Sad News

I just found out that the stitcher who made the beautiful pincushion in my last post has passed away due to complications associated with her battle against breast cancer.  Kathy was a sweet, sweet lady and will be very much missed!!

A Weekend Stitch-Away

I spent Halloween weekend at the semi-annual Stitch-Away retreat hosted by   The Stitch Niche. The shop is in Arlington, and the Stitch-Away is in Weatherford which is only about 30 miles away. Just far enough to be away from it all, but not far enough to have to drive a long way. This is the 3rd time I've gone and each time I've had a blast!

We mostly just stitch on whatever we want but there's usually some type of special project to work on. The project this time required pre-stitching and since I have more than enough to stitch, I didn't get the kit. Little did I know of what I was missing.

On Saturday morning, I saw what the project was and I absolutely HAD to do it. It was a workshop on finishing a little wooden box for stitching supplies. We sanded and painted and sanded some more, finished the inside with fabrics and trim, and added a magnet sheet in one section. Ta Da!

Is this adorable or what?  We had a great selection of fabrics and trims to choose from so everybody's box was different.  Just look at the choices!

You can see some other projects on the table and on the lower right hand corner is the adorable witch that was intended to adorn the top of our box.  Wish I had gotten a better picture of it for you.  Because I didn't pre-stitch the witch, I just made the box and put a different top on mine when I got home.  I decided to use the October flip-it from Lizzie Kate that I had in my finishing pile.

Here's a close up from the side so you can see the distressing and the pom-pom trim.

This was soooooo much fun!  I can't wait 'till April for the next Stitch-Away.  Here are a few more photos I took during the weekend.

And of course our hostess making sure everybody had all the supplies they needed: 

I took my current needlework piece to work on.  It's Magnolia Collage by Laura J. Perin.  I took before and after shots so I could tell how much I stitched during the weekend.

All I lack now is the big Magnolia in the center box.  It's tent stitch over one so I need some quiet time at home! 

Thanks for visiting.  Happy stitching all!

Friends are the flowers in the garden of life.

I've been enjoying combining my Stitch 'n Bitch groups from North Carolina and South Carolina and watching them become friends with each other, too. Yesterday some of us from each group met halfway for lunch, stitching, and shopping. We had a fabulous waiter who agreed to take the camera so I could be in the 2nd picture. This will be the last time we're together like this before I move :(

I arrived home to find the first Pardon Me Daylily of the season and was motivated to make a collage of all the blooms in my garden today. Enjoy!