Monday, April 30, 2012

Home from Celebrations, with a pic or 2

So...this was my third year at Celebration of Needlework in New Hampshire, and every year I think I have more fun!
This year I arrived on Wednesday afternoon, because I was taking Lynda Keske's Butterfly Garden class at 9:00 am on Thursday.  As a result, I had to head home Saturday instead of Sunday, which was a bit of a bummer.  I missed out on a bit of stitching time with old (and new!) friends...ah well.  The budget allowed for 3 nights in the hotel, not 4, and that was that.
The class was truly wonderful.  I'm so glad I chose this one!  Lynda was energetic and fun, and the "sym stitching" technique is really pretty simple once you get started.  And it creates the most beautiful designs!  I could easily get addicted to her patterns.  She enabled this new addiction, too, because she was late to the class (she got her signals crossed and thought she was teaching FRIDAY morning, not Thursday) and as an apology, she invited all her students to stop by her booth on the shop floor and pick out an additional FREE pattern.  Woo-hoo!  I picked "Medieval Hearts" -- and then, because I really did love her designs and I wanted to be a good supporter of the needlearts, I bought "Chavelier," too.  I'm not sure about the box finish, but the pattern (all those lovely purples!) is what caught my eye.
Friday morning I was up bright and early to hit the shop floor.  Here is my stash -
Clockwise from the top left - 1) a little caddy to go over the arm of the sofa, 2) a pile of magazines, patterns, and a few fabbies from the giveaway table, 3) a piece of 32-ct. "Heroic" Cashel from PTP, a tuckaway pillow ornie, and a Dinky Dyes Oops pack, 4) a Little Mermaid kit from Scandinavian Stitches (I probably paid too much for that one, but hey, it is European and I can't get it just anywhere and I liked it), 5) an adorable "ort house" kit from Jackie du Plessis, 6) my Keslyn's patterns, LHN's "My Lady" and a sweet little European pattern of a girl reading in bed that reminded me instantly of my daughter, 7) one of Olde Colonial's tiny kits with the frame and everything for finishing, and 7) some scissors, a needleminder, a thread palette, some cute charms, and a Lavishea lotion bar (I'm pretty sure some other blogger inspired that purchase!).
After shopping, I stitched - some on Dark Sorceress, and quite a bit on Cricket Collection's "Homeward Bound."  Then I went to the Friday night dinner, and who did I see while waiting in the hallway?  Carol!  We didn't have a lot of time to chat, but it was great to finally see you, dear!  More stitching after dinner, and then it was bedtime.
I got everything packed Saturday morning and then headed up to the stitcher's lounge one last time.  I figured I could stitch for a few hours before starting that looooong drive home...plus, I'd met some lovely new ladies up there and wanted to say my goodbyes properly (thank you, Bev, Shirley, Anne, Stacy, and everyone else for "adopting" me!!).
Once I got home (where there was much drama in my absence, DH had an emergency at work and my mom had to make a flying trip out to our place to pick up the Wee One from daycare - eek), I unpacked and took this pic of my progress on "Homeward Bound."
Just a bit more of that infernal grass checkerboard to finish, and I can call the bottom DONE and move the Q-snaps up to finish the top!!!!

6 comments:

lesli said...

I am oh so jealous of everyone that goes to all these wonderful workshops! Why don't we have any in Florida!?? :)

Love your stash of goodies! It's like Christmas in...April!

Homeward Bound looks wonderful....how will you finish it? Pillow, framed....?

Caitlin @ Naughts Cross Stitches said...

gorgeous stitching :D sounds like you had fun!

Michele B. said...

It's so nice to know you were there too! I would have loved to have stitched with everybody else and next year I will make sure to do that. You got some great stash -I loved Scandinavian Stitches. Their stuff was gorgeous, if pricy (I bought one of their dishcloths). Your class sounds great. Glad you enjoyed it.

Vanessa said...

I have been a follower of your blog for some time now and I love seeing all your beautiful stitching.

I have finally started a blog of my own and you can find it at onexatatime.wordpress.com. Hope you can fins some time to stop by!

Sara said...

Sounds like you had a great time, I really need to get to one of these someday!

Jo who can't think of a clever nickname said...

So glad you enjoyed yourself!

I love the two designs you chose. Do you have a link to a tutorial on this type of stitching as I could only find the string art stuff online!

Craft Sale!

So my mother and I set up our little table at the craft fair this past weekend.  And we didn't do terribly!  I sold $125 worth of needle...