Class with Catherine Theron

I didn't mean to go all quiet on you last week.  I've been busy stitching on a private exchange for a blog buddy and a gift I'll tell you about in a minute.  So I have been stitching, just nothing I could show yet.

Sunday my peep, Marsha and I drove to Michigan to the Kindred Spirits Sampler Guild's "Hidden Magnolia" class taught by Catherine Theron on Monday.  We both fell in love with our guild friend, Janis' sampler and decided we'd go anywhere to be able to stitch it too.   Thankfully we didn't have to go too far...only four hours away!

The class was held in the Spicer House.  This is the same place where my other KSSG classes were held.  (See here and here.)  It was fun to see the gardens adorned in fall finery this time.  Love that maple tree!

Left to right: Catherine, me, PW, PF, Marsha, ES, and LK.

Marsha and I were also joined by another car load of local peeps that wanted to take the class too.  The southern contingent was well represented. Here we are with Catherine and the sampler! 

This is a better look at the sampler.  There is a lot more detail to this sampler than meets the eye.  With the exception of a couple places, every single stitch in this one is a specialty stitch.  I sure didn't pick up on that from looking at the picture.  These stitches really give it a lot of dimension when you see it up close.  I have a new appreciation for Janis' sampler and what a feat it was to finish it!

Here's the huge ring of silk that goes with this sampler!  We were given a floss supply list before class.  We provided 32 AVAS and 4 NPI and she gave us 11 colors in class.  Just look at all that juicy goodness!

I especially like these three Gumnut 'Stars' flosses she gave us in class.  There's just something about these colors that I find really pretty!  I've never stitched with Gumnut before so that should be an interesting experience.  Have any of you used it?  I'd be interested to know what you think of it.

We were also given this super cute flower pincushion that sits atop a golf tee!  It was handmade by Nancy B. who took care of all the arrangements for the class.  What a sweet souvenir from the day!  I picked this one because it reminds me of my birth flower, the narcissus, which happens to be one of my favorite flowers.

Here's Catherine teaching us how to do the padded satin stitch that will be used on the entire house!  It is really effective in making the house look like it has siding on it.  I love the elastic bands attached to the stretcher bars she's using for the example. Clever idea!

This is my progress at the end of class.  The brown line is done in stem stitch and will section off the left side's floral vine.  The beginning of the pine tree is part of the center section at the top.  It's worked in smyrna cross.  It sure does have a nice texture when you run your finger across it!

These are a couple of Catherine's other teaching pieces.  I dearly love the one on the right called "A Stitcher's Envelope!"  I'd take that class for sure.  I've got a thing for Quaker style alphabets and flame stitch these days.  Love that mini hornbook too.  You knew I'd say that didn't you.  LOL!

This is the back of the "Alphabet Primer Pocket" on the left and the inside of "A Stitcher's Envelope" on the right.  Both are amazing!  Just look at all that over one on the village scene.  Impressive!

This is another teaching piece.  It's called "Travel-sized Quaker Sewing Roll."

This is the inside of it.  I love the soft muted colors in this one.  I'd love to stitch this one too. 

Catherine is such a talented designer and a very good teacher too.  She made sure to come around to each and every one of us checking to make sure we understood what we needed to do.  After each part of the lesson, she brought the original sampler around so each one of us could get a closer look and take pictures too.  If you ever get the chance to take class with her, I highly recommend it.  You'll be pleased you did!

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Design:  Sneak Peek - Summer

Designer:  The Trilogy

Fabric:  32 ct. silver-blue

Floss: DMC as charted

Started:  10/21/13

Finished: 10/25/13

Completed:  10/26/13

This is the gift I mentioned earlier.  I stitched this for Marsha as a thank you for ordering the floss for me while I was away in West Virginia.  It was so helpful for her to do that since I was out of town.  I truly appreciated it!

I wanted to make a floss tag since my thank you was related to floss.  I think it turned out really cute.  I might have to do one for myself sometime just because those bees make me smile.  I just love their little eyes. They just made me crack up when I saw them. Besides that, Marsha loves bees as much as I do...maybe even more! 

These bees remind me of my greeting card rule.  If I find a card that makes me laugh out loud in the store, that's the one I buy!  I've even been known to buy them with no recipient in mind just because they make me laugh.  I'm like that dontacha know.

This is the back.  I had to personalize it.  I also altered the finish after I took this picture.  I put a flower shaped grommet on the tab so the tag would lay flat against the floss bags.  It stuck out weird before I did that.  Maybe Marsha will show a picture of that on her blog.

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Overall, it was a really enjoyable weekend!  I spent it in good company and learned a ton of new things.  I got to see the beautiful Michigan landscape wrapped in autumnal glory.  The many miles we traveled seemed to move along quickly as we laughed and shared stories on the trip to and from.

Special thanks goes to Catherine for the wonderful class piece.  Thanks goes to Nancy B. who arranged a wonderful meeting place, meal, made the super cute flower gift for us all, and I'm sure took care of a million other little details I'm unaware of.  Also, thanks goes to my travel buddy, Marsha.  I appreciate you girlfriend!

It was so nice to see some of the same ladies who were in class with me earlier in the year too.  Waves to you all!  I only wish I lived closer so we could get together more often.  There's always next time!

I hope you all enjoyed reading about my trip.  I'm hopeful to have a couple more posts this week too.  Real life has gotten busy and it's been hampering my blogging time.  Never fear, I still find time to stitch.  It's my sanity saver and I don't know what people do that don't stitch!  LOL!  Have a great rest of the week!

Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher