Saturday

Back to my real life.  I am now recovered from my adventures in Ohio.  Can you believe I totally forgot what I was working on before I left?  To justify my purchases at Lolly's I sewed up the little footstool pin cushion.  I used some fabric I bought for a different purpose (I was going to make this bag) but have since changed my mind.

 I was looking for something the other day and ran across these Moda Roue Indienne fabrics.  I had just seen BFF#2's footstool and thought what a lovely footstool these fabrics would make.  Then when I found the pin cushion kit, bingo!  These were the fabrics I wanted to use.
I had to trace 15 pattern pieces onto muslin and cut them out.  Then I had to cut matching fabrics for each muslin piece.  I sewed these all together with only a few glitches.  I like how the fabrics look together.

 Isn't it great that Moda has fabric collections that all go toether.  It would be a nightmare trying to put fabrics together otherwise.

I went down to Home Depot and picked out the drawer pulls for the feet.

I think they are a bit big but they will do.  I like the color and style I chose.  I thought about going to Michael's to see if they had anything that would work but that was too much trouble.

Without my glasses I can't read anything.  It is sad but that's what happens when you are older.  So in the bathroom l decided to try out my new toothpaste.

 I couldn't read the directions as I didn't have any glasses on.  See how small that print is?

So I just dipped my toothbrush in a got some on my brush and then brushed my teeth.  Whoo-ee!  That stuff is strong.  I would use about half as much next time.  It takes some getting used to.  It has essential oils of spearmint, peppermint, eucalyptus, clove and wintergreen as well as mustard seed and oregano.  Good heavens!  However it is gluten free and vegan.  My regular toothpaste is the kind with Barbie on the label.
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A Weekend in the Country 4

Now it is Saturday and we have class all day. It is raining when I get up so no walking today.  It is also freezing.  How can it be so cold in May?

 I have skipped ahead just a bit and started the first row of bargello.  It is hard to get the first row of bargello in correctly and I did a lot of ripping.  Then I find out the the teacher did hers over six rather than the over four that is in the directions.  That's what I get for trying to be ahead of the game.  But no worries.  I compare what I've done to the teacher and decide I like the over four version and will continue.  I may even change a few colors along the way.  We got a cute little bin of finishing supplies and another chart.

We ate lunch at the restaurant.  Whenever you walk by the restaurant there is a strong smell of fried chicken.  This place seems to be very popular with older people.  They have a big salad bar.  But I decide to get the sliders.  (Sinful!)  I eat them all, groan.
Then we go back to the class room.  Anna's mother is in the hospital and we are going to leave after class.  I want to see the projects the teacher is going to teach in November.  Near the end of the class time she shows us the two projects.  Oh, I'm in trouble.  I love them.  I didn't think I would but I do. Photos don't do justice to these samplers.   I'm not sure I can come back in November but we'll see.

Our trip home goes pretty well.  We try to stop every hour and stretch our legs.  We make it back just fine.

This was a very nice retreat.  I love the projects.  The area we stayed at in Ohio was beautiful and interesting.  The shopping was fun.  It was so great to spend time with my friends who are just the best people in the world.  I'm a very lucky girl.  And I have a big bag of chocolates.
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A Weekend in the Country 3

It is very unusual to have a day off in the middle of a retreat.  But we did!  Friday we had to day off to do whatever we wanted.  We wanted to shop.  There were quilt shops we wanted to visit.  I wanted to go to a chocolate shop.  Then BFF#2 wanted to visit Lehman's.  So we set out on Friday morning to go to Lehman's.

Here is a millstone on display outside Lehman's door:

It is an everything store.  If you need a new seat for your tractor they have them.  If you want all the supplies to make cheese, Lehman's is your place.  If you want magnets to put in the tank of your toilet to prevent lime build-up, yes, they have those too.  Lehman's is quite a large store.  It is fun to see all the stuff they have.  You would not believe the stuff they have.  Near the door when we went in is a booth that has fudge.  So I asked the girl, what is the most unusual flavor of fudge that you have?  She said rootbeer!  Yes, rootbeer.

 You know I had to have some of that.  BFF got some sugar cookie flavor fudge.  Then I found some interesting toothpaste in a jar.  Spearmint flavor.

 I found my sister a birthday card.  I got some great hand lotion.

 That place is very busy, lots of people shopping.

Then it was on to the chocolate shop.  What a nice large store.

  I got some chocolate scissors.

They had both milk and dark chocolate covered orange peel.  I had so much fun.

BFF#2 found chocolate mustaches.

Then we went out to a quilt shop in the middle of nowhere.  Truly.  BFF found some Downton Abbey fabric and even shared some with me so I could finish my second needle book for Betsy's Bristol Bag.

By the middle of the afternoon, we were hungry.  Where to eat?  We decided on a craft brewery.  BFF told us how much fun it is to have a meal of appetizers.  That is what we did.  Everybody ordered and shared.  I loved it.
We let Waze direct us back to the hotel.  It was crazy.  Berlin has a lot of construction and evidently Waze was leading us around that.  We went up and down huge hills out in the country.  The hills were scary.  That is a reoccurring nightmare of mine from childhood, coming to a hill that is too steep to drive up.  Luckily for everybody, I was not driving!  We made it back to the hotel.  What adventures we had today!  We got together in the evening to stitch and made another Amish Deli stop.
Great day!
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A Weekend in the Country 2

We stayed at the Inn at Amish Door.

 We all were just a bit worried since we didn't know how much it would cost to stay here.  But everything worked out fine.  Our rooms were really large.

From the bay window you could see rolling hills and farms and horses.

This is a very rural area.  I knew I could walk in the mornings with no trouble.  The Inn actually had a map of nearby walking trails.

This was the first day of class.  We met in a large room with good light.  I didn't even need the small Ott light I brought.  Then there is that lovely moment when we get our kit:

This is the class room and our teacher, Lauren:

The project is a wallet with pockets with a cherry theme and bargello:

Love it!
We had two hours for lunch and decided to drive to Charm, Ohio to a quilt shop.  We didn't realize it would take so long and that there were two quilt shops right next door to each other.  There was some construction on the way and were worried we wouldn't even have time to eat.  Lucklily, BFF spotted a Burger King along the way back.  We made it back just in time for the afternoon session.
The hotel area consisted of the hotel, a restaurant, a deli/bulk foods/gift shop and a bakery.  We ate dinner at the deli.  I had checked out the bakery on my walk in the morning.  There was a long line of people waiting to get in the restaurant.  I think there was a special program that night and buses of people were having dinner there.
I was exhausted after a long fun day.
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A Weekend in the Country

A weekend in the country was the name of the retreat I went to last week.  Three friends and I set out to Wilmot Ohio on Wednesday.  BFF#1 flew in from Minnesota.  BFF#2 drove from Illinios and new friend Anna came from Wisconsin.  First we drove to Shipshewanna, Indiana.  BFF#1 had never been there and always wanted to go.  It is an Amish community so you have to be careful of horses and buggies in that area.

It worked out that we could eat lunch at a bakery there.  I wanted to go where I know they have huge cinnamon rolls.  I have a thing for large luscious warm iced cinnamon rolls.

 We had a good lunch then headed across the parking lot to this place:

It is kind of a mall with several stores inside.  Our favorite store is Lolly's which is a quilt store.  BFF#2 had just made the most darling footstool with strips of fabric.  She took a class and got everything she needed and they even put it together for her.  Well, we found a pincushion at Lolly's that was very similar.  Of course I had to get one.  I almost didn't dare look at the all the fabric.  It is all too tempting.  They have so much fabric it is mind boggling.  I haven't made the quilt I bought the stuff for the last time I was here.  Here is the stuff I bought:

So then we resumed our trek across the top of Indiana.  It is about a five hour trip to Wilmot and we had a deadline, we were supposed to attend dinner at 6:30.  Waze got us there just in time.
We joined the rest of the people at the retreat.  At our place at the table was a little booklet and a sweet bag of gifts with the cherry theme.  We got a chart and a list of everybody at the retreat.

Then we met in the breakfast area for the night time project.

 I love it!  It is just darling.  Whew, what a long day.  We are in beautiful country.  It was a fun first day.
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Good Mail

I got two packages in the mail yesterday.  Lucky me!
The first one was the Silver Needle Circle of Friends club that I knew was arriving.  It had some special things in it.  We got a cup with snippets of the projects on it.

Then we got a tape measure that is very cute.  Here is mine:

This is the kit from Lizzie Kate:

There were some Jelly Belly jelly beans but they were long gone when I got around to taking the photo.

The next box was from England.  Mary Corbet got me in trouble - again.  She reviewed a cute little beaded bird kit the other day.  So I went to the site and looked at the kits and ordered two.  One was the little bird kit.  It was so quick and fun that I started it as soon as it arrived and now it is done.

Then the other kit was for a small purse.

 It reminded me of a Yumiko Higuchi style clutch.

 It will be interesting to work on.  This is what was in the kit.

I have to finish packing and decide what projects to take with me.  We leave tomorrow morning so I will talk to you again next week.  I'm going to make some Sweet and Salty snack to take with us.  Of course, I will tell you all about it when I get back.
Have a great weekend!
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A finish!

Buzz is finished!  Isn't it cute?

I am happy with how it turned out.


I put in one more violet on the parasol.

Then I went digging around for things that needed just a teeny bit of work and they would be done.  Sort of.
This had been sitting on my sewing table for a while.  It needed two buttons to hold the needle page in.  Now it is done.

Then This has been hanging around neglected waiting for some thread rings to be sewn in.  I thought I had three tulip shaped ones but I couldn't find them.  So an assortment of shapes was used.
Done!

I am trying to decide what color velvet to use as backing for the Pyns cushion.  What one do you like?

The latest Silver Needle Circle of Friends club piece should arrive today.  So I finished up one of the previous offerings.  This is designed by Shepherd's Bush.

It was finished as a pin cushion or framed on the chart.  I have a different finish I want to do.  But I needed to put on the beads and buttons.  So this one is sort of finished.
The bathrooms are clean and I'm getting ready to pack up for the retreat.  BFF's are coming in tomorrow.  Fun!!!
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