A Little Rest and Relaxation

Seems like the last few months I have been running non-stop, with very little time to spend with my husband...so as a little treat, he planned a few days away for us in Kansas City this week. We left early Wednesday morning and just got back this evening...and it was definitely good to have a couple quiet days away (even though I was worried about the work piling up on my desk). He was kind enough to take me through Liberty, Missouri on the was down, so I could visit Old Mill Stitchery - a cross stitch shop I had never had a chance to visit before (and had always wanted to see) - this little gem was SO worth the drive...it is a wonderful shop filled with gorgeous models and unique items...and they had beautiful yarns and a framing area too! It is located in Corbin Mill Place, which also houses a wonderful gift shop, a restaurant, a beading shop....and the best little place to buy wool I have ever been to called "American Whatever" - I was blown away by the most phenomenal selection of hand-dyed wools I have ever seen! I picked a wonderful assortment of unique wool fabrics to bring home...many autumn colors...a few picked especially for Oliver Owl - one of my friend Kimber's patterns featured in the current issue of Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting magazine (November/December 2010)...which I really hope to start tomorrow. If that wasn't enough, my very sweet hubby also took me to Leavenworth, Kansas so I could visit Quilter's Quarters (a quilt shop on my must see list) - there I found a few wooden spools of Moda trim, some great buttons, and a few fall fat quarters. It was a leisurely drive down and I got to do some great shopping.

Thursday we made a visit to the Kansas City Zoo which was VERY impressive! If you are a regular reader of my blog, then you know how much I love animals and visiting zoos wherever we travel. Although it was windy beyond belief, we still had a very good time....and most of the time we felt like we were the only people on the property. With it being the "off season", some of the animals were not on exhibit, but many were out and about and quite active in the cooler weather. The acres and acres of zoo grounds were incredible - and all of the animals seemed to have large, spacious areas, with all sorts of water, trees, and natural habitat. One of the largest attractions at this zoo is Nikita, the Polar Bear...who was quite entertaining - he actually did a back flip into the water and did a little swimming for us! There were so many highlights - a family of Guinea Baboons (with a baby) playing....a mob of Red Kangaroos hopping right past us...beautiful lions basking in the sun....along with a a herd of elephants, a clan of Meerkats digging burrows, an adorable baby zebra (who's stripes were still brown), and the cutest little Blue Duiker nestled in the grass. The grounds also had a fabulous African bird exhibit where I took a photo of the Superb Starling (my favorite photo)....and I was also able to get a close-up of the East African Crowned Crane which was quite stunning in person. We loved this zoo and definitely plan to return next year in warmer weather.

After the zoo, we made a trip to Country Club Plaza to take in the sights and do a little window shopping...it is such a beautiful area, but it was WAY TOO WINDY for us to thoroughly enjoy. We also enjoyed delicious dinners and some light gambling at Harrah's Kansas City (where I learned to play Pai Gow Poker!). It was nice to get away just for a few days and spend some quality time with my husband...and he was right, the work was still here waiting for me upon my return.

So, now it is back to designing, model stitching, and preparing classes for 2011. I am also working on a couple giveaway prizes and will be posting the details in the next few days (thank you for being patient with me!).

A Bunch of Goodies!

I promised I would share some of my new stash with you once my boxes arrived from Connecticut...and they are here!! I did quite a bit of shopping on my trip...and I was given some AMAZING gifts. Here are some of the goodies I shipped back...

Several of the retreat attendees were extremely thoughtful and brought me gifts...and they sure did their research...they all knew exactly what I love! I was the recipient of stitching goodies, luscious autumn quilting fabrics, a bottle of Merlot and specialty chocolates (the yummy chocolates didn't make it home)...even a Longberger basket with beautiful stationery and a pen...I was truly blown away by the kindness and generosity of my new stitching friends...thank you all so very much!

One of the retreat attendees from Albany, NY brought me a GORGEOUS set of coordinating autumn fabrics from her local quilt shop - Flying Geese Fabrics - these beautiful fabrics were even folded like flying geese blocks and tied with ribbon (I had to take the bundle apart to show you each of these beautiful fat quarters)....I honestly can't wait to find some quilting time, so I can put these fabrics to work - I just have to pick the perfect project first...I'm thinking more applique...hmmm...

A couple students from Rochester, NY brought me a bottle of Merlot (my personal favorite) from a local winery (Bully Hill Vineyards)....accompanying the wine, a lovely assortment of chocolate from Encore Chocolates - these were so delicious, they didn't even make it back to Iowa...and they even included a chocolate frog - yep, a chocolate frog! It was such a treat to receive such delicacies from their hometown. I can't wait to share the bottle of wine with my husband....and the chocolate frog managed to hop back to Iowa - for the moment, it is too adorable to eat!

On my first day in Connecticut, Sue took me to Colchester Mill Fabrics and I managed to do some power shopping - I found these lovely fabrics and some beaded trims for a couple stitching projects. I already had some of the sampler fabric, but I can never have too much - plus I can always use a few more fat quarters of the coordinating pieces. This shop had a huge assortment of specialty and upholstery fabrics and it was quite fun to look at all the choices!

During my day off between retreats, Sue and Deb took me to a super cool bead shop in old downtown Mystic called "You've Got To Be Beading"....I loved this place! There were so many beads and charms, it was hard to make a decision. I really like silver charms, so I had to pick out some fun ones to bring home - some wonderful crowns, keys, and a really cool tree...I was looking for some bird charms, but only saw Christmas birds (calling birds, turtle doves, French hens, etc.)....other than that, they had quality charms for any project! I picked-up up some lovely coral mother-of-pearl beads and a fun salt and pepper mixture....

Next - here is a photo of my stash purchases from Chris's Collection - as I mentioned, Chris and Pam set-up an amazing shopping experience for us at the hotel (see previous post) and I managed to find quite a few items to purchase....including: several unique primitive pin cushions/strawberries, a couple tuck pillows, a hat pin, several Just Nan pieces (including the vintage Jeweled Owl thread winder), Flowers of the Field by Blackbird Designs, Red Stocking Collection II by JBW Designs (and a couple pre-made stockings), some adorable "Around The Block" JABCO pins, and a package of Handbegh hand-felted wool balls. I also picked up a new favorite thing (not in the photo) - a Handy Caddy - a clear, collapsible storage caddy for all my stitching tools - thanks to some of the attendees for using these in class, you enabled me!

Finally, I have to share the ornaments I received in the ornament exchange. Each attendee had the option to bring a wrapped, stitched ornament for a fun evening exchange. I brought one wrapped ornament for each retreat - and I am so THRILLED I did! In the Mystic I exchange, I received Donna's ornament - the Britty Kitty ornament by Brittercup Designs....isn't it adorable?! For Mystic II, I received Chris's ornament - which was a Blue Ribbon Design - I thought that was awesome - I was so excited to get one of my ornament designs stitched by someone other than me! Obviously, Chris is an over-achiever, because also included with her wrapped ornament - a q-snap cover in Christmas fabric (I have been wanting to purchase or make one of these for the longest time), a peppermint pin, and chocolate. Extra special thanks to Donna and Chris - I will treasure the ornaments you made!!

So there you have it - an assortment of the items I shipped home from Connecticut - that should give me plenty to admire and play with for quite some time!

A Day of Laughing, Shopping, and Sharing

Yesterday was my Illinois road trip with my dear friend Terri...and even though we spent most of the day in rain and storms, we had THE BEST time! We met first thing in the morning and headed out to Welcome Stitchery in Crystal Lake, IL...and oh my goodness, this shop did not disappoint....it was incredible! To say we were blown away would be an understatement - I kid you not, this shop had the most needlework inventory I have ever seen in one place - they must have thousands of charts. This quaint shop had what seemed like room after room of merchandise...and it was so neatly organized and clean! We were there for 2 hours and I know we did not see everything. We had so much fun looking through each area and filling our shopping baskets! We even picked out matching heart-shaped magnetic needle minders by Puffin & Company to commemorate our day together. I also managed to pick up three new charts (Plum Street Samplers - Paradise Lost, Carriage House Samplings - Matter's Choice, and The Drawn Thread - 12 House Sampler), a The Heart's Content Kit (Fruitful IX), a couple Just Nan Charm Garden Pins, a very cute button (a heart with wings)...and not pictured (because it is already in my stitching nest), a scissor block with matching laying tool. It would be easy to spend a small fortune in this shop (and we both did)...and before we left we had already decided we would be returning!

After Welcome Stitchery, we were ready for lunch, so we walked across the street to the highly recommended Benedict's La Strata - our meals were very yummy...and we had homemade raspberry lemonade...everything was DELICIOUS!...we decided we must return to this great little restaurant, as well! Then we were on the road again to a quilt shop I have wanted to visit for quite some time...it is called Pieceful Gathering Quilt Shop and is located in Fox River Grove, IL. With a little help from my GPS we were able to find this great shop that specializes in reproduction fabrics....and I managed to do more power shopping. There were wonderful models throughout the entire shop and I think I drooled on most of them. Something else fun about this particular shop - they have pre-cut "snippits" and "snippit bundles", which are 10" square cuts.


















Next (as the sun made a short appearance) we visited A Touch Of Amish in Barrington, IL...and bless her heart, even though Terri is not a quilter (not yet, at least), she was a trooper and was happy to visit this HUGE quilt shop with me. Rooms and rooms of beautiful fabric...and I even found some great fabric in the sale room! I purchased a few yards (my favorite, shown below, is Home To Roost by Renee Nanneman of Need'l Love for Andover Fabrics) and we were off again on our adventure...

Our final stop was a cozy little quilt shop called Quilt In Joy located in Huntley, IL. This shop had lots of bright colors and fun projects throughout. I was immediately drawn to a cute pillow on a chair next to the front door - it was made from an adorable fabric panel (Dolly Dress Up by Holly Holderman for LakeHouse - shown below)...of course, it had to come home with me! Along with several fun fat quarters featuring apples, strawberries, and martinis.

As we drove back to Rockford, the storms were really brewing and tornado warnings were once again in effect...but it didn't matter to us after our fun day together laughing, shopping, and sharing...

Replenished and Refreshed

This past weekend, my husband planned a wonderful getaway for our recent 10th wedding anniversary. He knew there was a gorgeous bed & breakfast I really wanted to visit in Galena, IL...so to surprise me, he made reservations to spend Saturday night, along with dinner reservations in their dining room. What a wonderful getaway - I truly did not realize how much I needed it!

We left early Saturday morning drove to Galena...spent the late morning and afternoon shopping on Main Street and having lunch at Durty Gurt's (which is a fabulous burger joint!). I got to visit The Timeless Needle, an amazing needlework shop in Galena, along with a bunch of other fun and artistic shops...what a treat! That evening we headed to the Goldmoor Inn a FABULOUS bed & breakfast located high atop the bluffs overlooking the majestic Mississippi River - this inn was incredible! My husband had planned for flowers, champagne, and chocolate-covered strawberries to be awaiting our room arrival (which was so very sweet). We unpacked, cleaned-up, and after a short country drive through the area, took our bottle of champagne and glasses to the sitting room deck and enjoyed it outside overlooking the Mississippi River. We then walked over to the dining room, where the chef prepared the most wonderful dinner...what a great, relaxing night. And I must mention, as it has never happened before, earlier in the evening, while I was getting cleaned-up, my husband ironed for me...yes, I said he ironed for me!

After sharing a delicious breakfast, we were on our way home, making a late morning/afternoon stop in the Amana Colonies for more shopping and a visit to Heritage Designs Quilting and Needlework, where I did even more stash enhancement! It was a lovely weekend getaway, and I am feeling replenished and refreshed...

Shown below is the Goldmoor Inn:

We stayed in the Elizabeth Suite - complete with full-canopied bed, fireplace, whirlpool and private breakfast nook: