Finished Blackwork

I worked on the SAS project at Becky's house and that's about it. At Merchandise Night I purchased a few patterns along with two grab bags full of goodies. I love to do blackwork so on Sunday I started the blackwork pin cushion and finished it about two days later. I love those quick projects. It's done in blackwork with some yellow/gold for accent. If I make this pattern again I think I'll leave it in blackwork because it looked fine like that before I added the yellow/gold. I love the way it finishes into a box shape. I will use this idea in the future. To make it fold into the box I had to stitch blanket stitches back to back. That makes a crease for the bottom layer to fit into. It's a very clever idea.

I went to Cross My Heart today to get some thread for a couple of the patterns I bought at SAS. They had several but had to order a few. I'm in no hurry. It's not like I don't already have a few to work on. I still need to finish my Promise Piece and the Greenwork Cottage so I can put those in the show. I finished Feed Bag Buddies and took it yesterday to have it framed but the gentleman informed me that the frames would be 1/2 price next week. That's not too long to wait for a great deal. I've been doing the Monthly Manias but haven't even started the one for July. I have the fabric and thread so it's just a matter of sitting down and starting it. I like them because they don't take long to do. I have until Monday to finish them for show and tell. OOOHHH I don't like the pressure!!!

SAS Project

I managed to accomplish quite a bit of stitching in the midst of all the activities, entertainment and excitement. This is a before and after picture of my piece.

I also got a one-on-one picot lesson from Marion herself. She does it exactly the opposite of Janice Love which is the way I've been doing it for years. I've done picots in the past but hadn't for awhile and forgotten. Her way seems to be very simple but I'll have to try it myself to see if I can copy hers. She also gave us a mini-lecture on lacing our work before framing. I'd taken a class in that but she added many new tips that I hadn't even thought of. She's a wonderful lady and I'm glad that I had the opportunity to spend time with her and learn from her many years of experience.

I already miss this SAS and am anxiously awaiting SAS XXX in Charleston. I have a year to look forward to creating a Snowfall Sampler by Susan Goodman.

Share a Stitch Sunday

Well, SAS is officially over. Classes have ended, the bookstore is closed, and the packing to go home has began. Luggage rollers are making their way down the hallways carrying suitcases and bags filled with goodies. Ladies are smiling and hugging with promises of future visits. The weekend has gone by so fast. We just blinked and it's already time to go home. In that blink we've experienced more wonderful memories to last a lifetime, funny stories to tell to everyone back home and precious moments that can never be replaced.

I have books and new projects to work on along with momentos to keep and treasure. I learned new techniques and polished up on some old ones. The meals were fulfilling and mostly fattening (the best kind). However, the one true treasure of the weekend was the time spent with my friends. It doesn't really matter where we are or what we do but it is the people we love that make our experiences richer. I wouldn't trade the friends I have for all the riches of the world. They are the most precious gifts I've ever received.

Share a Stitch Third Day

It was a full day of stitching! I got quite a bit done on my Mirabilia Winter piece. You can't tell yet what it is by what I've done, but I can see the progress. Everyone is learning a lot this weekend. I didn't get a photo of Becky's yet, but she's doing the American Flag set (who would have guessed). She's made the chain and tassel and started on the alphabet that wraps around the basket and has started several of the stitches for the flag. It's a sampler and each row of red and white are different stiches and the blue section is different. I'll try to get a photo of it today. I didn't yesterday because we were too busy in Karen's room having Rick's early birthday. Most everyone knows what his gift was but hadn't seen it framed yet.

He loved it! He knew she'd finished it and kept asking her "when are we going to the framers?" She managed to get it here and keep it here the whole weekend without him suspecting a thing. Alright, back to SAS. Since many of you have never seen me in a dress I'll show you the pic Nick took before the banquet. Look at it carefully because you might not see me all dressed up again.

Vera and Liz are taking the Ethnic Arts class and were working on Temari balls. They look absolutely beautiful!

Sandy and Del are working hard on Lavendar and Lace beading, such dainty little things. I can't wait to see them finished.

The banquet food was about what you'd expect, a salad, chicken with potatoes and rolls and a slice of pecan pie. We all got a glass of water but not everyone got coffee. The waiters were just too busy to get to everyone. (That is called sarcasm.) There were several speakers, flowers were given out, and so on, but you can read about that in Needle Arts. The point of the weekend that everyone had been waiting for had finally arrived. The teacup auction baskets drawing! The Cheekwood Chapter had the basket everyone wanted. They sold the most tickets which was over 2,000!None of our girls won that one. It was a bit sad until one lady won and we overheard another say, "let's kill her and we can slit it". I'm sure she was only joking? But our table did pretty well actually. Becky will have to show the photo of who won the TANA Basket. They were on the other side of the room so I let her go take photos. It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that we were drinking a bit before the banquet but I preferred to remain at the table. However, a lady right across from me won the MMNA basket.
Our girls aren't going home with nothing, though! Miss Becky and Del both won amazingly beautiful baskets! We always love it when Becky wins because she screams like a little girl! Wait, I think I did too.

You can see our beautiful table favors and the Temari balls and you can't see them but at the top of the flower vase are several very tiny cardinals that were all made by one lady and we each got one of those.

Today is our last day of fun and stitching and I'm going to be late since I had to load all the photos but I had to share with everyone how much fun we've been having. Nick and I are staying another night. I haven't even made it to the pool or done any siteseeing yet. Maybe tonight I'll show you my before SAS and after SAS stitching on my piece. Hope you're enjoying it all so far and we really do miss all of you!

Share a Stitch Second Day

Another fun and exciting day in Nashville! I browsed through all the baskets at the teacup auction. I have to admit that the TANA and Majestic Mountain baskets were getting a lot of ooohhs and aaaahhs and quite a few tickets were being put in the bags. Since I was there at the setup my tickets went in first but we all know that really won't mean anything in the long run. The basket that was set up by Fredericka and the wonderful ladies in her group will be the one that receives the most tickets. I would probably fear for my life if I won it. I'm not sure those women would allow me to leave with it. It has two DMC floss boxes, a quilt with a square stitched by each of the ladies, a stitched temari ball, tassel, christmas ornament, a folding table made by one of the husbands, a teapot and cup handpainted by Fredericka's friend, and the list goes on and on. I will try to take a pic of it today. There were so many people surrounding it yesterday I couldn't get in to get a good photo.
Classes started at 1:30. I'm taking studio time with Marion Scoular. I think it's the first time I've ever met her, at least that I can remember. She is a very beautiful, extremely intelligent and very charming lady. Of course I've heard of her many times through the years because I absolutely love her designs. She does a lot of blackwork and that's my favorite. I spent a lot of time at her table during merchandise night and just a bit of money (that's in case my hubby reads this). She had wonderful stories to tell in her beautiful accent and shared some great stitching tips with us. I found that many of the ladies in studio time had been school teachers. I did get quite a bit of stitching done on my promise piece but the light was just not very good in the room. We were in one of those very large rooms that have the sliding dividers to make smaller rooms so only one long wall had outlets for lights. I bought a small clip-on light last night and will use it today.
Merchandise night was fabulous as we all knew it would be. They opened the doors at precisely 7:30 and we all herded in. There were several tables set up and I was impressed by the variety of stuff available. One chapter had a table to sell their unwanted stash and use the money as a fundraiser. I found a few things there I really liked. I got two patterns from DebBee's Designs that are amazing and will be quite a challenge to stitch. She had several designs complete and on display. It was nice but it made it that much harder to limit my purchase, and I had to because her table was just inside the door and I knew I had many more tables to visit. There were tables of fabric, thread, painted canvases, books, beads and so much more. I found Marion's table and bought five of her items, Blackwork Balconies, which I had before but lost in the fire, Tasseled Trimmers, Box Pincushion, Stonehaven, and Evensong (all blackwork designs). I then made it over to the corner where a husband/wife shop owners had many lovely things. I got a project bag there that is green with a scissor and thread design stitched onto the front. It unzips with a place for patterns, fabric and thread. Then, I found the catch of the night, grab bags! Those went over really well with the ladies from our group. There were about five of us that bought one. Each bag was $20/piece and we were promised that each bag contained $80 - $100 worth of merchandise. I honestly believe it was more than that. Well, we got our bags and headed out to the lobby where we each opened them and put the items on the table we didn't want and then we picked through and everybody found the things they liked the best and we swapped. We all made out pretty well if I do say so myself.
Well, it is Saturday morning and I need to be in class in about an hour so I will have to end this for now. I will try to get a photo of the large basket and put it on later. Tonight is the Banquet and the drawings for the teacup auction baskets. Wish me luck!!!!

Share a Stitch First Day

I discovered yet again that my GPS will sometimes only get me in the "general area" I need to be and not to the exact destination. But a very nice gentleman carrying an umbrella (no it wasn't raining) told me how to find the hotel and that I had to be careful because it was hiding. He was right. It was on the other side of a hill but the very LARGE sign was right there by the road.
I live in a small town where people will stare at you if you do anything that resembles weird. Not in a large city. Karen, Becky and I were singing along with We Are Family to the jukebox in the Waffle House. The only people who stared at us like we were idiots were our children. Mostly though they just sat there at the next table and pretended like they weren't really with us at all.
The hotel is extremely nice with an indoor and outdoor pool, hair salon, restaurant and lounge with piano playing entertainment. Not bad for a Thursday night.
The Bookstore for SAS isn't very large, though. They didn't have a large selection of books and only two or three copies of each book. I was one of the first in because I really thought I would buy a lot of books to replace the ones I lost in the fire. I bought two. I only put tickets in two of the Teacup Auction bags because there were only about 7 or 8 displayed. I think there will more today because our group and the Charleston group will put ours there.
Nick is having a blast. We have fast internet in the room (faster than ours but $10.00/day) and he has Mathew and Kathryn to hang out with. He's having fun with Mathew because they are close to the same age and like the same stuff. He's having fun hanging out with Kathryn, too. He hasn't said anything but let's face it, she's a gorgeous teenage girl. I don't think he wants to tell me what he's really think and I know that I really don't want to know. lol
Two ladies gave a talk about stitching tools, where they found them, what they are, or were used for. I enjoyed it very much. Partly because it was about stitching items but also because they had the most lovely southern accents. They started giving out door prizes and it didn't take long to realize that everyone in the room would get one but when they had called all of the names that had several items that they didn't want to have to pack up and take home so they called names again. Everyone got another one. At the third calling not everyone got something but most of the ladies at our table did. Some of the packages contained more than one item so we started handing things to the people we knew likes certain things. I got two blackwork items. I gave Vera a book about quilting, and so on.
Nick and I fell asleep (or passed out) by 11:30. We didn't close the drapes all the way so I was awake with the sun. Not bad though, I've already gotten a shower, surfed the web and written here. Classes start at 1:30 today and merchandise night is tonight. I love merchandise night like all of the other ladies here. They open the doors at 7:30 and close them at 9:30. Have you ever seen a herd of cattle as they open the gate to let them go through. Yes, it's the same concept and I can say that because I'm one of them.
I miss the ladies that couldn't be here this weekend for various reasons. I miss Lanna the most I think because she loves SAS and traveling because she doesn't get to do it as much as she used to. I miss Jill and we are all keeping her and Larry in our prayers. And, I miss Marnie. She's my "roomie" and a great gal pal.
Well, I guess I will get dressed and go look for some of the ladies. I promise that I'm not going to look for any of the 50 or so Marines that were here last night for a Recruiting Dinner Party. They were here from different parts of Tennessee and having a celebration for their jobs at recruiting. How would I know all that? There were 50 or so Marines in their dress blues. Need I say more? At least I didn't tell one of them on the elevator that I would like to take him home...you'll have to find out for yourself who that was!

Feed Bag Buddies

Feed Bag Buddies is finished!!! I put the finishing stitches and initialed it late last night. I really enjoyed working on this. It is the first large piece I've finished since the fire. Today I will pick up the foam board so I can stretch and mount it myself. I took a class a couple of years ago on finishing techniques and I like to do my own. I can make sure it's done properly and it saves money when I take it to the framer. I used to have a mat cutter but I haven't replaced it yet. So I can now mark this off my stitching project to do list and work on my other WIPs. I have a greenwork country cottage that I just started and my promise piece is a Mirabilia design for Winter. I began it so I could find the center and get started. I'm taking it to Nashville to work on during Studio Time. If I can keep up the pace I may have three items to put up in the October show. Wish me luck!