Stitch Con 2024 Recap........754

 

It is hard to even start recounting my experience at Stitch Con, but I've been home a week now and thought it was time. This post will be photo heavy, but I hope it will give a you a "feel" of what it was like. 

My friend, Lisa, and I started our drive to Dayton, OH on Saturday June 1st. It took around 9 1/2 hours with stops for breaks and lunch. We spent the night at a friends house then split up the next day. Lisa went to a mutual friends lake house and I drove down to Cincinnati to visit a few of my friends and my old neighborhood. We met back up Wednesday and checked into our hotel near the Sharonville Convention Center. I won't bore you with the details but our hotel experience was less than satisfactory!!!

Thursday morning we were up early and headed to the convention center to stand in line. Stitch Con officially opens at 10:00AM but people were lined up starting at 7:00AM. One of our table mates got their around 7:30 to assure we had a table where we could all sit together...it worked!!!

Everything was very organized and we landed at our table by around 10:30. Keep in  mind , there were over 330 people there!!! 

We each received a goodie bag upon entry from Keepsakes and a make it take it (scissor fob/zipper pull kit) when leaving.

I had a great group of tablemates.....4 out of 6 are floss tubers....Shellie @antiqueneedleworkers, Kari @tiger.lily.designs, Lisa @ladyhuzzahpresents and Sally @SallySallyStitchesAnd

 L to R: Jenn, Shellie, Kari,Lisa, Sally and moi

Our table was filled with projects, snacks, gifts etc..

The room started filling up quickly...

....and I have to admit, it was quite overwhelming and LOUD!!! I did have trouble hearing my tablemates across the way and tried to do a lot of lip reading.

There were flags you could put on your table if you had open spaces for those attending alone. This was a great idea!!!

Along the wall, for about 1/3 of the room were set up brag tables where you could share some of your work. This is just a small section!

 I took these two pieces to share:

There was an area where you could try Q-snaps and a few lamps.

And a freebie section where you could drop off and charts you no longer wanted and perhaps find a treasure or two. 

They had photo op spots set up to create memories....

Then, there was the Annex!!!! A separate room set up with 47...yes I said 47 trunk shows. There was fabric, fibers, accoutrements and charts, charts and charts!!!

If you couldn't shop yourself out at the Annex, the Stitchy Bus would take you to the physical store, Keepsakes to shop some more. Keepsakes is located in a sweet house and is jam packed with all the goodies...definitely worth the drive over. 

I participated in the smalls exchange on Friday. We all got a chip when we arrived and depending on the color, red, white or blue, that was the group we were assigned. I was red and went Friday afternoon at 2:00. 

Very hard to choose a bag!!!

This is what I made for the exchange:

Porcupine Bag and Scissor Fob by Handwork

My recipient, Jan.

This is what I received......

......from Tara......

My partner was a younger stitcher...waaaay younger than me...and was so excited to give me my gift! I always wanted to do one of these Lila's Studios Easter designs...and now I have one!!!

I'm going to insert here how thrilled I was to see so many younger stitchers in attendance. They are the next generation of stitchers and we need to support them and keep this craft ,we are all so passionate about, going!!!

Then there was Barb's charity for the year. we had a speaker one night about it who was just a delight!

The charity is called Beds for Sleepyheads and we were raising money to buy beds for children and adults who are currently sleeping on floors and such.

There were baskets for a raffle......

....and an auction the last evening. It was incredible how much money was raised!!!! It costs approximately $250 each to provide a bed (headboard, mattress and box spring). Enough money was raised weekend A to buy about 126 beds. I just saw on FB that Weekend B beat that and over $70,000 total was raised between the two weekends!!!  That's a LOT of beds!!!  The lady from the charity told us about one of their clients who did not have a bed to sleep in. She asked what she did for a living....she was a barista at Starbucks. So when you think about it, we're there buying expensive coffee drinks and the person waiting on you can't afford a bed to sleep in at night. I've always known stitchers to be generous, but this was astounding....and obviously needed!!!

The there were the gifts!!!! I can't believe all that I came home with from project bags to needle minders to counting pins to stickers to scissor fobs...and it goes on. I am not going to post photos of all that, but let me assure you, it was amazing...and fun. I made up about 160 things to give away, but some people had something for everyone there. I thought I had taken a photo, but must not have. But I gave people a pick up stick along with a twizzler like candy in a cellophane bag. I printed labels that said "pick me up and I'll help you stuff". They can use to help push out there corners in a ;pincushion or pillow. 

Here are the special gifts I received from my tablemates...sorry it's a bit hard to see but there were project bags, an ornament, a pincushion, a spool, re fibers and trim, a sticker, waxer, scissors and candy. If I forgot something, I apologize.

Here was my table gift....I found these at an antique store, but they had never been used. I'm assuming vintage product that had just been sitting around somewhere. Anyway, I had seen where people clean up old glass oil bottles, fill them with crushed walnut shells and then 'pour' into your project opening in a pillow or pincushion. I always feared it would be hard to get all the oil residue out, so these "virgin" bottles were perfect. I made a tall skinny bag out of a fat quarter and put the bottles, half full of the lizard litter, in them. The walnut shells are always a mess and I'm hoping this makes it a lot easier/tidier.

Wow, this IS really getting long...I will close with some fun photos from the photo op spots.

This is Martha in the middle and we are all holding floss cards she made with a photo from a gift she received from our dear friend, Robin in VA

We met up with Ruth, a fellow member of the DVHSG

The last night we were able to meet up with two friends, who happened to be in Cincinnati with ladies that had met at another retreat last year. We enjoyed dinner at The Montgomery Inn...hence the bibs for the lip smacking BarBQ sauce...and made four new friends to boot!!!

My travel buddy, Lisa

I'm going to close and call it a day, but not without thanking Barb, Steph and crew for an amazing time. I had told Lisa early on, this was probably my one and done Stitch Con, but now that I'm reliving the wonderful experience, I may have to amend that. If you have any inclination to go in the future...DO...it will be a weekend you'll never forget.

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

Stasi   Whew...this one wore me out!!!!

PS I did get stitching done, but that will have to wait for another day....please check back!