Birthday

This past Saturday was my birthday.  We did not do much since my oldest daughter was coming off a week long stomach virus and hubby was starting with the flu.  We did manage to go to a bookstore and I got a couple of quick reads by Diane Mott Davidson (the caterer Goldy Schulz series)  and order a battery & charger set for the camera he bought me for Christmas.  He also bought me some flowers and cupcakes.  This weekend we are going to my parents house to celebrate my niece's birthday (Jan. 13th) and my birthday.  We have not been able to find a time for us all to get together until then.  

 

While at Stitchaway (see previous post) several of my good friends gave me early birthday gifts.  Needless to say I was spoiled rotten again by these wonderful ladies. 

From Linda who shares the same birth date with me I got some beautiful Victorian Motto threads.  She said it was my ice cream sundae since all the color names sound like they are from the soda shop.

Lisa (The Inspired Stitcher) stitched me this wonderful pillow.  She is a fantastic seamstress and I am always very honored when she gives me something she has made. 

Marsha (Everybody Loved Clark) gave me a little pouch filled with different threads, a little pin ball and a sewing kit.  I love red and was very happy with all the red things.  Marsha was my secret stitcher last year and sent me some fantastic things. 

Patti (no blog) is our frog lady.  She loves frogs and whenever any of us sees something "froggy" we think of her.  She stitched me this button frog that is a magnetic needle keep.  She also gave me this neat scissor holder and scissors. 

 

 

 

My secret stitcher this year left an anonymous bag on my seat at Stitchaway when I was off someplace else (probably shopping...LOL).  The candle is lemon mint and smells wonderful.  The lotion is fabulous.  I wish you could see how pretty the mosaic is on the candle holder.  The chocolate did not last long.  I love anything milk chocolate with caramel or opera cream.  I did share with my kids and hubby.  

 

 

 

I have been wrestling with the tummy bug my oldest daughter had last week and taking care of hubby with his respiratory flu, so I have not been very productive this week.  I have done a tiny bit of stitching and will post something about that soon.

 

This weekend is the annual Super Bowl sale at the LNS.  We have the monthly stitch night there on Friday, so I may come home with something I just could not live without.  I still have twelve dollars left of my Christmas money that I did not spend at Stitchaway that is burning a whole in my pocket...LOL

 

Be back soon with a stitchy update.

 

Christie

Stitchaway

 

 

Over Martin Luther King weekend our local LNS (Keepsakes Framing & Floral) had its annual Stitchaway weekend at Hueston Woods State Park. Well, it is actually a little longer than a weekend. Some go as early as Wednesday night. I went on Thursday morning. We stay until Sunday morning. It is a great weekend filled with nothing but stitching, laughing, spending time with friends old and new and....SHOPPING.  Yes, the owners of the LNS bring a ton of items and set up an annex with six different trunk shows along with bins of 50% off items and various other things for us all to drool over and purchase. 

 

 

I was especially excited over the Stacy Nash trunk show.  I just love her designs.  I did not come away with too many because I actually own quite a few already...LOL.  I did however find many other things to spend my Christmas money on.  The bottom picture has two charts that I got the day I left for Stitchaway.  They were part of my Christmas gifts from my hubby.  They were on back order.  The chicken kit was in the 50% off bin and he just made me smile so of course he had to come home with me.

 

 

Below is a shot of the conference room where we spent our weekend.  There were some folks who took advantage of stitching in other parts of the lodge (like in front of the huge fireplace in the lobby area).  One of the days I wore my Guard Mom shirt that I got when my youngest was part of the color guard in marching band this past Fall.  It had the name of the high school on it.  This is the same school that my hubby & I graduated from.  The lady in the bottom picture called me over one evening and asked me if I went to school there and remembered this particular math teacher.  Well, guess what....it was her.  She was my math teacher in high school.  What a small world.   

 

The owners of the LNS are so wonderful to all of us.  They provide a pizza dinner on Friday nights, they put goodie bags with free charts and snacks together and on Saturday nights they usually have other goodies for us.  Last year they had a theme for the weekend which was strawberries.  This year was hearts.  We had several "make it & take its" and our snacks were put into this great photo box.  Along with all of this one of the girls made heart necklaces for everyone there.  There were 86 of us.  All the necklaces were different. 

 

 

 

 

We also have a show 'n tell on Saturday night. There were some fantastic stitching that was shown. Below are just a few examples of what was there. Remember I said last year was strawberries? Well, several of the girls stitched their strawberry chart but added their own little twist to make it more personalized.   The frames they are in were part of the gift from last years retreat.  I still have to get mine stitched.  I know what a slacker...ha, ha, ha.

 

 

 

 

 

I did not get a ton of stitching in this year, but did get some done.  I started and finished this BBD chart and started on the La D Da Star Pouch.  The rest of the time I worked on my John Foster sampler border (more on that at a later time).  

 

 

 

It was a long, wonderful weekend that I look forward to every year.  What a great way to start a new year!!

 

Christie