May 2nd?????

This is what we woke up to this morning.  

We seem to be in the winter that will not end.

I will let the pictures speak for themselves!!!!

Stitchville's Spring Fling 2013 Retreat

Our local needlework shop Stitchville has put together this annual retreat now for the last four years.

This years designer was Linda Lautenschlager of Chessie & Me.

Again it was a GREAT retreat.

 Here is what greeted us in our room.  There is only one caramel in this picture--the other two were very tasty!!!!

 This was our welcome bag.  It had a really cute wooden tag for a zipper pull and inside the bag was a note pad, a very cute luggage tag and a finger nail file. 

 These are the wonderful gifties that we had waiting for us at our tables.  A scissors with a 2013 fob, a wooden box, a wooden pin cushion, a insulated cup and of course a table favor.

 Here is a bit of a close up of all the wood goodies.

 I just love this little wooden tag. 

 We did some pre-stitching and this is the end result of it.  We painted this box and then attached our stitching to a piece of wool and then glued it to the outside of the box.  The strawberry is a gift from Linda.  She made one for each of us.  I think she said she made 53!!  She also painted the first coat of paint on each of the boxes so we would have time to finish them. 

 

 A view of the inside of the box and the fob we stitched and put together.

It is always great to leave retreat with a finished piece.

On Saturday we received this wonderful sampler designed by Linda for our retreat.  

It is called Springtime of Youth Sampler.  This is my progress so far--sorry for the wrinkles.

I had a great time with friends, familiar and new.  

Can't wait until next year.

Designer for next year is Cynthia Zittel of The Drawn Thread.

I didn't have my camera with me but I am sure you can see some pictures of the retreat on 

With Needle and Thread's blog and on Thread in Hand's blog later this week.

Thanks for stopping by. 

Snow Country Sled Ornament

 Here is a cute and quick stitch.  It is a Foxwood Crossings design.  The pattern is called Snow Country Sleds.  There are three different designs.

I stitched up the church design and mounted on the little sled.  It is such a cute ornament.  

I will be stitching up a few more of these:)

Stitched on perforated paper with DMC threads.

Started 3-12-2013

Finished 3-13-2013

Here is a side view of the sled.

Visit the website to see all the designs--www.dixiedarlin.com.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy "V" Day!!!!

First I have a quick little story to tell about the title of my post.  

Nine years ago or so our daughter Kelsey went to Marine Corps boot camp and she was there on Valentine's Day.  Well she wished everyone in the series(two platoons)  a "Happy V Day" and the series Commander  was not amused by her good wishes and promptly disciplined her for that comment.  In fact she was the first one in the series to be disciplined!!! So she had to stand in front of everyone alone and do IT--( incentive training).   Got to love an over achiever:)  So needless to say I always think about that experience on Valentine's Day.  Kind of makes me chuckle.

So here my one and only Valentine finish.  I did the stitching a couple of weeks ago and just finished it today.

It is a freebie by Lady Lexi Designs called True Love.  I stitched it on 28 count Natural gingham with Cranberry Sampler Thread. 

I also stitched this up the other day.  It is a Prim Sister Kit by Pineberry Lane called Wrought by my Hand.  It was stitched on 30 ct. Confederate Grey Linen with Sampler Threads as provided in the kitl.  I just ordered up a frame at JoAnn's yesterday.  Can't wait to have it framed.

Started on 2-9-2013

Finished on 2-10-2013

Thanks for stopping by and Happy V Day!!!!!

Ladies Prim Society

I decided to join the Ladies Prim Society presented by Dyeing to Stitch.  I received my first project on Tuesday and started stitching away.  I did the finishing this morning.

The first project is by Threadwork Primitives.  The piece is called Wynter Peacocks Sewing Pouch.

  Now I did not finish the outside of the pouch with small X's around the edge.  I just was not happy with how mine looked so I kept mine plain.

Here is how the inside of the pouch looks.  You can see my X's on the top edge of the pocket.  I think I need a bit more practice with this technique!!!  

But I am happy with my pouch over all.  It was a fun and quick stitch.  

I hope everyone is staying warm.  It has been a little cold here in Minnesota:)

VERY LATE post on my drawing winner......

First of all I am sorry that this drawing is late.  I have been busy lately with my Grammy duties:)
and busy with family and Thanksgiving festivities.

The winner of the project pouch is Marilyn.

Congratulations Marilyn and if you will email me your address I will get your pouch out to you right away.

Thank you for all of your comments.

I have just publish a new page titled Mama Joan's Stitching Shoppe.  I have pouches and accessories already made and available for purchase.  These would make great Christmas gifts for your favorite stitcher or yourself.  

Happy Stitching.

It's Jennifer!!!!

While I was out shopping at JoAnn's the other day I just happened upon these NEW Gingher Designer Scissors.  They are called Jennifer.  Of course I NEEDED them.  They arrived on the heels of the last designer scissors Emily.  Not sure why we go so long without a scissors and then two are released in a row.  

 Gingher Designer Scissors--Jennifer.

Now a totally different note, as you can see I have a blogoversary coming up in 3 days!!!

I see it has been 5 years since I started this blog.

  So in celebration of my 5 year blogoversary I am having a giveaway.  I will be drawing a name for this project bag that I made.  It has a see through window and is big enough for a large pattern.

 Here is a view of the back so that you can see the fabric I used.

This picture is just to show you how it looks with a pattern and scissors in it.

THESE ITEMS ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THIS DRAWING.

So just leave a comment and I will draw a name next Saturday.

Good Luck and Happy Stitching. 

Thanks for stopping by:)