Peeps Christmas/Birthdays Party

Last Saturday the peeps got together for our annual Christmas party.  We decided to do it after all the holiday busy-ness was over.  This year we had an extra special reason for getting together when we did because our peep, Patti had a Big-O birthday this year and we wanted to make it extra special for her.

As I've done in the past, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves and chime in with comments.  Go grab a cuppa.  There's lots to look at here.  The peep gifts are in no particular order and I'll sprinkle in birthday gifts I received too.

First up, this is what I made for all the peeps and for myself.  Yes, I sewed eight of these!  It's a cell phone charger holder.  I saw this on Pinterest and I'm happy to report it was not a Pinterest fail as many things found on Pinterest are.  LOL!  If you'd like to make one, you can go to this site and find the tutorial.  It was really fun!

We are all going away together soon so I thought they might come in handy in the hotel.  It's a neat way to keep your phone off the floor and counter top.  I also included a Command Hook to use with it when they are at home.  I don't think it would be a good idea to use this without a hook for daily use.  Let's get on with the peep gifts!

This one was from Anna Mae.  She had taped the gift card to the back of the little sign.  We were all laughing at each other because as we were each reading our signs, we could see the gift card on the back of the other person's sign.  Guess you had to be there. 

A little bit about the gift card, it is to a local chili parlor that we are all super fond of.  Every time we get together for a guild meeting we usually end up at Skyline for lunch.  I go there at least once a week.  I love that place!

Some of the peeps brought my birthday presents too since they hadn't seen me since my birthday.  This was Anna Mae's birthday gift to me.  I absolutely adore this bag!  It has everything I love...it's a bag, it has sewing stuff on it and it's lined in red polka dots!  She said she found it at a new local boutique that features local artisans.  Another thing I love, shopping small and local.  All good things!

This one is from Christie.  The towel is a birthday present and the pottery dish, note pad and pen are Christmas.  Christie knows my love of bees!  She picked up the dish when she and her DH were in Tennessee!  So pretty!  I have the perfect place to display the towel in my kitchen too.

This beautiful box and goodies are from Evie.  Evie told us this was her "plan B" gift since the ornaments she stitched for us had a finishing mishap.  Haven't we all had one of those?!  Even so, I love all the little goodies that came in the box.  The little round thing is an ORT dish.  There was more chocolate but I ate some of them.  LOL!

Here's a close up of the cute little red "monster."  Evie took a trip to Japan for a family event and brought us all back one of these little cuties.  She had a Japanese word for them but I forget what it was.  I do remember that since mine is smiling that it's female and is supposed to be welcoming.  Of course, those bees!!!  I'm sure I'll find something to make with that fat quarter.  Love!

Our friend Linda, who hosted us, stitched this one nine times!  Can you believe?!  She included a stand so we can sit these out and not put them away with the ornaments.  The little stocking was our table favor and the bulb is our annual ORT receiver for the year.  I'll show you some of Linda's sampler walls in a bit.  Her house was decorated so lovely for the holidays.

These are from Marsha.  She gave me the fabric bag as a birthday gift.  She stitched one of these for all of us for our birthdays last year...yep, seven of them!  She picked all bee fabric for me as she and I share a love of bees!  I'm already using mine to hold my latest knitting project.  More on that later.

The project bag, handmade needle minders and needle tubes were my Christmas presents.  Marsha too had plans for stitched ornaments for all of us but had a death in the family right before the holiday and just wasn't feelin' it.  No worries, I love everything and I'll make good use of it too.

This was from Meem.  It's a tiny vase that can be suction cupped to a window.  I plan to use mine to hold violas from the yard.

This is what Meem gave me for my birthday.  She got it at the same boutique Anna Mae found my bag.  The center of the necklace was colored by a young woman with Down's.  Meem used to be a special ed teacher so she has a soft spot.  I think it's really pretty.

Meem also knows I like to put tobasco sauce on my Skyline and thought I'd like the chocolate.  Oh yeah!

Finally, this was from Patti.  She said the chicken was a funny afterthought.  They were cleaning out closets at her job and ran across a whole bunch of them.  Rather than throw them out she rescued them for us peeps.  Too funny!  I love all the goodies she put in our bags.  The markers, postcards to color, tissues and cute container.  The best part was the strawberry!

Here's a closer look at the strawberry.  Each of ours was different.  She said she would have gotten bored stitching them all the same.  They were finished by the fabulous, Faye of Carolina Stitcher.  She said she asked Faye not to put them on her blog because she knew several of us visit Faye.  I guess now it's safe since we all have ours now.  LOL!  That brings me to the end of the gifts. 

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Before I go, I want to share some pictures of Linda's sampler walls.  She's been stitching a really long time and has lots of beautiful things to show for it.  I asked her if she minded if I shared with you and she said it was okay.  Enjoy!

Here's the kitchen where we exchanged our gifts after our meal.  You can see the little stockings at each place setting.  That long one near the door is "And They Sinned."  Our peep, Patti started this one on the first!

This is the fireplace in the living room.  I love these two Quakers.  Christmas is Linda's holiday and she goes all out with the decorations!  Every nook and cranny is decorated.  I never tire of looking at all the wonderful things she has displayed.

This is the main sampler wall in the living room and one of the four trees she has in the house.  Someday, I want to have a sampler wall.  Love!  Thank you for hosting us, Girlie!  It was a great day!

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I am so fortunate to have such generous and lovely peeps as friends.  I don't know what I'd do without these women!  We have become such a tight group and we all know we are just a text, email or phone call away if any one of us needs anything.  And lately, we've all needed support in one way or another.  I like to call it "friend therapy."

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Since this post has gotten lengthy, I think I'll save my latest sewing and knitting projects for the next post.   Needless to say, my creativity has returned in a big way and I'm really enjoying myself.  I also received some birthday gifts from blog friends.  I'll share those next time too.

I hope you all enjoyed coming along with me on this recap of a wonderful day spent with my peeps.  Thanks for stopping by for a visit.  I hope you are all well and enjoying this new year.

More next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

Two finishes...Heaven Above & an Ornament!

Dear friends I'm happy to report I've finally finished Heaven Above!  Yes, it's true.  I actually finished it Thanksgiving weekend.  I stitched on this all afternoon on Thanksgiving day and all the next two days to get it finished.  I was determined to get this one done before the end of November.  I was so pleased when I put that last stitch in it.  Let's have a look at it in all its glory!

Design: Heaven Above

Designer: Midsummer Night Designs

Fabric: 40ct. Sand

Floss: As charted

Started: 1/15/15

Finished: 11/25/16

To Be Framed...

Here's a close up picture of the top half.

Here's the bottom half.  There's supposed to be a butterfly in the lower right corner but I wanted to incorporate my initials and date there instead.  I actually added a small purple flower above the signature after this picture was taken.

I'm really pleased with this one.  It's super special to me because my dear friend, Susan gifted the chart to me after she finished stitching it last year.  I plan to keep the chart.  I'm thinking once I frame it I may put it in a pocket on the back along with a note telling its story.  It's just that special to me.  Thank you again, Susan!  You are so dear to me.

I had wanted to post about this sooner but I got really sick the Monday after Thanksgiving.  A trip to the ER diagnosed me with chest pains caused by pleurisy, which was scary enough, and then I came down with the Norovirus.  Yeah, chest pains with violent vomiting is nothing I want to repeat anytime soon.  Needless to say that took the rug out from under me for a week.  I was pretty worn out the whole next week too.  Thankfully, I'm absolutely fine now and feel back to my old self.  Whew, glad to be back in good health!

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Design:  Letter Sleds A to Z "QCSG"

Designer:  Foxwood Crossings

Fabric:  32ct. Belfast White

Floss:  DMC 817 & 699

Started:  12/2/16

Finished:  12/3/16

Completed:  12/4/16

My second finish I want to share today is this ornament I made for the annual guild Christmas party.  I was gifted this chart by Robin in Virginia.  Robin is such a dear sweet friend.  She's been there for me a lot this year.  I really cherish our friendship.  Someday I hope to meet Robin in person!  Waves to Robin.

I changed the original design a wee bit, so this is my adaptation.  The original says "NOEL" and is in more of a tag shape.  I decided to make mine more rectangular and use our guilds initials.  I hope the recipient liked it.  I think she may have gotten my ornament last year too.  I think it's so festive with the holly and berries border.  I can foresee myself using this chart a lot in the coming years.  It's a really versatile set of designs.

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I hope everyone is getting geared up for the big holiday weekend.  I'm as ready as I'm getting.  For some reason this year I've really been in the Christmas mood.  I feel like it's because of my illnesses at the beginning of the season.  I know that sounds odd but I feel like being sick was a reset button kind of thing for me.  It caused me to stop, slow down and really think about what's important in the grand scheme of things.  Anyone who knows me knows I'm full blast all the time, sometimes to my own detriment.  I'm always ten steps ahead of myself in my mind.  It feels good to step back and really be present and in the now.

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I want to thank you all for your friendships, your comments, your emails and just being you!  You bring me joy and I hope I do that for you too.  I hope your holiday is merry and bright!

With much love and hugs,

The Inspired Stitcher

Rose Shield - Finish!

Brace yourselves, I'm back with yet another post and another finish!  I know, right!  Two in a row.  Someone get the smelling salts, I think some of you just passed out.  LOL!

Seriously though, I mentioned last time I had a new start and now it's done.  I just need to ornamentify it.  I had gone stash diving looking for something else and ran across this little cutie in my "basket o'joy."  Let's just say it's been in that basket a really, really long time waiting it's turn for some love.  Here she is!

Design: Rose Shield

(from the Christmas Roses II leaflet)

Designer: Mary Beale

Fabric: 32ct. Natural (2 over 2)

Floss:  Called for DMC

Started: 11/6/16

Finished: 11/13/16

Completed: TBD

I still love this one as much as I did the day I laid eyes on it.  This just hits all the right buttons for me.  I love the colors, I love the pineapple (or that's what it looks like to me), I love the vintage feel of it. Everything is just so me.

Here's the leaflet it came from in case you are wondering.  It's old, like published in 1989 old!  The charts are all hand drawn.  I did a quick search on the "bay of evil" aka eBay and there are several of these leaflets still to be found.

I haven't decided yet how I'm going to ornamentify it.  I need to dig the original leaflet out to see if there are templates in there for the shapes.  I usually make a working copy so I don't mangle the original.  I'm kind of doubting there are templates but you never know.

Several folks at the guild meeting were nostalgic about this one when they saw it.  I guess Mary Beale was pretty big back in the day.  Who knew!  I'm pretty sure I'll do some more of her ornaments.  There were several of her designs in the "free box" at the LNS the day I found this one and yes, they came home with me.  They've been ripening in the stash dontcha know.

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Well friends, it's a quick one today but I just had to share. I hope your week is off to a good start.  Thanks for visiting today.

More next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

Hello 2016

Happy New Year everyone!  I hope your holiday was good.  Ours was super relaxing. This post is going to be a recap of my holiday season.  I'm going to group things a little differently this time.  I hope you like it.

Design: Christmas Alphabet Book #64

Designer: Prairie Schooler

Fabric: 28ct. natural

Floss:  Called for DMC

Started: 11/26/15

Finished: 12/28/15

Completed: 12/28/15

First, let's have a look at my last finishes of 2015. These are the ornaments I made for the peeps this year.  I really had fun stitching each one of them.  I was pleasantly surprised when I found the organza ribbon in the stash that matches the rust colored floss.  I backed them with the same small gingham I used for the QCSG ornament seen here.

You might be wondering what's up with the empty square in the first picture.  I had thought I'd stitch one for my tree but ran out of gumption.  I did however kit it up when I was doing the finishing for the others so I have everything I need when I decide to stitch it.

This year we couldn't come up with a date in December for the peep party so we decided to do it on the 2nd which also happens to be the birthday of one of the peeps' too.  It was an extra special get together!  We also decided to do a lunch and everyone brought a part of the meal.  This was our lovely table setting!

Here's a close up of our table favors.  Loved how it looked like a Christmas pudding complete with a cherry!  This was a Pinterest success I'm told.  Too cute!

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Here's where I'm going to group the gift pics a little differently.  Some of these were my belated birthday gifts and some where Christmas.  When I got them all out to photograph them for the post I noticed there were "themes" so I grouped them that way.  I think we all had some similar ideas this year.  You know you are a tight group when that happens. Here we go, in no particular order!

As you know, I love my Hello Kitty.  This storage box is just so super cute.  I'm going to have to decide what special things will live in it.  Too stinkin' cute!

I'm showing this by itself close up because of the pin on the bow.  It would have gotten lost in a bigger picture.  It's so tiny and cute!  I sure wish blogs had a smell button.  This soap smells amazing!

Next up the edibles category!  Yes, this is not everything.  Some of it got eaten before I ever left the party.  Check out that huge Lindt chocolate frog!  Holy smokes that's a big one.

I just had to show you all a close up of the tea bag in case any of you would want to do this for a friend gift.  I thought the saying was super cute.  I know several of you are tea lovers too.

Next up is what I'm calling containers and bees.  The pouch was handmade and I just love the fabric choice.  Anything with an Eiffel tower on it is right up my alley.  Love the stash jar.  I've already got a plan for that.  Then of course there are bees.  I do love my bees!

I'm calling this group my notions group.  The needle minder and fob came from the same person.  I'm already using them.  Love the pincushion and waxer too.  The mandala bracelet could also be a fob.  Cool!

Then there were charts and a couple kits.  Oh. My. Goodness!  Do my peeps know me well or what?!  The very best part is I don't have any of these.  The strawberry has a fun story behind it.  My peep, Linda bought this when we went on our grand adventure last spring.  She picked it up at Mary Koval's quilt shop.  I was with her when she got it.  Sneaky sneaky!

Last but absolutely not least are the ornaments!  This acorn was tied onto one of my presents.  You know I love my acorns too.

I wish you could hit that smell button on this one as well.  I think it must be coffee dyed or something.  It smells so good!

This one is super cute!  I was asked which sled I wanted stitched for me and I said surprise me.  Oh and what a pleasant surprise it was too.

This one was really popular at the last Tiara stitch-in.  Several people had stitched it for show and tell.  I was really drooling over them and now I'm lucky enough to have one of my very own.  How cool!

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Well folks, that's a wrap!  I hope you enjoyed seeing the goodies from the party.  I continued my personal tradition of a birthday start and I had a New Year's Day start as well.  I'll save them for another visit.  This post has gotten pretty lengthy.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope your 2016 is off to a great start!


More next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

Guild Ornament - Finish!

This year our guild's Christmas party is super early for reasons I'm not totally clear on but I suspect it has to do with our guest speaker's schedule.  We will have Theresa from Heart's Ease Sampler Workes coming to lecture on designing our Guild's anniversary sampler.  No, I'm not stitching it.  It's a BAP and I'm limiting my self to one at a time.  I've learned my lesson.  LOL!

So anywho, tomorrow is the party.  Typically we have it in the first half of December. I am not ready to even think about the holidays yet but I did manage to stitch an ornament for the annual exchange.  Want to see what I came up with?  You know you do!

Here's the chart I used.  This chart has so many possibilities!

Here 'tis with the stitching finished...all but the initials and date on it.

Design: Christmas Alphabet Book #64

Designer: Prairie Schooler

Fabric: 40ct. mystery scrap

Floss:  Called for DMC

Started: 10/18/15

Finished: 11/2/15

Completed: 11/4/15

I chose to use the initials of the Guild in this configuration so it would end up square.  I chose the 40ct so it would be relatively small or at least an appropriate ornament size.  The fabric in the background is what I used on the back.  I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.  So if you are a guild member reading this, you could be the lucky one to get this cutie.

I'm planning to take a bunch of pictures tomorrow.  I have a feeling the show and tell is going to be fantastic and I'm hoping there will be lots of ornaments on the ornament tree too.  Stay tuned!

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Thanks so much for visiting today and listening to my rambles.  I hope your weekend is good and you get to put a needle into something.  I know you all can barely stand it that I've actually posted twice this week.  You just never know about me.  I'm a wild one like that.  LOL!

More next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

Gifts...Secret Stitcher, Christmas and Birthday

This one is going to be full of pictures today and quite lengthy.  I wanted to share them here in their own post to honor the thoughtfulness of those who are so special to me.  I don't know about you but I love these kinds of posts!  Go grab a cuppa and settle in.

Lets go back to the guild Christmas party.  This is the box I was presented with from my Secret Stitcher, Pam S.  Let's have a look inside!

 This is what caught my eye first!  Just look at this darling ornament all stitched over 1!

 Then I turned it over and she'd stitched the reverse too!  I love the pink house.

She and I have a thing for pink dontcha know.

Here's the rest of the goodies that were inside!  Oh. My. Goodness.  I was just so blown away.  I love the scissors.  She said they were as close to Shelby color as she could find.  Yep, they are polka dotted.  Love it!  The thread set is really interesting too.  I've not stitched with that before.  I can't wait to find just the right project to try it out.  There was one more thing in there that's not in the picture but it was for my birthday.  I'll save that for later.

Again, thank you so much Pam!  You really made my Secret Stitcher year so much fun.  I truly enjoyed your thoughtfulness.

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Next up, Christmas with the peeps!  As you could tell from the haul picture yesterday, we really had a ball opening gifts together.  It was like Christmas when I was a kid, lots of giggles and squeals.  We had such a blast that night.

Anna Mae gave me this super cute stitched snowman cupcake ornament, a yummy smelling candle, a cute ORT tin, and note pad!  I even put the ice skate tag on the tree with the ornament.  It was just too cute not too!  Thank you so much, Anna Mae!

Christie gave us all this sweet freebie with some fabric and floss.  As well as this super cute snowman bucket with chocolates inside.  Needless to say there were more chocolates before the picture.  Yum!  Thank you so much, Christie!

 Evie stitched us all a version of this heart tree ornament.  I absolutely love it!

 

Here are the other things she gave us!  I love the cute reusable bag.  I wish you could smell the bees wax candle, the poinsettia holder is so pretty too, and yummy chocolate that actually survived the drive home without my eating it.  Thank you so much, Evie!

Marsha gave us a pretty design to stitch and a lovely vintage napkin ring!  I wish you could hold it.  It's so heavy.  The silver and crystal just sparkle!  I do love me some bling.  Thank you so much, Marsha!

Meem gave us a stitched teacup pincushion!  She said she found the antique teacup and saucer in Williamsburg after much hunting.  Thank you so much, Meem!

Linda gave us all a big red ball ornament with our initial on it and she gave me these blingy acorn ornaments too.  These looked so pretty on our tree!  Thank you so much, Linda for the gifts and for hosting us that evening.  We had such a great time!

Patti gave us these pretty Santa boxes filled with goodies.  I love the polka dot interior.  She gave us some wonderful hand lotion,  a nice smelling candle, and more chocolate!  Thank you so much, Patti!

Do you sense a theme here?  See why I love hanging out with these girls, we never run out of chocolate!  Patti told me this is a gift that keeps on giving.  The ornament she had intended to give me didn't arrive from the finisher in time so I'll get it later.  I suspect next week at the Stitchaway retreat.  Stay tuned for that!

 Design:  Merry (2012 Retreat Welcome Project)

Designer:  Teri Richards (Shepherd's Bush)

Fabric:  25 ct. White Lugana

Floss:  DMC

Started:  12/8/14

Finished:  12/16/14

Completed:  12/17/14

I almost forgot to share what I stitched for the peeps' presents.  I even stitched one for myself this time. I'm going to try to do that more often.  These were a motif taken from our 2012 Welcome Project at the Shepherd's Retreat.  I decided to stitch them on a larger count fabric so they wouldn't be too tiny.  I used DMC that came close to the colors I had left over.  I think they turned out really cute!

I also included a headband and some mints in the bag.  You'll have to pop over to Marsha's blog and read about the headbands.  She has a picture and a funny tale about us trying them on.  I still giggle when I think about it.  Yep, we really had a good time that night for sure!

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Now moving on to birthday stuff!  As you all know, I get pretty sentimental when anyone remembers my birthday.  It's just a thing with me.  The holidays are not the best time of the year for birthdays.  If you have one in the last two weeks of December or first week of January you know what I mean.

This was the other thing that was in my Secret Stitcher box from Pam.  It's so pretty in person. The lighting that day wasn't the best.  I love the cute little card too!  Thank you for remembering me, Pam!

Evie gave me this beautiful wine box with the lovely Eiffel tower bottle inside wrapped up in this super cute Dalmatian fabric!  I can foresee a project bag being made out of this.  Oh how cool!  Thank you for remembering me, Evie!

Linda stitched this precious sampler for me. To say I was blown away is an understatement.  This is just so so special to me.  I will always treasure this gift and I can't wait to have it framed.  I absolutely love it, girly!

Patti gave me this Republic of Tea holiday assortment.  She knows how much I enjoy my tea.  She also remembered Miss Shelby with a tin of her own treats.  I almost tried them until I read they were for dogs!  Good thing I did.  Shelby liked them!

Speaking of Miss nosy pants, here she is checking out the treats and the stuffed pup Patti gave me in addition to the tea.  That girl of mine makes me smile.  She's got to inspect everything.  Needless to say this pup when up on the buffet with the other one.  Way out of Shelby reach!  Now she stands and barks at them.  Funny girl!  Shelby and I thank you, Patti.

These gifts all came before my birthday but one came in the mail on the day, it was from Marsha.  She knows I love pink and I'm a gadget girl.  Aren't these the cutest?!  I enjoy seeing them in my tool box at the ready when I need them.  Thank you for remembering me, Marsha!

Well folks, I hope you enjoyed this post.  It was fun to share it with you.  I truly appreciate everyone's thoughtfulness and kindness.  I am truly blessed to have such wonderful friends.  I hope all of you are doing well so far this new year.  I'll be back with my annual recap post.  I like to do that just to see what I got up to in the last year.

More later,

The Inspired Stitcher