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

Shepherd's Bush - Gifts received and given

I wanted to do a separate post to share with you my peep gifts from the retreat.  I have such a talented group of friends and I want to honor that talent here.  As my longtime blog readers know, my peeps and I have a tradition of giving each other little gifties when we travel somewhere.  Check out the sweet thoughtful gifts we exchanged this time!

The bag was made by Marsha!  I love the button and pins fabric.  It also has a pocket on the back side of it complete with a super cute red button.  You know how I love red!  Each of our bags were different and the ones we chose were so perfect for each of us.

Starting on the left, the pocket with the Shepherd's Bush sheep was made by Evie.  She included some cute mini gifts inside and tied it up with the string on the side of the handle with a JABCO initial button.  I couldn't resist attaching it to my handle.

The necklace in the middle was made by Patti.  She stitched a different crown for each of us and customized the bead/buttons she put inside so each was a little different.  She also put an initial charm on each of ours.  These garnered much attention at the retreat.  Everyone wanted to know where we got them.  I think Patti was so proud everyone liked them.

Last but absolutely not least is this really awesome clip pouch Linda gave me.  Before the retreat she asked us all what our favorite colors were.  Now I know why!  She and I share a love of red and this is just perfect for me.  All the little gifties she put inside had a special meaning and she explained this as we pulled things out.  So super thoughtful.

Thank you, peeps from the bottom of my heart.  You girls mean the world to me and I'm honored to call each one of you dear friends!

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So what did I give them, you ask?  Well, I've been squirreling away things since last Christmas!  I forgot to get pictures of the two things I gave them that I didn't make but I'll tell you what they were.

I found these funny little frog shopping sacks.  The bag squished up inside the little frog face and you could stow it in your purse.  The other thing was a silicone lily pad wine stopper because I knew there would be wine involved at some point on our trip.  LOL!

 Design: Turkey from Autumn Alphabet

Designer: Lizzie Kate

Fabric: 28 ct. natural

Floss: DMC as charted (subbed 3863 for 3864

Started:  9/21/14

Finished:  9/28/14

Completed:  10/4/14

Then I stitched them all one of these!  I just couldn't resist.  I had so much fun making my exchange pincushion that I just had to make the peeps each a version of it as well.  Yes, I made myself one this time too.  I rarely do that and always wish I had afterward, I know.

I had such a ball beading the edges of them.  I really think it gives them a little sparkle and I do like a little bling now and then dontcha know.  Aren't they just too dang cute up there?!  I just love stitching for others and especially something that is a souvenir memento from a wonderful trip.

Thank you again peeps for a memorable time spent together in a beautiful place.  Love ya all!

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Well folks, I'm so glad you all have enjoyed these recap posts.  I enjoy writing them as much as you enjoy reading them.  I get to relive the trip all over along with you!  I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.  Thank you so much for all your sweet comments.  I truly appreciate your visits.

Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

Shepherd's Bush - day 6 & 7

Friday was the first day we actually got to have class.  I'd been looking forward to this for so long.  I'd never taken class with the Shepherd's Bush girls even though this was my third retreat.  I really enjoyed their class.  These two sisters are just so funny together.  They had everyone laughing all through the class.

These girls really know how to spoil a person.  Not only did we get the beautiful sampler that was revealed to us earlier but we also got a super cute pincushion project too.  Terri said this would be a good way to get familiar with the special stitches used in the big project but on a much smaller scale.

I feel like I made some nice progress in class and can see myself actually finishing this one before starting the big one.

Tina also gave us a little fun project to make at the end of class.  Check it out, a super cute felt pumpkin needle keep!  I'd not worked with the memory wire before but it was perfect for those tendrils!  How cool three projects in one class.  I sure wasn't expecting that!

The girls also always spoil us with gifts at the beginning of each class.  Here are all of the gifts we received.  The scissors came during the first class, the floral scissor sheath came during the second and my absolute favorite came during the last class.  Can you even stand that scissor fob?!  I know!

We had the afternoon off to wander around or do whatever we wanted.  We gathered together in the evening for another group project.  We got to make clay buttons with Cecile and her daughter, Rachel of JABCO fame!  This was something I'd hoped we'd get to do.  We were given a nice booklet that explained how to make some basic buttons as well as a little history about JABCO.  More on that later. Check out these cuties I made!

I have a new appreciation for those tiny buttons now!  Wow!  It was fun to see what we could come up with and the Shepherd's Bush girls stayed up until 2:00am "cooking" buttons in the toaster ovens set up outside the ballroom!  Wait till you see how they were returned to us.  Oh my goodness!

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So moving onto Saturday, our morning class was with Linda of Chessie & Me.  As you can see, it is stitched on two different colors of linen.  I've not stitched on two different colors of linen in the same project before.  Linda walked us through how to join the two and what to do afterward.  It really doesn't seem to be too hard.  We'll see!  I really made some good progress in this class too.

Linda told us she likes to work with quality materials so that's how she spent her class budget and that's why her project wasn't as big as the others.  I like that she puts her project in a project bag.  Of course, working with the silks she includes is really nice too.

Check out her gift to us, love that cute little corner square.  So handy to have in your stitch bag!  She told us that this year's project will fit in the same size frame as her project from last retreat!  Lucky girl that I am, I took her class last time too.  Bonus!

We had a break for lunch and then back to the room for our last class.  I liked that we stayed in the same room for all our classes and the teachers came to us.  Our afternoon was spent with the JABCO girls working on our super cute stuffed wool pumpkin and acorn scissor fob.  Many of us got ours done in class!  I was so pleased to be able to take home a completed project from this class.  I did put the six inch "lolly pin" in my checked bag.  I was worried it might not make it through security.  LOL!

It was interesting to learn that JABCO is a "cottage industry."  Cecile sets her button makers up with all the tools and materials they need to make the buttons in their homes.  They get paid by piece work.  She also told us they sell bat buttons year round as well as the peppermint buttons.  The other "best seller" is their monarch butterfly.  I have to say I have a new appreciation for these miniature works of art!

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The final event for the retreat is always the Saturday night banquet.  This year we had a proper Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings. We were also given a couple fun surprises!

Remember those buttons we made?  Here's how we received them back!  The girls made these super cute button jars for all of us!  They even included some extra buttons along with the ones we made.  How stinkin' cute!

We also got to exchange our pincushions for the Heifer project. We learned through our participation/donations and the match Shepherd's Bush made, we were able to purchase 16 sheep this year!  How cool!

Here's the one I received!  Isn't it beautiful?!  Thank you, Judith Baldwin.  I only wish I could have met you and thanked you in person.  If you know her, please let her know I got her pincushion.  Since I know you all want to see each and every one.  I snapped pics as I went down the table.  I'll let them speak for themselves!

We also got to play a Richards family tradition...Thanksgiving Bingo.  It was hilarious!  I actually got a bingo and won a piece of candy. Of course I ate it right away!  We were all cracking up during the game.  It really took a lot of thought and preparation too. Each of the "bingo" cards had pictures of things related to the retreat.  Unfortunately, I forgot to get a snap of the cards but if you pop over to the Bush Blog you'll find pictures there.

After the many rousing games of bingo, sadly our time together was over.  We were given one last parting gift of this beautiful sampler kit.  It seems like you anticipate the retreat for so long and then in a flash it's over.  It was fun getting to visit with folks you only see every once in a while and to meet new friends.  I only wish I'd have had a chance to visit more with some folks.  Waves to Jeannette.

Sunday was pretty uneventful, thank goodness.  I get so anxious when I fly these days.   We made it through security without a hitch since all but one of us was TSA pre-checked.  Lucky me, I got to go through the scanner twice because I forgot to take my phone out of my pocket.  Yeah, I hate those scanners.  Once through we found our gate and waited.  The flight went smoothly and before we knew it we were home again.

I hope you all enjoyed my recap posts.  I always love a good adventure and this was a grand one for sure.  If you ever think you might be able to go to one of the Shepherd's Bush retreats, I encourage you to do it.  It's a fun time!  Thanks for stopping by to visit.

Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

Shepherd's Bush - day 5

Are you ready for some more recap goodness?  Here we go!

Thursday was the actual start of the retreat.  Tina and Terri always set up a boutique onsite all decked out with new designs from our teachers.  It opened at 11:00am and it was wild!  Talk about a shopping frenzy!  I did manage to snag a couple things but the crush of people was too much for me so a ducked out as soon as I could.  Whew!  Too much humanity in a small room for me.

Registration began at 1:00. We picked up our schedule, our welcome project and dropped off our pincushions for the Heifer Project.  Just look at all of them collected so far!

This was the contents of our welcome project's box!  We all got to make a necklace and most everyone finished theirs too!

Here's mine!  Sorry about the shadow.  I didn't notice that when I took the picture.

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A little bit later that afternoon the class projects were revealed.  This is always an exciting time.  You just can't go wrong no matter which track you choose!

Track 1 - R & R

Track 1 - Plum Street Samplers

Track 1 - Jeannette Douglas

 Track 2 - Shepherd's Bush

 Track 2 - Chessie & Me

Track 2 - Just Another Button Company

The peeps were split between the two tracks so we all got to get up close with these wonderful projects and the wonderful designers that taught the classes.  It's always so much fun to see the preview.

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Later that evening we went back to the ballroom for our first group project, Thankful Stitches and dessert.  It was a neat tote bag that you stitch a band sampler on a separate piece then attach it to the bag when you are done!  The fun part is that the bands were charted separately so you can stitch them in any order you want.  It also included the snap and button for the bag too!

Speaking of dessert, this was the awesome chocolate goodness that awaited us.  Yep, this sent me on a serious sugar buzz.  I think it did the same for the peeps too.  None of us slept very well after eating it but it was oh so good!

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Well folks, once again this post has gotten lengthy.  I'll save the classes for tomorrow.  I hope you've enjoyed the recap so far.

Still more to come,

The Inspired Stitcher