Alaska Cruise, Day 2

Saturday morning came much too early, but Sue and I were ready for the first class with our stitchers. We loaded all of the supplies into our suitcases, and got our cabin steward to help us move the boxes to the space we were going to use for the morning class session.


They each received a totebag with the cruise logo embroidered on it, and it was filled with lots of goodies: complete kits and charts!

The stitchers were all eager to see the project that Sue had designed especially for them.

The afternoon session was held in a different space, but everyone found us.

Jo Fisher, from Dinky Dyes told us about the dying process and distributed a lovely biscornu that she designed for all the cruisers as well as some lovely Dinky Dyes silks.

Alaska Cruise, Day 1

Friday found us on our way to board the Celebrity Infinity at the Port of Seattle. Our shuttle van driver transported Sue and myself, as well as 5 other stitchers from our hotel, 13 cartons of stitching stuff, and countless pieces of luggage to the cruise ship terminal. From there, we found a longshoreman with a large cart to take the cartons and most of the luggage on board, while we got in line to check in.

Sue and I both were unable to complete our boarding information on-line, so it took a bit longer. Then we had to go through security. Sue mistakenly left a pair of dress making shears in her carry-on, and security confiscated them, telling her she could have them back once the ship was under way. We stood in line to board, had our picture taken for our sea pass, and avoided the goofy souvenir photo. Once we reached the front of the line, we were offered glasses of champagne or orange juice (guess which one I chose) and a porter took our carry-on pieces and escorted us to our stateroom. Concierge class definitely has it's perks!

Our stateroom was on Deck 9, the Panorama Deck, and had a lovely balcony. We also had some fresh flowers in our room, as well as a bowl of fruit and a bottle of champagne. There was even a rose in our bathroom! After stowing our carry-on pieces, we were off for muster (we had to practice putting on our life vests and were told where our lifeboats were, and how they would be launched if the need arose).

On the way back to our stateroom from the drill, we met some more of our stitchers in the elevator. This was going to be a fun and lively bunch. We had contacted everyone with instructions to meet us at the Mast Bar on the top deck right after the drill. I went up to meet them and pass out the on-board scavenger hunt sheets, while Sue went to guest relations to confirm our classroom space and to get her scissors back. I had the easier task that day. Sue was introduced to Sheila our event coordinator assigned to us by the ship. She informed Sue that our classroom space had been changed, and the news was not good. Sheila had us bouncing around the ship with a different space for each class (total of 5 sessions). She also informed Sue that she would bring the "seezors" to her at the beginning of each class and then collect them again at the end of each class.

Dinner was great fun, all of our stitchers and their spouses and traveling companions were also there. It was also Pat's birthday, and when she received her special birthday desert, our entire group put on their thick glasses and red noses in her honor. We were quite a sight to behold and all of the other tables around us were very jealous. We were later refered to as the "red nosed ladies" by the matre 'd and the waite staff. We were famous!

After dinner, Sue and I made a bee-line for our stateroom and started unpacking those boxes and getting all the tote bags and project bags ready for class the next day.

Northern Adventures

Last week, Thursday, I flew to Seattle in preparation for our cruise to Alaska. Once there, we quickly went to work, checking all the boxes that had been shipped to the hotel, and organizing them to take on board the ship.

Friday morning, before departing for the docks, Sue and I met with Jerry, who is stitching an amazing piece. He calls his project the Millennium Project. He designs and stitches one square for each year, starting with 1900. He includes all sorts of historical facts and important events for each year, and is doing a marvelous job! It is truly and amazing piece!

The Winners

One More Framing Finish

This is Stitcher's Prayer by Little House Needleworks. I finished it during the last calendar year, but just had it framed when my LNS, Welcome Stitchery, had a framing coupon. It was stitched on the recommended fabric with the recommended threads.

Lizzie Kate Flip It Blocks Framed

I picked up my Lizzie Kate Flip-It Blocks from the framer recently.

A few years ago, I saw Teresa's and decided I needed to stitch it myself. I spent a little time tracking down all the charts and the overdyed threads, and then started it in January 2008.

I stitched one block per month last year, and finished it in December 2008. The border can be downloaded from the Lizzie Kate web site here. I took it to my LNS to have it framed when they had a framing coupon.

Hungarian Sampler framed

I picked this one up from the framers recently.

Don't quite know where I will hang it yet.

The charts were downloaded from Hungarian Sampler SAL bog

and is offered in two, three or four color versions. I chose the two color version.

Back from the Fair!

I just returned from the Lake County, IL fair.

I entered 16 pieces and received the following ribbons:

1 – 4th place

2 – 3rd place

4 – 2nd place

9 – 1st place

Of the 9 1st place finishes, 3 of them were also awarded a division champion ribbon.

I will post better pictures of all of the pieces with their ribbons once I get them back home, but for now I will show you the three division champions:


Quilted Flag was one that I hoped would score high, and it did. There is one male stitcher that does amazing counted canvas work, and wins the division each year, but this year he took 3rd place.








The Round Robin pillow winning Division Champion was a surprise to me. I had also entered one of Mark and Karen's hardanger wedding pillows which I though would score higher than one that was just plain cross stitch. The hardanger pillow did win a first place ribbon, though.

This snowman ornament winning a Division Champion ribbon was also a surprise! It is over one stitching, but I just didn't think it would do as well.



All in all, I am fairly pleased with the results. I am a bit disappointed in the judging. I thought Cinderella's Castle would do better than 3rd place. The second place piece in that class was big and on black fabric, but the stitches were very uneven, and I didn't think it was that great. I was also disappointed that the Windswept Santa stocking only got a 4th place, it was by far a more complicated piece and better executed that the other stockings, but it was in the "Craft" category as there is no "stocking" division in the Domestic Arts category.



I spent some time chatting with one of the superintendents, and asked her about the judging process and the qualifications of the judges and was very sad to hear her say that the judges are friends of the two superintendents and there really is no criteria for picking judges. She did say that some of them are home economic teachers, and one of them knew a bit about cross stitch, but there really weren't any qualifications that the judges needed to have.

So there you have it! My first Champion ribbons! Now....what should I stitch for next year?

This Month's Texas Stitching

On the sixth day of Texas Christmas, it is six redbirds flying!

And below you see all six ornaments that are stitched to date.

Hope Trey likes them when they are all done!

Recent Stitching

I haven't posted a finish in quite some time, because I have been so busy with other things I haven't had as many finishes as I would like.

I finished this piece about two weeks ago, but finally got around to ironing it and taking a picture. It is Sweet Pea, by Sue Hillis. It is one of her older designs, but still a lovely design. This piece will become part of a quilt in the next few months.

More Antiquing on the way home

Thursday morning, Kristin and I set off for home, Des Plaines IL. We had a long and boring drive ahead of us but planned to make some stops along the way. Our first stop was in Herin, IL, so that Kristin could get some lab work done, and then we were on our way.

Kristin suggested stopping in Benton, IL, as she remembered there were a number of Antique shops there. In the first shop, Kristin found a piece that she will be giving as a Christmas gift and was rather pleased with herself for finding it. In the second shop we hit pay dirt! I found the printer's tray I had been looking for, in great condition and for an excellent price!


You may wonder what I will be doing with this printer's tray. A few months ago, I had seen a photo of a printer's tray that was filled with small cross stitched pieces and knew that I wanted to have a similar one in my someday stitching room. Here is that photo:

There are more photos of other stitched printer's trays on this blog

I will be on the lookout for just the right motifs to stitch for my tray. It will be a work in progress for quite some time!

We made a few more stops along the way, for lunch, at the outlet mall in Tuscola, IL, and then for some ice cream. When we arrived back in the area, we stopped at Ikea and then came home exhausted! Thank you Kristin, for unloading all our treasures from the car!

St. Charles, MO

On Tuesday, Kristin and I set out for St. Charles, MO, which is near St. Louis. My trusty GPS, Gabbie, took us on the scenic route which took a bit longer, but was a very pretty drive. We drove through all sorts of towns along the way, including Chester, the home of Popeye the sailor man. I would love to go back and explore some of these cute towns another time

St. Charles is a lovely place, with it's old down town situated along the Missouri River. The downtown area has been restored and is populated with lots of quaint little shops and restaurants.


We met Nancy and Teresa, along with Teresa's daughter Sarah, for a yummy lunch at Lewis and Clark and then headed down the street to the LNS, Stitches, Etc.







The shop had lots of models on the walls and the charts were easy to find. It also had a good selection of fabric, and once a piece of fabric was cut, it was immediately serged! What a nice touch!



Kristin found a chart she wanted but quickly lost interest in the stash acquisition and she and Sarah amused themselves with their cell phones while the moms shopped.





There were lots of things that needed to be looked at and discussed,




and charts that needed to be compared. We had a great time comparing upcoming stitching projects and advising each other on fabric and fibres.



A number of items on my wish list found their way into my pile and the register. Can't wait to start on them.





There was a lovely quilt shop next door, and of course we had to stop in there and get some fat quarters also.

It was a lovely afternoon that went by much to quickly! I so enjoyed seeing Nancy and Teresa again and hope to meet up with them again soon.

Paducah, Kentucky

After I left Princeton on Sunday, I drove down to Carbondale, Illinois, to visit Kristin and Jonathan. It was a long drive, but I was happy to see my baby girl again.

Monday, Kristin and I drove to Paducah, KY to do a little antiquing. I was searching for a flower frog and a printers tray. As luck would have it, I found lots of printers trays, but the first ones I found, although very reasonably priced, were really dirty and needed a lot of work. I took a pass. Later on I found one in pristine condition, but I thought it was priced a bit too high, so I passed on that one also. I did find a number of flower frogs that were just what I was looking for! I bought two, along with little plates to go underneath. They will be great for displaying my Ginghers.

Paducah, KY is also the home of the National Quilt Museum. The quilts that were displayed were just amazing! Unfortunately, photographing the quilts isn't permitted so you will just have to go and see them for yourself.

All the wonderful quilts really make me want to learn to quilt......someday!

Of course, there was a museum shop, and stash that needed to be looked at. This cute little applique kit found itself into my hands and just begged me to take it home. The pieces will make lovely Christmas ornaments....someday.....

Stitching get-a-way

Last Friday morning I took off for Princeton Illinois, for a weekend of stitching with friends. The destination was an appartment on the second floor of the Quilter's Garden, a darling quilt shop in Princeton, Illinois. It is set up for quilting and for stitching and accomodates 8 for sleeping, and a few more for stitching.


Every one of the beds has a lovely quilt on it, and other quilts decorate the space. The shop itself has a lovely selection of fabrics, and quilt patterns as well as yarns and knitting patterns.



Even though I don't quilt, I couldn't resist some lovely fall fabrics. Never know when you might need them.










The space was ideal for stitching, lots of natural light and room to spread out. This first picture shows (from the left) Andi, Debi, Carol, and Jan. The second picture shows Judy, Di and another Carol.




We stitched a lot! Many of us were assigned a meal to prepare, and we ate very well. Andi is collecting all the recipes from this past weekends as well as other Princeton weekends for a cookbook. I can't wait to get some of the yummy new recipes.




I managed to get the models stitched for the cruise project, and then got them shipped off to Sue so that they could be finished and photographed.





A few doors down from the quilt shop was a wonderful store that carried lots of china from discontinued patterns. Since I needed a serving bowl for my casual china to replace the one that was cracked, I thought this shop was worth a visit. Replacements.com carries the bowl also, but I thought I would save on shipping. I was right, they had the bowl I wanted, and I was able to pick up 2 au gratin dishes for extra serving pieces.

More Stitchy Gifts for Logan

Last weekend, we had a stitching day at the Des Plaines Library. I did get some stitching done, but I will show that in another post.

While we were there, Marguerite gave me this darling bib for Logan. How darling!!! He will look so cute in this!!! Thank you so much Marguerite!!! He truly is Oma's hero.













There was also a package in the mail, with a wonderful onesie from Sue! How cute is this gnome!!! How creative of Sue to design it just for Logan!! Thank you Sue for the Gnoble Gnome Garment!

Logan's First Stitchy Gift

Logan was one week old yesterday, so of course Oma had to go and see him and cuddle him for a bit!

After seeing Logan, I went to my EGA meeting, and Debi gave me this cute stitched bib for Logan! Thanks so much, Debi, he will grow into it!

No time for stitching....

Who can stitch when this little guy needs cuddling? Here he is, sleeping soundly. What an angle!

Logan's Home!

Logan and his Mommy came home from the hospital Thursday afternoon. Daddy is still a mess, but getting better.

Oma went to help out.

Not much stitching getting done these days!

Here's Logan!!!!

Here he is, just about 2 hours old! He is just the most beautiful baby I have every seen!

IT'S A BOY!!!!!!

Logan Peter Rill was born this evening.

Mother and son are doing wonderful, Father is a mess!

Oma is going to see him now!!!!!

On the 5th Day of Christmas.....

In Texas it's Lone Star Flags!

I finished this one over the weekend, actually put the past stitches in as my flight from Tulsa landed at O'Hare.

For those of you that have asked, these will be ornaments for one of my favorite son-in-laws. The other favorite son-in-law gets the Northwoods afghan.