Summer House Stitche Workes Contest

My friend Beth Seal from Summer House Stitche Workes is having a give-away on her blog. The prize is a copy of her four "Garden" samplers. Beautiful! Pop on over and enter the contest. Good luck!

Summer House Stitche Workes Blog

Happy Easter!

Hi all, a wonderful, Blessed Easter to you! We are currently in Pennsylvania and we get to share this day with all our family!

My friend Marilyn stopped by a few days ago and brought a stunning stumpwork piece to show me. This was offered a few years ago at an EGA Regional Seminar and I wanted to take this class. However, what I want to do and what I'm able to do are usually two different things! Marilyn took this course online and here is her version, stitched and framed. Look at how beautifully executed the stitches are and how the flower and petals seem to jump off the ground fabric.



And a close up. The little pinecones are so realistic and I simply love the cardinal! The beads and pearls also give nice texture.



I have tried stumpwork before and loved how easy it was to create raised portions of the needlework design. I have a prized stumpwork piece in my collection and will always treasure the time I spent creating the work of art.

Have a Blessed Day!

"I'm A Fan of Pam" Club

Pam, who works with me at the shop on Thursdays, has ongoing practical jokes with a co-worker at her full-time job. Debbie learned about this joke and figured we could extend the fun to the retreat. Imagine Pam's surprise when three of us came to lunch one afternoon with our "I'm A Fan of Pam" buttons!



Pam was a good sport about it as we razzed her all weekend about being her fans! Here we are, paying homage to Pam, but by the time this was snapped, we were falling over each other, hysterical with laughter! It does one good to kick back, relax and just laugh. We love you, Pam. Thanks for playing along and letting us have some fun!

Count Me Inspired Needlework Retreat 2012

It's hard to believe another retreat has come and gone. That makes three. We had such a fun time and this was the largest group by far. The first year we had 32. The second, 36. This year, there were 53 attendees! We doubled the room size and it led to a cavernous feeling in the room. We set up the boutique in the room with the round tables for our meals. This left plenty of room between our three sets of tables, with no one feeling cramped or unable to comfortably get out of their chair. The picture below will give you an idea of the layout of one side of the room.



Each retreat I try to have the group work on a little project, something needlework related but not cross-stitch. I want them to stretch their comfort zone a bit, but nothing too difficult or tedious. It should be a remembrance of the retreat. This year, the group project was a little wool pumpkin needlebook. Here are some attendees working on the pumpkins.



And some finished masterpieces!





The food out in Shipshewana is always spectacular. We found the Garden Gate Cafe last year and returned again this year. Trust me, the food is as delicious as it looks! These are the Cafe Cherry Chicken Salad and the Chicken Salad Wrap.





The dinner bell rings and it's only a few steps away to our buffet line! How easy is that?



Dinner Friday night was at the Blue Gate Restaurant. I make a point to stop here every chance I get when in the area. The food and service are always excellent! I was so overwhelmed by how they served us with such precision and speed, that I totally forgot to take pictures!



Something we look forward to each year is the "smalls" exchange. If you want to participate, you stitch a small (ornament, needlebook, scissor fob, etc), wrap it up and bring it to the retreat. Here we gather everyone together and if you have a small to exchange, then you pull a number. When your number is called, you get to select a wrapped small from the table. Once everyone has taken a small, we open them one by one and then try to guess who stitched it. Sometimes we get it right but many times, we are surprised! Such creative gals attend the retreat and we are bowled over by the fun ways we see things finished and assembled.







That's enough for today! Next post, I will show you some photos of what the gals were stitching on at the retreat!

Cathy

I'm NOT Dreaming of a White Christmas

My husband and I made a quick run to the local Home Depot tonight. Look at what I saw!



This is always the signal for Fall and tonight was the perfect night as it is a little cool and rainy.

However, when we stopped at Kohl's, I was not prepared for this sight!



Come on!! The kids have just started back at school and Halloween is not yet here. Heck, it's barely mid-September!!! Don't you think this is just a bit overboard??

Cathy

A Sucker For Pumpkins

With the summer season winding down, I'm looking forward to all the colorful abundance Autumn brings. One of my favorite things of the Fall season is pumpkins!


Just Another Button Company, Pumpkin Mini Pincushion

A Little Bit of Stitching

I've had the chance to do a bit of stitching and finishing (not much so don't get too excited)! Also, there are some more shop models and customer finishes I want to share. First is a design by Rosewood Manor called "Flowers of Rosehall". This was stitched by Marilyn using the recommended Valdani silks!



Forgive me for not getting the designer of this next magnificent, pulled thread piece. The pattern calls for each block to be filled with a pulled thread stitch, but the teacher recommended, as seen here by Marilyn, to fill in every other block and finish the outside edge. This way, if the stitcher gets totally bored with all the blocks, they can at least do half of them and still have a very gorgeous piece! Don't you agree? I'm sorry about the picture rotation. I tried and tried to get it to face right side up, but Blogger is just fighting me! The other two photos are close ups of some of the pulled thread blocks.







Next are some ornaments sent back from my finisher. These were stitched by Pat. She and her husband went to Disney World with another couple and this is what she's giving them for Christmas! What a wonderful remembrance of their trip together.



Pat also stitched two of the Blackbird Designs stocking ornaments. Don't you think they turned out lovely?



This shop model was done by my fabulous "over one" stitcher friend, Kathy. She loves to stitch over one, so it was just a no-brainer that I asked her to do this "Stitch An Inch - Fall" from By The Bay Needleart.



Lastly, here's the design I stitched and finished. It is from Dames of the Needle called "Acorn Pillow Pocket". I loved stitching this and did have fun putting it together. It really was super easy.....I just used a blind stitch to join the wool, stuffed it, added the ruched ribbon and sewed the design to the top of the wool pillow.



Thanks for stopping by. Hope you are making some stitching progress in your neck of the woods!

Cathy