What I have been doing....

It all started August 23rd at The Great Minnesota Get Together.

Every year we go to the Minnesota State Fair on the first day.  Five out of our six children made it.  Here we are once we all met up.  Also had two of our five grandchildren with us.

 Here is my hubby and myself.  It was a great weather day at the fair that first day.

Now on to my sewing and stitching!

 First off I found a tutorial on how to make these bags.  

These bags were so fun to make.

 They are reversable.  Here is the other fabric I used for this bag.

 Then I got on a roll and made this black one,

 and this one,

 and this one--daughter #4 likes owls and I saw this fabric and had to have it.

 Then daughter #3 likes cats and I had to have this fabric.

 This fabric I had in my stash and thought I should make a bag for myself.

You just can't have enough bags!!!

 Here is the collection all together.  I just sewed all these today.

I really enjoyed making these bags.

 I also made these bags to go with the first set of bags I made.  

These were also from a tutorial found here.

I have made quite a few of these bags in three different sizes.

 My friend Lori who just had a BIG birthday received these matching bags. 

She is a school teacher and I thought this fabric was just perfect for her.

 I wanted a bag to hold my ipod and my shuffle so I needed a "music" humbug bag for that.

I found this fabric at Joann's--again just perfect for my project.

 Gingher had another new scissors--"Julia" and I got mine the other day.  

Can't have enough scissors either.

 Now I also have been doing some stitching.  The next two pieces are shop models for Country Sampler in Spring Green, WI.  This piece is called Blest Art and the designer is Appleseed Prim.

This piece is called Mercy Mercy and is by La D Da.

So I am a bit caught up.  I think I have a few more things to post but this is a start.

I have a couple of other quilting projects to do and of course I have more stitching to catch up on.

I hope you are having a great weekend.

Fun Mail...

Here's what was in the mailbox yesterday.  It is from Old Mill Stitchery in Liberty, MO. 

This is the "Seasons of Chessie" club. 

The pattern is "Harvest Time".  It includes a hornbook and all the supplies to finish this project.

I can't wait to start it, although right now I have three models to stitch for 

the Country Sampler in Spring Green, WI.

I will be posting pictures of my model stitching when I have completed it.

Hope everyone is having a great week.

Well off to the gym!!!

FIESTA!!!!!

 It's that time of year again for our annual retreat.

This year's theme was FIESTA!!!

We cut the retreat short this year, it was from Wednesday until tonight(Friday).

 This was our party/treat table.  Lots of "Fiesta" goodies.

First things first---we had our goodie bag exchange.

 This was what Jill had for all of us.  She had a shirt for each of us that was embroidered with a logo for the "Stitching Squad" on it.  Then she had a red hat charm holder with a charm on it for all of the themed retreats we have had.  There have been seven years worth of themes!!!  You can't tell by the picture but the note pad she gave us looks like linen.  All of our goodies were in a reusable Joann's bag.

Thanks Jill. 

Next up is Jackie's goodies for us.  All of our goodies were in that cute little basket.  She stitched us a very cute coaster and included some stickers, note cards with our names on them some "Fiesta" fibers and a cup and bowl along with a towel.

Thanks Jackie.

 Lori gave us all these goodies.  We all received a Tervis cup the said--Fiesta today, Siesta tomorrow.

I don't know if you have ever had one of these cups but they are great!!!  There was also some plates and napkins, a cup, a chili pepper bowl, a pen and key chain.

Thanks Lori.

Here is what I gave all the girls.  I made the zippered vinyl bag with fiesta fabric which fit the theme so well.  I was so happy to find this fabric, I love that the word Fiesta was on it.  I also made a pillow cover for the small pillow we all received about 5 years ago.  I just make a themed cover each year. I made a small clear vinyl bag and another zippered fabric bag to hold stitching goodies.  My daughter-in-law painted a needle case for each of us.   

 Here we all are in the shirts we received from Jill.  

Look how happy we are:)

 I worked on this pattern.  Mrs. Waddelow's Huswif by With My Needle.

 Here is mine all stitched.  I started it on Wednesday and finished it today.

I stitched it on 32 count platinum with Gloriana Silk--Elizabethan Green.

Next up is to finish it into the huswif.

Then I thought I would share that I bought this light a couple of weeks ago and I LOVE it.

It is a really nice LED magnifier light.  It can be used as a floor light or a table light and it

it a nice bright light.  

Two of the stitching girls bought one and they LOVE it too. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend.

Happy Stitching.

Strawberry Hill Sampler

I have been doing a lot of stitching, sewing and finishing.  I have not been blogging as I would like to.  Not sure why, maybe because of the time it takes.  But I really like having a record of what I have done.  So I am going to try to get caught up with all my stitching and sewing and finishing results.

 Here is one of my finishes.  It is Strawberry Hill Sampler by With Thy Needle and Thread.

This was a group project.  

I used my own dyed 36 count fabric and the overdyed threads it called for.

 Here is the pin pillow.  

 The box, which was a Whitman's sampler box.  I believe it was a 12 ounce box.

First step was to paint it!!!!!  Took more coats of paint then I thought it would.

Then I lined the inside bottom portion and sides with fabric.  I padded the bottom.  The top inside of the box I just lined with scrap book paper.  I do like the results.

Here is a close up of the huswife.  The instructions called for ribbon to close the huswife but I chose to use a button and a buttonhole loop.  

Here is the view of the inside of the huswife.  I wasn't to sure of my feather stitching but I think it looks pretty good for my first try at it.

This was a enjoyable stitch and I do like the end result.  

I hope to do some more posting in the next day or so to get caught up on my crafting record keeping.

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Retreat update with finish.......

I have been on retreat since Thursday afternoon.  

Here is a picture of some of the girls in our stitching room.

This is my stitching nest.

In my previous post I mentioned that I had received my stitching project from the Old Mill Stitchery.

The Seasons of Chessie series.

Well I started this on Thursday afternoon and just finished up with it today.  

Turned out pretty cute.  I will do the finishing when I get home.

 Days of Liberty by Chessie and Me.  Stitched with supplies provided in kit.

Started June 6th 2013.

Finished June 8th 2013.

I leave you with this pin pillow I stitched for Jackie one of the birthday girls in which we are on this retreat for.  The pattern is by The Primitive Hare. It is such a cute design.

Happy 50th Birthday Jackie and Lori.

Fun Mail:)

Look what arrived in the mail today. 

 I joined The Seasons of Chessie club by Chessie and Me from the Old Mill Stitchery shop in Liberty Missouri.

This is the first project.  It arrived is this cute little bag. 

This is the contents of the bag.  

The pattern is called "Days of Liberty".

I just love that it is mounted on a hornbook.  

I can't wait to get started on this!!!

I will be leaving tomorrow for a 50th birthday retreat for two of my close stitching buds.

It should be a great weekend.

I didn't plan on stitching this---but I may have to:)  

I have so MANY other projects to stitch already, what's new.

 Here is some progress on a group project that I am doing with two of my August retreat buds.  We decided  last August to stitch With Thy Needle and Threads--Strawberry Hill Sampler.  Here is the finished pin pillow.  

The Huswife is stitched and just needs to be finished.  Hope to get to that sometime this month.

I also have the sampler piece stitched that will be mounted on a box.  

This will be a very cute project when it's done.  It has been fun to stitch too.

I just bought a new laptop last week and this is my first post using it and I have to say it is working out well.

I hope to post again after this weekend about my retreat.

Thanks for stopping by.

I Love it!!!

I just did the finishing on my Stitchville--Chessie and Me retreat sampler.  

I just love the way it looks.  I have been wanting to the a hornbook finish for awhile and I decided at retreat that is how I was going to finish this sampler.

I have had the the sampler done for at least a month now but had to wait for the hornbook and then I had to find the felt.  This sampler was from the Chessie and Me retreat that was in April--the 5-7.

It was a great time and I really like all the pieces we did.

Check out the April 7th post for the retreat info.  

I have been stitching and quilting, just not doing much posting.  

I stitched this piece as a model for Country Sampler in Spring Green Wisconsin.

It took me a month to stitch.  It was a pretty fun stitch.

This piece is from Stacy Nash.  It is Spring at Hollyberry Farm.

Thanks for stopping by and have a fun and safe Memorial Day Weekend.

 

Remember all those who fought and died for our freedom.