Mar 25th Monday Update -- After Retreat

I had a fantastic Spring Hoosier Retreat but first let me see what I did before leaving Thursday...

 

Monday and Tuesday I got my 500 in on Halloween Potions...

After hitting my goal for the month I started Spring Line Up by The Trilogy in honor of the first day of Spring...

I decided to start on the bottom for this one. 

Wednesday I worked on Thanks to the Brave a bit more in between packing...

Thursday it was finally time to leave. Jeremiah did great holding down the fort until Fred got off work. Fred did take Friday off to be here to let Spike out so that was really nice. I was picked up by 3 of my local friends. 2 I hadn't seen since my mom's funeral. 1 since probably 2019. We all got to talking and our last Hoosier Retreat was 2019!!! Boy we missed each other. On the way down we normally stop at a LNS in Bloomington Indiana but it closed. So I suggested stopping at one around Indianapolis called Always in Stitches that I haven't been to in YEARS. Maybe I shouldn't have said that. Look at my haul...

I had been wanting to bite the bullet and get some of the Primrose Cottage ones. I have fallen in love with them. So one of my friends said they had the Autumn one I could have and I figured I might as well buy some of the others to go with it. Plus a few more haha. And a few more. In the 2nd photo the seasonal 4 and the Mandalorian chart came from another friend. The patriotic one in the top right I bought from someone at the retreat. The Pirate Snowman is just adorable....as are all the others haha. Now I just can't decide what I want to work on first haha. Like I needed more projects....now I have 21 more!!! OMG. But I smile so big flipping through these amazing patterns. I also bought some fabric both at the store and at the retreat. Black for some patterns in my stash and some linen from a lady selling at retreat. Also an arm full of beautiful project bags my friend was giving away.

 

We arrived safely at Camp Rivervale in Mitchell, Indiana and settled in for the weekend. It was wonderful...
 

A lady grabbed a picture of my tablemates.

We had 25 and two day visitors.

How to get 4 ladies worth of stuff there and home

My bed for the weekend

My setup. Ready to stitch away. I did get some stitching done...

I put in 1,225 stitches in total. I did more talking and catching up than stitching haha. I missed everyone!!! Plus had one big unload when I talked about everything going on with me in the 5 years. WOW! I tell you what though. I feel so much better. The support I got was exactly what I needed. Several had been through similar things and it helped so much to hear it's not just me and I'm not wrong for my feelings.

 

After retreats like this I always have major motivation and want to STITCH ALL THE THINGS! Boy do I ever now even more. Look at those beautiful new patterns!!! I want to start them all and NOW.  Plus Plus I want to work on what I have so I can happily start the new ones....but I want to stitch them all at the same time hahaha. See. Then I was so tired I slept for 2 hours when I got home. What a waste of time. Now I sit here on the computer typing. I don't have time for anything else but stitching for months. Then we leave again this Thursday for a weekend of Wrestling craziness. Jeremiah is going crazy and keeps saying Is it Time Yet?? LOL I can definitely tell you one thing I am a happy girl. Happy with my life. Happy with my stitching options that's for sure haha. Now to just breath and enjoy each and every little stitch. I sure will. No stress. Just fun and happiness.

Spike is making sure I never attend another retreat though. I have only been away from him one night before this. This was 3 long long nights he said...

Just as I got my stitching out (thankfully) Spike crawled in my bag and laid down. No mommy no more filling this bag you leave me too long. So adorable.

 

Have a wonderful week. I will be back next Monday. Love yourself. Smile. Hugs.

Monday Update -- Hoosier Stitcher Retreat

What a weekend! I attended the Hoosier Stitcher Fall Retreat. It was located in Mitchell, IN which is a little over 3 hours south of where I live. It started Thursday. Luckily there were several friends from my area going as well. So mom and Jeremiah gave me a ride to Markle which is only 30 minutes away. I rode down with two lovely ladies. One I've known for a long time and her friend who just started stitching in June. So nice to see someone new to the hobby. She is hooked now by the way. Unfortunately I developed a head cold a few days before the retreat but I wasn't going to let it stop me from having fun. So I took a lot of medicine with me. On the way down we stopped at Fancy Works a stitching store in Bloomington, Indiana. Here is what I bought while there...

I had bought the other two seasons of the Erica Michael set while attending the PA Retreat over a year ago. I had paid for the these two that the lady said she had at her store. After a year of waiting and never receiving the patterns plus getting lied to over and over about how she was mailing them the next day blah blah. I demanded my money back and ordered them from Fancy Works. I only gave her a month and she got me the patterns right away. So now I have the complete set to do in the future. I also found this cute Halloween pattern that Rachel had just stitched up. I bought a piece of fabric for it and I've decided to do the cats in black and the words in this purple thread I found. What do you think?

I really wasn't feeling well but we arrived safe and sound about 4pm. There ended up being 23 of us this time at the retreat. It was wonderful! First I got busy and got my hour in on the Halloween Biscornu that I'm using for the #witchystitchy challenge for Day 6...

Then I started a Mill Hill kit from my October acrostic list. Taboo Kitty. I got 1 hour and 14 minutes in and just couldn't stay awake any longer. So I headed to bed early.

Friday I was actually feeling quite a bit better. Not all the way though. The medicine I had helped a lot and I took way too much. Everyone was picking on me because they could tell when my medicine would kick in and when it would stop working. I worked on Taboo Kitty for 40 minutes to get to a good stopping point. I got my hour in on the biscornu for Day 7...

I went back to working on Taboo Kitty and finished it after 4 more hours and 36 minutes...

It took a total of 6 hours and 30 minutes. Not bad for a mill hill kit. I really enjoyed working on it. I decided I just had to start the 2nd lantern mill hill kit and started Moonstruck Manor before bed. I got 1 hour 28 minutes and went to bed about 2am.

Saturday I was really feeling better. Well rested and ready to go. I started the day with getting my hour in for Day 8...

Then back to Moonstruck Manor. I worked on it for 4 hours and 46 minutes and that finished it up...

This one took me 6 hours 14 minutes. After finishing this one up I picked out Boo from Rovaris to maybe try to finish before bed. Here I was with that one before retreat...

No going to bed till finishing and guess what I finished it after 3 hours and 49 minutes more working on it...

So I finally went to bed at 5am! I kept saying I just had to finish my crabs.....I stitch too many nautical charts I guess....my spiders were crabs until I remembered it was a Halloween piece haha. I woke up at 8:30am so I really just took a nap but I wanted to get a little bit more stitching in before heading home.

I got my hour in on the biscornu for Day 9...

Then I got a tiny start on Trick or Treat Mill Hill kit before heading home. Only 16 minutes. Packing up was priority. So I'll wait and show that one when it's not just 30 little yellow stitches.

The retreat was very needed and just wonderful. I swear it's like a counseling weekend too. We all talk and solve all the world's problems. It's so wonderful to not only share a love of a hobby but our lives with each other. There were 5 new people who had never attended a Hoosier Stitcher Retreat before. 3 were PALs girls that I was so glad to see again.

Janet from Janet's Jabber Floss Tube was my lovely driver for the weekend. We've been friends for a long long time. Since our kids were just a few years old. She has a blog and now is a floss tuber. I picked on her all weekend about thinking she was famous but honestly she does a fantastic floss tube. One of the only ones I really enjoy watching actually. She made us all these lovely giveaway bags...

Notebook and pen. Little bag of candies. A 310 floss because we all can never have too many skeins of 310. A cute wire bracelet thing for holding floss bobbins or what nots. One of the new quilters holders that a lot of people are using to hold their extra fabric. Plus the fabric square is a too cool floss catcher for the arm of your couch. I love using them for beads to keep them from rolling off the table too. Also she gave us all a cute Indiana shaped needle minder she had someone make with HS for Hoosier Stitcher on them...

The little compass one beside it was given to me by another friend at retreat. Love it too!! The organizer also had some grab bags that were donated by designers who she asked for donations from. Here is what I brought home...

Two cute charts. Grab bag from Weeks Dye Works. Two fantastic project bags. Like I said it was a great retreat. I had a blast. Here is my bedroom and my table area all setup...

Yes I have the Daryl bedding from The Walking Dead. He is fun to sleep with haha. We made it safely home even though I was very very tired I'm ready to head back and stitch with my girls. I got a TON of stitching done this time. I had my timer with me I really clicked it when I put my stitching down for any length of chatting or time away. So it's a pretty accurate account for my time stitching.

Thursday I stitched 2 hours 15 minutes.
Friday I was ready to have a good day....7 hours and 49 minutes!
Saturday though I was really rested and ready to go.....9 hours 34 minutes!!!
I should stay up till 5 am more often haha.
Sunday was a little 1 hour 16 minutes but packing and goodbyes took a lot of time.

It was fun keeping track of my laziness. Definitely a stitching filled stitching retreat this time around. Last night I went to bed at 9pm and woke up this morning at 9am. Nothing like a 12 hour catch up on sleep. Have a great week. I will be back with more posts probably tomorrow. I need to do a WIPocalypse update.

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.

Wonderful Retreat

I'm back from the Spring Hoosier Stitching Retreat. What a wonderful time!! We had 21 attend. 4 new lovely ladies even this time. It was a weekend full of stitching, story telling, jokes, and wonderful new memories. I got hardly any sleep of course but the above picture is my home away from home. I had a wonderful roomie that I really enjoyed getting to know even more. We've been friends for a long time so it was great to spend the few hours we were actually in our room together too haha. Here is a shot of where we all sat and stitched during the day. This is a church camp lodge in Southern Indiana called Camp Rivervale.

It's so much fun to share our love of stitching with each other. Tips and tricks of the trade. Here is my stitching area...

Thursday we arrived around 4pm. I decided to work on the Spring Bell Pull. I started the P block. I did way too much talking since it was the first day seeing everyone so I didn't make a lot of progress...

Friday I picked up the Tilton Crafts Mermaid piece. Here is where I was at the start of the day...

I got 1,000 stitches in...

So I must have finally shut up and stitched haha. Saturday I worked on Hope. Here is where I started for the day...

I got 400 stitches in because it was a very confetti filled area...

Her little hand is finished though. Little closer to that amazing finish. Sunday I picked up a small ocean themed start from Jan but I didn't have much time since it was time to pack up and head home. We left at like 11am since it was a 4hr drive home. I forgot to share that on the way down to the retreat we stopped at a stitching store in Bloomington, Indiana called Fancy Works. Here is what I ended up being forced to buy haha...

Winter Messenger from Erica Michaels and the specialty threads. There was a freebie given out at the Nashville Market from Hands on Designs. I had to have it since it said To the Beach. I bought a small piece of 32ct fabric and the specialty threads for it as well. I had to grab a few skeins of DMC I needed and found this cute heart shaped needle minder that says Cross Stitch on it. Speaking of needle minders a friend at the retreat made me one too...

How perfect a sea turtle!! I love it! I also wanted to share my new QSnap covers I received in the mail from Stormborn Boutique's Etsy shop while I was away...

I had to order the Walking Dead one and the puppy prints just accidentally followed it into my cart haha. She also includes matching needle minders so how awesome is that. The covers are so well done! I will definitely be ordering from her again.

So as you can tell I had an amazing time. I enjoyed every second. I always feel so motivated after a retreat. I want to stitch on everything at the same time haha. I feel so thankful for all the compliments I received on my stitching and what kind of person I am. I just love life and try to smile as often as I can. I thank my mom every time I get home for raising me to be the person I am. I hope you enjoyed a glimpse into my fun.