Arizona ... Day 2

I forgot to include a picture in yesterdays post .. a very important picture of our dear sweet Sharon with needle in hand. See, Sharon is the mom of a delightful 18 month old little boy, Josh. Like so many of us when our kids were young, a needle and thread and floss in hand was a rare occassion. This picture is proof that Sharon does stitch .. in fact she was the first of us to finish the piece Karen designed for us ... Cheers Sharon!

Day 2 was our road trip to Karen's LNS, The Attic. Here we are ready to head out ...

it was a beautiful day ...

Looking back at my pictures, looks like I didn't take any once we actually were at The Attic, but both Karen and Ruth have pictures of our visit. I don't have a LNS close to me and I have to admit I went a bit overboard with my stash purchases ... but I had a blast doing it! I get a giddy when I can actually touch fabrics and flosses, ooh and goo over models hanging all over. I know I bought a couple of charts that I never would have if I hadn't seen it stitched up. Pictures of stash will be coming soon. I'm not entirely unpacked yet .. I started getting a head cold on the way home from AZ, well now it's a full blown cold, another one .. grrrrr!

This is one of my favorite pictures of the 5 of us .. the V is for VACATION! and we spent a lot of time throwing up the V and yelling WOO HOO WE'RE ON VACATION!! lol

I won't give away secrets about how much we all spent at The Attic .. but I know the ladies there were happy to see us :) and I was the winner that day .. followed closely by Chris, Sharon, Ruth and Karen.

More tomorrow .. I'm off to take my drugs and head to bed.

I hope you find your joy in your stitches ...

I'm grateful for hot tea ...

Arizona ...

I'm back from 5 very fun days in Arizona with Karen, Chris, Ruth and Sharon. Ruth has named us the Grand Canyon Girls Club (GCGC). We all planned to meet up at the airport, I was the last one to arrive .. about 20 minutes late .. which worked out for the best, cause I was in charge of Ruth at the airport. Ruthie is the only one of us without a cell phone and our gates were supposed to be close, so she was going to meet up with me first, then to baggage to meet up with Chris and Sharon.

When we were allowed to turn on our cell phones, I texted the girls to let them know I was there, since I was the one running late .. there was a song that had been going through my head for the last few days while I was getting ready to leave on Arizona .. when I texted to tell them I was there, I made reference to the song .. well it was the first reminder that I am the oldest of the GCGC's .. none of them knew what or who I was talking about! Here's the song .. am I really that old??!! lol

Her gate was no where near mine and she was glad she had 20 minutes to get lost and found again. Lots of hugs in baggage then off to rent the SUV and to our hotel. Karen was going to meet us when we got checked in.

Sharon and I were roommates the first two nights in Peoria. Chris and Ruth had the room next door. Here's a few pictures of the girls ...

Karen

Sharon

Chris

Ruth



After getting settled into our rooms and visiting for a bit, we headed for to Karen's house for dinner. We got to meet her family and enjoy a wonderful dinner of pulled pork sandwiches, potatoe salad, baked beans and a delicious dessert made by Aunt Cathy. We all meet Aunt Cathy 3 years ago at Pals Fall Fling. She's everyone's Aunt Cathy .. very fun lady to be around. After dinner we headed back to our hotel to stitch and of course laugh, which we did a lot of all vacation.

Karen surprised us all by designing a sweet little design to stitch up, and she kitted it up for us too with a piece of her coffee dyed fabric. We all had it stitch by the end of our vacation .. I think I'm going to make a pinkeep out of mine ... here's mine ...

everything was in the Chinese food container


I was going to have everyone sign it, but like with everything, we just ran out of time. Sharon is going to frame her's with a picture of the 5 of us .. hmmmm, that sounds like a lovely way to finish it. I might have to steal her idea :)

I think that's enough for one post .. I'm off to watch AI ... goooooo Danny!

I hope you find your joy in your stitches ...

I'm grateful for the Grand Canyon Girls Club ...

Escaping Reality ...

Yep, tomorrow I'm leaving on an airplane bound for Peoria, Arizona to spend some much needed time with some dear friends that also happen to be stitchers. Karen lives in Peoria and is hosting our mini retreat. Ruth, Chris, Sharon (no blog yet) and I are all arriving tomorrow. We'll be spending a couple of days in Peoria .. visiting The Attic and a few other shops and then heading to Flagstaf to spend a couple of days in the mountains doing nothing but stitching and laughing and eating .. oh and a quick trip to the south side of the Grand Canyon. I am really looking forward to getting away from my reality for a while. I'll be home on Monday, ready to tackle the real world once again lol :)

I did finish up one little stitch this week .. Donna's Friendship RR. Donna choose a lovely piece of 40ct lambswool for us to stitch on and her color pallet is soft purples. 40ct was a bit of a challenge for me .. old eyes here! lol .. but I muddled through and think it turned out really nice. Hope Donna likes it :)

Thought I'd share a couple more picture of my Easter decorating ...


This bunny is one of my all time favorites .. maybe because I painted him or maybe because he has the sweetest face ever. Back in 1978, my mom and I took a ceramics class. We really had a great time learning to finish greenware and the art of glazing .. and it was such fun to share it with my mom .. lovely memories ...

and my last picture tonight .. the Easter egg dish is another piece we made in class ...

Thanks for visiting and thanks for all your comments, keep'em coming! lol See ya in 5 days .. be good and get lots of stitching done!

I hope you find your joy in your stitches ...

I'm grateful for memories of time with my mom ...