Warning: lots of pictures!

This past weekend ( last weekend, not this one), a bunch of stitching friends and I got together for a stitching getaway in Cape May, NJ.  We had horrible weather -- 2 nor'easters with tons of wind that made the house groan -- but wonderful times in a pretty Cape May style house in the heart of the historic district in town.  Thanks to Kathy and Lorraine for the Cape May pictures -- I need a small camera to keep in my purse!  Here's the house we stayed in -- enough bedrooms for all!

It was quite luxurious, with a very long dining table where we could stitch and stitch and stitch!  While we were there, we celebrated my friend Kathy's birthday.  I gave her a little present, a needle roll made from a Blackbird Designs chart from their With Thy Needle book.  I hope she doesn't look too closely at the finishing work.  :D

I don't remember what fabric I used except that it was a 40ct fabric.  I used the called for fibers.  I put our initials down at the bottom.

I used a fabric from the BBD Beach House fabric collection for the inside lining.

Lorraine took a picture of the birds on the beach.  Aren't they cute?

If anyone can identify them, Lorraine and I would love to know what they are.

While at Cape May, I got to start a new project.  :D   Yes, I planned it that way. lol!   Anyway, I joined the bandwagon and started Paradise Lost by Plum Street Samplers.  It really is a fun stitch!  Except for that blasted tree on the left -- somehow that one was intimidating to me!  Here is where I am on it as of today.

I'm using 40ct vintage Light Examplar linen with the called for NPI and Gloriana silks.  The colors are just amazing!  The ladies from the weekend can attest to how I sorted my threads to start the project and discovered I was missing a color -- boy was I an unhappy camper!  But I figured out that I wouldn't be needing the color for a long long time, so I cheered up pretty quickly.  And now that I'm home I've found the color in my stash so I'm even more happy!

Here's a picture of the gang in the house's livingroom.

Thanks for a lovely time, ladies!  And a special thanks to Nancy for arranging the weekend for us!

In other news, my father sent me some pictures of his trip to mainland China.  He got to visit Olympic Park, which is pretty cool!

I hope you've enjoyed this picture intensive post.  Have a great weekend -- and thanks for stopping by!

Great weekend!

I went away this past weekend -- actually from Thursday through Sunday. Went to visit a dear friend who used to live in my neighborhood but moved away a long while back. She's a knitter, not a stitcher, so I didn't get any stitching done while I was gone. But since I got back, I made this little French beauty.




This, of course, is the freebie from Blackbird Designs' new blog. If you stitch it up and submit a picture before April 27th, you can be entered in a contest drawing for some French goodies that Alma and Barb are bringing back from France. I couldn't resist, even though I probably won't win. But here's hoping! Even if you don't want to enter, you should bookmark their blog -- it's wonderful! Oh, and I should mention that my name, date and the swan aren't part of the original design. The swan is from the freebie from Gigi and Carinne Quaker 6 a Mains.

Anyway, back to my weekend. We had a grand time, doing lots of antiquing, some yarn stashing from WEBS, who is having an annual sale (you can get the savings online here as well), eating lovely lunches out and generally having a ball. Here is a picture of some of my vintage threads, lace, and other items from the antiquing.



I also found a bolt of a lovely large print which was from the Anna's Starry Night collection by Blackbird Designs on sale for 25% off and promptly got 5 yards. :D

Sadly, there's not much more progress to show on Rachel Hyde since last time. Not enough to warrant a picture anyway. Hope the rest of your week is great -- enjoy the springtime that is finally starting to show!