Stitching Retreat Weekend

Welcome! I finally have lots to show and pictures this week. I spent the weekend stitching with my EGA Guild friends at the Marriott in Oak Brook. It is a very nice hotel and we had a great time stitching. I took Friday off from work and spent about half the day shopping. I went to Inspired Needle. It is a very nice cross stitch shop about 40 minutes outside of Chicago. I don't get out there very often and my bank account thanks me for that. I did not think to take pictures of what I bought. Oh well, that will give me something to post about later this week. I spent about an hour and a half looking over all the stitching goodness. After that was done, I went to Village Needleworks. It is a needlepoint store with lots of goodies. They have a great selection of thread, hand painted canvas, and notions. I really did not need any needlepoint stuff but I had to stop by for a look. I ran across another guild lady and we had a very nice lunch in a diner in the strip mall.

I spent the rest of the afternoon stitching on Safari. Over the weekend, I finished the stitching across the bottom, some of the zig-zag section up the middle, the diagonal zig-zag, the green sea grass on the diagonal and started the zebra stripes in the upper right hand corner. I drew in the zebra stripe and the spots. I had to work the zig zag sections so I made sure my counting was not off before I started the animal prints. The pencil markings show up better in this picture than in real life. They are very lightly drawn and hard to see. It helps to have a white cloth behind the project.

My next accomplishment for the weekend was to finish and cut out my ort box. Right now it is in five pieces and waiting for the lining. My eyes and brain could not tackle cutting fabric after a weekend of stitching so I thought it best to put the project aside for a day with more energy.

Saturday night I started the scissor fob that goes with my needle book. When I started making mistakes, I decided it was time to go to bed. French knots are not easy to pick out!! On Saturday night, we did have a fun scavenger hunt around the hotel. It made us get off our stitching butts and get moving. We had to follow the directions and we collected supplies and directions to make a small project. Plus, candy to keep us going.

Finally, I worked on my Long Dog Sampler last week and on Sunday morning. I am working on the flower motif on the right hand side of the picture. I bought a big Ink Circles pattern to work on next so maybe the idea of a new project will get me moving on this one. I did buy some more threads for Beautie Spot. This pattern calls for Gentle Arts Thread. Let me just say, there is not much thread on a card and they are selling for $2.00 a card. This project is expensive. I have no idea what it has cost but if I am going to invest this much time, I want it done right.

Sadly, I left the retreat about 11:00 am on Sunday. I had to go to Nordstrom Rack and DH had 9 people over for dinner last night. I think he was a little board being by himself this weekend so he threw a Sunday night dinner. He made a lovely stuffed pork roast with a maple syrup glaze. We had an incident on the table cloth with a glass of red wine but I took the table cloth out of the dryer this morning and it is no worse for the wear.

Tonight is a manicure and pedicure. I cannot wait!! I have not had a pedicure since we were in Naples in December. I like my nails to breath a couple of months a year and since most of the winter they are stuck in sox's and boots, it is the best time for freedom from paint. Now they can be pampered until next January.

That is about it for now. Have a great evening!! Kelly