Saturday, September 17, 2016

Retreat, State Fair Ribbons, finishes, other going ons and surgery!!!


Again it has been awhile since my last post.  Where does the time go?
First up we had our annual retreat.  Jackie, Jill, Lori and I have been doing this retreat in August for about 10 years now.  We have a theme every year and this year it was Birdhouses. 
Jill brought this mat over that a friend of hers had found.  It was appropriate, don't you think?



Retreat this year was from August 2-6,2016.
We usually gather at my house. First thing up is usually our "gifties".
Here is a before picture of all the goodies before we opened them.




 These are all the goodies from Jill that we each received.
Jill stitched and finished a floss tag with our initial, gave us each a little scissors, a box of DMC's newest floss colors, thread magic--which I really like, charm initials, hand cream, pencil and a glass ort jar,  Thank you Jill:)

 Next up is Lori's goodies.  Her Aunt helped her out by painting a cute little birdhouse, stamping cards and the embroidered dishtowel.  Lori stitched up a scissors fob for each of us also.  She kitted it up for us to finish.  Plus she took us all out for lunch.
Thanks Lori.

These goodies came from Jackie.  First she gave us a basket to keep our project in that we may be working on, a birdhouse mug, an ort jar topped with a stitched birdhouse and every year she stitches us a coaster.  Plus a needle minder and some stickers.
Thank you Jackie.

 This is my contribution. I made most of my goodies.  Every year since we started retreating I have made a pet screen vinyl bag, this year was no exception.  It is the bag in the upper left, I also made a clear front pouch, a pillow case for a pillow we received a few retreats ago, and two different kinds of fabric boxes and I stitched a pin pillow.  It was fun putting this altogether.
It was a really fun relaxing time. And of course we made a trip to our LNS to start our retreat:)
Next years theme is "Needlework"!

Here is a picture of my State Fair entries and my ribbons.  Didn't do to bad.

 Also entered Quaker Rose but no ribbon!!  Judge said this should have maybe been entered in the sampler category.  Not sure I would agree.  It was in the over 250 stitches category.  Well you can't win them all.

 Here is a picture of a bunch of finishes I did earlier this summer.  Some of these finishes have been stitched for years.  I was just in the mood to get them in finished form.  Plus there were plenty of current stitches.  

 This piece is a Hands on Design which I stitched for a friend for her birthday.
It was quite a fun stitch.

 Another birthday stitch for a friend.  This was a Little House Needlework pattern.
I may stitch this again for myself.

 I do some custom sewing and I made these pillows for a lady I know.  She had bought this fabric to match a chair she has and always wanted some pillows made out of it.  I think she said she had this fabric for years.  So she contacted me and here is the end result.

 My daughter wanted a baby quilt for her sister-in-law.  And of course it was a rush job, I think I had like two weeks!!!  But I did get it done.  My daughter cut out the pieces and I did the sewing and quilting.  I think it turned out pretty cute!

I also put this quilt top together earlier this summer.  Now I need to get it put together and quilted.  

So as you can see I have been busy.  Maybe that is why I don't post much--no time.
I have a few more things I have done or I am working on.  I will try to post again in the next week or so.

I also had surgery on September 8th.  Nothing to serious, really hasn't been that bad just seems to have knocked the wind out of me.  I just seem to tire easily.  I am used to working out everyday and that has been put on hold till everything heals.   Gives me a little more stitching time as I mend. 

Thanks for stopping by.  
Have a great weekend.
Happy Stitching,
Joan