Awesome Mirabilia Minions retreat!

The Mira Minions retreat in Greenville, SC was a huge success, due mainly to Leslie LaFleur's hard work getting it all set up. It is hard to believe that this was her first attempt at organizing a retreat, especially one with 50+ people attending, because it went flawlessly; Leslie, you rock!

Here are some group shots (I'm in the black T-shirt in the front row):

In the second picture, Nora Corbett is seated in the chair. After we took that one, we cracked her up by treating her as all devoted minions should, by bowing before her:

As you can probably tell, this was really an amazing group of fun women, and it went by way too quickly!

Here's a pic of the goody bag contents (the 6" Qsnaps and cover were my door prize):

Leslie, as well as being the event organizer, also has her own hand-dyed fabric business, Under the Sea Fabrics, and below are three of her gorgeous fabrics that I came home with (as well as two of her Swarovski crystal needle minders, which aren't in the picture):

Meeting Nora was absolutely amazing, and finding out that she's funny and down-to-earth was even better. She also brought some of her paintings to sell, and I was lucky enough to nab the one shown below (which is the WORST picture of me, EVER!!):

And she signed one of my stitching journals, on one of my favorite Mirabilias that I've stitched, Caring Wings:

Nora also spent part of the retreat designing a chart for the attendees, which is now finished and will be mailed out to us in the next week, or so; I can't wait to get it!

I am a bit ashamed to admit that I did very little actual stitching at the retreat, as it was just so much fun talking to others who share my obsession for stitching and Mirabilia designs. I did spend a little time with both Charlotte and Silver Moon Tea:

Leslie has already set the date for next year's retreat, which will be April 18-20, 2014, location to be determined at a later date. I enjoyed this one so much, that I definitely want to attend the next one, and will be looking forward to it all year!

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

Sad day

Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while will remember that my mom's four cats came to live with me after my mom became ill. Cricket stayed for about five months, until my mom was able to get an apartment; Mai Ling and Keishu stayed for about 15 months, until Mom was able to move back into her house; and Sabrina is still here, because she had just been taken in by my mom about a week before she got sick, and never had time to get used to living at Mom's house.

Yesterday, Mai Ling crossed the Rainbow Bridge. She was a beautiful girl, with gorgeous, sapphire-blue eyes and a purr as loud as any I've ever heard, and she will be missed. She and her "sister", Keishu, were constant companions in my craft room while they lived here; here is a picture of them in the chair behind my stitching chair (Mai Ling is on the left):

It is so hard to lose beloved pets, but the love they bring during their lives is so worth it. It was almost like Sabrina wanted to make me feel better while I was crying yesterday, and she started rolling around on the floor, looking exceptionally cute:

And it helped, because who could not smile at that big ball of fluff?

On the stitchy front, I have another update on Blue Jeans and Daisies:

I have added an extension onto my Qsnaps, and am getting closer to being done with part 1.

And for some happy news, I will be heading out to the Mira Minion Retreat this Friday! Guess I'd better start figuring out what project I'm going to bring. Stay tuned for a full report sometime next week!

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

Mira Minions retreat is getting close!

Since the retreat is now less than two weeks away, I decided that I'd better get my name tag finished off into an actual tag. While my finishing skills do leave a lot of room for improvement, I'm actually pretty happy with the result:

Here's the back:

And here's what I'll be wearing to the retreat:

Hmm, I wonder if anyone can tell that I'm excited? ;D

I'm still plugging away on the model, and I have no update on Blue Jeans & Daisies because my off-time this week was spent on the name tag finishing. However, I do have one nice stitchy picture to share:

I ordered these two charts from the A Mon Ami Pierre website on April 4th, and received them today--and they came all the way from France! Jackye also included a very pretty freebie chart; I would definitely recommend dealing with her directly, instead of going through US distributors. Even with postage from France, I paid less than I would have if I had ordered through ABC Stitch Therapy, who carries her designs.

In non-stitchy news, another sign of spring here in NE Wisconsin is that there must be a cardinal nest very near to our house. For the past week, or so, a female cardinal has been attacking her reflection in our living room and bedroom windows. When I Googled this behavior, it said that she is protecting her nest, and that this might go on for some time (probably until she knocks herself silly one too many times!).

Our cats, of course, are really enjoying the show, as evidenced by these pictures of Gracie:

Hope everyone is having a great stitchy week!

Back from the framer

Almost three weeks ago, I took three of my Nora Corbett Pixies in to my framer; this morning, I asked my son if the framing gallery had called when I was out sometime this week, and he said they hadn't. Not 20 minutes later, the phone rang, and it was my framer, letting me know that my pieces were ready to be picked up--spooky! ;D

My wonderful husband had given me a framing gift certificate for Christmas, so I finally had these framed, as they have been done for quite some time. Here is Amaryllis:

Jade Blue:

And Tigerlily:

Now the walls in my spare bedroom are starting to get a bit crowded, to match my craft room walls!

And here are Gracie and Callie, enjoying the wrapping paper that these pieces came home in:

Hope everyone is having a great stitchy weekend!

Could this be spring?

I think spring has finally sprung here in NE Wisconsin. The temperature has hit 50F a couple of days, most of the snow in our yard is gone, and I saw my first robin on Easter morning. Even if we get hit with more wintry weather now, it won't be long before the good weather is here to stay.

Speaking of robins, I just finished stitching one on Blue Jeans & Daisies (except for his eye!):

Aren't those Rhodes Hearts pretty? After stitching those, I realized that I am finally going to have to get some reader glasses for the finer needlework; my 45-year-old eyes just can't focus well enough to stitch over-one for any length of time.

Here is the whole WIP:

I'm getting close to being finished with part 1; I picked up part 3 last week, so now it's just a matter of finding the time!

I thought I'd share another picture of my stitchy companion, Sabrina, sitting on the ottoman next to my chair:

If she gets any bigger, I'm going to need a larger ottoman!

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

More Blue Jeans and Daisies

I drove up to The Stitching Bee this past Saturday to pick up part 2 of Blue Jeans and Daisies, as I'm getting closer to the point where I'll need it. (I also picked up the fourth house in Santa's Village, but we won't talk about that, since I only have one house finished!) This is coming along pretty nicely, considering I can only work on it one day a week:

I've also been fooling around with a conversion to create a St. Patrick's Day fairy from one of Nora Corbett's Holiday Fairies. I played with some colored pencils on a chart, and I think I've got a pretty good start. Sometime soon I'll have to pull some threads and work out color gradients. :)

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

Winter may never end!

I am definitely feeling the effects of a long winter, as even stitching isn't bringing me the joy that it usually does. Yesterday, we got another few inches of snow, and today the temperature is 14F with the wind chill making it feel like -6F; yikes!

One bright spot was the stitchy mail that arrived yesterday:

It was enough to brighten my spirits for an afternoon, at least!

I haven't been stitching as much as I should, even on the model I'm working on. Monique, you asked if I could share pictures; unfortunately, I can't. Most of the Rosewood Manor designs that I stitch are still a few months away from being published, so no pictures are allowed. As it is now, I have returned three pieces that still haven't been released, so they should be out pretty soon.

I managed to get a bit more done on Blue Jeans and Daisies, which is another bright spot in this dreary winter, as the colors are so pretty and cheerful:

Plus, the Mirabilia Minions Retreat is, as of today, one month away. Now that's something to look forward to!

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week! 

My stitchy "helper"

The model I'm currently working on is going to be pretty big when finished (by the time I get to the end, my Qsnaps will be 23"x23"), so I pulled out my portable, large table to use while working on it. Apparently, Sabrina took this as an invitation to share my work space:

This was a bit of a problem, as Sabrina is a 13 lb., very fluffy cat; she did an admirable job of covering most of the chart! There was only one thing to do--lure her away with a toy:

After playing for a while, she decided to go get a drink and a nibble; problem solved!

I did manage to get a bit more done on Blue Jeans and Daisies, as well:

Part 2 has been released, and it is just as pretty as the first part, so I am glad I decided to stitch this. :)

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week!

Just another specialty thread

A bit of back story: I have been a cat mom of one or more cats ever since 1997, and about five years ago I started keeping any shed whiskers that I find in the house. And I happen to know that I am not alone in this, as it has been discussed on the 123Stitch message board; some of us cat people REALLY love our cats! ;D Can you guess where I'm going with this?

I've always thought that someday I would stitch some kind of pet design that would just cry out for the use of real whiskers, and yesterday, that design finally arrived! I received Just Nan's Honey Bunny in the mail, and it is such a cute little design that I decided to stitch it up quickly. I stitched it last night, and finished it today. While I was working on it, I kept thinking about how I would stitch/attach the called-for whiskers, and then it hit me--kitty whiskers!

Luckily, I no longer just have black cats, so I am starting to get a good supply of white whiskers as well as black. (Ooh, maybe I'll stitch up a black bunny, too!) Anyway, here are the whiskers I used:

And here is my little bunny:

The whiskers were perfect, as the large end is stiff enough to just slide in the fabric. Unfortunately, I had to crop them a bit, so they're not as curly as they should be, but I love it anyway. I have been giggling to myself all day just thinking about using them. :)

I hope it makes you smile, as well!

P.S. No kitties were harmed in the making of this piece; I only collect naturally shed whiskers! ;D

A bit of progress...

...on Blue Jeans and Daisies, as I spent some time with it yesterday:

I did change up the house a bit; the door and window frames were supposed to be the same brown as the roof, but that just seemed too dark to me. I mean, if someone really chose to paint their house pink, do you think they would chose brown for the trim? ;D I am really enjoying working on this one, with it's bright, pretty colors, but away it goes for the week.

I also "cheated" a bit, and took another day to stitch up a name tag for the Mirabilia Minions Retreat this April. As I may have mentioned a time or two, I adore bling, so the only non-sparkly materials I used were the fabric and the thread for the name:

Now I just need to figure out how to finish it into a name tag; this could be interesting! Good thing I still have more than a month to work on it.

Hope everyone has a great stitchy week, and found lots of goodies from the Nashville trade show!