Something New

Now I am back home from my travels.  But I leave again next Thursday for Cincinnati and three more classes.  What an unbelievable month I am having!  But where am I now?  I can't seem to put down the Williamsburg Remembered piece.  I want to finish the alphabet and start on the next row today.

 I wove the drawstrings to Friesland.  If you look closely, you will see that some of the drawstrings are woven more tightly than other parts.  I've got to just let this go and say they look fine.

The next step is to connect two drawstrings with a bobble.  So I want to get a bobble done today.

I got some new stuff in the mail.  I am a sucker for those Just Nan mice.  I got the Bride Mouse.  I also got the Summer in the Meadow needle case.

 I'm feeling a little guilty because I have another mouse and Spring in the Meadow that I haven't gotten to.  That's beside the two Just Nan things I have started.  I think I'll take a mouse to work on while traveling next week.

I also signed up for the next Amy Mitten Casket Keepsake that will come out at the end of July called Harmony.

 It will be a great addition to my casket.  It uses all those techniques that I have learned from the other keepsakes she designed.  It has a lot of stumpwork on it.  I love the little scissors fob that is shaped like a Tudor rose.  Although I know there is probably some detached buttonhole stitch used on it.
It's a busy Friday!
A

Second Class

Sunday was our second class.

It was Williamsburg Remembered.

 I saw it on Saturday with some other of Catherine's teaching pieces and admired it.  So I was really glad we were making it.  Then I realized that two of the kits I bought the day before matched it.  Even better!

Our class was in the fire house.  It is a nice light room with very comfortable chairs.  Again, I love that moment when there is a new complete kit right in front of me.  Today was easier as I am now more familiar with how Catherine does things.  So I knew first off to write the names of the colors on the floss card.  Barb is so organized.  She had a notebook all set up for this class kit.  She slipped the front photo into the slot on the front of the notebook and put all the pages inside.  Me, I just made a mess trying to find the page Catherine was reading from.  I started on the edging so I could get to some fun stuff like the flowers.  We went to lunch at Panera.  I was just going to have a bagel since I have been eating too much here in Indy.  But I gave in and had my favorite pick 2.
After lunch we talked about the finishing.  And then people started to leave.  The class went so fast!  How can my weekend be over so quickly?  My friend and I intended to stop on the way home and take a break but it didn't work out that way.  We went through some torrential downpours.  We even pulled over for a few minutes when we couldn't even see the road.  There weren't a lot of options for stopping.  Before we knew it, we were close to home.  That went fast.  Since I've been home, I have enjoyed working on this.  This is where I am today:

I just love the little snail.

Catherine has an interesting technique for the lettering.  It looks so satiny.  Now I know how to do it.

Things I learned this weekend:
1.  Indy has too much traffic.  Understatement of the year.
2.  I ate way more than I intended.
3.  If Nancy picks a place, it must be really cool.
4.  Sometimes I don't believe the GPS, maybe I should trust it more than I do.
5.  Janet is Queen of Creative Ideas.
6.  It rains in Indiana.  A lot.
7.  It is always fun to get together with other stitchers.
8.  I'm seeing more and more people that I know in classes.  It's a small world.  I'll see several of them again in a couple of weeks.  Well, actually, next week.
9.  I love my sewing room and always miss it.
10.  There just isn't enough time in the world to do all the things I want to do.
A

First Day of Classes

This is what I forgot to show you yesterday.  These are the pieces of overdyed velvet that I got at Stacy Nash's Studio.

It is Saturday and our first day of class with Catherine Theron.  I've never had a class with her.  I am so good, I walked this morning.  My hotel is in an area where I can walk safely on a sidewalk or just around the parking lot of the hotel.  My friend and I set off for the class.  It is at a restaurant.  It's a good thing that we have GPS so we can find it.  It is in a lovely community.  We are in a large room downstairs.  I thought we would be early but most of the people are here already.  I see some more friends that I know.  Paola is here, I'm sure she has something fantastic to show me.  She has been working on Franzi.  Oh my is it beautiful.  She works on 40 count.  It is just perfection.  Well, better than perfection because she has changed it to make it even more challenging.  Then she has the Jeannette Douglas book which she has also changed and made even more gorgeous.  I am thrilled and inspired to see her stitching.
This is what we are making today:

Catherine Theron has our kits all passed out and there is that joy of getting a whole new kit to work on.

 It is very interesting as it has a bargello front done in a different count than the inside of the needleroll.  It is challenging to set up the bargello.  But once you have the framework all set, stitching will go fast.  I wish I had my serger handy to overcast the edges.  I'll do that when I get home.  I'm know I'm going to be happy when there are interesting designs and challenging stitches.  The directions look to be well thought out and complete.  Yeah!  There is a little boutique of her designs and I pick up a couple of smalls with strawberries on them.  I love strawberries.

 Catherine also has some teaching pieces on display.  Wow, there is a reversible sampler that I really like that has whitework on one end.  I like the other sampler too.  I am not familiar with these pieces but I would love to take them.  The restaurant has lunch for us which is quite convenient.  Nancy has brought some homemade cookies that are just fabulous.  I don't dare ask for the recipe to make those payday-like bars.  They are so delicious.  The almond ones are gone before you know it.
Catherine goes through how to make a spiral trellis stitch.  We'll use that on the flowers.  I have done that stitch before on Amy Mitten's scissors holder. The day just flies by. This is all I get done:

 We go through the finishing directions and then class is over.  We are all meeting tonight at Ciao restaurant but we have a couple of hours until we have to be there.  So we go to a small needlework store called "Persnickety".  It is fun to look around.  They have a ton of threads and have needlepoint as well.  I find a few threads that I can't live without.

 It is so funny how much threads vary.  I used Dinky Dyes Ghost Gum in a Drawn Thread kit.  I love the color but when I went to the Attic, that color was totally different.  Now I find the version I want here at Persnickety.
We are done at Persnickety.  What now?  Well, Nancy has invited anyone who wants to hang out at her house.  So we take her up on her offer.  Again, our GPS helps us find it.  Nancy is such a great hostess.  She shows us her stitching that is all over her house.  She also has some very interesting cartonnage.  (French for making boxes).  It is so inspiring to see all her fabulous creations.  She has Mistress L's Band Sampler all done and hanging on her wall.  I'm reminded that I want to finish mine.  It is fun to sit around and talk until it is time to go to the restaurant.
Ciao is an Italian restaurant and has some interesting specials. There are 18 of us eating all together.  The Crab Bisque is wonderful.  I look for any salmon but there isn't any so I try the pasta carbonnara.  We all get enough in our entrees to feed three people.  I'm so stuffed but I want to try the chocolate crepe for dessert.  Only three of us go for dessert.  It looks like chocolate soup, doesn't it?

It is delicious but I can hardly eat any of it.  I make a valiant effort though.
Again, we have had a great day and are sooooo full and soooo tired.
A

Fantastic Friday

We had a fantastic time last Friday.  I can't believe we did all the stuff we did in just one day.  We started off early in search of the Heidelberg Haus Cafe.  We found it and waited patiently at the door as we were just a bit early.

We had breakfast there.  I knew that I wanted one of those German Chocolate rolls.  They are fantastic.

My friend looked at the menu and saw all the German offerings and asked if she could have one for breakfast.  Sure!  So she had a wiener and potato salad and said it was delicious.  I tasted them and they were very flavorful.

I couldn't resist getting some cookies to take home.  I looked in the case trying to decide on which ones.  It was too hard to decide so I just got two of each kind.  I got enough cookies to choke a horse. (I brought them home and froze most of them.)  I was so wishing they would have Springerle but it isn't the season for it.
So after breakfast we went on to see my friend Janet Brandt.  I visited her last year and had a fantastic time.  I couldn't wait for my friend to see her incredible creativeness.  I brought along my flat top casket and my  Amy Mitten Casket Keepsakes to show her.  It was so fun to show them to someone who can appreciate them.  She didn't think the wrinkles in the marbled paper on my casket even showed!  So maybe it isn't so bad after all.  My friend and I were awed at her stitched mantle piece.  It was incredible.

Even the background is stitched.  All of this came out of Janet's imagination.  Wow.  Something I didn't see last year was her doll house.  Again, it is amazing.

This is just one of many rooms in the doll house.  Each room is fantastic.  We were so lucky to get to see her panels for her casket in person. (janetbrandt.com)  This is my favorite quilt of hers.  Fantastic.

We saw fabric she designed for Moda.  Wow.  We got to ask her questions and see many more creations in her workroom.  We were just gobsmacked at all the things she is working on and has done.  Thank you Janet for letting us see everything.
Wow.  Our day would be complete after going to Janet's but there is more to come.  We have to be at Twigs by 1:30 for tea with others from the retreat.  So we find Twigs without too much trouble with an app and a GPS.  But it is deluging and we are early.  So we sit in the car and watch some fancy dressed women go inside.  I hope we aren't too under dressed.  We figure they are going to a shower of some sort. When to rain abates a bit we go inside to a very interesting shop and tea room.

 They have some really delicious iced tea.  It is called Paris tea and it a vanilla caramel flavor.  We meet up with some women we know that are going to the retreat.  We have a table for four.  They bring us a lovely three tiered plate.  Savories are on the bottom, scones and clotted cream in the middle and desserts on the top.

My friend and I look at the tiny little goodies and think that we might have to go to Burger King afterwards.  But all this is very delicious and very filling.  Two of us share the tiered plate.  The worst thing about the tea room is that it is very noisy and it is hard to talk and hear.  The baby shower is in the same room and they are a bit rowdy.  But it is fun and tasty.  
You would think our day would be done.  You would be wrong.  Our next stop is Acorn Farm.  It is out in the boonies.  We are thinking our GPS has taken us to the wrong place but we finally find it.  It is the most charming place down a two lane road.  There are many interesting and nifty things to buy.  I get Claire a set of tops that I think she will enjoy.  My friend buys a felted birdhouse that is just the cutest thing.  It is a fun place to shop.
So now we are done?  Nope.  We find that some friends have arrived in town.  Stacy Nash's Studio is open today and we decide to meet up with our friends there.  So we drive out to Fortsville.  It is raining hard again.  We find Stacy's and wait for the rain to slow down before making our way to the Studio.  Our friends are already there.

It is an interesting place and we find some treasures.  She has a very nice assortment of hand dyed velvet.  I have wanted to make Maggie Bonanomi's pea pod and had never been able to find just the right green.  Stacy has the perfect color. Actually, I get four different colors.  What restraint I have!

Our friends are hungry and it is rush hour so we just walk across the street to a place called "Indulge" to get something to eat.  I top things off with a mint chocolate chip ice cream cone.  Yum.
What a day!  We drive back to our hotels.  We are totally pooped but what a fantastic day it has been.
A

I'm Home

We got back last night from our adventure in Indy.  Wow, what a weekend!  It was wonderful and memorable and fantastic.  We started out last Thursday.  That was our travel day.  We stopped in South Bend at Erica's which is mostly a quilt shop.  They sure have a lot of stuff in there.  The qults on the walls are impressive.  They had wool in some great colors.

It was a great break from driving.  Then my friend and I got lunch at Steak and Shake.  They have the best skinny fries.  I couldn't decide between the hot dog and the hamburger, so guess what?  I had both! I had never had that neon green relish before.

I also had a small size Nutella milkshake.

 Yum.  That was fun.

Then we continued on down the state of Indiana to Indianapolis.  Oh my gosh, it was a mess.  We got there at rush hour and there is construction all over the place.  We weren't even sure if we could turn into my hotel.  We tried out an app called Wasz (or Wayz?) on my friend's phone.  It gave us alternate routes to get to my hotel since I-465 was a ten lane parking lot.  I could never live here.

The hotel is nice and across the street is a Paradise Cafe that my friend said was good.  So we waited for the traffic to get better before we ventured across the street.  I think that that Paradise Cafe must be owned by the same company that owns Panera, they are very similar.  It was good and we ate too much.  I was still feeling guilty about pigging out at Steak and Shake.  We didn't have any room for the cookies.
We make our plans for Friday.  We have several places we must go.
We were so pooped.
A

Years in the Making

It's finally finished.  The Case of Indian Ink is all put together.  I can't believe it is all done!  Whew.  I started this years ago.  I did it my own way using long armed cross to join the panels.  I also used  30 count linen that may not have been the recommended count.

The finishing was challenging as the photos are hard to decipher with the black ultrasuede.  But I finally understood that the spine was ultrasuede with the stitching panel sewn on top of it.  I admit that some of directions I still don't understand, but whatever.  It's done - yeah!

 The front pocket has a small ultrasuede pocket for a threadwinder.

 The back pocket has a holder for scissors.

The other case I made fits in the middle.

I was looking for some ribbon for the closure and ran across yet another part of this project.  It is a case for the case so I have one more thing to make.  Well actually two things.  I have the kit for that funny thing in the left corner.

Here are all my India Ink pieces - so far.

Cool.

A

Folio

I finished stitching the Folio from Jackie and Needle in a Haystack.  I confess that it was not my favorite stitch.  It was boring to do the flowers over and over.  It just didn't feel very creative.  But it is done and I am glad.  I sewed it up.  It isn't perfect (don't I always say that?).  I also confess that I used my sewing machine and did not do this all by hand.  Which reminds me that I still need to sew up the opening for turning this which happens to be inside the bag.

I picked up a little kit that I got in Arizona.  It was a quick stitch and I just need to glue it together.

 I guess I need a chain or floss to make it into a necklace.  It was hard to stitch on such a dark color.

I've got to pack and get some stuff ready for my trip.

I've got another finish to show you tomorrow.
A