Sunday, October 19, 2008

Labors of the Stitching Retreat



Where to start? It was a wonderful weekend at the Pals retreat in Myrtle Beach. Amy, the fearless leader, arranged a fabulous time for everyone, as always (thank you, Amy!). We had the opportunity to take classes with Jane Timmers of Fancy Work. She does exquisite work and had excellent tips and techniques to make things easier, quicker, prettier, and have neater work. First we put together the pinkeep which was so pretty. Then we lined the Madeira Tin, which turned out beautifully. We received the chart to stitch another sampler to match in the window, but have a temporary option if we choose. I haven't finished the biscornu yet, but hope to this week. I included a bare mini-biscornu that I threw together at the last minute just to stitch one in class.


Mary (M Designs) was once again there with her family to satisfy any stash acquisition desires with her store, Crossstitch-ville. It's amazing how much she had with her portable store. Charts of all kinds, fibers, fobs, fabric, you name it, she had it - even models stitched. Her real store is actually in Crossville, Tennessee, so if you ever get a chance to wander in that direction, don't miss the chance to stop by. She is a delight to be around and is ever so helpful. I'm sure I sound like an advertisement here, but when you interact with helpful stitching people, it's always good to pass the word on... :)

If you're interested in accessories and specialty needlework, here are some of Jane's designs that were displayed; I'm hoping to stitch some more of her work. Pictures are clickable.



The one above is Martha's Pocket - I think this is one of my most favorite designs. Love the aqua and coral colors and stitching.



Tons of stitching and tons of fun!

22 comments:

Sadie said...

Sounds like you had a great time. Love your stitching and what great pictures. I'm soooo jealous! LOL

Vonna Pfeiffer said...

Sounds like Amy again prepared a lovely weekend! I know she works so hard and worries A LOT about it prior to it even happening.
Your class set is just gorgeous! You should be proud!

BW said...

It sounds like you have a marvelous time! The pictures of the finished are absolutely beautiful.

Unknown said...

you are a super women I just love what you did with the cross stitching.

Kathy said...

Color me green with envy. :) It sounds like you had a wonderful time. AND learned something. Can't beat that combination.

GoldenAngelsWorks said...

Everything looks wonderful. SO thankful that I was not there.... we would be even more broke.

Meari said...

Wow, those are beautiful!

Unknown said...

this is kaghos, and the answer to
your question as far as the page design. it is a Mar Bek design that I
did and a computer generated frame.

if you want me to make frames for your cross stitch for display in blogs or what nots just let me know.
you can email me privily.
kaghos@gmail.com

Rene la Frog said...

Your finishes are lovely as usual. Boy that is some eye candy, all those designs would have me drooling and would need a mop to clean up the floor.

Jinger said...

Sounds like a really fun time!

Welcome to the yahoo stitching group!

Elizabeth MacGregor-Kirkcaldy said...

Oh, what a lovely time you had at Myrtle Beach with PALS... Amy does such a wonderful job with this and it's always so special... I so wanted to go... hopefully next year! :-)

And what gorgeous needlework... Oh, so much lovely handwork going on... the sea... wonderful friends to chat and stitch with... what more could a girl ask for? :-)

Thanks for sharing Carolyn! :-)

Nancy M said...

Very nice finish for you and I bet there was tons of drooling for everyone to see all those great models! I wish they had some things like that up north!

Cheryl said...

Wow so many lovely pieces to look at here!! Sounds like fun.
Could you tell me who the designer of the Wedding chart you've just stitched is please? I really like it!

Gabi said...

These finishes are SO lovely. Thanks also for showing the pictures from Jane's designs. These are gorgeous as well

Debbie Jo said...

Wonderful pictures. Glad you had such a great time. I sure hope to be able to do that sometime in my life.

Shari said...

hi there! Found you on stitching bloggers!!! Love all the pictures from the retreat! I also have 3 children, all pretty much out! Love your music selections! Many similar to mine!

CameoRoze (Margaret) said...

Oh, Carolyn!
You did such a nice job finishing your work. The classes sound wonderful. Thanks for sharing all the photos of cool things to stitch, too. Whets the appetite, doesn't it?
Cameo @-->-->---

Nicole said...

Hi Carolyn! Congrats on getting your class piece finished! It's gorgeous!!

Michele said...

Waving Hi :) seems like it was soooo long ago that we were at MB!

Congrats on getting your class piece done . almost :)

Einschies blog said...

Oh seeing all these smalls look really good...I love smalls collections;-))

Gaby

Ruth said...

Ahhh, such a pleasure to relive through you the joys of MB. :)

Anonymous said...

Such lovely work! Thank you so much for sharing, I throughly enjoyed your post and zommed in on every photo. Wow!