Finally, Boxwood and Berries Gathering!

Carmin Garmin got us to Spring Green WI with no further problems. When we walked into the new classroom at Country Sampler we found this great wooden tote sitting on our tables. Inside was an apron and a wool kit. Each of the three designers were asked to design a pocket for the apron. Don't you love the tote? Our first designer was Maggie Bonanomi. What a sweet lady, and funny too! Here she is telling us about our first project, A Book of Days.

Here is the pocket she designed for our apron. It is all wool applique.

This is the front of our Book of Days, but it is the back of Maggie's as she stitched hers together backwards.

As you can see the back is lovely too.

Here are some of the pages inside our journal. Maggie gave us pictures to use that are beautiful. Pictures of old buttons, old cookie and tart tins and old Christmas bulbs are my favorites. I may also use some of my own pictures when I finish my Book of Days.

Here Maggie is making beeswax candles. Because of lack of time and space we only observed this project. I am going to try this. Probably not this year. Those little candles were so cute for that tree.

Next we made a feather tree from tissue paper. This is the lovely urn with raw cotton and pine cones that we put our trees in.

Here is the tree. I made all of my branches. I didn't put mine together because of the flight home. I don't know that I would have been able to carry it through three airports without being pulled aside for an extensive security check!!! I listened carefully to the instructions on finishing my tree to finish here at home. This is a picture of the tree that Maggie made.

This is Maggie's newest book. It"s lovely. We were fortunate enough to see a trunk show of all the projects from this book. What a clever lady!

This off white on off white wool was lovely.

This cutout was great too.

This is my favorite project from the book. It is a wool Punkin's Mat. I call my grandchildren Punkins. She had it sitting in this cutest twig stool. I love it. I am on the hunt for one.

So Cute.

Loved this hooked rug. See that cute little pumpkin pincushion. If only I had more time!

This looked good enough to eat.

This was so clever. Maybe next year.

I loved this pear too and the stand that it was on ..... a glass candle holder painted... Why didn't I think of that?

A wool mat for Christmas.

Maggie made several batches of cookies and showed several ways to package them as gifts. Maggie did not drink all the wine in those bottles. (we had a wine tasting, trying wines from South America)

We all got to try some. They were yummy!!

Maggie was a very busy lady in Spring Green. When she wasn't with us or baking she was out antiquing in her tomato red Jeep. She looked so cute in it!!!

We had a wonderful time with Maggie. She shared some great projects and ideas with us. She will have a new book out in the Spring on Rug Hooking.

Next time I will tell you all about our day with Stacy Nash. Another fun day. Until then keep stitching. I hope that everyone here in the U.S. had a very Happy Thanksgiving. I had a wonderful day spent with family and a bit of stitching.

Pat

WE ARE BACK! WHAT A GREAT TIME WE HAD.

We are back and we had the time of our life. I want to do it again very soon. Our flight
from Burlington VT to Chicago and on to Madison WI was great. I am not a fan of flying, especially the landings but they went well. Everything was perfect..the flight...the friends and the weather. As soon as we arrived in WI we picked up our rental car and plugged Carmen Garmin in, waited for a satellite which took a bit of patience as Carmen was still in NY and repeatedly gave us directions from my home. That settled and satellite found, we were on our way to our first stop JJ Stitches and CO. in Sun Prairie WI.


Oh my,oh my!! What a beautiful shop. Fabrics and models every where. Julie, the owner was there. What a nice lady. We stayed there about three hours and I could have spent three days. No kidding. I had my camera but there was so much to see I forgot to take many pictures.

These are just a few of the models in the shop. I walked around with my camera in hand and my mouth wide open. I kid you not.

Love these wool pillows.

She had some beautiful ric rac. I love ric rac!!

If you are ever in this area of Wisconsin you have to go to this shop. If you live in this area... you don't know how lucky you are! I will be back soon with pictures of my purchases from JJ's. (because I can't find them right now) As we leave here we are on to Spring Green WI and The Boxwood And Berries Gathering at Country Sampler Quilt Shop.

Pat

Get Ready Wisconsin!

I would love to share my plans for next week. I am very excited about them as I have never done anything like this before. I am off to Spring Green, Wisconsin. I will be attending Country Sampler's second annual Boxwood and Berries Gathering with Stacy Nash, the girls from Blackbird Designs Alma Allen and Barb Adams and Maggie Bonanomi . If you would like to read about Boxwood and Berries click on Country Sampler and go to coming events and scroll down just a bit. It sounds like so much fun! I am dragging two friends along. They are both excited too. If anyone is familiar with this area of Wisconsin and has a favorite Quilt Shop please let me know. We will have a whole day to shop, shop,shop.

Pat

I'M DEPRESSED!

Where have I been the last few weeks? Right here in this pile of Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkin's.


Why? You might ask.

Because I am depressed!

I loved this magazine and it is no more! Maybe I should say I heart Mark Lipinski's Quilters Home. I have no idea if the magazine will continue without him or not. I do know that if it does continue it will never be the same, cupcakes! :(

On to other things. I did have two cross stitch projects framed. I had a very difficult time trying to get a photo of " Home" by Shepherd's Bush. I couldn't get a photo of it on the wall because of the glare from the background. You could see everything in the room in the glass and you couldn't see the cross stitch.

I even had "Boo" by Shepherd's Bush finished in time for Halloween. Both of these projects came as kits. They were quick and easy to stitch.

I received money for my birthday in May. I purchased a Kindle with the money. By the way, I love it ! I saw a Kindle Cover or" Bookkeeper" on Moda Bake Shop. I have one almost finished. I need to do the applique and then I will show a photo. It was fun to use my decorative stitches for the first time. The directions were great and easy to follow. Below is the pattern and the fabric I used. The pattern is by Kim Walus. Go over and visit Kim. She is a very clever lady.

I love the primitive look. I follow Lynda Hall's blog. Recently she had a post about Mockingbirds. I commented on that post and Lynda decided to give everyone that commented a copy of her new pattern Mocking Birds. Lucky me. This pattern is now in my to do pile. Go over and visit Lynda. You will enjoy her blog.

Below are a few more patterns that I was lucky enough to win from the Fat Quarter Shop. Several of them have been added to my pile also. My pile is almost as tall as I am now!

In the last few weeks I have also been to a quilt show, a Craft Fair and of course some quilt shops. I will be back soon with some photos. My next post will be about some very exciting plans that I have for next week. ; ) ; ) ; )

Hugs,

Pat