A Visit to NJ and a Retreat!

In July, I went to visit Amy @Born To Stitch before heading to the Stitch NJ Retreat.

Her sweet Momma got a new puppy, this is little Lovie!

She is the biggest, little ball of fluff! And no, she's not spoiled at all. 😜

I was at the shop when she was filming her Flosstube with Eda, and having Mel @December Stitches as their guest!

There are more new cute designs, be sure to take a look @December Stitches! It you see anything you like, let Amy know.

If you know me, you know I don't really watch Flosstube. I guess I'm just old school and still prefer blogs, which I find easier to follow and doesn't take as long. (Even though I'm way behind on my reading!)

But having friends who make them, I'll watch them every once in a while, sorry it's not more!

Amy roped me into this episode for a few minutes near the end. It was fun, but I'll keep blogging! 🤣

Born to Stitch Flosstube #10

AND, she's planning a retreat next March after the Nashville Market, so exciting! RETREAT INFO HERE!

 

This one is new to the shop since I've been there, I love it!

I might have gotten a few things!

Some were gifts that I didn't show.

Of course you can't not take a Bruce photo while there.

Including me!

After that, I headed to the Stitch NJ Retreat, hosted by Arlene @Works by ABC.

I didn't take as many photos, but here's a few.

My stitching set up - I seem to keep adding more accessories to "help" me stitch!

This was our goodie bag, nice treasures! I think this is everything, but I might have taken something out and forgot what it was... sometimers. 🤷

And this was the vending room on Saturday.

The lovely Corrin @Grace Notes Fabrics.

Sew Pretty Pins

Bags by KraftyKim

Annette @Mind Your Needle

Pinny and Tunny

Jenn @Silvercatspaw Studio

And of course, the host of the retreat - Arlene @Works by ABC!

A few items I bought from them. I know I got fabric too, but I don't remember where I put it.

I love the daffodils - for St David's Day in Wales!

The room, with our table in the corner.

Our table - 3809, is fine!

What a lovely surprise seeing Danielle and Jill! I met them when they blogged, way back when! 😂

And Stephanie @OhSewCrafty, she still blogs too!

   

And who doesn't love the give-a-way table tables?!

I found a few things I couldn't leave behind.

There were so many donated raffle prizes to choose from (sorry no photos) and this is what I was lucky enough to win!

I love the kitty project bag, but haven't decided what to get from 123 Stitch yet.

The money collected for the raffle went to SAVE, $6,525! I think she said it was more than last year. I was happy to contribute! 

Who knew NJ could be so much fun?! 😆

The 1st Grace Notes Retreat 🎶

Through friends, I heard about a retreat from Grace Notes Fabrics and I was ready to join them!

Three weeks ago today, I traveled to Pennsylvania, not that far from me.

You can already see the beautiful fabric they have to offer.

We had tickets in our goodie bag and could also earn more tickets with games in the booklet we received. These were the items available for the raffle. So many lovely things!

These were on the brag tables, all stitched on Grace Notes Fabric. Lots of amazing stitching on gorgeous fabric. I hope to be able to add to it next year.

The Grace Notes Retreat Crew, they all made it such fun!

Jamey, Hannah, Colleen, Corrin, John, Sheri, Allison, and Karla

This was my area of our table, just a little bit of a hot mess.

And what's a retreat without the giveaway table?!

This is what I came home with.

Our goodie bag came with this booklet, which included plenty of sweet patterns and games.

There were lots of goodies inside!

And also very generous stitchers who gave out their own goodies.

This was the set up for shopping, as well as patterns on the left side against the wall.

I was mainly interested in fabric, especially for this piece. I wanted to use purple for the witches and the one I had started before just didn't look right to me.

I found this and it's perfect!

I also bought all these smaller pieces to stitch who knows what on. I just love all those gorgeous colours!

Sheri (of the Notes Crew) made this beautiful quilt for a raffle to raise money for Breast Cancer Awareness Foundation and Precious Life... $1000 was raised!

And with the leftover fabric, Sheri made every one of us a needle book, what a treasure!

And can I say, there were tears.

Each table had a frog and when announced, the person who had it because they were frogging, received a prize - I won the little imagine book.

Also shown is the needle book from Sheri and the boo boo stick that was in the goodie bag I forgot to show.

Last win was the actual frog which I got. Sadly, we spend quite a bit of time together!

Fran and I each had a finish, yay!

I then worked on The Snowflower Diaries, which I'm way behind on. October was a porcupine and a snail, but I wanted something more for Halloween and wanted to use one of Maja's actual designs. I decided to make her witch into a bunny, based on another one of her designs. I still have to finish the bottom part and add more flowers. I know it's not quite like the rest of the series, but I like it!

Here's a reminder of what the rest look like.

And besides cross stitching, there was some bobbin lace happening with Arlene. So beautiful, but I'm not sure I'd have the patience to attempt it.

Our Grace Notes Retreat Group!

And here's our table of stitchers.🥰

This is what I've been working on since getting the perfect fabric there.

Halloween at Hawk Run Hollow.

So for their first retreat, it was an AMAZING one! Thank you for making it such a memorable weekend.

Everyone was so wonderful and friendly, and the place was perfect. I'm already looking forward to next year!