Three Posts in One!

I have been having some busy and FUN days lately!!! Saturday, August 14th was a very exciting day!!!! Seven stitchers went to LaPorte, Indiana to visit the great House of Stitches!!!! They were having a "garage sale" where ladies brought charts and stitching supplies they no longer wanted and we were able to buy stuff for a song!

Above is a part of our group right before we went into action!!!! Left to right is Barb, Linda, Jayne and me. Missing from the picture are the photographer, Karin, and Teresa and Pat who beat us there and were already inside casing the joint!!!!!
Here we are at the wall-o-linen!!!!! It was fun to see all the different counts and colors and manufacturers.
Every single one of us bought the same chart by C Street Samplerworks. Here are the threads that are called for...great and luscious colors!!!!! We are calling it our "class project." It is the Quaker Medallion Sampler. The best thing about it, aside from its amazing beauty, is that the designer is a woman who lives in LaPorte, Indiana! We heard she was in the shop when we were there; but found out too late to gush over her and tell her what a genius she is!!!!! Here is a link to the chart we all bought......CLICK HERE.........
These are some shots around the shop........makes you crazy doesn't it???
Below is a darling design by Prairie Moon....I think three of us bought that one. One of the fun and hilarious things about us all shopping together or stitching together at Inspired Needle is that we are always finding a great chart and then there is a run on it!!!! Our friend, Barb, is usually the leader of the pack in this regard. She can find the most gorgeous charts!!! My current project is one that she pointed me in the direction of. (will post pictures of the charts I got later this week!)
We truly had a perfect day!!!!!! Even topped it off with ice cream at the end!
Post Number Two: My Mom's Birthday!!!! August 15, 2010 is always a special day as it is my Mom's birthday. This year I went over to her house so we could stitch and hang out. The book above was part of her birthday present. It is a quilt book by Blackbird Designs; but there is so much more than quilting contained within. There are recipes and lots of projects and even some cross-stitch. Even if you don't quilt I can highly recommend this book. I had it at my house for about a month before my Mom's birthday and I must have looked at it 100 times. Great inspiration!
Above is a mix of some of the stash I got in LaPorte the day before and some of my Mom's birthday presents.
Above is one of the old postcards my Mom has in her collection. Can you say darling?????
Post #3: Last night was stitch night at Inspired Needle (first and third Tuesdays of each month).........Above and below are pieces recently finished by Barb and the frames they are going into. Love them!!!
Barb got her acorns back from the framer! Perfect!!!! I so want to find a perfect little frame and put something in it!!!!
Karin finished up Shepard's Bush Quaker Heart and it is such a wonderful little piece!!!!!!
Barb had "A Weeping and a Blessing" framed and it was ready for pick-up last night. Love the gold fillet around the piece!!
Linda finished Bluebird by LHN and it is just darling!!!! This is a definite must stitch!
And the fun is not over!!!!! We are getting together to stitch this Saturday too!!!!

I am just so happy to be part of a wonderful group of women who are so friendly, helpful, giving, funny, smart and supportive! Lucky!!!!!!!!