A "Weekend of Stitches"

What a great time I had last weekend teaching for Linda's Weekend of Stitches in LaPorte, Indiana!

When I arrived in town I went first Linda's shop, House of Stitches, to drop off charts for the trunk show and to see what she had that was new.  Linda has been the owner of this amazing shop for over 26 years, and the shop has been in existence for 31 years!  WOW!!  That is very impressive!

On Friday evening, I met with the stitchers who would be in Saturday's class and gave them their linen and a cutting diagram in case they wanted to cut their linen into smaller pieces before class.  There were even three sewing machines available for those who wanted to finish off the edges of their cut linen pieces.

Linda gave everyone a "goodie" bag, which had among other things a special velvet stitching pouch she had made for the occasion.  On the front of the pouch was a linen panel to be stitched along with a chart commemorating the 2013 Weekend of Stitches.  Inside was a cute marking pin, a needle, black thread, and the cutest black-and-white stork scissors. (I was thrilled to also have been given one of the "goodie" bags.)  Some of the ladies began immediately stitching on their pouches, and several were completed over the weekend.

The Fruit of the Vine class ran from 9am until 5pm on Saturday.  What a hard-working group this was!  Below are some photos I took while they were busily stitching.

Here is Linda working on her project.

Here are Kelley and Janet, a mother-daughter duo.  I particularly enjoy seeing a mother and daughter sharing the same passion.  Kelley lives in Ohio and Janet in Michigan.  

Kelley made incredible progress on the bands for her her needleroll.  Her doodle cloth is on the little piece of linen lying on top of her frame.  Kelley was experimenting with using a different stitch for her grapes rather than the tent stitches I used on my model.  I'm most anxious to see what she does because the little grape on her doodle cloth looked wonderful.

Next is Donna.  She may look familiar to you because she was in my classes last month with the Lake Michigan Sampler Guild.  It was so nice to see her again.  She got a lot accomplished in class, but I forgot to take a photo of her stitching.

Next are good friends Barb and Terry.  I first met them last year at Linda's Weekend of Stitches when I taught A Lady's Worke Box.  Terry told me she nearly has the box assembled.  (She had hoped to have it finished for me to see last weekend.)  I last saw this duo last month at the Lake Michigan Sampler Guild when they were in the class for A Needleworker's  Sampler Huswif.  Look at the progress they have made on their Fruit of the Vine needlerolls!

And here are Jackie and Marilyn.  I first met Jackie last year at the Weekend of Stitches.  You may remember seeing Marilyn last month at the Lake Michigan Sampler Guild classes.  Marilyn is her guild's program chairperson and really wanted them to offer Fruit of the Vine.  When they didn't chose it, she decided to go to LaPorte since it is only an hour and a half from her home.  

Here is an enlargement showing Marilyn's progress in class.

Marilyn surprised me my bringing her completed accessories from the class last month for A Lady's Worke Box.  Wow, has she been busy!  Not only does she work full time, but she was also able to complete the four small project pieces, and even added a fifth that she made on her own, the scissors sheath. She used the template I had provided  in another project.

Marilyn was in my first class, years ago.  In fact, this was her sixth class with me.  However, she certainly doesn't need any classes.  She is an absolutely incredible needleworker!!  I think she must just like the projects.

Next are Sharon and Linda.  Sharon was also at last year's Weekend of Stitches, and brought lots of completed With My Needle projects then.  This was Linda's first class with me. Linda likes to create her original stitches and shared one with me that perhaps I'll use on a future project.  She also got my "creative juices" flowing about perhaps developing some new stitches or variations on old stitches.

Here is Sharon's completed A Lady's Worke Box from the 2012 Weekend in Stitches.

And here are some photos from Sunday's class, Long May She Wave.  Here are Jackie, Joy, Lisa, and Gwen.

And here are Kelley, Janet, and Barb.

Here is Kelley's morning progress on Long May She Wave.

Here is Lisa's morning progress on Sunday's class.

Did you notice the sewing pouch on the right side of the photo?  That is what Linda gave everyone, and some folks got it stitched over the weekend.  There were certainly lots of mega stitchers in the classes!  I just wish that I had remembered to take more photos.  I usually don't think about it until after class is over.

And here I am with Linda right before I left.  Thanks, Linda, for another great retreat!

LaPorte, Indiana is not very far from Indiana's Amish country.  The area's visitor's center gives away free DVDs about the various communities in the area and also about the Amish people.  One of the popular things this time of year is the Flower Quilt Gardens.  The quilt gardens are patterned after those in Belgium.  Here are some photos from one of them.

Thanks, everyone, for a terrific weekend!