put inside.  Now that was the struggle deciding how to cut those to match and get the most design saved out of it.  I have to say I don't have a whole lot of patience for this kind of thing.  I just want to get it done.  Debbie on the other hand studied it and moved it for about 45 minutes.  Stacy was more, get it done to the best of your ability and move on.  Oh, I forgot Stasi waxed her box and started to hand me the wax, etc., and saw my look which said, "Oh please do mine for me," so she did.  Then when it was time to buff it she felt I hadn't buff quite enough so she took over that job as well.  Then when it came time to cut the paper, Stasi looked at me and saw the writing on the wall so she cut mine for me.  Then she decoupaged it into the box for me.  So if I say I did the box, I'm lying through my teeth.  I brought my box in and let Stasi do all the work.  So Stasi that you so much and I promise if we ever do another project together I'll step up my game,  I was really so tired from jamboree I really was afraid to even try it.  So while my box is lined, painted and ready to go, I still haven't finished the box.  I did stitch the bag which goes in the box, only I stitched it the wrong way on the fabric, so now I have to alter the way it's finished....damn...I hate when I do that.  But now that things are quieting down I should be able to get back to the box.  As I said, the teachers were wonderful, the stitchers were great and we feel we had another successful Jamboree.  We are now gearing up for our final event of the year....our C.A.Wells Memorial weekend which is a stress free get together with the stitchers and then some that signed up for the class CA Wells cancelled (because we weren't worth her time.)  Sara decorates the hotel lobby for Halloween and all the stitchers bring food and goodie bags and we eat, talk and laugh our way through the weekend.  Sometimes we even stitch and finish smalls. But we relive the C.A. Wells story and it's become such a fun weekend we're actually glad she cancelled so we could start this memorial.  Well, I've got to get a couple of things finished before the weekend, so I'm signing off.  Have a great week and hope you get a little stitching in.   

OMG-I'm exhausted....but it's been fun...

I haven't blogged in a month,sorry about that, but I've been busy getting ready for events and then we had our 1st of the fall events with Jackie DuPlessis' class.  Wonderful group of stitchers and a good time was had by all.  Jackie has such interesting finishes....you learn so much from the designers that if you haven't had the pleasure of attending one of these classes you should put it on your bucket list. Now we'd love you to attend one of our weekends, but if you can't, check your local needlework shop or the closest one to you and see what they have to offer.  You will learn so much, it is so worth it.  Anyway last weekend the Tangles stitchers were in town and of course, thank God, they make their way to Salty Yarns from 12th street, where they stay.  They use to come with Michele who owned a store and when she decided to be a rep and get out of retail but the stitchers decided to keep on coming as a group.  Vera Means is part of this group and it's always fun to catch up on what's she's doing.  But there are many fun stitchers in this group so it's always a busy weekend as well as a fun weekend.  Then this weekend the Delaware Valley Sampler Guild held their Fall Getaway here and I personally have so much fun with this group because they "get" me and they don't care when I cuss (sometimes it's hard to be a lady) and while they forgot to get me an eclair this time, (they have been know to get me a giant eclair from the Jewish Deli) I forgive them.  Yummo (you might know what I love relates to food).  But you should see their show and tell.  Tangles doesn't always have show and tell because they aren't  staying here, but DVSG is in the lobby just stitching away and they bring their pieces over sometimes for my opinion, and as they know if they ask me I'm giving them my true opinion, not the feel good version. But these stitchers are doing some huge pieces as well as etui's, boxes, you  name it someone is doing it.  Great stitching going on.  So for the last month I've been preparing for the events by getting models done and in the store...and except for 2 pillows and Clementine everything made it.  Hopefully the pillows and Clementine will be here for next weekends, Jamboree.  First when we got the Hand's on Design Blackboard Ornaments, I found them to be attractive but wasn't prompted to stitch them.  And then someone showed them on Facebook done on perforated paper which gives them a little dimension as you cut the around the leaves,etc etc.  I no longer go to the trouble of putting up a tree, but I do put wreaths on every inside door with my hand stitched ornaments on them.  While at home I use fresh if possible, I figured that wouldn't work here in the shop, so I got an artificial wreath and attached the ornaments to it and added a beautiful red bow and voila, it's now hanging on the inside of the front door.

Last year I saw Sue Hillis ornaments which someone had finished on a candelabra which I absolutely adored.  That stitcher stitched all six designs in "Dark Shadow" by Sue Hillis, and I did look half heartedly for a 6  candle candelabra and when I mentioned it to Sara she said, "I think I have a candelabra in the back room of Sea Trader", and out came the raven candelabra you see here."  which is perfect because I only needed to do 2 ornaments.  Needless to say I couldn't find a picture of last year's finish so I decided to figure it out myself.  Fortunately my mother was a saver of anything she felt she could find a use for.  So when Sara asked how I was going to finish it, I said I thought I could use a cork in each candle holder and somehow attach them to the cork.  Sara then said, "Oh, Nana saved corks in a bag which I never tossed so they are up in the house somewhere, I'll look for them."  And the next day down came a gallon size bag filled to the brim with corks.  So by finishing the ornaments with popsicle sticks (which we had a few boxes of hundreds/box for some thing I was going to do and never did),   I left a space to insert a popsicle stick in each ornament which I then inserted into the cork.  Voila, added some black boa around each one to cover the cork and I was done.  Easy peasy (thank God). 

Then I wanted to do one of the big stitch pieces on 16 count Taffeta (which I've been calling Buttercream) by Legacy and went to my Halloween stash and found a Brenda Gervais I've been dying to do called Scary Mouse.  I called it Boo since the mouse is only a small part of the design, and sits in one of the O's.  While I like the entire design and my intiial intent was to stitch the whole thing, I knew I could get the mouse done in one day so I went for that.  She turned out so cute I just love her and I had just purchased the Jack-o-lantern buttons so win win.  Actually I had already stitched the pumpkin but when I wanted to add something for a dimensional look I remembered the button and took out the stitching to just tack this on instead.  Then I was too lazy to put cording around the piece and it would have been too normal for this so I had black boa left over from the candelabra so I just used it as trim.  I still plan to do the entire pillow but this will suffice until I do.  

I then decided I had to stitch one of the Sue Hillis sleds as she paints the sleds white in one of her new books, Christmas in Red, and stitches on linen instead of perforated paper.  Now you could stitch these on perforated paper but I wanted try on linen so I could use the ribbon edging.  (I always buy specialty ribbons and then cannot find something to use them on so this was perfect.  These were perfect to stitch.  It is one color so that makes it easier, small design, point 2...easier, and the finish was easy as well.  Would I tweak this a bit...yes, but that's my own fault not the excellent directions in the book.  I really enjoyed using the linen on the sled and wouldn't mind making more.  And as for painting the sleds, white spray paint and you are done.  Sue Hillis has 4 or 5 books dedicated to sled ornaments, so check them out.  One that just came out is for stitchers  I apologize for the blurry pictures here....operator error.  

Then just about the time I think I'm done, we got in the skull and bones frames for Shepherd's Bush Spooky Notes.  I loved the Liberty Notes and knew this was going to be as much fun as that was, so I was off and stitching again.  Loved stitching it and the frame is so appropriate for this.  Thank you West End Frames for hooking me up.  So of course, we are now carrying these frames.  And we were late to the party getting the JABCO buttons for this and some people purchased what we thought the buttons were from open stock.  Unfortunately, after getting the button pack in they are teeny tiny buttons...just too cute for words, and the in stock buttons were too big.  They are so small I lost one of the flower buttons in the office and it is now living in the carpet since I've yet to find it.  Really fun stitch and perfect frame.  West End showed me another skull and bones frame a little different from the Spooky Notes frame so I just had to stitch something for it.  I loved Tangled Boo by Drawn Thread so I stitched it over 2 instead of one, as shown on the chart, and used a PTP purple fabric in 32 ct. and then the threads listed and another quick stitch was history.  And a perfect frame again.  

And the final stitch for Halloween was actually a fun stitch as well.  Sara called me a couple of weeks ago to see if I had any thoughts about what to put in the goodie bags for DVSG.  We are struggling to find new items.  I had seen the new Brenda Gervais  Spirits and

Spells and naturally I was dying to stitch it and finish it.  So I thought that would be perfect kitted up and given in the goodie bags.  And that way I could get one too.  Sometimes new stuff ordered from the distributors seems to get backordered a lot, so I told Sara to call Brenda direct and she had them to us within the week.  I ordered the oval boxes since I couldn't find them in Michael's or Hobby Lobby in that size and we had given ourselves enough time that we got everything except 2 of the Gentle Arts threads which were put on backorder.  So on Tuesday I told Sara to drop off the stuff to me and I'd get it stitched and finished in time for the weekend and low and behold I did.  Elegant Stitch also got us their pom pom finishing to go with it.  All the stitchers have to do is paint their box and while it's drying start stitching.  They can have it done in time for Halloween.   So here is my Spirits and Spells lid finished,

And another use of my specialty ribbon....

And my scrapbook paper lining the inside.  I had a metal spider web that came with something and I cut the spike off and glued it to the lid.  I was suppose to glue a little rubber mouse I had on  the inside bottom, but of course haven't found the mice (I had 3) yet so it's just got the scrapbook paper right now and around the top of the bottom I glued a lace and mini pom pom edging in black on the inside edge.  Just completes the project.  

And then to top off my Halloween extravaganza, I found skeleten pins that are perfect for my Halloween pin cushions.  I love the fancy pins, and they come 2 in a package for $16.00 so that's perfect for me.  

Well, we are gearing up now for the Jamboree next weekend and while I've taken a few things home to stitch, I'm not sure any of them will get done.  I'm about Halloweened out.  I started making the tags this morning at 6 a.m. and hope to have them here before you early birds start arriving on Wednesday.  Then it is on to cookies and then Thursday I am in court on a case that is 10 friggin years old and even though I couldn't identify the man in a lineup of 1, I still have to show up.  Damn it...who has time for this.  Anyway, I'll see many of you on Friday if not before and for those who just left....thanks for the fun, although I got no eclair it's O.K.   I think I'll survive.  Have a great week.