Fully Finished Gallery ~ March 2023 🖼

Welcome to Rachel's Fully Finished Gallery SAL for March. Go have a look and see what others have finished this time!

Maja at The Snowflower Diaries offered the Joyful World SAL way back in 2016, and here is March. I started stitching it in German for meine Mutti, although I still have to finish Oct - Dec. She saw the ones I stitched, but sadly never got to see them all finished. I will continue them in German and will think of her every time I see them.

At least I should have this one to show every month!

It's still available it you're interested.

I stitched this little one for St. David's Day. You can sort of see the sparkles in the fabric.

And here they are together, on the shelf I bought in Havre de Grace on St. David's Day.

Maybe you'll join in next time?

Scavenger Photo Hunt - Fall 📷 🍂

Welcome to the third word of the Scavenger Photo Hunt for September. As always, anyone can join in with whatever inspires you and I can always add it after the sign up is closed. 

This week's word is -

Fall

Fall Ball Baseball!

Although this year the shirts aren't showing Fall Baseball on it.

Can you tell Nathan's have a good time?!

My favourite time of year, fall and all those beautiful colours!

Fall colours under the fallen snow.

A fallen top of the loaf of bread I made from DH's spent grains after his brewing.

A fallen tree from our neighbour's yard after a storm this summer, luckily it missed our house.

A fallen fence caused by the tornado that hit in Annapolis in my friend's neighbourhood. Thankfully it missed her house!

Just waiting for those falling leaves!

I know this is a repeat from school, but it works.

I added the falling leaves and the leaves on the bottom of this Joyful World piece.

I didn't stitch this Mill Hill, but I want to!

See you Friday for the word, Ball. I guess I had a head start with my first two photos!

The People Chose 🐝

Here's to the perfect end of the summer with Jo @ Serendipitous Stitching, and this time we're celebrating BEES🐝!

An oldie, but a goodie - Cottage Garden Sampling, My Garden Journal. I just wished I had stitched it smaller.

And here's this little cutie from The Snowflower Diaries, Joyful World. The series is still out there as a freebie if you're interested.

I made this for my Momma, it came from Hobby Lobby.

After the last one, I got stung by the bee and got this one to stitch from Little House Needleworks.

Then I saw this one from Hinzeit and had to get it! I changed the banner colour, I thought the original was too bland for my liking.

And thanks to Jo stitching this one, Gathering Honey, I started it but have yet to finish. I haven't made it to be bees yet, but the hive is there, they must still be inside!

This is another one I still need to finish, Celebrate Summer by The Sweetheart Tree.

Here's one I have, but haven't started yet.

These are Nora Corbett's Miss Honey Bee and Miss Queen Bee, they were model stitched by Melanie the WIP Slayer. Aren't they gorgeous?! I can't decide which one I'd rather stitch... or maybe both? I'm thinking of using the honeycomb fabric when I do.

Finally, some words to remember...

So buzz on over to see Jo and the other blogs if you haven't already.

Next month - cats! Although I know I have more cat photos than stitched pieces.

St. Michaels Fun! 🐳

It was that time of year last month, the annual St. Michaels stitching retreat with the girls! 

Alice and I got there a little early so we were able to do a some shopping... 

Ah, my favourite mermaid shop!

Fun sculptures and who knew, an glassware shop!
(I didn't notice it until I looked at it later)

It stopped raining for a bit and the sun came out for a tease.

And now for the fun stuff! This year we did a patriotic exchange and this is what the other ladies made. They are all amazing!

This is what I opened, isn't it fantastic? It's a project bag, made by Wendy, but I'm displaying it because I don't want it messed up. And the strawberry is adorable!

This is what I made.
It's Paws and Stripes Furever from Stitchy Kitty, I just added some fireworks.

It's a wooden box that I painted and then decoupaged. The "ribbons" on top are from a pen I found at a dollar store. I like the way it turned out and I think I'll be doing it again.

These were the goodies from the White Elephant game. My first one was DJ's biscornu, and it was ripped from my hands stolen!

So I opened the last gift and this is what it was. Pat made it, I love it! And luckily it wasn't stolen!

I worked on this while I was there. I designed it, but I need to redo some of the stars because I don't like the way some of them look.

I also worked on these little guys from Joyful World by The Snowflower Diaries.

When I got home, I decided to play with the ground.

And came out with this colourful piece.
Now I need to figure out October.

This is what I found while shopping in St. Michaels, it was only $25! A previous display case, it only needs a touch up here and there, I'll get a light to put in the back, and it's been Ming approved.
Is it too early to start decorating for Halloween?!



I left early on Sunday to celebrate an anniversary with this guy, 23 years and counting!

Thank you for all the comments from my previous post about my Mom. I need to reply the hard way since we're still not getting notifications like before, sorry for the delay.

Next time... birthday fun!

Scenes from a... retreat!

I joined a group on facebook, Stitchers' Escapes, and found one that was close enough to go to...

 the 2017 Fall Getaway in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

I asked DJ if she wanted to go with me. She did, and we went!

We left on Friday morning, after a pit stop at the craft show at the fairgrounds just down the road from me. I bought a few things, but wait until you see what she bought! I hope she posts about it soon.

The sun peeked out here and there along the way, but at least you could still see the fall colours, so beautiful. She drove and I was able to take some photos. It only took us just over three hours, not bad at all.

Thanks to Annette and Linda, who organized the retreat, here's what went on...

DJ shopping at Silkweaver Fabrics. What a treat to have them there, plenty of fabric and patterns to choose from. Needle minders too, but I didn't get any.

I was pretty good and only found a few things that I couldn't live without! I already started the one ornament.

So many lovely colours to choose from, it was hard not to get any more than these three.

BFF Pouches (bffpouches@gmail.com) was there too, so many fun choices! All different sizes, I think they even custom make it if you have a special size you need.

 I saw so many I liked, but I had to have these two! I know they won't be my last.

The backside, the funside!

Gifts from Linda and Annette, the floss and needle minder. Also a treat from Fiberlicious. I love all the colours!

I loved the exchange table, these are the treasures I found. I brought some things too, mainly lighthouses and the last time I had looked, they were all gone. Win, Win!

There were about 55 of us, from PA, NY, NJ, DE and all the way from Canada! Even more states, but I couldn't remember them all. I did get a chance to speak to everyone (I hope) when I walked around to see what they were working on. So many beautiful pieces, from the start of some to the almost finish of others.

Here's our group, but I think we're missing some.

While talking with Sheila and seeing what she was stitching, she shared this with me. These are her instructions on how to put together a gift card pocket. So sweet of her to share it with me.

I FINALLY finished this little guy from Joyful World by The Snowflower Diaries. I changed him to look like a precious dog I know, Kita. I also did french knots instead of a lazy daisy, I saw it on the fb group and thought it looked great. Although I'm not happy with the colours I chose, I'm not changing it! 

And because I finished it while we were there, I won a shirt, awesome!

For dinner on Saturday night, DJ, Karen (our new NY friend!), and I went to Red Robin. So convenient, it was right next door. I think you can tell we were having fun together.

I tried the Blue Moon Beer shake, made with vanilla soft serve, Blue Moon, orange liqueur, and OJ. It wasn't bad, but I think once was enough.

That evening, there was a pj party and a silly slipper contest. So I put on my pj's, robe, and slippers and headed down! Not everyone joined in, but it was still silly fun. I was the one on the upper left 🍷, the two next to me won though. DJ's in there too, she's wearing the Elf on the Shelf slippers.

Back to stitching...

I spent most of the time working on Emerald Mermaid. I started her skin over two and have never really been happy with it. 

So I started her elbow over one and I'm so much happier with it. Although I will not be happy about frogging all the skin I stitched before.

And then it was all over and time to go, getting back to the real world stinks!

We had a fantastic time and are already looking forward to another one, hopefully sooner than later!