Auburn, Indiana Getaway

Last weekend eight of the Russellville girls got together for our second annual retreat at the Inn at Windmere B & B.  We enjoyed ourselves so much last year that we decided to make this an annual thing.  Susie and Paul spoil us rotten and this year was no exception!

Our trip north started out before breakfast so I decided we'd stop at a childhood favorite of mine!  I was going for a blueberry muffin but they were sold out already so I got the pumpkin instead.  Yummy!

This little mom and pop bakery has been in business since before I was born.  Most of my birthday cakes came from here.  See those cookies, those were my treat when I went to visit my Granny and Grandpop.  We'd walk to the bakery and I'd get to pick one out.  Sweet memories!

On our route north, we ran across this cute cheese shop in Berne, Indiana right in the middle of Amish country.  We couldn't resist!  I saw this F.R.O.G. jam when I was buying my honey his surprise present of blackberry jam. F.R.O.G. stands for Figs, Raspberry, Orange and Ginger.  No, I didn't get any but you can contact them and I bet they'd ship you some!

Our next stop was the Busy Brush Cafe, in downtown Auburn, Indiana for lunch with the retreat peeps!  This year we all were able to meet before heading off to the Inn.  It was so yummy!  I had half a chicken salad on a croissant and half a ruben!

Rose's tea was brought in this cute pot.  You know what a tea crazy girl I am.  If anyone knows the pattern name for this little beauty, please let me know.  I should have looked on the bottom but of course I did not!

On Saturday morning, we all piled into a van and drove down to Ft. Wayne to visit Stitch n' Frame's shop again!  I'm still so amazed that they do all the framing for Just Cross Stitch magazine!  Just look at all those molding choices.

This is the shop's Christmas sampler wall. This year we all seemed to be in a Christmas kinda mood as several of us bought holiday charts and supplies.  I couldn't resist the latest issue of JCS.  I didn't get a lot of stash this time since I'd been a wee bit naughty in Utah.  However, a couple girls who don't have a local shop enhanced the economy rightly.  Love it!

Speaking of Christmas, I finally got started on my ornaments!  I had been working on this one at home and decided to bring it with me to try to finish it.  I'm so pleased I was able to do just that.  Now to ornamentify it!  I actually need to do several more ornaments right now.  Oh if only I could buy myself some time.

I also had a completion while I was there too!  When we last saw this one all it lacked was the binding edge being attached.  Yes, it's been a WIP since April and that's all it lacked.  How embarrassing!  I guess you just have to be in the mood.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

While we are talking about embarrassing WIPs, I took another one with me to see how far I could get.  Yes, this one is going way back since it last saw any attention.  I can't believe it's been so long.  I remember getting distracted by Christmas ornaments that got me off the SAL schedule and then I'd pick it up occasionally.

There's so little that needs stitched!  I decided to do the top row of flowers since I still need to chart my signature.  I'm going to try to do that this week so I can work on this again at the guild's stitch-in on Saturday.  Wish me luck!  You know how those good intentions go.

I also took the Parrots with me as well.  I've gotten off this SAL schedule too.  I knew I would.  October's assignment included a big house and lots of grass.  I'm not especially fond of stitching houses.  I know some folks are and if you have any tips, please share.  So now I'm playing catch-up.  Maybe by the end of the year I'll get it done.  We'll see!

The weekend went by way too fast!  I really enjoyed the trip and the company.   It's always so inspiring to get together with creative sisters of the floss.  We laughed, we ate, we stitched and repeated!  Just a perfect way to spend a weekend.

I hope everyone else had a good weekend and will have a good week!  Thank you so much for your visit today.

Until next time,

The Inspired Stitcher

Secret Stitcher

Wednesday night I came home from work and found a squishy waiting for me on the counter.  At first I was a little thrown off by the return address on it.  I knew that person hadn't mentioned she was sending me anything let alone a squishy.  Then I opened it.

This is what I found inside and then I knew who it was from.  My secret stitcher had sent me the squishy.  You see, the person on the return address was our secret stitcher coordinator.  Ah ha!  Now it made sense!  Very tricky, Secret Stitcher.  You got me!  I can almost hear you giggling now.

 Here's a closer look at the chart she sent.  I've had my eye on this chart for quite some time.  I almost bought it at the Keepsakes retreat a few years ago and talked myself out of it.  Now it's been gifted to me and that makes it even more special.

Next up she sent me some wonderful autumnal floss.  These hanks seem bigger than usual but maybe it's just me.  No matter, I love them all!  And those needles, they are my favorites.  I've tried lots of different ones but I always seem to come back to these.

Funny side story about needles...

When we were at the Shepherd's Bush retreat, in Linda's class (Chessie & Me) I really liked stitching with the needle she included.  Linda and Evie commented they liked it too.  So at the end of class we asked her what brand of needle she included.  Guess what?  Yep, they were Bohin needles!

She said she liked the quality of these needles and their smoothness. So there you have it, you really can tell the difference!  Well, at least I can and I think the peeps did too.

Thank you so much Secret Stitcher!  I've really enjoyed your packages this year.  I can't wait to meet you next month at the Christmas party reveal.  It seem so funny to be saying "next month" and "Christmas" in the same sentence. Yikes!  I'm so not ready yet.

Thanks to all of you for stopping by for a visit today too.  I hope your weekend is good and you are getting to push your needles through some linen.  It's cold and blustery here today.  Just right for stitching with my Shelby nestled beside me.

Until next time,

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!

~*~*~*~

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!

~*~*~*~

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!

~*~*~*~

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!

~*~*~*~

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.

~*~*~*~

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.

~*~*~*~

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!

~*~*~*~

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

Shepherd's Bush Recap - day 1, 2, 3 and 4

Hello dear friends!  I'm back with tales to tell today.  I promised a recap so let's get to it...
 

This year we decided to make a week of it and flew out to Utah on Sunday.   As soon as we got the rental car we hit the ground running and ran for three days straight!  Our first adventure was navigating downtown Salt Lake City.  A couple of the peeps really really wanted to take in Temple Square so that's where we went straight away.

I have to say it was incredibly interesting.  We had a couple lovely "sisters" who gave us the grand tour!  We got to see organ practice in the Tabernacle and the inside of Assembly Hall.  The South Visitor's Center had a nice replica of the inside of the Temple on display.  That was really interesting to see.  I feel like I learned a lot.

Monday, while we waited for Marsha to get in at the airport.  We went up to the Shepherd's Bush shop and did some damage.  This wasn't our only trip there.  More on that in a bit.  

With all the peeps together now and after lunch at the Blue Lemon, we visited the Conference Center across the street from Temple Square.  The "sisters" and a cute newlywed couple encouraged us to take the tour.  We knew we wouldn't have time the first day so we went back.  Talk about an amazing place!  This is one of the biggest buildings I've ever been in.  There's even a garden on the roof!  Wow!

On Tuesday, we made another trip up to Ogden to visit the Shepherd's Bush shop for their birthday celebration and to inaugurate Marsha.  If you've not visited this shop, you seriously need to.  I swear they have one of everything and know exactly where to find it too!

This is what I called the "Bee Corner."  So much bee goodness in this little nook!  Marsha and I were in heaven.  Actually this whole shop is pretty close to heaven in my opinion!

This is the display in the front window.  That large Quaker up there stole my peep, Linda's heart.  I suspect we might see this one being stitched sometime soon.  Shirlee and Marly, I thought of you here in this corner!

 
Yep, we all did more damage the second day too.  Here's the proof!  The stash was rightly enhanced.  We even left some for everyone else too.

After birthday snacks, we ventured up the street to Jill Rensel's shop for a visit and more snacks.  Marsha brought "Penny America" to be framed by Jill.   It was fun to see the creative process in action as Jill and her helpers pulled molding and matting.  I can't wait to see it when Marsha gets it back.  I'm sure it will be amazing.  This is another "must see" place if you get out that way.

Check out these cuties!  These are Jill's babies.  You know what a dog lover I am, we had to get a little puppy love in dontcha know!  There were a couple more running about but I couldn't get them to stand still for a picture.  These two just plopped down in the middle of the floor!

After our visit with Jill we ventured on to Antelope Island.  Since this was Marsha's first visit to Utah, we wanted to give her the grand tour!  No visit is complete without going to the Island.  We were lucky enough to see a coyote, several bison and lots of birds.  I was sad to see the sunflowers were dried up for the most part since our visit this time was two weeks later than last time.  The lake was really down this time too due to the drought.  Still it's an amazing place and I always enjoy marveling at nature's beauty.

Wednesday was a pretty low-key day.  We stayed put at our home away from home and stitched most of the day.  Then we went out for dinner at Zoom!  I couldn't resist the mac and cheese I had last time.  So good!

Well folks, this post has gotten pretty lengthy.  I think I'll stop now and resume the festivities tomorrow.  There's still lots of goodness to share!  Thanks for stopping by today.

More coming,

The Inspired Stitcher

TUSAL - October

It's TUSAL Day!

(For those not familiar, click on the word TUSAL above or the link to the right.)

 

 

Holy smokes people!  Another month has just flown right past me.  I can't believe it's been so long since I popped in here for a visit with you all. I won't bore you with the details but I will say that my work life has been absolutely insane and it is sucking the life right out of me.  Yep, life is getting in my way of stitching and blogging.

 

Couple that with a dead computer at home and well...no blog posts get written.  However, many of you know I've been around to visit and comment in spite of it all.  I can at least do that on my phone!  It's a little hard to compose a full on blog post on it though.  LOL!

 

Let's have a look at this month's ORT pile below.

 

Not too shabby even though I've not done a whole lot of stitching previous to last week.  Here's a look at this month's contributors:

 

"Snooty Parrots" by Barbara Ana Designs (In Progress)

"Turkey Block" x5 from Lizzie Kate's Autumn Alphabet (Completed!)

"Faith" by Nickyscreations from 2014 JCS Ornaments issue (Done, needs ornamentified)

"Quaker Heart" freebie side one from Piecework Magazine (Done!)

"Quaker Heart" freebie side two from Piecework Magazine (In Progress)


Shepherd's Bush retreat pieces:

"Welcome Project Necklace" by Shepherd's Bush (Completed!)

Shepherd's Bush "Thankful Be" pincushion class project (In Progress)

Chessie and Me "Over the River and Through the Woods" class project (In Progress)

JABCO "Pumpkin Pincushion" class project (Completed!)

As you can see from this list there's been a lot more stitching going on this month compared to last month but only because I went to the Shepherd's Bush retreat.  I'm currently sorting through all 105 the pictures I took and editing the ones I want to use.  I plan to do a full recap even if it kills me!  It was just too dang good not to share with you all and I know you want to hear all about it too.  Plus I promised I would share and share I will!

 

So hang with me folks!  I promise I will return with tales to tell and pictures to prove it.  Hope you all are well and stitching lots.  Thanks for stopping by today.

More soon,

The Inspired Stitcher