Recovering after retreats

It took a couple of weeks, but I'm rested from my almost-two-week-long adventure and getting back into my normal routine--so, a lot of stitching! 😄

I bought and kitted Heart in Hand's Wee Santa 2026 in Tulsa, and was able to finish it in the morning on the last day of the Chatelaine retreat:

He is stitched on Wichelt's French Country 32ct linen using the recommended threads. I'd like to work on fully finishing this in time for Christmas, but right now he's on top of the pile in my "finishes" bin.

I used the rest of the last day to work on Chatelaine's Mini Mystery Mandala 1, which I started back when it was a mystery in 2008. This is as far as I got back then:

To this day, I have no recollection of buying, kitting or starting this design, but 2008 was right around the time my son's issues started kicking into high gear; I'm sure there are a LOT of things that I don't remember for the space of a few years because I was just constantly in crisis mode.

I made decent progress at the retreat and got it to this point:

Then I worked on it more last week, and this is how it looks right now:

Back when I started this, I had fairly recently discovered hand dyed fabrics and especially loved opalescent linens; I think this one is probably a Silkweaver fabric, possibly Midnight Fantasy, but that's just an educated guess. If I were kitting this today I would have picked a different fabric, but several people at the retreat told me that they loved it with the design, so it was nice to get that positive feedback; maybe 2008 me wasn't just blinded by a love of sparkles!

I'll probably pull this one out again later this month and hopefully get it finished in September, but after I set it aside I went back to working on IMAKE's Aster Courtyard. I have fully completed the top border, including the beads, and it is turning out really well. The back stitching for the gate is kind of a nightmare, but it is worth the effort:

Now I need to decide if I'll continue the borders down next or start on the center portion. I'm leaning towards the center, partly because the thought of back stitching three more of those gates in the rest of the border is pretty daunting! 

IMAKE offered to send me one of their new little Halloween kits, and they ended up sending two, which was a pleasant surprise:

These come with everything you need to stitch them, as well as finishing kits with really pretty cording (a part of finishing that I haven't even attempted as of yet). I received the package last Friday and I spent the weekend working on Spider & Black Cat:

I did replace the kit fabric with my own, partly because I wanted to play with the color and partly because the kit fabric is cut a bit small for my taste--I like at least 3" borders on all sides because I use Qsnaps, and 3" gives me enough room to get the clamps on and tie on and off comfortably. The kit comes with fabric that has about 2" borders, and that just isn't enough for me. This fabric is large enough to stitch both designs, so I'll probably stitch them both first and then work on the finishing.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

One event down, one to go

The Silver Needle's summer event was amazing; I'm really glad I signed up, even if I can already tell that stitching events two weekends in a row is going to be a bit much. 😅 I arrived at my hotel in Charlotte last night and I've gotten a few grocery items and have now settled in, so hopefully I'll recuperate a bit before Thursday.

The last time I went to The Silver Needle, I didn't take pictures of the shop at the start and then ran out of time, so this time I took some right away. No descriptions really needed, it's all just eye candy!

Cecilia from Heart in Hand and Elizabeth and Marsha from Bent Creek were the featured designers, and they were so fun to listen to. I've been friends with Cecilia for several years now, but this was the first time we actually met in person, so that was very special.

The event included two large and two small stitch kits from each company, as well as a little appliqued Sneedlebook (SN for Silver Needle 😄). Here's my finished Sneedlebook, along with some adorable pins that we got:

Here are the models; some were included in the event and some were new releases that I bought, including the HIH 2026 Wee Santa:

Even though I know that I have most (if not all) of the threads used for the Santa, I ended up buying all of them because I really wanted to start him and I won't be home for another week. I don't even regret it, because I was able to work on him while sitting in the airport yesterday with a flight delay:

And here's my stitching spot for the next few days while I wait for the Chatelaine retreat to start:

I waited too long to book my hotel for the Chat retreat, so I couldn't get into the Marriott where it takes place. I'm in a Hilton about half a mile away, but this hotel is actually a better location as far as being closer to the dining choices. It might not be good walking over to the Marriott later this week though, because there's a lot of rain in the forecast, but at least I remembered to pack an umbrella. And this is right across from the hotel entrance, so that definitely weighs heavily in its favor!

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

Two more sleeps before my big adventure

My flight to Tulsa leaves at 6:20am on Wednesday, so it's more like one and a half sleeps because I'll have to get up in the middle of the night to get ready to leave for the airport by 4:30am--ugh! Not looking forward to that part of the trip, but I will definitely be happy to be able to stop obsessing about packing for it. 😅

I was trying to pick out a couple of travel projects that would be easy to work on in airports in case I end up with delays; I chose a Jim Shore Mill Hill kit on perforated paper and a Laurel Burch kit on linen that I started probably 10+ years ago. I wanted to put in a length of floss on each just to refamiliarize myself with them before I left, and then this happened:

Oops, I finished Feathered Friend! I still have the Jim Shore kit, but I pulled out another one from this set of Laurel Burch kits and got it ready to go as well:

I figured the larger blocks of color would be easy to work on in non-ideal stitching conditions, so I still have two to choose from if I need to, though 🤞🏻 that I won't need to!

I'm trying to make myself wait until tomorrow to get my suitcase out, but I'm having a hard time settling down to do anything else so it might come out today. I'm excited for both events, but also nervous; I'll know some of the people at the Chatelaine retreat and already have plans to sit with at least one friend, but I'll be on my own for the Silver Needle event. As an introvert that's always a bit nerve wracking, but I know it will end up being fine.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

Miss Apple Blossom is done

I was able to finish the adorable Miss Apple Blossom by Nora Corbett last Wednesday, and she is as sweet as she can be:

I have Miss Cherry Blossom ready to go, so I'll probably take her along on my travels in case I feel like making a start on her. The next two in this series probably won't be released until September, so I should have her done well before that; it would be nice to finish each set of two before the next sets drop.

On Thursday we received part 2 of Welcome to the Circus by Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery, and I finished it this past Saturday:

The hippo is awfully cute, but I get the biggest kick out of those little seagulls! I'm glad I signed up for this SAL, and am looking forward to seeing part 3 early next month.

I spent my stitching time yesterday working on IMAKE's Aster Courtyard, slowly working through the specialty stitches in the top portion:

It's pretty much impossible to work with any speed on this design, so I'm finding it very relaxing to just focus on each small area without trying to race to a finish. 

I've already started my pre-travel packing countdown, which will constantly be on my mind for the next week--I'm always really relieved to head to the airport on the day I leave, just so I can quit obsessing about preparations! 😅

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

A bit of this, a bit of that

June has been a tough month; I've still been stitching, but I haven't really had enough ambition to post anything lately. In just over two weeks I'll be heading to The Silver Needle in Tulsa for an event with Heart in Hand and Bent Creek, then going straight from there to Charlotte for a Chatelaine retreat, with a few days in Charlotte by myself to do whatever I want--no chores (except some laundry), no responsibilities, just me, my stitching and my Kindle. I'll be away from home from the 15th to the 26th, and I'm really looking forward to a nice "reset" going into August.

I've been working on a variety of projects over the past few weeks, starting with Welcome to the Circus by Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery; I finished part one, and am ready for part two this Thursday:

Once that was done, I did end up making a start on IMAKE's Aster Courtyard:

All of the cross stitches are done in the top section and I've started adding some of the specialty stitches; all of that open space will be filled by the specialty stitches and beads--it's pretty intense, but also kind of relaxing, just taking it one step at a time.

The final part of Tiny Modernist's Poison Garden was released on the 15th, so that SAL is now complete (and the pillar bottom that I pre-stitched didn't have to be changed--yay!): 

I've been missing working on any Nora Corbett designs for myself, so I ended up making a new start on Miss Apple Blossom a week ago. She's pretty little, so I'm hoping to have her finished in the next few days, before the next installment of the circus SAL comes out:

The fabric is Zweigart's green/white leaves Belfast, which I thought was a fun background for her. I'm hoping to use it with the entire series, but it will depend on how well it goes with the others that haven't been released yet.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

Another bittersweet finish

When I started Chatelaine's Rose Lights back in January, I was finally feeling better after a couple of really bad years dealing with my mom's health decline and death in 2024 and then her estate in 2025. Last November, a year after she passed, I was able to close her estate and put that chapter behind me, and that was the start of the depression lifting. Then about a week after I started Rose Lights my sweet Callie was diagnosed as having late-stage kidney disease and sadness became my constant companion again; stitching is the only thing that can take my mind off of things for a while, so all of the love and sadness I've been feeling for the past four months is woven into this piece. On the last day of May, Callie let me know that she was ready to go, and five days later I finished Rose Lights. It's a beautiful piece and I know in time I'll look at it and just feel the love for my girl that's in every stitch.

The fabric is Wichelt's French Country 32ct linen, which is a beautiful neutral similar to DMC 3042; it allowed both the cream and black threads to show up well without either being too stark, and it was a great tonal match with the pinks and greens. Unfortunately, it looks like this fabric has been discontinued; I contacted 123Stitch to inquire and they said it had been, so I've been buying some pieces from eBay when I see them. I did buy a piece in 28ct (not sure if it's been discontinued as well, but it's still in stock at 123Stitch), but the color is darker and "drabber" and I don't care for it.

I've been focused on getting this project done for so long that I'm now having trouble deciding what to work on now. I did end up signing on for another SAL, Welcome to the Circus by Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery. I'd been looking at it for a couple of weeks but wasn't sure if I wanted to buy it, then just decided to go for it a couple of hours before the first part was released--it was on sale for $11, so it's not like I'm wasting much money if I don't like it. This is the photo from their site:

I really liked the little rabbit in the hat and the hippo in the tutu, and thought that a bright, cheerful piece was what I needed right now. As a Leo, I was happy to see that part 1 was a lion; I worked on him over the weekend and should be done either today or tomorrow:

There will be 10 parts, with one released each month and ending next March. If each part is similar in size, they should only take three or four days to stitch, so I'll be able to keep up pretty easily. Once this is done, I might pull out the IMAKE kit, choose my own fabric for it and get it on the Qsnaps, though right now I'm not quite feeling up to starting it. 

I'll close with my favorite picture of Callie, little spotted paw pads on full display, laying under a lamp on a table in my craft room with love in her eyes:

If you have a furbaby, please give them an extra dose of love in Callie's honor. 🐾❤️