Back From Austin!

Well, I've been back a couple of days actually, but am just now getting caught up!  My trip to Austin with my ANG group (the Lake Houston chapter) was fantastic.   We were hosted by Colleen at her shop, The Needle Works.  Not only was she on hand for help with our canvases, she even cooked for us too-- talk about a full-service shop!  I had a great time visiting with and meeting some of our more far-flung members and actually got a good bit of stitching done too.  I only started one or two new projects, worked on my ANG program project and most excitingly, finished my canvas for the Stitching Games, woo-hoo!  Here it is:

I'm very happy with the way it turned out.  I hope to post it again here soon, only finished.  I'm planning on my favorite, a boxed stand up with a huge bow-topper and crazy feet.  Also, I will write up a stitch guide for it and share it here with you all, hopefully by the end of the year.

And Now, Off to Austin!

Just back from the Needlepoint Nation Retreat in Nashville, and now I am off to the Lake Houston Chapter ANG Retreat in Austin!  We are being hosted by The Needle Works, so we will have a wonderful classroom to stitch in plus an amazing needlepoint shop to spoil us.  

I'll have some pictures to show when I get back, but in the meantime, please enjoy these photos of my Pirate Mermaid, stitched by Catherine Stroup.  Didn't she do a great job?  From the stitching all the way to picking the perfect frame, great work Catherine, thanks for sharing your photos!

Back From Nashville!

What a blast I had in Nashville!  The retreat, the shop, the company of my stitching pals, the food, the shopping, the stitching were all simply the BEST!  Lisa, Connie, Miriam and the whole shop crew at Nashville Needleworks sure know how to spoil a group of ladies.  

They hosted my trunk show as well as myself and it seemed to me that my canvases were flying out the door, woo-hoo!  And it didn't hurt that Connie Camp was on hand to pick threads and stitches either-- here is the kit she pulled for my "Trimming the Tree" canvas:

Don't those threads look delectable?  I was tempted to buy my own canvas, that's how gorgeous it looked!

My buddy Sherry was the lucky lady who took this one home, and she wasted no time on getting started stitching it-- here it is with some of the sequins added to the sky area: 

Here are a few shots from around the store, stitched models and EyeCandy canvas everywhere!

I hope if you get a chance to go to Nashville Needleworks, either on a visit or as a part of one of their classes or retreats, that you will not pass it up, it is an experience not to be missed!  I am already signed up for next year's Columbus Day weekend retreat and am counting the days until then.  In the meantime, they do still have my trunk show for a bit longer, so do stop in or call in if there is something you want, as there is a discount available.  

Needlepoint Nation Nashville Retreat & Trunk Show!

I'm off tomorrow to enjoy a weekend stitching retreat at Nashville Needleworks!  Columbus Day weekend marks the annual get-together held at the shop for the members of the Needlepoint Group on Facebook, a.k.a.s. "Needlepoint Nation".  Really looking forward to this one as there will be as many new people to meet as there will be older ones that I haven't seen since the Austin NN retreat.  My trunk show will be there along with me, here's a photo of all the models that will be on display in the shop:

Hope some of you may be able to stop by and say hello!  The trunk show should be there until the end of the month.

Down to the Wire!

As usual, I posted my stitching photos for the September clue for the Stitching Games on the evening of the last day.  This month was over before I had realized it had begun!  So for this clue, "granny" I did a little word association thing, as in "Granny has gone bats and started to collect a lot of cats", so  stitched in the words cats and bats on my canvas.  Here they are, although I haven't finished the letters on the bats panel yet. (Told you I was running behind this month!)