A Note.....

Hello friends!  Obviously I have not blogged in a very long time.  2016 was a year that was mostly very sad for me and I did not feel the urge to blog.  However, I have really enjoyed taking pictures of stitching and related things to post on Instagram.  So, especially for CAROL and JOY (hello ladies!); I wanted to mention Instagram and and an invitation to follow me over there.  I post under the name Maude and Mozart (but all run together "maudeandmozart"). 

There are so many other stitchers posting lovely projects and ideas on Instagram.  I hope to someday return to the blog form, but at this moment in time Instagram is where I feel very comfortable.  

Hope to see you there!  

Tomorrow's Heirlooms Patriotic Stitching Weekend with The Scarlett House and Stacy Nash

There is just no denying how very lucky I am to be blessed with such wonderful stitching friends!!!!!  We were together again last week for another stitching retreat and it was a doozy of fun times with laughter, stitching and bonding!!!!!!  We are lucky to have Tomorrow's Heirlooms as a local shop and have attended many of their retreats.  This was a very special retreat as it featured our friend Tanya Brockmeyer of The Scarlett House and another of our very favorite designers, Stacy Nash.  Thank  you to Pam and Kim of Tomorrow's Heirlooms for bringing such great designers and for all the work that you do on our behalf to provide such a fun time.  The official weekend starts on Friday night, however, we have our traditions and we start a bit earlier.  Here is our picture at the The Clubhouse restaurant where we always have lunch on Friday before going to the hotel.  

We were VERY LUCKY to have the two Debs with us!!!!!!!  Debra S. and Deborah B. joined us from North Carolina and Massachusetts respectively.  We met Deborah last year at the Plum Street weekend that Tomorrow's Heirlooms put on.  We met Deb S. at the Dyeing to Stitch retreat in April of this year.  We just love our Debs!!!!!  We wish they lived closer!!!!  We were also to be joined by our group member Karin from New York.  Alas, she got sick the night before and could not come.  We were crushed!  Seriously, it was so upsetting that she could not be with us.  Luckily, we have a group weekend planned for September when she will come out.  Phew!  We also really, really missed Nataly from Massachusetts who we met last year at the Plum Street retreat. 

 Friday night at the retreat was a meet and greet.  We were welcomed with the charts for these two fabulous designs!!  Above is from The Scarlett House and below is from Stacy Nash.  We were able to purchase kits with the threads and fabric for each of these designs.  Which of course we all promptly did!

 The boutique that the shop put in place at the hotel was so wonderful.  Everywhere you looked there were more and more wonderful stitched models!!!!!  Above is a new design from The Scarlett House which perfectly describes how we all feel about stitching.

 Here are some of Tanya's wonderful designs!!!

Sorry this picture is blurry, but I want you to know the top tablecloth that Tanya has on her display table.  See the red alphabet stitched on it????  I went crazy for that idea!!!

 Is that not genius!!!????

Here we are stitching, etc. in the atrium.  We took this picture to send to Karin and I am proudly holding up my can of Tab!!!!  Where I go, so goes the Tab.

 Where Teresa goes, there goes the Relax!!!!!!

Saturday morning it was time to get started with the official festivities!  Here is the project from Tanya all wrapped up and ready for us to dive into.  She does the best project packaging of all time!!!!  And here is what was inside!!!!

 I mean really!!!  This is an amazing project!!!!  The shaker box came with it too!!!!!!  We were amazed and delighted!!!

We received this fabulous project bag from Tomorrow's Heirlooms!!!!!!  Love it!

 Brenda recently finished this beautiful reproduction sampler.  She and Tanya posed for this lovely picture - designer and stitcher.  Friends through cross stitch.

 This is Brenda's darling finish of another of Tanya's designs  Yes, I am jealous!

 This is a darling pin keep that Tanya made for Brenda last year.  Tanya stitched it on a small count and it is adorable!!!  Love that sentiment!

 Kellie showed us her progress on the Sweet Temper sampler.  This is such a masterpiece!!!!

 Patti made our group these fabulous scissor fobs!!!!!!!! Love this so much!!!  She also made a patriotic needleminder which I failed to get a picture of.  By the way, if I could ever capture in photographs all of the joy, fun and laughter of one of these weekends I would probably win a Pulitzer prize!  There is so much going on at all times.  It is truly a whirlwind!!!!

 The afternoon brought this dear project from Stacy Nash.  Very, very wonderful!!!!

 This was part of the packaging of Stacy's project.  Love this image and want to tie it on my bag when I finish it.

 Remember a couple of years ago when I went crazy nuts over the Hinzeit Sweet Land of Liberty chart????  Well, Barb B. from Indiana is working on it now!!!!  Isn't it amazing!!!  She converted it to silks and is stitching it on 40 count and it is amazing!!!!!!!!!  So glad she brought this for show and tell. 

 On Sunday morning there was a project from each designer.  Here is Tanya's project which I am deeply in love with!!!!

Is this not super fabulous!!!!!!!  And the fabric marker with The Scarlett House logo!!!???  I mean!!!

 Here is Stacy's closing project and it is so very dear!!!!!!! Can't wait to stitch this!!!  

 Lastly, I snuck a picture of Tanya stitching on the Charlotte Clayton sampler!!!  Isn't this amazing???? 

We are all very lucky, lucky people to have this shared love of stitching and all the wonderful people that go along with it!!!! 

Dyeing to Stitch Part Two

Here is the sign for the shop!!!!  Get ready to get excited when you step inside!  This is a must see shop for stitchers!!!!

 See what I mean?????

This is what it looked like in Friday when everyone was there for the BBD meet and greet!!!  Happy chaos!

 Ann showed us her finish of the Ann Rayner sampler!!!!  Stunning with a capital S.  This is an out of print chart.  The only shop that may still have it is The Attic in Mesa, AZ.

 At the Friday night open stitch back at the hotel Ann and Pat brought in some of their antique samplers to show us.  Wow!  They were so amazingly gorgeous!  We all wanted them reproduced stat so that we could stitch them too!!!  This is Pat who knows a ton about the history of samplers.  She wrote a book titled Historic Samplers.  

 

 We were very serious about looking at the samplers.  I even got to hold one!!!!!! 

True Confession:  I was so hepped up on Friday night that I had to take an over the counter sleeping pill to get to sleep!!!!  That is how exciting all of this was!!!

Saturday brought about our long awaited class with Blackbird Designs!!!!  They used an antique sampler from their collection to inspire the projects they designed for us. 

 Isn't it just amazing!!!  It is dated to around 1835.  

 When we checked in we received the kit for this beautiful pin pillow!!!!  I started it immediately.  

 Class on Saturday was spent making the wonderful pin keep holder you see in the foreground.  They turned out so beautifully!!!!

Crafting pictures!!!

 Here is Alma showing us some tips.  

 From left to right:  Ann, Pat, Alma and Barb.  They were telling us about the sampler Alma is holding. 

Barb showing us the pin pillow.  Barb and Alma are two very dear people.  They are so kind and talented.  We all just love them!

 This is the project we received that is based on the middle part of the historic sampler.  I cannot wait to start it!!!!!

Below is the pin keep with its special project inside.

Then we had lunch!!!!! 

 Karin and Patti. 

Brenda, Kellie and me. 

Teresa and Pat.

Debra and Deborah.  These gals are aces!!!!!!  We met Deborah at the Tomorrow's Heirlooms retreat last year and started a fast friendship.  Debra is coming this summer to that retreat and we are planning on hanging out extensively.

And do you know what that sweetheart Debra did for me???? She got up early on Saturday morning and went to Harris Teeter (never even heard of it!!!) and found me some Tab!!!!!  That earned her the following hashtag......#newBFF!!!!!!!  That was so amazing!  

Here is a great picture of our wonderful gifts from Dyeing to Stitch!!!!!  They were baskets from 1803 Ohio Farm Baskets!!!!!!!!!! We were so excited!

This lovely is in the new BBD patriotic book!  It is just being released now.

We also got to meet Sherri and Terri!!!!  They are wonderful gals, twin sisters and framers extraordinaire!!!!!!!!! Sherri stitched this piece for Pat and Ann.  

Pat, Ann and Brenda.  We had so much fun hanging out with everyone!!!

 Pat, Ann and Teresa.  Shiny happy people!

 Stitching peeps with full hearts!!!

Thank you to Ann, Pat, Alma and Barb for such a wonderful weekend!!!!!!!  We are filled to the brim with great memories!!!