Nov 19, 2018

Monday Update

I was going to title this post...Monday Update/Hoosier Retreat Wrap Up/November IHSW/New Project Galore/Beer Dragon WIP Progress but I figured that was way way too long. So you get a Monday Update post instead haha. But get ready....we have a lot to discuss.

Thursday morning we woke up to an ice storm. Great. But we braved the ice anyway and headed out. Luckily the roads weren't as bad as they looked once we got going. Jeremiah and Mom delivered me to Warren, Indiana to meet up with two fantastic friends. We went the remaining 3 hours together and Mom and Jeremiah made it safely home. On the way to the retreat we stopped at a stitching store called Fancy Works in Bloomington, Indiana. I of course had to do my part to support the store and I made some purchases...
2 pieces of Fabric Flair fabric (1 featured in a new start coming in this post), 2 Erica Michaels petites, 2 threads for the Mermaid Kisses pattern, and the new Hands on Design Year of Celebrations. After shopping we made it to the lodge right when it started to get dark. I got this picture a different day to show you the lodge we stayed in...
There is a longer part of the building to the right you can't see where the bedrooms are. It's shaped like a L. The kitchen is closest to the parking lot. You can also see the main stitching room. So the hallway with the bathrooms and bedrooms is behind this part. It's located at Camp Rivervale church camp in Mitchell, Indiana. We have attended retreat here several times and it's just amazing! We love every second here. Especially now the staff even caters our food and it was just delicious the whole time! This is my bedroom area...
It was very comfy. (Yes that's a Daryl from Walking Dead blanket. You can't see my Tinkerbell sheets at least haha.) One of the girls that made the trip with me shared the room with me. This is my stitching area...
This is the whole room we have setup for us...
The round tables on the left are where we eat our meals. We also have a wall with yummy snacks and some drinks...
It's just a perfect setup. We ended up having 15 in attendance this time. We had so much fun catching up and solving all the world's problems with our chats. We all really needed this together time. We shed tears. We laughed a lot! It was simply wonderful. Now onto the stitching part. My goal was to work on several different pieces with new starts and progress on the Beer Dragon thrown in. Plus my major goal was to actually get more stitching done than the Pennsylvania retreat which was actually easy to do haha.

Thursday I started work on a new set of 4 sleds from Foxwood Crossings...
As you see from the picture this one is called Snowy Visitors. I'm stitching it on perforated paper using the suggested DMC threads. Since I stayed up till 3am that night I was able to finish up 2 of them! They sure go fast.

Friday I started another new piece...
This is called Thankful Pumpkins from Lucy Beam. She was setup as a vendor at the Pennsylvania retreat. I'm using a beautiful piece of fabric I fell in love with at House of Stitches but it was marked 28ct and we figured it must be 32ct which is okay because it was actually what I wanted to begin with. It's called Flash Lugana. The threads are the suggested Gentle Art threads. I really love how it's turning out. I didn't got to bed until 3am again because I was just enjoying working on this one so much. 

Saturday was Beer Dragon day. I got 600 stitches added to it...
Here it was last time...
Saturday night I was really tired so was in bed by 2am haha. Sunday we only had a few hours to stitch since we started to clean up at noon. I still had time for one last new start though. I started the 2018 Erica Michael's Thanksgiving freebie she just released on her FB page. I can't find a finished picture to show what it will look like. Here is my WIP though...
The fabric is a 40ct Ivory Fabric Flair and it's my first ever 40ct other than silk gauze. I bought it at the Fancy Works store because I've really been wanting to try 40ct fabric. The threads are the suggested DMC. There is a mix of over 2 and over 1 in the design. I love the difference in the two as you can see in the progress. So much fun. But it was time to clean up and head home.

See what I mean. I got a TON of stitching done. 3 New starts. Good progress on my Beer Dragon for one day. Definitely a successful IHSW for me. I'm one happy girl. Now to get ready for Thanksgiving. I hope everyone has a great week. For those in the US Good luck getting ready for Thanksgiving. Hope everything you make turns out yummy and delicious.

9 comments:

Carol said...

Love your stitching, especially the new Foxwood Crossing and Thankful piece, Katie! So glad you had a fun time at your retreat--there is nothing like being with fellow cross stitch addicts :)

Wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Julie Routon said...

What an AMAZING review of the Retreat. I totally forgot to take pictures.

Julie said...

Your weekend of happy times with friends looks amazing, what a great time you all had. You even managed to add plenty of stitches to your projects too. Great new stash you acquired on your way there too.
Love the little sleds, they are adorable.

Rachel said...

Wow! I think for a stitchy weekend away you should be exceptionally proud of your achievements. I love those little sleds, and everything else you worked on, but am not sure I'd ever tackle 40ct over 1! Wonder if anybody else achieved as much as you? :)

Faith... said...

Funny, I have been eyeballing that Hands on Design chart myself! I am still thinking it over hehe but I think we all know how that will end!

Looks like an awesome and productive weekend! Love your new starts and your Beer Dragon for your DH, you made such great progress on that one!!

DJ said...

Your stitching is so lovely! You've made wonderful progress on Beer Dragon!! Once you are hooked on 40 count, you will never look back! I've enjoyed stitching on 40 over one, however, if you make a mistake it can be a challenge to correct it. Let us know how you get on with it!! The retreat looks like it was a success! Whew, I'm impressed with all the stitching you got done!

Bethan said...

Looks like you had a fantastic time - I'm glad for you that the weather held off enough! Tinkerbell sheets sound more fun than a walking dead one! x

Jo who can't think of a clever nickname said...

What a wonderful weekend. You are so good to keep the shops afloat by spending your money with them! Love the Hands On Year of Celebration, hopefully we'll be seeing them each month next year.
The retreat looks fun, but when doesn't a retreat look fun?
You got so much stitching done, love those little sleds.

Astrids dragon said...

But of course you should support small businesses, stitching shops are the best!
Looks like you had another great retreat, I'm glad the weather didn't stop you.
All great progress, retreats are good for you!