Lock In Tonight

Tonight is In Stitches lock in!

I am looking forward to seeing all the

new designs fresh from market

The weather is finally starting to

cool off as well. This morning I had

errands to run and stopped at the

Farmer's market in town.

Then I headed over to Party City

our youngest turns 7 this month

and he has discovered by going to

his friends birthday party the

joys of partying as the birthday boy!

So off I went to make sure we have

all the necessities for a Pirate Party

Aye Aye Matey!!

Beach Wedding....

My husband's cousin got married this past weekend.

As his brother said h*** must be freezing over.

We all thought he was a confirmed bachelor

and would not get married.

However, he surprised us all and married

at 52 years old for the first time.

The whole family traveled to Wilmington, NC

for the nuptials on Saturday.

It was a very casual wedding they wore jeans

and we had Carolina BBQ and fried chicken.

I am not sure how they would feel about

their photo posted on line so I thought

this was a safe one.

We stayed on the beach and this was

the first time Lance was actually old enough

to know what the beach was all about.

He has been to the beach before but

he was little and was afraid of the water.

I took Lance to NC Aquarium Saturday

afternoon before the wedding.

He enjoyed it and William took a lot

of pictures which I will have to bug him

to share with me.

He likes to keep his photos to himself.

Not sure why....

The best part was seeing my husbands parents

and brother who made the trip along with

his extended family that unfortunately

we don't get to see often enough.

There is also stitching going on too.

I took Thursday off and spent most

of the day working on projects

I need to finish. For those of you

who don't know I hate finishing.

I know hate is a strong word and

I don't use it very often, but I believe

it sums up sentiment beautifully

when it comes to finishing.

I promise I will post photos once

all of the finishing work has been completed.

First Day....

Well my baby has finally made it to first grade.

Where in the world does the time go??

Retreat....

Oh boy where in the world do I begin???

We had our retreat this past weekend for our

Sampler Guild so I will warn you this

is a picture heavy blog update

How about if I start here?

This is the view I had from the window

of the room I stayed in for the weekend.

It is absolutely gorgeous - and so peaceful.

No phones, No TV, No distractions.

Allowed for a wonderful weekend spent

with my stitching friends.

I arrived early and helped set up when the

participants arrived they were welcomed

to tables loaded with bottles of

water, flowers and bookmark with

the design from last years project.

and then the ladies began to arrive

and before you knew it 30 women

with all of the required stitching paraphernalia

were set up and ready to go.

as you can see we are very serious when it comes to

stitching, chatting, eating and buying.

Friday night included time to shop!

what retreat isn't complete

without the ability to buy stitching supplies?

Show and Tell

We have some very talented ladies in our group!

Saturday was project day

The wonderful ladies who put the retreat

together continually amaze us with

the creativity of the projects they come

up with for us to work on while there.

I am happy to report I was able to complete both!!!

Project Number 1

The boxes were already painted with photos of

last years project decoupaged to the lid.

We had to cover the inside with the fabric and

then we made the tomato and attached the bead

and ribbon to our scissors to make a fob.

The ladies had completed all the prep work

we had to finish the items off.

Project Number 2

Sorry this photo is so blurry.

I tried several times but my

camera would not cooperate.

We had our choice of two designs.

I selected the pumpkin because fall is

right around the corner and I thought

this would be cute to have for Halloween.

As I said this was a photo heavy post

but I hope you enjoyed it.

It arrived today...

I received the beautiful blog giveaway today

from Faye. She packaged it up very

sweetly with a ribbon and card.

I love it - thank you so much Faye!

Here is a photo of the package.

I took this in front of an antique trunk

I have which seemed to set the

package off perfectly.

Here is a photo of the back, from this angle

you can see the linen and floss colors - gorgeous!

I love the two year planner included as well.

It includes quotes to remind us what

life is all about.

Once again Faye thank you so much!

It is so great to get to know other

stitchers through their blogs.

Just had to share this....

I usually do not post giveaways on my blog,

but I had to share this one.

For some reason the story of Marie Antoinette

has always enthralled me and the

creativity of this giveaway blew me

away just as much as the history

behind Marie Antoinette does.

Here is a link to her website with more

details on how she created the various

components of this giveaway and how

to enter if you are interested in entering.

http://www.happinessiscrossstitching.blogspot.com/

I won....

Imagine my surprise when I read that

I won a blog giveaway from Faye.

I never win anything so this is a real treat.

If you have a chance take a peek

http://carolinastitcher.blogspot.com/

I love this design - how exciting!!