What I did Wednesday!

Good Morning!

I'm not sure I can say that I met my goal completely but...I did get some stitching done.  I ran into a bit of a snag though.  Tuesdays, So You Think You Can Dance is on.  A person (me) cannot just listen to them dance like you can a regular TV show.  And boy was  the dancing good last night.  Lots of talent this season!  But I digress.  I had to stitch madly during the judges comments and the commercials.  And then there was the whole dog issue last night.  Between Rags thinking she needed to be cuddled half the night (she's been sick) and Kallie walking all over me because she was stressed out from the fireworks...well it made for some challenging stitching.  So progress was made but not as much progress as I might have liked.

 
Now I have a different problem.  Maybe some of you have it too.  Now all I want to stitch on is Midnight Watch and the heck with Golden Ice and Heritage Sampler!!  But I need to get Golden Ice finished and I want to work on Heritage Sampler too!  So for those of you that do a rotation...do you have any tips or tricks to actually making yourself put the current project down to pick up what's next in the rotation?? Cuz I totally suck at it!

Today I am supposed to go out and get the paper products for the shower.  Plus I need to look for colored sugar in the correct colors.  I am trying really hard to get out there and get it done but I think I'd rather stay at home and stitch while doing the laundry.  Some company would be great but everyone I know is working.  Anyone wanna pop on over and go with me?  I'll buy you lunch!

Guess I should get myself pulled together and head out so I can get home and get the laundry started.

You all have a wonderful Wednesday and take care till next time! And if by chance any of you picked up the Take it out Tuesday Challenge, I would love to see what you got done!

Julie  

Take it out Tuesday!

As I explained in my last post I have started Take it out Tuesday's on the shop's facebook page.  I figured if I was going to do it there I might as well carry it over here.  So tonight I decided to take out Blackbird Designs Midnight Watch and work on it.  Here's the before pic.  Will post after pictures tomorrow on What I did Wednesday!

I have a finish, but not a finished finish!

Howdy folks!

Been a couple of weeks.  Not much new.  Working on the shower for Adam and Marcia, trying to de-jungleize (that's my own word, don't try to look it up in the dictionary cuz it isn't there) my gardens, and stitching here and there when I have the chance.

I'm trying to get a little movement on the shops Facebook page so I announced Take it out Tuesday's and What I did Wednesday's on there.  Basically, you dig through your stash bag, basket, box...whatever on Tuesday and pick something new or something that has been languishing, tell us what you've chosen and work on it that day.  On What I did Wednesday, you post what you did and whether you met your goal.  I figured if I was the one putting this out there I better participate myself so last night I pulled out Rites of Spring by Cherished Stitches, posted that I wanted to get the stitching part of it done and lo and behold goal met!

I also had to start one of The Nebby Needle's new to me releases.  I fell in love with the Heritage Sampler.  The shop had the fabric called for so in my opinion it was meant to be which meant I had no choice but to start it.  I tried.  I really really tried to follow the directions and use only 1 strand over 2 on 30 count.  I just couldn't do it.  I know it was supposed to be done that way to get that old worn look but I kept fussing over it and finally I just said screw it.  So 2 strands it is.  Unless I change my mind again and do 1 strand over 1.   I don't know...what do you think?????

Worked some on Golden Ice too.  I don't know which one of you is sneaking into my house in the middle of the night and taking out everything I've stitched that day but you need to STOP!  Right Now!  I swear I stitch on this thing for hours and it doesn't look like anything is getting done!!!

Several of you asked about the button bouquet that I made from a picture I saw on Pintrest and posted last time and you wanted to know how to find it.  The picture actually came from a listing on Etsy.  I can post a link but if you are looking for directions I never found any.  I just looked at the picture and went from there.  I can write up what I used and how I did it if you want.  Let me know.

And now I best get a move on and get some customer finishes done.  Thanks for stopping by!

Take care till next time!

Julie  
    

Stitching and life updates

Howdy Folks!

It's Wednesday, it's my day off, it's hot and humid out and I'm cleaning house.  Anyone else have to turn the A/C waaaay down when they clean?  Since the advent of Menopause it's become part of the cleaning routine.  Furnace off in the winter and A/C down in the summer!    I'm about finished now though.  I should be, with the exception of an hour or so I've been at it since 9 this morning!  Gotta love a clean house!

Life was supposed to calm down after retreat but so far I haven't noticed a big difference.  I'm deep into bridal shower planning with some Retreat 2014 thrown in there for good measure!  I don't know why I have to make things so difficult for myself but somehow I always do.  Finally nailed down a venue for the shower this morning.  Next up is the the invitations.  I've got them picked out, just need to get the wording to my liking and we'll be set.

I've done some stitching here and there.  I decided I wasn't getting any younger and working on black wasn't going to get any easier so I've pulled out Golden Ice and am going to stick with it until it's finished.  I'm not sure how long it's been languishing in the unfinished pile but it's has to have been a couple of years anyway.   Hold the phone!  It took me a while but I found the last update I did on it and it was dated July 2010 so it's been almost 3 years.  This is what it looked like then:

and now it looks like this:

Working on this piece has caused a bit of hostility from Abby.  See, Golden Ice is for Amy and I have already stitched Fire and Ice for Amy also.  When Abby caught me stitching on it she said "Oh, I guess we know who the favorite daughter is."  She is referring to the fact that I was supposed to stitch 12 dancing princesses for her and I gave up.  I decided I was never going to live long enough to finish that piece.  I've asked her to choose something else that is within the realm of possibility but she refuses to do so.  My bad! LOL!

I've also been working this little piece that I picked up at market called Rites of Spring by Cherished Stitches.   It was a limited release kit, comes with everything to finish it into the pillow as shown.  It's a nice break from Golden Ice and has been a fun stitch.  Not much left to do now.

I also stole a bit of time away from my stitching to work on a craft project.  I love how it turned out!  Exactly like the picture on Pintrest!

In family news: 

Dan has been busy working on a border of rock around the edges of the back yard.  The dogs had run a rut in the grass along the fence.  When it rained, this rut would become a pit of mud.  The dogs would come in covered in mud up to their eyeballs, track it all over the house and furniture before you could snag them to clean them up thus making the above chore of cleaning harder.  And nobody needs that, right?   So taking our cue from the neighbors we decided to put rock all long the fence line, thus eliminating the mud.  The dogs would run on the rock and voila!  No more mud baths.  In theory this was a brilliant plan.  In reality, it's a total fail.  The damn dumb knotheads (one of my mom's favorite sayings...usually aimed at me) don't like running on the rock!  So now they run along side the rock.  How long  do you give them before they run a new rut in the grass??  I can see into the future now...the entire back yard covered in river rock.  No grass in sight!  Guess that would solve the mud problem for good!

How long do you think it will take Dan to remove that
pile of dirt?

Amy has a very busy summer ahead of her.  She's back here at the ballpark working during home stands.  Then in Lincoln taking summer classes, working in 2 research labs and studying for the GRE test to get into grad school.  I think her one class is going to help her with that last bit.  It's a class on addiction and she has to give up something she is addicted to for 28 days.  Only thing she's addicted to is watching TV so now she has plenty of time for studying!

Abby moved into a new apartment with her friend Maggie.  They are now mostly settled in and have it set up nicely.  Each of them have their own bathroom right off their bedrooms which is nice.  No sharing!  I had to laugh though when Dan and I were over helping her hang some pictures.  They have a huge TV in their living room and each of them have a TV in their bedroom, so 3 TV's in this not so big apartment! I was telling them when Dan and I got married we didn't even have a TV and when we did it was a small black and white one and we only got one station!  Times sure have changed!

Adam and Marcia are doing well.  Getting ready for their big day in November.  Adam played baseball this spring.  They've both run some marathons and now that it's pool weather Marcia will be poolside when possible.  They'll be here for a wedding that Adam is in come July, hence the wedding shower plans.  None of my family will be attending the wedding in November for one reason or another so we thought it might be a nice way that they can be involved.

And that should catch you all up.  Not too much exciting going on.  I'll try to post again this weekend.

Thanks for reading and commenting.  Love comments!

Take care till next time!

Julie

Retreat...Final Chapter at last!

It's a stormy day here in the Heartland.  Kallie is a complete mess, my water heater is leaking and when the guy came out this morning to service the air conditioner for summer he informed me I don't have a damper on my humidifier so my system is not running efficiently.  Hmmm...I had one before you all replaced my furnace last fall.  I called the office and they are coming out free of charge to take care of that... in 2 weeks.  My tater's are torked for sure!  Geez people, if a person has one when you start a job said person should have one when you finish the job! Am now waiting on a plumber to arrive so thought this would be a most excellent time to finish this epic story!

Sunday Morning when we sat down in our stitching spot we found one of these waiting for us.

"The Sister's" as we like to call them made each of us a Needlebook!

See the cute feet fabric they found?   Love it!

Thank you  Denise, Deb C. and Connie N.,  that was a very nice thing to do and everyone loved them!

Sunday was a pretty laid back day, most everyone was feeling the effects of little sleep and moaning about how quickly the weekend went.   We did manage to get everyone together for a group photo

and then one by one the ladies started packing up in preparation for the trip home.

Some had to take a quick nap before they hit the road though, and I heard through the grapevine that some pulled over and took a nap while on their way home.

It's always sad when one of our retreats is over.  We always have a wonderful time and the ladies are always fun to be around.  Lucky for us it's only 4 months until our Fall No Frills Retreat!  We're going to do a Halloween ornament or pin pillow exchange this year which should be fun.  Just need to decide on a chart and get going on it so I don't leave it till the last minute.

A great big THANK YOU to all of our Retreater's, old timers and newbies alike,  for coming out and being the great ladies you are.  We couldn't ask for a better group of people. See ya in the Fall or next Spring if not before!!

To wrap this up I have some pictures of my finished Retreat Project which is slightly different than it was charted.  You know me, I can't leave well enough alone.  I didn't change a lot though, left out a motif, changed a color here and there and I used over dyes on mine.  

Here is the model as charted that I showed earlier:

and here is mine.  It's hard to spot the differences.

I made some stick pins to put in my footstool and Connie liked them so much she wanted a set and thought I should make a few sets to sell which I did.  I put a heart charm and feet charm on the larger pin.  

 I had a finish right before retreat.  You might have spotted it on the brag table.

stitched on 32ct Meadow Rue over one with a tent stitch

While I was at retreat I worked on a couple of older projects.  First up is Tuscan Rose before retreat.  I last showed an update in April of 2012 so it had been a year since I touched it.

 and after retreat:

I also worked on my Peace Sampler.  The last picture I could find looked like this:

It now looks like this:

And with that this epic Retreat post comes to a close.  Thanks for hanging in there folks!

Update on the water heater.  Need a new one.  Not an inexpensive item.  Oh well,  gotta have hot water right?

Take care till next time!

Julie

Oh Dear Lord will it never end??? Retreat Part III Pic Heavy

Happy Hump Day!

I spent my day running around town looking for some items that might be needed for retreat next May if I stick with the idea that popped into my head this morning as I was all cuddled up and warm in bed.  It was pretty darn cold this morning and stupid me, thinking it was spring/summer had my windows open!   Said windows will be firmly closed tonight!

I left off with Friday night in my last post so I guess it would make sense to start off with Saturday  in this post.  Unless you all want me to cut to the chase, skip to Sunday afternoon and end your misery?  But if I did that you would miss some pretty incredible eye candy and we can't have that now can we?

Saturday morning dawned bright and early, breakfast at 8a.m. followed by more stitching.  Mary Ann taught the second batch of  stitcher's the finishing technique and the masseuse arrived to help work out the kinks most of us had acquired over the last couple of days.  The swap table was still open for business so some were wandering in and out of that area, Doreen and Stacy played the piano again for us and stitcher's moved around visiting with other stitchers.  Note:  I have tried hard to keep the pictures to the day they were taken but I think some of the following were actually taken on other days.  Please forgive any out of order pictures!

Joyce telling a story

Donna and Sally

L-R:  Kolene, Karen and Anna Marie

Jocelyn and Roxy

Not sure what they were laughing about but it must have
been good!

Linda, Laurie and Stacy

Joyce and Deb B.

Kay's beautiful bead work.

Laurie

Harriet and Patty

Patty, Cathi and Deb C.

We had a some finishes during the day also:

Doreen

Stacy

Laurie

Nancy

Deb C.

Donna

Joyce

Linda's false finish.  She still needed to add her surname
under the house but we let it pass for a finish.

We asked our stitcher's to bring one or two pieces they had stitched that were their favorite or that they were especially proud of.  We displayed these  pieces for all to enjoy and throughout the weekend people would wander over and admire the stunning display.

Amazing, aren't they?  

Saturday afternoon, Mary Ann and I headed back to Papillion to meet up with our husbands to pack up the shop and haul it out to the retreat for shop night.  It's a big undertaking but the ladies seem to enjoy it.  

  

Once shopping was finished it was time to give away the door prizes. 

Connie treating us to a pole dance routine prior to the giveaway.
Last year she did  Gangam Style.  Not sure which was better.
LOL!!

 5 extra special winners received a lovely Lucky Rabbit's Foot in keeping with the theme.  They were thrilled!

In reality, those 5 got the "Grand Prize" door prizes.  Sadly I didn't not take any pics of the door prizes.  

Once all the excitement was over it was back to stitching, visiting and snacking.

No chance of starving at our retreats, that for sure!!  Just look at all that food, and 99% of it was not good for you.  But it sure was good!

We had a tragedy occur at retreat this year.  A terrible terrible tragedy.    See the lady on the right in the picture below?  

That's Denise.  Denise has been stitching on the same piece that I showed you earlier.  The one Nancy is doing called I love my Garden.  She actually started it before Nancy.  While at retreat, Denise discovered she had been stitching the design on the fabric the wrong way.  Kinda makes the bottom fall out of your stomach.  Lucky for Denise,  stitcher's are wonderful people and before she knew it several ladies had volunteered to help her frog the piece.  

First up was Karen.  

After Karen worked on it for a while Kolene took over.

and after Kolene, Jennifer stepped up.

and when she was done Denise was presented with a clean slate to begin her piece again.  This time the right way!  Good job ladies!  

I was hoping to wrap this up tonight but I don't think I'm going to make it!  One more post should do it I think so watch for the final chapter this weekend.  

I sent emails to all those that have posted questions, if you didn't receive them please let me know.  

Thanks to all that have read and commented, I am truly touched that you all take the time to read what I have written.  

Have a great week and take care till next time!

Julie