July Ornament!!

This is Mill Hill’s Icy Snowflake:

I love these ornaments….. they stitch up quick and are easy to finish.  (I did one of these for my February Ornament also)  The kit actually came with a pretty crystal to go in the center, which I promply lost and had to replace it with another mill hill blue treasure that I had in my stash.  It matched, and I’m happy with it.  I noticed that there’s now a series of these type of designs that are halloween themed.

I’ve got a vacation planned in a couple of weeks and will probably work on my August ornament during the trip.  I’ve got a couple designs in mind, but today started toying with doing this design by Teresa Layman:

Yep…. that’s all french and colonial knots.  I know… its insane, but I love the design and and I saw a model stitched up when I bought the kit.  🙂  I’d recommend visiting her page (linked above) and reading about her.  Pretty interesting…  I took a bullion class from her at Celebration of Needlework so in addition to the neat stuff about her on her page, he’s also a nice person and a patient teacher.  Anyway, the instructions say that there are approximately 1100 knots per square inch and its 3-1/2 by 2-5/8 inches.  The pattern is actually printed on the fabric, so no counting or anything…. just lots of knots!  We’ll see how long my patience lasts….

Celebration of Needlework 2009

Wow.. what a wonderful time I had at Celebration of Needlework!

Thursday morning, Susan and I flew from Chicago to Manchester, met up with Jenny at the airport, then the three of us headed to the hotel.

We dumped our things in our room, had some lunch, then hit the shopping mall.  I just looked and made note of things I liked then did a small amount of purchasing later on…

Jenny and I had a class with Teresa Layman called “Bumbling Bullions.”  Teresa is a wonderful and patient teacher and had samples of bullions that she had added to various pieces of clothing on display – beautiful!.  The majority of the class consisted of practicing bullions with different doodleclothes, needles, and fibers.  Teresa demonstrated the stitch and also helped troubleshoot less-than-perfect stitches and offered guidance and advice to each individual in the class.  I didn’t really get to work on the actual class project, which consisted of small floral and other motifs made with bullions and finished as buttons.  They look like quick stitches and I’m looking forward to working on them.

Jenny and I met up with Susan and her friend Fran for dinner away from the hotel, then Jenny and I attend the Make It Take It Round Robbin class.   (It turns out that Erin was there too, but we hadn’t met her yet!)  We met with six different designers and received cute little project kits and had some time to talk with the designers about the project (and various other subjects – LOL).  We had the pleasure of meeting with Susan Greening Davis, Cynthia Zittel, Catherine Theron, Louise Henderson, Pam Reed, and Pam’s daughter (who’s name I don’t remember).

Friday was pretty much a free day.  We camped out at a table in the lobby and stitched most of the day and made a trip or two to the mall.  We had people come by who recognized us from blogs, etc and chatted.  Eventually, others from The Wagon started showing up and we all planned to go out for dinner.

After dinner, Jenny, Erin, Robbin and I all attended the two Round Robbin sessions and had a really good time!  We got kits from lots of different designers – all who spoke about the design or gave instructions on finishing!  Susan Greening Davis, Lauren Sauer, Eileen Bennet, Jackie du Plessis, Julie Norton, Barbara Jackson, Catherine Strickler, and Marsha Brown.  Saturday morning, we had breakfast, then Susan, Jenny, Erin and I attended our Intermediate Hardanger Techniques class by Julie Norton, where I learned to do the amazing Eidelweiss filling stitch.  It was a really great class!

We had lunch, met up with some other Wagon stitchers, did a litle show and tell, and shopped before Susan, Jenny, and I went back to the airport to head home.

Standing:  Carol, Kate, Robbin, Me, and Erin  Sitting:  Jenny, Susan, and Erin

Overall, I had a wondeful mini-vacation!

Celebration Stash Enhancement

Before I talk more about Celebration, I’d like to send out a big Thank You to Gill, who so kindly sent me the Margaret Sherry “Crafty Cat” chart that I’ve been looking for!

Margaret Sherry’s Crafty Cat

Thank you Gill!  Stitchers are truly a bunch of very nice people.

I love all of the stash I picked up at Celebration of Needlework last weekend. I picked up these goodies in the market:

I caved to temptation and got the souvenier bag, but I have to say that I love it and its twice as big as my current stitching bag.  I can fit sooo much stuff in there.  I also got two biscornu kits from Sweetheart Tree, the Just Cross Stitch Ornament Issue, a wooden thread holder, and some pretty scissors from the Silver Needle booth.  The fob on the scissors is from a Make-It-Take-It class that I did Saturday afternoon.

These are the gifts I received at the Friday Night Charity Event – a kit and hardware, a cute bag, a sampler of Zweigart cuts, and a piece of linen that has been hemstitched.  Fun Stuff!

Part of the Friday Night Event included bingo where everyone won something.  These are my three prizes – I’m happy with all of them.

Here is the chartpack and the class supplies I received with the class I took Saturday afternoon with Jackie du Plessis:

I had such a wonderful time.  In fact, earlier in the week I was thinking about how much I loved The Celebration of Needlework and spending time with my internet stitching friends.  I realized that due to schedule constraints, I only spent approximately 24 hours celebrating!

Soooo, I’ve decided to go to the next Celebration in Nashua at the end of April!  😀  I can plan ahead and spend more time!  So barring any unforseen financial or schedule issues, I’ll be there!  Any one else attending?

Celebration of Needlework – Where Stitchers Gather

First off, I have a new progress picture of Victoria Sampler‘s Where Stitchers Gather:

I stitched most of that bottom floral band in the stitchers’ lounge at the Celebration of Needlework in Louisville, KY.  Susan and  drove down Friday morning, and drove back home Saturday night.  I had a fabulous time visiting the mall, completing a “make it and take it,” taking a class with the fabulous Jackie du Plessis, but I had the most fun hanging around with some of my online friends who were also in attendance:

• Susan
• Annette and her mom
• Melissa
• Cheryl
• Missy Ann

I did a moderate amount of shopping and came home with some things that I can’t wait to stitch and a new appreciation for some designers who’s work was on display in the booths.  Sometimes you just can’t tell how pretty something is until you see it in person!  Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera, so I have no pictures to show, but some of the people above did bring cameras and will hopefully post some pics of the fun in their blogs.

This was the first time I’d attended a needlework convention, but I had so much fun that I doubt it will be the last!