A weekend away!

 

Last weekend I surprised my husband with a weekend away.  We drove up to " The Rousseau Marriott" on Friday.  It was a beautiful drive, and about 1/2 hour before we arrived at the hotel the snow started to fall; soft and fluffy flakes.  It was picturesque.  

 

Our room overlooked the lake with a small private balcony..  It had a small kitchenette and lavish bathroom.  It was like staying at a qaint country Inn, with all the necessary amenities.

We awoke Saturday to a sunny view of Lake Rousseau.  After a filling breakfast we went on a hike around the Hotel grounds.

We had lunch and spent the rest of the afternoon in a cozy spot, with views of the frozen lake.  I stitched and David edited the photos we had taken on our morning walk.

We then went for a swim and sat in the outdoor hot tub before getting ready for dinner.

We ended our day with a wonderful Valentine's dinner in their Teca Restaurant.

If you would like to see the full album of our weekend away, click on the link below.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.364946370196293.90121.100000427987605&type=3&l=bb2bd5a312

Happy Valentine's Day

I would recommend a variegated red thread

On the radio the other day, the hosts were discussing why women always expect their man to take charge and arrange something special for Valentine's Day.  The callers, all men, were mixed in their opinions - one gentleman claimed that he loves Valentine's Day because it's a great opportunity to score points with his Mrs.  I quite enjoyed the banter, mainly because it's SOOO true.  Women, including myself, expect our significant other to make us feel loved and appreciated, but men have this desire as well (so I'm told).  This got me thinking; this year I will take charge and do something special for him - well us. 

And although Valentine's Day in the commercial media is sold to us as a day to spend money on our significant other, it can be so much more and why is it only for the one day.  Make the time and take every opportunity to let all those, special in your life, know that they are loved and appreciated.  Only those things that truely sooth our soul are free - family, friends and love.

My Hummingbird

My hummingbird design, my contribution to the Designer Collaboration Sampler,  had to be stitched twice before I was happy with the colours.  The first time it was stitched, the colours in the flower and leaves were a little too dark.  But by lightening the colours it now looks great.  Having ripped it out once already from the sampler, I stitched it on a seperate piece of 36ct linen before restitching it onto the sampler; just in case the colours needing changing again. 
So now I  had an extra stitched piece of my design - what to do with it?  At first I was thinking of finishing it off into an ornament, but I already have my share of those.  It was Monika's brilliant idea to see if it would fit into the lid of one of the music boxes we have in the shop.  We had been looking for a pattern that would fit the lid of the rectangular box for a while, and as it turned out, with the border of the sampler surrounding it, the design fit perfectly.
The chart is a free pattern you will receive when visiting my booth at the NeedleWorkers MarketPlace, held at the Waterside Inn in Mississauga, Ontario on April 14th & 15th, 2012.   The music boxes are available on the Gitta's website, in the store, and I will have some available at the Market, they are $24.95.
See you then!

Collaboration Sampler

Last week I finished designing my contribution to the designer Collaboration Sampler for the NeedleWorkers MarketPlace. It is of a Hummingbird approaching a flower.  Monika stitched it over the weekend and it looks great.  I'm really pleased with how it turned out.  I can't wait until the Market.  The finished sampler will be displayed at the entrance to the Market.

I was also thinking, how else can this sampler be made more memorable.  I charted the words "Needleworkers MarketPlace" in the Tango font for ontop of the sampler and a little saying for at the bottom.  Both are optional, and with a full alphabet will be included with the sampler layout.

Mark your calender and don't miss the market.  All 13 designer charts will be your free gift for coming to the market, and will only be available at the Market.

This past week I had also received the last few workshop proposals for the Market.  These are now posted on the NeedleWorkers MarketPlace website.  There is something for everyone this year.

Happy New Year

What is it about making resolutions for the beginning of a new year?  Is it because at the beginning of a new year everything is possible, we can become renewed ourselves?  But it never takes long before we seek our comforts and fall into old routines.  So this year I made none,  if I had -I probably would have broken them already.

I had a week off over Christmas, visiting with David's family in Ottawa and enjoying all the festivities of Christmas and New Year's Eve celebrations.  Now a week later I already find myself  engrossed in the hecticness of the shop.  Not that I don't enjoy the store, I do - but I always feel like there is so much to do and so little time.
And this year I am already overwhelmed with all that still needs to be done before Gitta's Getaway and the NeedleWorkers MarketPlace.   The NWMP is a stitching show for all stitchers.

Similar to last year's Collaboration project at the NWMP, the designers are again offering a free chart to everyone attending the show.  Last April, as you may recall, was a 15 sided biscornu (see my March 2011 posts) .  This year's project is a Spring Sampler.
The border will be made available to everyone as they enter the show and then it is up to you to visit each designer and collect their free chart portion of the collaboration sampler.  As a little sneek peek for this year's Collaboration Project, here is the layout of the sampler and the spots designated to each designer so far.  There are still 2 designers missing, Northern Pine Designs and Sew Fancy.  This year will be an awesome show with 13 wonderful designers exhibiting, teaching, and passing on their love and knowledge of needlearts.

Monika, one of Gitta's gang, is stitching the model to display at the Market.  I am almost done designing mine.  I also still have to complete my workshop for the show and the exclusive workshop that will be offered to Gitta's Getaway attendees.

All this plus much more has to be done in the next 3 months.  

It will be a frantic 3 months, but all will be done.

'Tis the Season

Christmas is one of the most wonderful and hectic times of the year.  Every year we push ourselves to make Christmas magical for our family and friends.  Loving this time of year, and wanting to make everyones Christmas perfect, I find it hard to say no to any stitcher bringing in their stitched pieces for finishing.  This year I received a record number of pillows, Christmas stockings, ornaments, bell pulls and a box top to finish for Christmas.    One of the bell pulls I finished is the one shown on the left in the photo.  The one on the right is our shop model.   We had stitched our model 1 over 1 on a 28ct linen banding.  We stitched it over one, so all 13 flowers could be included without the bell pull being too long.  If all 13 designs would have been stitched over 2 the bell pull would be over 8 feet long; too long for most homes.                                                                            I was so taken with the bell pull, stitched 2 over 2, that I just had to share it with all of you.  It arrived in the shop just a few days after I had told another stitcher that she didn't have to stitch all of the flowers for her bell pull to look just as beautiful.  These designs are all in Gitta's leaflet G-236, it includes all 13 provincial and territorial flowers.  The leaflet was named Wild Flowers, as many of these flowers are also State flowers.

Tonight I am just 3 stockings away from having everything done;  I have been sewing steady since the Christmas Open House.  With all of these finishing  projects I have had very little time to decorate at home.  But when I came home on Saturday I had a wonderful surprise.  My kids had decorated the kitchen bay window  with my Christmas village, and my husband strung Christmas lights on our apple tree in the backyard. 

 What a wonderfull Christmas gift.  

I love sitting at the table and looking at my lighted village window. 

Isn't Christmas magical.  Wishing you all some magic over the holiday.

Merry Christmas

Christmas Open House

From right to left are Margaret, Gitta, Ietje, Mary, Monika, and myself.

Gitta's annual Christmas Open House is an "all hands on deck" kind of event.  It is the busiest Saturday of the year at the shop, with stitchers both locally and further away dropping in for some Christmas cheer, goodies, and shop specials.  The Open House is our opportunity to say "Thank you" to all our customers.

In preparation for the Open House, the shop is decorated, with a touch of Christmas throughout the store.  In the shop window, the stockings are hung by the chimney with care, and the Christmas tree is decorated with stitched ornaments of Christmas' past.

The front counter is decorated with ornaments of Christmas present.  Every year there are great ornaments to be found in magazines, the Mill Hill collection, which we stitch them on fabric rather than perforated paper, and there aren't many that we can resist.   We stitch as many as we can, with Mary stitching the most, and I then try to finish them into ornaments in time for the open house.

At the back of the shop was our goody table with lots of munchies.  Back by popular demand from last year's favourites were my dad's hummus, and my sister's guacamole.  There was also a selection of "can't resist" crackers, a spinach dip and Christmas squares and cookies.

To make this year's Christmas even more special I designed my own Christmas ornament.   We then prepared  kits that included the fabric, threads and charm.  The kit, a few other Christmas Freebee charts, and a chocolate completed our Christmas gift to everyone that came to the Open House.   As not everyone was able to drop by for whatever reason, I would still like to make this chart available to all of you.  Click here for a small Christmas gift from one stitcher to another.  Merry Christmas.

At the Open House we also revealed a  Christams themed 15 sided Biscornu.  This biscornu is designed by a local designer, Sam Calderone of Snow Dragon Designs.  She will release it in April 2012, by making it her gift to all those retreaters attending  Gitta's Getaway.

Many more photos were taken to remember the day, and if you would like to view the entire album here is the link to my facebook page.  Enjoy!!

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.302349976463482.75075.100000654471706&type=1&l=3bf31da6d6