Door County Stitching Retreat

My LNS, The Stitching Bee in Green Bay, WI, is having their annual stitching retreat November 9-11, and this year I am definitely going! This will be my second one, as I attended the one in 2010, and I am really looking forward to it.

It will be at the Landmark Resort in Egg Harbor, which provides a free breakfast buffet on Saturday and Sunday. Dinner on Friday and Saturday is at the resort's Carrington Grill, and I can vouch that the food was delicious at the one I attended! You're on your own for lunch, but you can make your own in your room, which has a kitchen, or head into the nearby town. The ladies were talking about a local restaurant that has a model train that brings around menus and such, which I might try out this year. It seems like there might have been a few that went to a local winery for a tasting, as well! ;)

I tend to be a bit of a solitary person, but Kendra (the owner of The Bee) and the other ladies were so welcoming, and so much fun that I felt very much welcomed and included. We have one large room to gather in Friday afternoon and all day Saturday; it's locked when no one is using it, so you can leave your stitching stuff out, if you like. There are also several smaller nooks scattered throughout the resort, if you want to sit and stitch with a smaller group for a while.

If this sounds like something you might be interested in, just let Kendra know; her contact info can be found in the link above. She can email the info to you, and answer any questions you might have.

Sure would be fun to see you there!

So Excited!!

For the past several years I have been seeing framing work done by an extremely talented artist named Jill Rensel. If you haven't checked out her blog, yet, you should definitely do so: Jill Rensel. As an avid stitcher of Mirabilia designs, seeing other peoples' finishes framed by Jill has been an eye-opener; what starts out as an already beautiful piece truly becomes a work of art with her finishing.

So finally, last month, I took the plunge and sent my seven Mirabilia Holiday Fairies to Jill to work her magic on, and today she sent me pictures of the first two that she has completed. I am over the moon!! Here is Miss Valentine:

And Thanksgiving Harvest Fairy:

It feels like Christmas has come three months early this year! Now I can't wait to see what she comes up with for Christmas Elf, New Year, Easter, and Halloween fairies, as well as my Miss Independence conversion.

Stay tuned, as I will update as soon as I get more pictures! ;D

Two Down, Two To Go

I have been working exclusively on Judy Odell's "Shelley's Jewelry Box", and have now completed two of the four pieces that Judy sent to me. The first piece was one of the side panels, of which I shared Judy's completed piece a couple of posts ago. Last night I put the last beads on the top panel:

Again, if you think you'd like to stitch this, it's currently being offered for free on Judy's board: Just a Thought. At some point it will be removed from the board, and then will only be available for purchase.

I'm hoping to have all of the pieces done in the first week of October, then I need to get back to Karen's model. Then I want to finally finish up part three of Lizzie*Kate's Mystery Sampler!

Hope everyone has a great stitchy weekend!

My Halloween Tree

It's getting to be that time of year: Tanner is back in school, the geese are flying overhead and the leaves are just starting to get a tinge of autumn colors. In honor of the approaching season, I thought I'd share some pictures of my little Halloween Tree, adorned with a mixture of Mill Hill Tiny Treasured Diamond ornaments and Just Nan Whimzi designs:

I wish Mill Hill would release some more of this type of ornament with Halloween designs; I have a bunch of the Christmas Diamonds to do, but I just love stitching with Halloween colors! ;)

Hope everyone has a great stitchy weekend!