WWAD (What Would Alma Do)

For those of you who have had the pleasure of taking a class from Barb and Alma of Blackbird Designs you know how creative these women are!  Their cross-stitch and quilting designs are wonderful and just some of the results of their creativity.  They've shown us how to cover those cardboard boxes with fabric, the endless uses for PVA glue and Briwax, making pedestal pieces out of plates and candlesticks, creative vessels for pin cushions . . . and on and on.  You just want to smack yourself in the head and say "why didn't I think of that!".   So when "The Fun Girls" (my cohorts in Retreat attending) are trying to figure out some creative use for something we say "what would Alma do?" (WWAD). . . not that Barb doesn't have great ideas too!  It's just that Alma seemed to be the one who explained all these great ideas to us.

I have taken another career plunge and joined TNNA (The National NeedleArts Association) and registered for my first TNNA Needlework Market coming up in February in Nashville!  It's held at an Embassy Suites and you sell your products to shop owners from all over right out of your suite.  From blogs I've read and pictures I've seen, the designers decorate their suites and display their models in creative ways.  (Barb and Alma have a mock fireplace they drag around to these markets!)  So . . . I've been on the lookout for "props" to use to decorate and display my pieces . . . channeling my inner Alma!


I found two sets of peeling paint shutters that are as tall as I am . . . cheap!  I scraped, wire brushed and stained them with Briwax leaving what paint was still attached.  I'll hinge them together making a stand-up screen.  They look really old and will be a great backdrop to hang my framed models on!


I also found the cutest small metal plate with the alphabet around it just the perfect size for business cards!  I've been walking room to room looking at various things around the house that I can use as well . . . oh, if only Alma could walk around with me with ideas!  WWAD!

Maybe it was easy to channel Alma since I was working on her piece "Where My Heart Blooms" at our EGA Retreat earlier in the month.  I finished it a week or so ago and can't wait to get it framed!  Not sure where I'll put it . . . seriously running out of wall space!

I've been stitching and designing like crazy hoping to have some new designs ready for Market (maybe some before).  Here's a sneak peek:

It's been so nice stitching during the day and calling it work!  I usually just stitch at night after dinner . . . but, since it's becoming a "real" job now . . . well . . . I need to seriously devote more time to it . . . right?   Working 9 to 5 . . . what a way to make a living!!!

Happy Stitching!  ~*

Deja Vu

I just want to start by saying "I had nothing to do with either fire alarm at the last two retreats I've attended!" . . . just so you know.

Yep . . . it happened again!  This time though it was 6:40 a.m.  When I turned on the bathroom light to take a shower, the florescent lights barely came on . . . not really enough light to see very well.  I left my nightlight on and the entry light on and left the bathroom door opened to give me a bit more light.  I was in the shower when this deep sounding hum began.  I thought it was water pipe noise.  When I turned the shower off  the hum continued.  What in the world is that noise?!  It didn't really sound like a fire alarm.  I didn't smell smoke . . . doors were slamming in the hallway . . . so I dressed as quickly as I could . . . I don't care if there are flames lapping at the door, I'm not running out in a towel!  My room was at the end of the hall near a staircase (I was on the 5th floor) down I went and out the exit door, wound my way around the back of the building across a leaf covered walkway and down some leaf covered uneven steps to the street (the hotel is built on a hillside).  The exit was probably more dangerous than staying in the building!

Up pulled the firetrucks!  People milling around in various stages of dress . . . some PJs and robes.  (I don't bring my bathrobe when I travel . . . takes up too much suitcase space!)  It was still chilly and dark outside so I headed to our retreat room (in a separate building across the street from the hotel) and thought I might as well stitch.  Several other retreat goers had the same idea.

Turned out that a couple of transformers had blown and the hotel was on generator power.  That explained the low lights in my room.  Not sure why that would cause the fire alarm to go off, but it did.  Blue lights were flashing across the lake and we thought that might be the area of the transformers.  It turned out that a car had gone off the bridge and into the lake!  Related to the transformers?  Don't know.

Elevators were out for a bit . . . lobby on the 2nd floor . . . dinning hall on the 3rd floor . . . sleeping room on the 5th floor.  With all the snacks that our group brought, the morning stair workout was a blessing in disguise!

We got the all clear and headed for breakfast and a return to our normal retreat routine which is:
Breakfast, Stitch, Snack, Stitch, Lunch, Stitch, Snack, Stitch, Dinner, Stitch, Snack, Stitch, Snack, Stitch, Sleep, with a lot of talking and laughing sprinkled in there, Repeat.  Some of us do take some time to walk around the lake or a trip to the local quilt shop, but basically it's stitching, talking, laughing and eating!

We had the same space as last year for sitting and stitching and/or quilt making with a great view of the lake.  There were 30 of us spread out around the room with our various projects.

We also had a surprise engagement shower for one of our members complete with veil, a "handmade" wedding dress and a bouquet to throw (or hand to someone as was the case)!

We had crisp mornings with warming afternoons . . . a little shower . . . some strong wind . . . overall, typical fall weather at Lake Junaluska, NC.

 

I did finish Plum Street's - Jingle, Jingle and found the perfect fabric at the quilt shop to finish it as a pillow.  I'm sure I have some tiny rusty bells somewhere too!

And I made some good progress on Blackbird Designs - Where My Heart Blooms (Loose Feathers Pattern 29).  (No, I didn't work on my EGA projects . . . surprised?)

My creative soul is replenished for now . . . can't we do this more often?  I could really get onboard with a quarterly retreat schedule!!!!  Any takers?

~*

Retreating Again!

I was going to take this piece to finish at our EGA Retreat at Lake Junaluska, NC (starting this Thursday), but I finished the stitching last night and I just had to put it together this morning.

Yes, I did change it a bit.  I just thought that big pot was distracting from the house and the words . . . personally, I like it better now.


Our EGA Retreat is just a "bring your own projects" kind of retreat.  Everyone works on whatever they want.  We have quilters, cross-stitchers, needlpointers, knitters, crocheters . . . whatever strikes your fancy!  I've been gathering my possibilities . . . the partially done:

Or the "I can't wait to get started" ones:
What's a girl to do?!?  I may just take them all and work on whatever I'm in the mood for . . . DANGER, DANGER . . . you know that means starting something new!  What do you think I should be stitching at the retreat?  We'll see!!!






Can't believe I forgot to show you the ending gift at the Dyeing To Stitch Retreat!  We got these darling boxes hand painted by Liberty Hill at the end of the Banquet.  Too CUTE!

 ~*

Projects Completed

Last week I received my Zippity Do Dah (by La D Da) back from Jill Rensel (Rensel Studios) in Ogden, UT.  I left the piece with her at the Shepherd's Bush Retreat last year.  I told her there was no hurry . . . it will be for my "someday" grandchild.  Well . . . I couldn't just put it in a closet somewhere until that "someday".   So, I hung it in the guest room with pictures of our daughter when she was little (she's 23 now).  I love it!  Jill does such an amazing job enhancing a piece of needlework!  THANKS JILL!!!!

AND . . . I finished "Jack's Birthday Tart" by Plum Street Samplers in plenty of time for our Halloween Party last Saturday night.  I would have loved to have kept it on the dinning room table with the skeleton's hand reaching for it but, I was afraid someone might spill something on it . . . so, I put it on a shelf.

Now to decide what projects I'll be taking with me to work on at our EGA Retreat at Lake Junaluska in a week and a half.  So many to choose from!!!!

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Dyeing To Stitch Retreat - Final Day

The final day...NO!  Why does it go by so fast????

Saturday's class was with Paulette (Plum Street Samplers) . . . another sweet heart.  We met her last year at the Shepherd's Bush Retreat but we weren't in her track.  Her designs (two of them!) are fantastic!  LOVE the mini tart pan pin cushion (Jack's Birthday)!!!  We were disappointed that there was no fabric included with the sampler (Jack's Bash) equally cute!  By the time we found out about the fabric being sold in the shop, it was all gone.  Luckily I have some in my stash.  Although I bought it for another piece, there may be enough.  I like to buy the whole half yard to have some left over for smalls, other projects or my own designs.  You can never have too much fabric!!!!

I'm hoping to have Jack's Birthday finished for our Halloween party on the 19th.  Paulette has great step by step pictures of how to put it all together and suggested that you could easily make other inserts to change it out . . . great idea!

Classes are always fun and you meet some of the most interesting kindred spirits.  Can't we all live in the same neighborhood and stitch together every day?

 Linda and Faye from NC (Faye does beautiful finishing work as Carolina Stitcher)

 Wendy from Columbia, MD (where I lived in my early 20's . . . small world)

Anne and Lynn from WY

More new friends:

Reeta (works at Sherpherd's Bush) and her daughter Desiree from Utah

Michelle and her mother-in-law Trudy (keeps the books for Shepherd's Bush) also from Utah

After class we took a walk down the boardwalk and had a long leisurely lunch at the Hilton's outdoor cafe.  Pat (of R&R) was going to have a "Master's Class" that afternoon at 2:30 (she has so many tips and tricks she has shared over the years).  There was also going to be a question and answer session with the retreat designers.  Unfortunately after waiting for a table and relaxing over lunch, we didn't make it back until a little after 3:00.

As we approached the hotel we heard an alarm going off and were immediately told to leave the building . . . it was the fire alarm!  There were two weddings happening there that day . . . one wedding party seemed to be dressed and ready while the other was in various stages . . . a child wrapped in a towel snatched out of the bath!  Sirens, fire trucks and hunky firemen . . . oh my!  I tried to get my keys from the valet parking guy so we could at least go somewhere but he was nowhere to be found.

It turned out not to be a fire but a broken water pipe.  When we were told we could go back in we stopped in the bar for a drink . . . or two . . . with friends.  Afterwards, I went to the retreat shop to fetch my models and remaining charts.  I carried it all to the elevators only to find that they were not working.  The boxes weren't so much heavy but awkward.  Jenny came down and helped me carry it all up 4 flights of stairs.  That night's banquet on the 11th floor was delayed until 6:30 in hopes that the elevators would be working by then.  We must have tried the elevators about 15 minutes before they were operational . . . we walked up . . . it wasn't so bad . . . we needed the exercise!

View from the top: 

The wedding did go on!

For the banquet we were told to dress in the style of the decade in which we were born.  I LOVE to dress up!  I tried to find a shirtwaist dress to wear with my mother's pearls . . . June Cleaver was my goal.  Much easier to get a poodle skirt.  There were some very creative costumes!!!

  Elvis has not left the building . . . thank you, thank you very much.

 Jenny and Paulette . . . staying alive!

 Wendy . . . Aaaaeeeyyy!

 Maxine . . . barefoot and pregnant and tied to the kitchen stove . . . so creative!

 Alice, Wendy & Pat . . . peace out!

And the image forever burned into my brain . . . Ann & Pat!!!  Thanks for the memories!!!!!

Can't wait until next year at the Shepherd's Bush Retreat in Park City, UT.  Can't wait to reconnect with my new and old retreat friends!  Until we meet again . . . 

 

                                              ~*