Is It Over Already?

My classes at ASG were wonderful. On Friday afternoon my first class was with Jackie of It's Fine-ally Finished. Our project was La Vie En Rose a darling etui. Though very petite this etui has a builtin pinkeep, needlepage, a pocket to hold a scrimshaw piece, a scissor storage area as well as a place for a waxer and storage for some beads.

Five stitched panels are used to adorn this case. In class we stitched the date on one panel and used that piece to review the finishing for the other panels. A first for me was using an accordion fold to make wonderful ribbon roses to adorn the ends of the ribbon ties. We then went over the final construction of the entire piece.

On Saturday morning my first class was with Rae of Moss Creek Designs and hostess of the event. Rae's piece this year was a whitework sampler with an area of lacis work. There are at least a dozen specialty stitches on this sampler. A picture cannot do any justice to this piece it has to be seen to be appreciated. There will be many hours of pleasure while stitching this piece. I will be starting with the bookmark that was the practice piece for the class.

After lunch on Saturday was my final class for the weekend with Jane of Fancy Work. I saw a preview of the bag in her blog before leaving for the event and I was not disappointed. Shakespeare's Garden Sweet Bag was wonderful with a stitched design on the back and front of the piece inspired by quotes from plays by William Shakespeare. Along with the basic cross stitch there are a number of specialty stitches on the bag and the colors used are some of my favorites.

No trip to ASG in Scottsdale is complete without a trip to The Attic Needlework Store. Several stitchers made multiple trips to The Attic just in case they had missed something on the previous visit. Jean and her staff were great hostesses and made everyone feel welcome and of course encouraged them to shop till they dropped. Chairs are strategically placed so that you can take a breather, spy something new in a cabinet, on a table, or on the walls, get refreshed and continue shopping.

After all that stitching, shopping at The Attic, and a couple of trips to JoAnn's some of the stitchers got together in evenings to learn to make button bracelets and to weave lanyards (for scissors). Thank you Connie for sharing. We had lots for fun.

With all these new projects I better get busy stitching. Next post I will have pictures of my exchange pieces.
Gwen