Buttons and Pins

I was fortunate to be able to made my annual trip to Arizona to attend A Stitcher's Gathering.This year's project was A Lovely Garden, A Lovely Life.  The bee skep was the pre-stitching for the class. It is the the lid cover for my mini Shaker Box. The mini box is destined to be a Button box, for now it is holding some charms that I plan to use somewhere on another part of the project. the other pieces of the project are a Shaker Sewing Box, needle book and a Victorian Pin Ball. The pinball was my first attempt at English paper piecing. We used 3/4 inch pentagons to construct the pinball. The templates from Paper Pieces made the piecing easy.

Civil War Needlebook Kit

Threadwork Primitives

I have made some more progress on this, but don't have a current picture. I only have a few more days if I am to have this done before the Fourth. 

Thanks for stopping by,

Gwen

Road Trip

I spent a wonderful 5 days with some stitching friends last week. Though it rained the entire time it did not deter us.









We visited a couple of quilt shops, Delectable Mountains in Vermont, and Webs a very nice yarn shop in Mass. Driving up from NY our first stop was Norton House, a very nice quilt store and the 1836 Country Store in Wilmington, VT. Norton House had a very nice fabrics and quilting accessories. Second stop on the list was Delectable Mountains.


Delectable Mountains is a treasure trove of  silk, velvets, trims, buttons, scarfs, jewelry and linens. There was so much to see and experience that we could have spent the whole day there.



After lunch we started on our way to Webs.
 




Even those of the group that were not knitters spend some time in Webs admiring the large collection of yarns and accessories. The wide array of texture and color were enticing on a rainy day.

Friday and Saturday was a class with Jackie of It's Fine-ally Finished. It was a wonderful time. I feel privileged to be able to spend the time together and hope to see everyone next year.

Thanks for stopping by,
Gwen

Back from a short Hiatus.

I have spend the last few months pre-stitching for classes and while I still don't have a finished project to show, I have had fun and learned a lot. The first class I took was Hare Pyns with Sherri Jones. Lots and lots of stitching but oh so worth it. The project is just beautiful, but still a W.I.P.

Two weekends ago some friends and I made our annual trip to AZ to attend A Stitcher's Gathering. This usually warrants at least one trip to The Attic Needleworks and this year was no different. We spent a few hours shopping, visiting, shopping, enabling, and shopping (you get the picture) with Jeana and her staff. We left there with more stash and lighter wallets to prepare for our class. Thanks Jean, April and Sandy for your hospitality we love visiting your store each year.

Rae Iverson of Moss Creek Designs the organizer/host of A Stitcher's Gathering has designed a fan etui Live Long with Joy. Armed with our pre-stitching our goal was to stitch the dragonfly and work on the construction of the case. During class  we used  5 weights of gold threads to make a gold gilted  dragonfly to adorn the fan etui. Threads used were Smooth Purl, Pearl Purl, Passing Thread Gilt Sylke Twist and Tambour Thread. This was my first time working with these threads. For a first attempt I am very pleased with my dragonfly.

Dragonfly taking flight from the branch of a mulberry tree.

In stitches,

Gwen

ASG Report

I had a wonderful time at ASG ! I arrived on Wednesday morning. After meeting up with my friends at the resort, we climbed into two cars stopped for lunch, then spent 2 hours at The Attic. Jean and the other ladies were great. The store is chuck full of charts, patterns, threads, stitchers toys, just about anything a needleworker could possibly want. If its not on the shelf they will be happy to order if for you! One of the great experiences at The Attic are all the models. Its just wonderful to see all those designs stitched and wonderfully displayed.



On Thursday a number of us took a trip so Sedona. While 2 people went on a helicopter ride the rest of us took A Pink Jeep Tour. It was just awesome. Definitely worth the experience.



Friday and Saturday were reserved for classes. My first class on Friday afternoon was with Betsy Morgan-Willing Hands Designs. Saturday morning I was stitching with Ann Pettit from Brightneedle and Saturday afternoon with Rae Iverson of Moss Creek Designs. On Friday morning and between classes there was amble time for several visits to the boutique. Soo many projects soo little time. On Sunday was the parting brunch and the Golden Needle Gallery. On Sunday mornings stitchers are encouraged to display items of interest and is just a great time to see what others have been working on. Finally it was time to say goodbye to new and old friends. The weekend goes by so quickly!

Progress on GCC

I have missed the deadline for at least 1 of my GCC. This weekend I was able to work on 'To The Acorn' and made great progess. I have enough done now to send it in for an evaluation. I would like to complete a few more bands so, I will continue to see how much more progress I can make. I will take a picture next time I unroll it.



Tomorrow, I will be getting ready to go to A Stitchers' Gathering in Arizona. My friends and I have planned a shopping trip to The Attic for a shopping spree on Wednesday, an excursion to Sedona on Thursday, then classes on Friday and Saturday.

Celebration of NW report

Well I arrived in New Hamshire on Wednesday. I was scheduled to take four classes. After having my arm twisted by my friends (wink) I signed up for 2 more classes. So on Thursday at 8 AM I was in class with Sherri Jones taking Fair Charlotte's Souvenir Pyn Purse and later that day Maureen Appleton's Garden Trail: Thread Box. After these there were my classes with Jackie du Plessis of It's Fine-ally Finished, on Friday and the Round Robins. Julie Norton of J Designs class was on Saturday and the Saturday Night Event-a dessert social and auction to raise money for Breat Cancer Research. My last class on Sunday was with Lauren Sauer. If you have an opportunity you should make every effort to attend Celebration of Needlework at one of the 2 locations. You should find something to to satisfy your needlework taste.