Always catching up!

I said in my last post (yes...it was a long time ago!) that I felt like each of my posts should be titled "Catching up" and this is no different!  I have the best of intentions to post regularly, but there just is not enough time in the day.

So...to pick up from where I left off...we went to the Shipshewana show in June - and it was awesome!  My friend Kym went along to help and we made a few fun stops at cross stitch shops along the way.  I know that I have mentioned that I had a crazy (stupid?) moment and started cross stitching again.  We don't have any shops near us so everything I had gotten up to that point had been online.  Being surrounded by tons of patterns and threads and linen was fun and maybe a little expensive!  I now have many projects kitted up and ready to stitch.  Clearly I had forgotten just how long it takes to finish a cross stitch project!  I have been plugging away on the Farmhouse Christmas series - they are fun and easy to stitch.  I am almost finished with month 7, and have received month 8 and that just leaves month 9 and we will be finished!  You can see that Daisy likes to stitch as well.  Or she likes to chase the thread and make things difficult. One of those things.

 This one is called Quaker Diamonds and I really love it! I haven't worked on it forever, but I hope to get back to it soon. 

When in Shipshewana, we spent some time with my friends Jill and Vicki from Yellow Creek Quilt Designs.  I met Vicki at the very first show that I vended at - in Galena, IL, but have always admired their designs.  They invited me to a retreat in July and I went!  It was so much fun, very productive, and in a beautiful setting in Browntown, WI.  Here is what I worked on there...

It's a free pattern by Kim Diehl, and the fabric was also her design.  The center is supposed to have cotton applique, but I've decided to do wool applique instead.  That decision was easy because Carla and Annette from The Woolen Needle were also at the retreat and they have a whole shop full of beautiful wool - so they were happy to help me out!  I haven't touched it since retreat, and who knows...it might not happen until the next one (in February - I can not wait!!).  But it was nice to actually work on something other than work!

Next - my friend Nancy, from California came for a visit.  We met in Osage, IA for the sole reason to go to the cross stitch shop there.  Well...I wasn't thinking...they are CLOSED on Monday!  AAAACCCCKKK!!!!  Here are Nancy & Kym peering in the windows (we did this about 4 times, and also went to the back door...just in case someone was back there that might take pity and let us in!)

Nancy and I went to a reunion retreat in Oelwein at LouAnn's Quilt Shop (I don't think she has a website) & Retreat.  This was set up for everyone who went to the Bonnie Hunter retreat hosted by Jo & Kelli last year (you know...where I started 3 projects and finished none).  It was a lot of fun and so nice to catch up with some friends that we met last year.  LouAnn has a very nice shop and a really wonderful retreat space.  It's a beautiful old building and she has really done a lot of work and made it amazing.  If you ever want a nice place to retreat - consider calling LouAnn.  I did work on one of my quilts that I started last year, but didn't get it finished and I guess I didn't take any pictures either!

I know that I've mentioned before that Nancy is a good friend and also a very generous friend.  She brought my Christmas gift with her.  I absolutely love it!!!!

One thing that has been keeping us extremely busy are those crazy spray bottles!  We sold just shy of 500 of them in Shipshewana!!  They were featured in American Patchwork and Quilting recently, and we had tons of orders.  We are also making them for other shops with their name and logo on them.  And then I thought it would be cute to make a few Halloween bottles - I love the pumpkin, but I really love the black cat on the lids!

 We aren't going to make very many of these, but I thought they were fun!  We will be taking a limited quantity to our next show, which is Ozark Piecemakers, in Springfield, MO, at the end of this month.  More on that later!

I've added some new items to my website - these cute little sheep scissors are one thing, and we recently found tiny little machine cleaning brushes that are great to get in the nooks and crannies of your machine...

I had a special order for a little churn dash pendant...

Hopefully some year I will have more time and be able to make more of these - I thought this one was cute - the little flag in the center makes me happy!  That was from some fabric that was gifted to me at retreat from Kim & Becky of Plays with Wool.  Kim was making a patriotic quilt and I came home with all of her leftovers.

For some reason I keep selling out of scissor fobs, so here are a few that I made recently...

And now I have to get to work!  I will post again (really...I will!) before the show in Springfield so I can give you all of the details on that - but mark it on your calender...September 27-29!

Have a great weekend!!