I am back from my vacation #1

I am back!! I have so much to tell you and show you, that this will have to take several posts over several days. Maybe I should have titled my post with a WARNING sign! I thought I would show and tell you a little about my vacation, and show you a couple of pictures of the exchange pieces that I took to MB. (That way it can still be considered a stitching blog).

Our group of friends could not have been luckier in our timing of the trip. It was peak color, as you can hopefully see by my feeble attempt with a cheap digital camera. And not only that, the weather was perfect!! Chilly mornings in the 40's and lovely brisk afternoons in the upper 60's and lower 70's. We spent four nights in this cabin which was just beautifully set up with a great kitchen and decking. You can see what the area was like that we were in, and this lovely brook was running right by the cabin. While there, we toured Asheville and went to see Grove Park Inn and the Biltmore. I don't have any digital pictures of those, but maybe later, I can scan my DH's film shots. One day we rode about 100 miles on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and it was one glorious view after another. FANTASTIC!!

Tuesday morning, DH and my friends headed back home, and I continued on to Myrtle Beach. I had a lovely drive through the mountains, and made it to the beach in very good time. Tuesday night, I met up with Amy and some of the ladies that have been coming for a very long time and we went to Sticky Fingers for dinner. It was so great to see my stitching buddies and to do some catching up with their lives. My camera's batteries died while in North Carolina, and I forgot to bring the charger, so I have no pictures of the ocean or my stitching buddies - bummers. There are plenty of pictures on a number of other blogs that you can see.

Wednesday was the official start of the retreat, and we had a huge conference room set up for all of us to stitch and sit and chat from 8 in the morning until midnight! There were over 70 stitching ladies there this year, quite a lot more than when I first started going to the retreat when we had about 30. We had a lot of newbies, and all were a delight to meet and to see all the fantastic projects they were all woriking on. One newbie, Becky, from Williamsburg VA, must have had her turbo boosters on because she must have finished five or six project over the course of the days we were there!!

Thursday night, we had our first two exchanges. The first one was Autumn ornaments or decorative items. We all sat in a circle, and follwed directions in a poem, and ended up with different pieces. Here are the pieces that I took to exchange. This first one is a Heart in Hand ornament surprisingly called Scarecrow. I stitched it on 16 count pale green aida(I know it looks white here, but that is just my camera's issues). The fabric that it is laying on is what the backing is. I just used simple gold ribbon for the hanging strip.

This other one is a Lizzie*Kate called Autumn ABC's, and I stitched it on 16ct antique white aida and made it into a No Sew Cube. The backing fabric and the strip around the cube was made from the fabric that the cube is sitting on. I then put a bow made from autumn leaves wired ribbon that I got at Michaels. I was pretty happy with the piece.

Well, if you have made it this far in my post, thank you for visiting! I plan on having a giveaway in a couple of weeks to celebrate my vacation, and to include you all in the wonderful fun things we received while there. Speaking of receiving, I did win a giveaway just before I left for MB and it was here when I got home. I am going take pictures of the goodies and post them in my next post. am waaaayyy behind on reading posts because we didn't have computer access most of the time I was gone, but I will be reading them as soon as I get myself a little together. Well, maybe not that long.

Until next time, have a happy, healthy, stitchy time!