Our Nashville Needlework Market Madness 🪡

The adventure begins...

Hey, don't forget me! Silly Mia thought she was coming with us, I wish!

And off we went to the Nashville Needlework Market to get all kinds of goodies for Amy's Born To Stitch shop!

Of course we had to stop at Buc-ee's! This year we passed three of them since one in Virginia opened last year.

Amy drove for over half of the trip, then it was my turn... easy peasy!

11+ hours later, we made it there!

We stayed in the hotel this year, it was so much easier than making multiple trips to the car and commuting from another hotel.

I didn't take as many photos this year, but I have some. The hotel was at the tail end of being renovated. Sadly, the lobby and atrium were not finished and it was a hot mess.

I was 2nd in line for getting fabric, so I figured I might as well stitch while waiting.

While in the hallways, I kept thinking my glasses were dirty. Nope, it was from all the dust downstairs. 

Amy was in another fabric line, but not stitching!

You'd think from Friday until Sunday late afternoon we would have gotten to every room, but we missed some! Next year we'll do better.

AuryTM had this lovely pattern, but I wish it was a mermaid or a dragon! 😉

I thought about getting it, but knew I wouldn't have the patience to put it together. She sure is pretty!

Can you tell we were exhausted the first day?!

Those two free drinks each evening really helped!

Mel and Simone (sisters) of December Stitches were able to share a room this year with Cherry Blossoms.

Since Cherry and her DH stayed in that room, Mel and Simone stayed in our room on the sofa bed - such fun with these ladies! I'm so glad they were able to get a room this year, I think they learned a lot being there.

On Sunday night, we went out to dinner together and celebrated Simone and Amy's upcoming birthdays!

Also on Sunday, some designers offered new patterns called Plate-itudes. I just HAD to get the one from Fox and Rabbit, it has dragons!

And then before we knew it, it was time to pack up all those stitchy treasures and head home.

The little red wagon was filled too!

What a beautiful flag to see on the way home driving through Virginia.

We had to make one last stop at Buc-ee's, you know, for the things we forgot at the last one. 😉

We ran into Diane, from Silver Creek Samplers, while we were there, that was a nice surprise. I actually have her story to tell you that I'll be posting after this one.

We made it home safely and Amy spent the night again - we had a birthday to celebrate the next day! 🎉

Then all too soon, she headed back home. But no worries, I was taking a break for a day before heading her way to help get ready for her Market Weekend! 

That will be another posting.

Fully Finished Gallery - March 2026 🖼 AND a Happy Belated St. David's Day! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Since Rachel @Ten Hour Stitcher is on a hosting/posting break, I created this little guy until she returns.

This was a quick little finish especially for St. David's Day, March 1st.

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Sant Hapus!

Once I saw this pattern in February by Nia Cross Stitch, I knew I had to get it! I wanted to stitch the Welsh Lady first, then at some point I'll stitch it all.

Here she is with a couple other finishes I have for Wales.

My St. David's Day display for this year.

I bought this sweet pattern while in Wales last summer at Luna and Lola's in Holyhead. Also by Nia!

Too bad the Welsh side of my family was over five hours away, to far to see them.

And for some fun, I merged these two photos at the Philadelphia Flower Show I went to the day after St. David's Day. 😂

Hopefully next time I'll have more?

Super Bowl Retreat 2026 🏈

Although I wasn't planning on going to the retreat this year, I changed my mind and thought a stitching getaway was needed. 

 Thankfully, I was feeling much better after spending several days doing nothing but getting over pneumonia.

I didn't take as many photos as I normally do, too busy chatting, shopping, stitching I guess!

This was my set up, I worked on my Welsh Dragon the first day.

Mary made me the wooden dragons and I bought the bag from Annette - I love them all! I'll make the little ones into needle minders. Or rather, they'll be displayed in my craft room since I mainly stitch in hand.

And Mary shared her favourite drink - it was delicious!

Since we were so close to Amy's shop, Born To Stitch, I took some of the girls for a visit. We had a great time, we all found treasures we had to get! She's close to getting her online shop open, I'll be sure to post when she does.

 Even though I was there two weeks before, I still found a few things I didn't know I needed.

These all hit just about everything I love, just missing a mermaid!

I won the Awesome bag and the rest were table gifts from friends. A sweet haul!

There was a freebie table, and I found a few things. I already stitched my DIL, C, a set of Bride Tree ornaments last year, but I hope to need two more in the future!

We were at the Patriots table and lost in the "stitching" football game. Oh well, it was still fun!

And then before I knew it, it was over and I was home once again. I think these two little stinkers missed me!

Fully Finished Gallery - March 2025 🖼

Welcome to Rachel's 

Fully Finished Gallery SAL for March 2025.

This is a great way to make sure I actually fully finish my stitched pieces! 

Please consider joining this monthly SAL, it just might inspire you.

This is certainly an oldie, but a goodie!

This has been rolled up in my finished box for YEARS, and I finally decided to frame it. I'm still not sure about the frame, but it will do for now. And since Master Nathan won't have this in his bedroom 🙄, it will live in my craft room with all my other dragon treasures.

Dragon Dreams, Dragonlet's Birth Sampler

For our very own little dragon, such a cutie patootie!

So much for doing more this month, but it's better than nothing!

Be sure to see what the others have finished this time when you head to Rachel's blog.

May Literally Flew By! ✈

 A very delayed posting for May!

DH and I took an evening flight to New Orleans to celebrate our 28th wedding anniversary in May. We decided to visit my brother and sister-in-love since we don't get to spend much time with them.

We stayed the night in NOLA until my brother came to pick us up the following day and take us back to their house in Baton Rouge.

Some lovely Black Eyed Susans (Maryland's state flower) in New Orleans.

I got my Beignets, yum! Although not in the French Market location.

We had fun walking around and visiting all the lovely shops...

And bars! I had a frozen drink that I had to drink very slowly and have a sit down, it was powerful!

Mermen made nice window displays in this shop, oh my!

There is a stitching shop there, The Quarter Stitch, but mainly needlepoint and knitting. So many beautiful pieces and the angels were gorgeous.

They did have a small area of cross stitch, and I bought this one to stitch.

Before my brother came to pick us up later that afternoon, we had lunch at Butcher. Delicious and fun!

This is their backyard, complete with pups, Dixie, Rose and Loki. Isn't it beautiful? And that dragon, love it! 

Rose and Loki keeping me company while stitching.

The next day, we went to Houmas House Gardens to wander around, it was so lovely.

The next day was our anniversary and we headed back to New Orleans for the day.

Sights in the French Quarter.

We went to The Spotted Cat for drinks and to listen to the music.

This is one of the songs they were playing... 

🎜"We are, 🎶so happily married..."🎝

The perfect song for our anniversary that day!

I wish I could tell you who the band was, but I can't remember and couldn't find them anywhere.

My lovely SIL bought me this fun shirt and I brought the cups home for the cats water.

Then we headed to Deutsches Haus, as we have heard so much about it from them we just had to go. Their girls had a brick made in honour of our Momma, it was so nice to see it.

More sweet gifts from my SIL, gnomes and a Nuremberg Bridal Cup.

The day we left, we went to LSU for brunch and to see Mike the Tiger. But all we could see was his paws since he was sleeping in a corner.

We had a wonderful time together and already look forward to our next time, just don't know when yet.

I was able to stitch on the plane, before dozing off!

Almost home, flying past the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.