Counting the Days......

Greetings! We've been off to a busy summer with not much 'let up' insight. We leave tomorrow for a few days in Wilmington, NC to visit with two of Rich's brothers....both celebrating birthdays and one having just graduated from college at the ripe old age of 62---so proud of him!!! Then Saturday we are heading to Busch Gardens with my daughter and her family; she asked if we'd help out so they'd have 'one on one' coverage for the kids. Now I haven't been to an amusement park in well over a decade, so I'm questioning whether I'll still love roller coasters and other rides as much as I have in the past. When we lived in Cincinnati, we were only about 10 minutes from Kings Island and got annual family passes..... many roller coaster rides were logged over the years, but I'm feeling a little on the timid side now. I guess we'll see Saturday and I'll fill you in after the fact....wish me luck!!!

On to stitching.....I realized I've been remiss sharing my Samsarah calendar pieces (last post was September 2017). I have been toiling away on them whenever we're on a  trip and I'm NOT driving. I just finished up November this week and have that and October to show. I opted to not do Veteran's Day, since July has a patriotic piece, and I'd like one for St. Patrick's Day. So......I'm down to five more to complete the set and I can't wait to be done!!! This has filled a void for my travel stitching for the last 4 years but I am really tired of that ole checkerboard border....I've done 43 of them so far and been through oodles of black and white floss!!! It may still take me awhile to finish up as I primarily work on these in the car, but the end is in sight!

October

November

 I had said I'd share my Make-it Take-its from The PSS Retreat and here they are. We covered a little papier mache box with fabric and Modge Podge and made a little sheep resting in a tiny grapevine wreath (sorry that doesn't show up).

I also got Week 26 stitched for the Red Band Sampler SAL...two to go plus bonus chart!! I love this alphabet and can't wait for this weeks!!!

 Thanks for stopping by and your "twisted threads" of friendship!

Stasi
 

My Stitcher's Heart....(464)

Greetings...it's been a busy time since last we met...a birthday, 5th grade graduation, last day of school, Father's Day, out of town visitors, baseball games, swim meets and a quick visit to my parents. And, as I write this, thunder is rolling through and it's pouring rain! I'm going to show a few pics of our celebrations at the end of the post but for now I'll start with some stitching. Up first is a finish-finish to add to my Stroll. It is My Stitcher's Heart by Hands on Design, stitched in 2017. This was a shop exclusive for the Elegant Stitch and was a very inclusive kit...all the stitching supplies, finishing supplies and the wax key. I did add some beads at the ends of the twisted cording. I really was drawn to this by the colors and I liked the saying on the top..."My needle and thread, may they never part, it's the key to unlock my stitcher's heart". And, of course, there was the tomato pincushion....isn't that just too adorable????!!! We had to paint and wax the box, then modge podge the printed paper from an antique magazine on the inside (the paint, wax and modge podge were not included).

Inside of box

Set of smalls (I have the pincushion propped up)

Next up is week 25 of the Red Sampler Band SAL..only three more installments and a bonus chart.

And last but not least is what I've gotten accomplished on Its Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas by by Thistles. The fabric is not showing up well; it's actually a dark green.

 
 Now the aforementioned family photos:

Asher's new baseball buddy

Cora getting ready for back stroke

Esther on last day of school

Sign my daughter made for hubby for Father's Day

Birthday celebration at Buckroe Beach (James, the birthday boy is at far left)

5th Grade graduation

Great day at Buckroe Beach---what a gem!!!

Hope you enjoyed...thanks for stopping by and your "twisted threads" of friendship!

Stasi

A New Beginning.....

I have been so anxious to begin this new piece...and I did at the PSS retreat...but it got off to a bad start! The green color I chose as the tree outline just wasn't showing up, so I took it all out ( you can see how much I had stitched on my June 6 post) and did another floss toss and came up with a different green. It's showing up much better, but forced me to change out some other greens as well. I'm doing this over one on 32 count Slate Green from Lakeside linens (it's much darker than the photo shows); it will make the finished piece approx. 5 X 7.5 rather than 10 X 15. I'm second guessing that now too since I got this old tarnished brass door knob last weekend that would work great as a tree base, but is too large for the over one version. I'm stitching with GAST but, as I said, have changed some of the colors.

 The chart is It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas by Thistles.

Thanks for stopping by and your "twisted threads" of friendship!

Stasi

Swinging by with a new Stroll Piece (463)

Greetings fellow stitchers!!! I hope you aren't meeeelting away like I did this morning at the girls first swim meet. It was unbearably humid a early as 8:00AM and by the end of the meet, I sure could have used a dip in the pool. Here's a shot of Cora where I asked her to look "fierce" before one of her heats. Esther is also on the team but was anxious about how it all worked, so she sat this one out and observed. If you're wondering about the writing on her hand, they write their heat and lane #'s on their hand so they know the where and when of their race.

 Now on to the Stroll addition... James's birthday is next Saturday so I thought I'd make him a pillow for his room like I did for Asher. James enjoys his football (soccer) so I chose Play Soccer by Sue Hillis. I stitched it on 18 count Mountain Mist with #5 Perle cotton and backed it with some soccer fabric I found at JoAnn's. It's approximately 18" square and I hope he likes it as much as Asher liked his.

 It hasn't been much of a stitch filled week, but I'm hoping to remedy that this evening. We've done some babysitting, sleepover, field day and tomorrow have 2-3 baseball games..... the weather will determine how many of them I get through!!!

So stay cool, hydrated and thanks for stopping by and your "twisted threads" of friendship!

Stasi

P.S. Blogger has stopped sending me e-mails when a comment is made so it's become necessary for me to go and check the blog itself to see if someone left a comment. If I am not as timely responding as I like, that is why...and I may miss some if you are commenting on an older post. So, it is important if you'd like a response from me.... and I do want to respond....that you add your e-mail if you are set up as a "no-reply blogger". Thanks!

Prim Stitchers Society Retreat 2018

Well, I can't say enough good things about the PSS retreat. I had a wonderful time..... made new friends, reconnected with old, shopped, stitched, laughed, ate and talked the "talk"!!! Here is a quick synopsis with the few photos I took. Sorry I didn't take more at the retreat, but I'm never really sure about posting photos of people I don't know and I'd rather enjoy the experience than be behind the lens of my camera all the time. Warning...this may be a long post!

My friend, Tracie, arrived from Kentucky Wednesday evening with a sweet basket of goodies for me. She was the BEST travel companion!!! I'm stocked with my beloved Cincinnati chili for awhile...and check out the cute "bee" things.....thanks Tracie!!!!

 
Tracie and I started off Thursday morning around 8:30 

 
on the drive to Harrisburg and arrived around 3:00PM. We made a couple pit stops and had lunch in Hagerstown, MD. I was excited because we stopped in a Martin's grocery store and I managed to snag a couple bags of these (it doesn't take much to make me happy):

Use these in a favorite recipe and can't find in Richmond

 After checking in, we made our way to the stitching room with about 100 other ladies (I don't know the exact count) and settled in for an evening of camaraderie. We happened upon a table with 4 ladies, who welcomed us, and quickly became friends. Another friend of mine, Syd, joined us when she arrived. Here is "our gang"....such nice ladies!!! We're all FB friends now and hope to meet up next year in Asheville, NC.

These were the projects I worked on....Play Soccer by Sue Hillis and It's Begining to Look a Lot like Christmas by Thistles. I need to get the soccer one stitched and finished into a pillow for my grandson, James's,  birthday on the 16th. So, I worked on it until I was almost done and then switched to the Thistles piece on Saturday night. It was interesting going from an 18 count over two to a 32 count over one.

Friday morning was spent in the stitching room and at noon we headed to the Merchant Mall. There were 20 fabulous vendors, including Patti Nicolosi where I left my finished Celtic Banner for framing. I  am not sure where the time went but the mall closed at 4:30 and I felt I had missed a lot. Of course I kept running into people I knew including a surprise visit from my old friend Phyllis. Then we had two Make it-Take it classes which I will share another day, as I have some fine tuning to do. I did manage to make a few purchases....I had pre-ordered the red desk from Teresa's Prim Treasures, but the rest I picked up there.....some Dixie Samplar linen, the black scissors, a tiny bee emery and an extra teeny acorn emery, some vintage binding in its original wrapper and......a bone parasol with French writing on it.

I did not take the classes but there were two offered..one each day.

Friday evening was spent in the stitching room checking out what others were working on and/or bought that day at the Merchant Mall. Here is one cute idea we saw:

I'm on the hunt!!!!

 Breakfast and dinner were included in our retreat fee which meant we really didn't have to leave the hotel but Saturday, Syd, Tracie and I ventured out to Amish country. Tracie had never seen the Amish before and was tickled to see the horse drawn buggies and farms. We went to a couple quilt shops where I bought these fabrics:

And we saw these along the way...a restored vintage 1959 VW which I would give my right arm for....I take that back since that's my stitching hand....and some bee skeps.

After dinner Saturday night we received goodie bags.We got a project bag made by Faye Riggsbee herself, a sheep thread holder and scissor pocket, scissors, a waxer, a needlekeep, a chart with the fabric and fibers that you could either cross stitch or punch needle and a sweet pin with one of Ridgely's paintings on it.

 After this was the gift exchange. Here is a photo of the table with the "gifts'....and this wasn't even all of them.

 It took 2 1/2 hours to get through the exchange but it was so fun and EVERY SINGLE piece was fabulous!!! How it worked was the lady who was last up in 2017 got to pick first. She picked whatever package appealed to her (they all had to be wrapped or in bags so you couldn't tell what was inside, but some of the packaging was worth a choice), read the enclosed note aloud telling a little about the giver, opened the gift, held it up it to a chorus of oohs and aahs and then that 'giver' came up, chose her package and so it continued. To be honest, I was sweating it when I saw all the wonderful gifts being opened!!! I had shared my "gift" in a previous post and the lady that received it was very happy and also loved bees--perfect!
Here it is again:

Here is the gift I chose; it was tucked inside the little ort bag.

As the knight in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade said "you have chosen well"....and I did....I just love this patriotic strawberry and the coordinating thread catcher. Thanks to Deb Honsch!

 Sunday morning we headed home with a stop at the Gatchelville Store where we spent over two hours drooling.  These were my purchases there. This place is jammed full of vintage buttons, trims, etc. I got the old doorknob to use as a base for a pincushion!

Finally we were off heading home and trying to stay ahead of the rain--it didn't work and we drove through many periods of heavy rain....... lots of accidents and traffic tie-ups. But we made it home safe and sound with lots of fabulous memories and goodies. Next year the PSS retreat will be held in Asheville, NC, which works for me since my daughter lives nearby, but it will depend on the dates. Nashville,TN will host it in 2020.....gosh I can't even believe I said "2020"!!!! Maybe I'll see you there!

Thanks for sticking with me and your "twisted threads" of friendship!
Stasi
 P.S. Blogger has stopped sending me e-mails when a comment is made so it's become necessary for me to go and check the blog itself to see if someone left a comment. If I am not as timely responding as I like, that is why...and I may miss some if you are commenting on an older post. So, it is important if you'd like a response from me.... and I do want to respond....that you add your e-mail if you are set up as a "no-reply blogger". Thanks!