Stitch Retreat & Class with Lauren Sauer

Finally - here is the first post about needlework, you know the ones that I have been promising to share for an eternity - or at least since September last year.  :-)

Back in October, a quartet of us ladies pulled off the annual Tiara Retreat at Higher Ground Conference Center, Indiana. 

We had a good time planning the event - the part that is always the most fun is planning the give-aways and the door prizes.  I stitched up a couple of pillows with a pattern that Big Dog found.  The pattern is pretty much as made specifically for our little group; Oops, I Dropped My Tiara by Bobbie Ashley.  I enjoyed myself picking out the linen, floss colors and beads.  I chose the Williamsburg Sampler fabric from Windham Fabrics.

  

I stitched up and finished one girlie pink pillow and one in pale lavender.  If I had started this little project on time, I would have finished the edges with something sparkly-glitzy, but as always I was running late...  I was lucky to finish these on time as it was!  If I get the time end energy, I might even stitch up one for myself one of these days.

Bzz*Bzz Bee and another lady made a couple of super-sweet gifts for all the participants!  As you can see, we have a mason jar made into a fall pincushion with the help of apple print fabric and the jar contains a fabulous home-made soap.  The other gift was a full kit with an very pretty original design to be stitched in rich fall colors. 

We do also frequently enjoy exchanges of smalls and such on our retreats & meets.  This year we decided to make a "whatever you want" theme, where people got to pick whether they wanted to stitch a fall theme, or maybe a Thanksgiving or Halloween themed small. 

Since I have been getting more and more enthralled with Just Nan, I decided to stitch this sweet little pocket designed to hold an owl thread winder.  (I learned that the thread winder is stamped, so the back is nothing but a "hollow" surface.  Maybe not the best quality item to wind thread around, since the edges seemed a bit sharp.)  I did have some trouble with the cardboard that was included for the pocket to be mounted around.  I seem to recall that it was too small, so I believe that I cut some mat board to a better fit instead.  As always with Just Nan - a fun stitch, pretty quick, with about a million color changes!  :-)

-  A quickie insert here!  Speaking of Just Nan - have you seen her new series with gingerbread critters?  After scouring the Internet, I was lucky enough to get hold of the mouse right before Christmas.  I found a decent color scrap of linen in the linen box at home and I did even get a little bit stitched before the girls started to take more of my time.  I hate to waste linen, so I decided to stitch up the mouse three times.  Two of them will have to do without the fancy tail included in the chart pack.  I am really impressed with Just Nan - how does she keep coming up with all her adorable ideas?  I especially like her 3D designs; they are just so clever.

As you may already know, three more gingerbread critters are to be released during this year, with the next one being an adorable bunny.  Silverneedle has an auto-ship sign-up for the remaining critters and you can get the linen cuts through them as well (scroll down on this page to check it out).  -

All right, so back to the retreat!  I got really lucky in the exchange.  A couple of ladies had decided to make "surprise" their theme, and I decided to take a chance and go for it (we made the exchange a "brown paper bag exchange" with the theme written on the top of the bags.).  I got this adorable needlebook and scissors-fob (scissors included!) set - how sweet are they!?  They are stitched on 40-count, I guess, and the stitches are tiny!  I just love the colors - my jaw literally dropped in joy when I opened my brown paper bag.  And the scissors are awesome - I use them all the time now.

A few weeks after the fall retreat, in early November, I drove up to Cleveland for a wonderful weekend.  It started off with a fabulous class with Lauren Sauer at Rose's.  We got to learn about and stitch Lauren's latest wonder, the exquisite (and very, very long) band sampler "Mistress L's Sampler of Bands, Emblems, and Motifs".  Lauren mentioned in class that she just kept designing until she ran out of space on her linen cut. 

 

Here is a close-up of Lauren's initials - don't you just love the colors!?

A couple of additional views - both of the sampler itself and Rose, Lauren and me.  Check out my impressive belly - and keep in mind that in this photo, I still had over another month to go....  

Lauren treated us all by opening up a shop with her high quality and sought after kits.  It was hard not to run amok in the store.  I got the very pretty Drawstring Beach Bag kit (I am a sucker for black-work) and a fairly new design, Anniversary Roses, which is another gorgeous band sampler kit. You can see Rose's finished sampler here, if you'd like to take a peak (8th photo from the top - Rose got Western Reserve Sampler Guild's Members' Choice Award First Place for her finished sampler - belated congrats on your win, Rose!!!).

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 Lauren is one of the sweetest ladies you'll ever meet (as are all the ladies that I have met at Rose's).  I have probably mentioned before that the first time I met Lauren (and the only time, up until this class), was back in 2007 at CON.  When she learned that I was Swedish, she sent me her Lucy design as a gift a few weeks after the class.  Such an incredibly thoughtful gift.  Lauren has Swedish heritage as well, so that was a real neat connection.
This time, she spoiled me again with the Mister Snow companion piece - can you believe how generous she is!?  I can't wait to stitch them up.  I would love to finish them as stand-ups, if possible.  I may pick a lower count linen, to make them a bit larger and they can stand and guard our Christmas tree! If I could only find a stitch store that sells time and I would be all set! 

 

After class, my MIL and SIL treated me to a fab family baby-shower!  This is an even more special treat for me , since we don't do showers in Sweden - when all was said and done, I had gotten three showers!  The theme for the shower was Sweet Peas and the decorations were so pretty!  SIL painted these wooden letters - aren't they precious?

Here are a few on the ladies with SIL on the far left and Grandma-In-Law in the front.  Cousin Kelly next to SIL had a baby just a few weeks after I had mine.  These are the first great grand-babies on this side of DH's family.  This is a great bunch of chicks to hang out with - they are absolutely crazy and some of them have a knack for saying things that make even me blush.... totally hilarious!

Check out the decorations!!!

 And check out the loot!!!  We did almost not get all of the stuff into my pretty sizable car when I was ready to drive back home.  I am probably the most spoiled mom ever!

 

And just for fun - this is DH and me exactly one month before the arrival of the twins - pretty impressive size belly huh!?  (Nothing compared to the day of the actual birth, though.  It felt like I was dragging my belly on the ground...)

 

 

At this point in my pregnancy, people unbeknown to me (you know, people in the grocery store, the car wash and on the beach.... wait, scratch that last one, LOL) started blurt out things like "about to pop any day now, ain't you!?" (add the KY accent here for full effect) and other similar types of 'encouragements'....  Yeah, that's right - pick on the pregnant lady who can't even get up out of bed on her own anymore (which wasn't really a problem, since at around this time I was already sleeping sitting up)....  LOL

Well, that's it for now.  I hope to get back with another post before too long.  Maternity leave ends on Monday and I will finally be able to eat one meal a day in peace and quiet and maybe even use the rest-room when I need to.  Oh, happy day!  ;-)

Gotta run, someone is complaining!

Happy Stitching!

The Happy End of a 36 Weeks and 4 Days Long WIP! (Not a stitching post....)

Happy Valentines Day!!!

 

I can not believe that my last post was written back in September - wow, I am slacking!  I have so many things to share with you since then that I decided to split it all up into a few posts.  I begin with the most important one - presenting to you Little Miss O and her sister, Little Miss L.
Here they are at 5 days old:

 

 

As you may be able to tell, they are not identical twins, but they do look similar, I guess.  In the beginning I was super worried about mixing them up - how embarrassing would that be!?  As a matter of fact, after they came home with us from the hospital we kept the ID bracelets on them for another three days before finally feeling confident enough to remove them.
Everything has been going really well - the twins are like their parents, not patient at all, so they decided to come out three days earlier than scheduled.  The three of us went in for a regular check-up and just a few hours later they were out!  (Early onset of preeclampsia, so I got the nasty meds and the "leg pumpers" and all that good stuff for about three days after the C-section....)
The sound of their first cries is the most beautiful thing I have ever heard.  I was lying there, no feelings in half my body (thank goodness for that!), surrounded by medical personnel (I bet there was at least 8 professionals in the room with us - one team per child.  Can you imagine the circus it must have been when Octomom gave birth?), and I was laughing and crying at the same time.  It was wonderful!

Getting ready to meet our girls:

 Holding the girls for the first time - oh bliss!!!

 Meeting my girls for the first time sparked a strange mix of absolute joy and deep sadness.  Joy that DH and I finally got doubly blessed after eight hard years of our more and more desperate attempts at becoming parents - I was finally done with pills, shots, surgeries, and the pain of hope that never seemed to want to die away.  Joy at the perfect human beings presented to us - absolutely beautiful and healthy - working hearts and lungs.  Joy at their small noses, fingers, toes, eyelashes, pink almost transparent skin, hair and their breathtaking blue eyes.
Sadness at the knowledge that I will do anything and everything that I can possibly do to protect my girls, but that it won't be enough to shield them from life.  I recalled all of the poor decisions I have made in my past and I know that I won't always succeed in protecting the girls from themselves and what is out there.  Sadness at the knowledge that they will turn away from me once they become teenagers.  Sadness at the pain they will have to go through; trying to find friends, incompatible boy friends, getting their period, being pushed by media and society into looking a certain way, behaving a certain way, and weighing a certain amount, giving birth and becoming mothers on their own with the same worries. I know it sounds strange, but that is how I felt.
The sad feelings have subsided since, so maybe it was just hormones going wild and crazy....  :-)  The joy is still with me every day!

Luckily New Daddy seems to be his calm and laid back self....

Here he is napping with his girls.  

(Oh, he has decided that they are allowed to date when they turn 30.  Poor, poor DH...)

The baby girls turned two months a couple of days ago and they are doing great!  Growing, gaining weight, eating, sleeping, you know the drill....

Christmas was fun and everyone was happy!

 The grandparents are excited!

DH's mom and dad visiting from Ohio:

 My parents visiting from Sweden:

 Bubba is confused...  "What the heck are those things!?"

Well, I'd better get going!  MIL is visiting and has offered to take care of the girls tonight while I get to go to a birthday/going away party for a good friend.  Next post will be about craft, I promise!!!

(4 days old below!)

 

Happy Stitching and talk with you in a bit!

Excuses.....

Hi everyone!  I hope that all of you are doing well and that life has been a good to you as it has been to me this year.

I know that I have been a bad, bad blogger and a very bad blog follower for the last months.  I am not even going to begin trying to apologize for my long absence - but I do have some terrific excuses - I promise! 

The photos below have been uploaded and ready to go since October 2nd...  blush, blush.

So, let me move on to my List of "Grand Excuses"... 

1)  A wonderful excuse:  We bough a new house in a neighboring town last week and we moved our entire household over the Labor Day weekend!  I love the new house and I will be even more thrilled when we get all the boxes unpacked and all our stuff stored away.  The kitchen and the master bedroom and bath are pretty much taken done now.  Bubba and all the birds are moved in and Bubba is thrilled about our fabulous sun porch!  

(DH told me that he was on the verge of crying every time he saw a box marked XS tough... I don't think that he realized the extent of my stash collection until he had to move it out..  Luckily, he had help from 5 friends, so everything went smoothly. 

Oh, and I am turning 40 today, so yesterday we picked out my birthday gifts at Sears; a brand new washer and drier from Whirlpool in a yummy cranberry red.  I can't wait for those babies to arrive!!!!  Not until September 25th, unfortunately....  :-(

2)  A sad excuse:  Work has been very turbulent yet again and we just went through another gruesome mass-layoff - the third one since I started working here 7 years ago!  I was lucky enough to be safe this time again, but watching colleagues and good friends getting laid off is a terrible experience.  You can't help but worrying about them and feel really guilty about still having a job.

3)  A pathetic excuse:  I have been enjoying reading a stack of books on my iPad lately.  It started off with Hip^Hip tipping me off about 50 Shades of Grey.  I loved this trilogy and not only for the s-e-x, I promise (- seriously)!  (Don't judge me!  LOL) 

All right, I know that a lot of readers could not get past all the "kinkiness", the poor and very inhomogeneous language, or the parts that seem less than realistic - like the heroes young age, unlimited assets (money and "other things", ahem), his looks, and that the heroine is supposedly "plain" (an a virgin, of course...), etc, etc - but I still loved it!  There is definitely a love story behind all the "action" and the main characters do evolve and mature immensely throughout the books.

That said, I do agree with the less than impressive use of the English language (heck, I think Ithat I write better in English and this i only my 2nd language!) and how many young American females say "Oh my" to themselves several times a day?  Just wonderin'...
So if you have read 50 Shades, you may, just as me, still find it hilarious to read the reviews at Amazon (the favorite being this reviewer: cupcake on top - I love the "I gave this 4 stars. Don't judge me." comment) and I also found this article that made me laugh til I cried.  I tried to read it to DH, but I was laughing too hard for any of it to make sense.... "public transportation", oh wow!

4)  A tired excuse:  I was really torn up  and drained about losing Princess for a good week or two.  I could not stop crying and anything would set me off.  I never cry at work and now I found myself running for the rest-rooms or locking my office door, crying my eyes out.  I would cry while driving to and from work, while eating breakfast and lunch and dinner, while trying to go to sleep, while putting on make-up (that really did not work at all...).  After I had cried the worst out and a few weeks had passed, I suddenly realized that I was smiling when I thought about Princess instead of crying.  Bitter-sweet, but still, a warm feeling in my heart.  Bubba was confused for a while too, but she seems to be doing really well now.

5)  An ecstatic excuse:  So, something that DH and I have been working on together for almost a decade years finally happened!  We are going to be parents!  We are celebrating our 23rd week of pregnancy today, so I am starting to feel safer and safer for each week now.  I can feel them kick - yes, them - paternal twin girls!  DH is thrilled and I am starting to get relaxed enough to enjoy myself too!

Well, after all of my jabbering, let's get on to what really matters - stitching!!!!  ;-)

I could not pass on the adorable needle-roll from Just Nan, Lady Scarlet's Scissor Roll.  It looks like it sold out within just a few weeks, so I was lucky enough to grab one early.  It was a quick and easy stitch/finish and really very enjoyable.  I also appreciated that this "half-kit" called for DMC floss and not super expensive silks - always a plus in my book!.

This is the out-side:

Here it is rolled up - it looks tiny because it is!

Another view of the roll-up:

Last rolled up "side":

Here is the stitched and freshly ironed part waiting to get finished.  The photo is clickable, so you can get a better view, if you would like.  I love those little panels - they are just adorable!

This is another really fun, small and super-cute small; the Frog Pin Keepe kit from Schoolhouse for the Needle.  It was another quickie, even though the finishing took a little bit longer for this one.

Front:

Back:

Here they are together....

Remember this piece from my crazy post about crows and pears?  I finally stitched it up and it was a joy to work on.  I used hand-dyed chenille for the trim and I picked all the WDW floss randomly from my stash, as well as the linen cut.  The leaves are felt applique, which was not as hard as I feared, so one less intimidation on the "i-list"!  :-)

Here is the back.  I finally tracked down crushed walnut shells to fill the pillow with, so it has a nice weight and feel to it.

The third stocking got stitched up as well.  I did finish the fourth one yesterday - I am happy, since they are not real "fun" stitches.  There is a lot of areas to just fill, fill, fill and fill....  I think that the finishing will be a breeze though.  (If I ever find a backing and lining fabric, that is.)
So, now I have one each for the twins and for DH and myself stitched up!  Good, since the twins are due on December 20th!  :-)

The latest part of the EMS samples has been downloaded & printed and is waiting for me at home.  I tell you, it is just so hard to get started on each new part!!!!  Only 4 more sections to go - almost there!

And last, here is a photo showing why I have to throw so many of my Vera Bradley purses in the laundry machine repeatedly...  This is apparently the place where the cool birds hang out.  Some of them even get in to the purses and sit there until discovered and chased away by someone mean (=me!).  Sigh!  (This is why I don't own any crazy expensive designer purses....)

Well, I know that I have talked your heads off, so I'll let you go!  I'll try to post and keep in touch after we have the computer up and the Internet running at the new house.

Take care and Happy Stitching!