Tiara Stitch-in

I thought I'd pop in today and share the wonderful show and tell we saw at the Tiara Club's stitch-in last Saturday.  I know I always enjoy seeing goodies when others post.  Let's have a peek!

One of the peeps just got back a huge bunch of finishing from the super talented Faye over at Carolina Stitcher!  You may even recognize some of these pieces from Faye's posts.  She does wonderful work if you aren't familiar. 

So much goodness to drool over!  I love how Faye perfectly matched the calico to the stitching in the BBD piece in the upper left corner.   Everything is so pretty.  It's hard to pick a favorite.  Which one do you like best?

This one is so pretty in person.  My picture definitely doesn't do it justice.  Love that border and kuddos for stitching that house.  Wow!  I get bored with houses.  It's just a me thing.

This is one of the guild's anniversary pieces that is not only finished but framed!  You go girl!  This stitcher really customized and personalized the design.  It's been interesting to see how everyone is making this design their own.  It is going to be so much fun to see them all together as a group! 

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I ended up working on "Heaven Above" at the stitch-in.  I really didn't make enough progress to be all that noticeable.  I kinda did more laughing and socializing than stitching.  Ahem!  I am getting closer to finishing the first page of the chart so there's that.

I worked on it again this past Monday when my "quilting" group and I got together.  This group has been getting together once a month since 1986!  We don't always quilt but we do always get together.  LOL!

I hope you all enjoyed the pictures today.  Thanks for stopping in for a visit and welcome to anyone who is new to my corner of the blog-o-sphere!  Have a great rest of the week.

Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

Saturday Stitch-in and Quaker Faith progress

Saturday was an outstanding day at the QCSG all day stitch-in.  We had a guest lecturer who brought all kinds of neat needlework necessities, tools and toys for us to all drool over. It was absolutely fascinating!  Most of them were from the 1700's and 1800's.  I took a ton of pictures so I'll let them speak for themselves and chime in where I can.

The bonnet girls had hand drawn faces and the box in the lower left was a child's needlework box.

The two shell shaped pieces were referred to as etuis and held small tools.  The box in the back had secret compartments.

I absolutely fell in love with this chatelaine!  In addition to the watch there is a scissor holder, needle case, thimble holder and pad of paper!

I love these turned wood pieces.  The box in the lower left was made by a sailor from shells collected during his travels.  The basket in the back was a family piece.

I loved all these tiny things especially the needle cases.

 Who would ever look at a walnut shell and think tool holder?  Apparently someone did!

 



 I love the spool holder on the right.  You pull the pins up and load the spools onto them.  The pincushion on the top is worked in bead embroidery!

 These were all made of either bone or ivory.  The carving was amazing!

These were called "third hand" tools.  They were used to hold fabric and clamped to a table top.

All of these were metal and came from England.  I love the chick and the bunny. They were tape measures.

The inlay woodwork was stunning on this box.  You lift out the tray and stow your project underneath!  Wouldn't that be a fun way to travel with your needlework project.

This was my absolute favorite of all.  It's French and was made by more than one crafts person.  Just look at that exquisite embroidery and those breath taking tools.  Swoon!

 

Edited:  Rae over at Reconstructed Fabulousness helped me remember what this particular box was called.  It's a Palais Royal (click here for more info).  The tiny pansy hallmark is a dead giveaway!  I'm adding some additional pictures for your viewing pleasure below!

 

This is the pansy hallmark to look for that identifies them as Palais Royal.  The word pansy in French means remembrance.

 

I was so amazed by the craftsmanship in all these tiny treasures when thinking about the technology back when they were made.  Everything done by hand and with such attention to detail.  There are simply no words.  Wow!

 

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I didn't get very good pictures of the show and tell table but we were able to lay out the three Snooty's and get a group picture!  On the left is Ellen's finished piece.  She had her framer bring it so we could take the picture.  In the middle is J's piece almost done and then you all have seen mine recently.  It was fun to see them all together.

 

I chose to work on my Quaker Faith for the day.  I hadn't touched it since at least April.  I decided it was high time to do something on it.  I managed to finish the church and a wee start on a motif in the lower right corner (that brown squiggle).  I really don't have that much to go on it and should just buckle down and get on with it already. LOL!

 

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Ever had your car just pull into a place like an invisible force field is sucking it in?  Yep, that's what happened to me.  On my way home I got sucked into stopping at the Half-Price Books store.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Something just told me to pop in and see what was there.  Boy, am I glad I did!  I've been watching the top book for ages on the bay of evil.  The second one just looked interesting.  The other cool thing was I paid even less than the sticker price because have a discount card.  One of the perks of my job! 

So yep, it was an outstanding day all around...cool lecture, fun show and tell, progress made and new books!  I hope you enjoyed seeing all the juicy things we saw on Saturday.  I just love days like that!

Well folks, I hope you all have a good week and get to make some progress too.  I need to get packing for my trip later this week.  I've got my stitch bag almost packed and need to do the usual other stuff you do to get ready to leave.  I'm so excited!  I promise I'll come back with a full report!


Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

All day stitch-in, progress and a finish

Last Saturday our guild hosted an all day stitch-in.  It was a really nice day to get out and go stitching.  We saw lots of beautiful things being worked on that day.  Our show and tell theme was spring and/or spring holidays.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves and chime in where I can!

Most of these were my buddy, Marsha's.

See our shamrocks!  I love the ric-rac on Marsha's pillow.

 

I love the "He is Risen" piece!  My friend, Nancy did that one. 

She said it's really old.  I think it's really lovely!

My friend, Meem did this one.  She said she had quite a time finding that hardware.

This is another one of Marsha's and I've fallen in love with it.

I watched Ms. Peggi work on this all last year!  It is Just Cross Stitch's anniversary piece.

This is one by my buddy, Linda.  You can't tell in the picture but the mermaid has a ruby in her belly button!

 

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Our guild is also doing an optional Quaker challenge.  We were asked to pick a Quaker chart and let the newsletter editor know our chart's name as well as fabric and floss choices.  Progress updates will be published in the guild newsletter throughout this year.  We've already had a few completions!

Ta da!  Our very first Quaker finish!  It's also by my buddy Linda.  She said she started this in January and worked on it during all those snowy days we've had.  It's so pretty!

This one was done by Pat A.  I've contemplated this one for years!  It's in my stash.  Someday!

Here's the progress I've made on mine.  I've completed the left side and am now working on the bottom section.

I also had a finish! I worked on this at the stitch-in and finished it up on Sunday morning.  This is La D Da's Name - Tag class piece.   I loved stitching that bottom section.  The floss that came in the kit is called Planet Earth Silk.  I really liked working with it.  It didn't shred or fuzz at all.  Very nice!  Now I'm ready for next month's class!

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Well friends, we've officially made it to spring...at least the calendar said so yesterday! So far the air is still cold and the sun is warm.  I have seen green leaves poking up in my flower beds and that gives me hope.  Have a good weekend everyone!


Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

All Day Stitch-in

Saturday we had our guild's first all day stitch-in of the year.  We started out with a bang!  We had Darlene Anderson come as a guest lecturer.  Oh my what a great talk it was too.  Darlene is a sampler historian whose area of study is Adam and Eve samplers.  She also brought her sampler ornaments to share with us.

She shared slides of all the Adam and Eve samplers she's stitched with most of them being reproductions.  There were over 50 different examples shown!  She gave us a handout with all of them listed by name and designer.  Needless to say the "to stitch" list got longer...again!

She also brought with her some of her sampler ornaments she made to decorate her Christmas tree.  Let me just say, they were amazing!  They covered two six foot tables full!  I purposely left the pictures sized larger than I usually do so they should be clickable to make them bigger!

 

 

 

 

 

She said she gets a lot of her charts from links on Freebie Gallery and The World's Largest Collection of Smalls.  She said several of them were by Threads Through Time too.  Here are some of my favorites.

 

I wish I knew who designed this one.  I'd love to stitch it.

**Edited** My buddy, Paula tells me this is an Eileen Bennett.  Thanks, Paula!

This one was from one of the JCS Ornament issues.  I have stitched this one but it's not finish finished.  I love how she changed the colors.

This one is called Crowning Glory by Homepsun Elegance.  Thanks Robin for letting me know!

I think she said this one came from JCS too.

This one is a Threads Through Time.

 

The thing I found interesting was that most of the ornaments were stitched over one to make them small enough for ornaments.  I hadn't thought to do that.  I may have to give that idea a go.

 

Darlene also brought stitched door prizes!  What generous door prizes they were too.  Inside each one were thread rings and matching scissors.  My friend Ann Marie won this one.  She's a lucky girl!

There were some who won that had already left before we thought to get pictures.  Here are the other ones.

 

 

I know, crazy generous...right?!  Wow!  It was a treat just to get to see them all.

 

Speaking of treats, Christy Y. finished her Immigrant Sampler by Lucy Lyons Willis of La Chatelaine Designs.  I wish you could see the drawn thread work on the flag!  It's amazing.  Congrats, Christy!

 

Just look at this beautiful white work sampler.

 

I love this stitched pocketbook!  One of my regular readers finished this one.  I keep telling her she needs to leave me a comment sometime...you know who you are!  LOL!

I decided to go stash diving when I saw that the program was on A & E samplers.  I knew I had one from way back.  I'm talking before linen and still using Aida days.  I remember when I bought this one thinking that someday I'd stitch it on linen.  I am happy to say that now is that day!

This is Sara Seifer from The Goode Huswife.  I'm using a darker linen than called for so I had to change the floss color for the people.  I think the substitution worked out pretty well.  This is my progress from the weekend.  I'm enjoying it so far.  I've always had this idea I'd have an A & E wall at some point.  This is my start!

If you want to read more about the stitch-in, my buddies Marsha and Ellen both have posts on their blogs about it.  Special thanks go to my buddies Paula W., Janis and Diane for the legwork to get Darlene's visit all set and for making the day a wonderful fun filled day!

Well folks, it was a long one and I'm glad you stuck with me to the end.  I hope you enjoyed seeing all the lovely things I got to see on Saturday.  I really am fortunate to belong to such a talented group of stitchers.  It was a great day indeed.  I hope you are having a good one too!  Thanks for stopping by!

Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher