Holiday over

Well, Allen and I made it back safely from Southern VA. We had a great time visiting all of his family, but it sure is nice to be home. After stuffing ourselves with food over the weekend, it is time to get some good dieting and exercising going.

I did get some great stitching done over the weekend. First I worked on Christmas Elf Fairy. I got all of her dress done and made a good start on her wing. Boy is it taking forever to fill in all that wing. Eventually I got tired of working with tons of Crescent Colors Cloud, so I moved on to my LTD 17th century German Garden.














On the LTD garden, I made a good start on the flower beds around the center knot. I took the LTD class at CATS earlier this year and made a brief start on it there. I really like this piece. I think for January, my goal will be to make a quick finish on my Christmas Fairy and then work on this garden Wednesdays and Thursdays. In February, one of those nights will be given up to work on Barnabee's Quest along with many other stitching bloggers.














Today I am kind of torn. Before leaving on our trip, I stated that I would work on my Bordeaux mystery for the remainder of this week before getting back into my rotation Friday night. While I love that piece, my elf and garden are both calling to me a lot. Must not give in and stick to my commitments.

In other stitching news, a LNS in Vienna, VA is offering a class on color in cross stitch this coming Saturday. Its focus is on what to do with those designs where you love the overall pattern, but dislike some of the color choices. I have several bigger pieces that I absolutely love, but I would rather stitch them in colors other than browns or yellows. For the class, I need to pick a pattern or two that I would like to swap out some colors. I will have to browse through my patterns over the next few days. While I am there I will probably pick out a fabric for my Barnabee's Quest Sal if nothing jumps out of my fabric bins at me soon.

My CATS weekend

Well, we made it home from CATS safe and sound. We had an amazing time. Allen and I left early Thursday morning and made our way up route 15. We arrived in Hershey around 11am. We checked in, dropped our things off in the room and went in search of a quick lunch before my Liz Turner-Diehl class at noon. On the way to lunch, I saw a familiar face sitting by the fireplace in the lobby. It was Carol. After lunch, I joined Carol and her friend Margaret at the LTD 17th Century German Garden class. It was great to meet LTD, but Allen did laugh that all I had to show for the almost three hour class was a few specialty stitches on my doodle fabby.

After the class, we all split up to relax for a while before the stitching mart. At 5pm I got in the LONG line to get into the mart. I spent a bunch of money, but got some pretty pieces:) I purchased the following:

Simply Old Fashioned Designs: Ever So Littles-Fish and Chimps, Saint Nicks 4, 6 and 7, Twinkle in Trees
Dinky-Dyes: Summer's Gate Sampler
Patricia Ann Designs: A Secret Garden
Liz Turner-Diehl: Scalloped Seashells, Elizabethan Gardens
Nutmeg Company: Christmas Cottage
Brittercup Designs:Britty Kitties 2
Cat's Whiskers: Fir Tree Mountain
Plus two pieces of R&R fabric and a few misc fibers.
All in all a good haul.

After the market, Allen and I had a lovely dinner with Carol, Mike and Margaret. Then it was off to bed. Saturday, Allen and I wandered around, played games in the coffee shop and stitched. Eventually I ran into Cathy and made plans to meet everyone in the stitchers lounge around 8.

I had a great evening stitching and chatting with all the wonderful ladies I met in the stitchers lounge. Here is a pic of Jenna, Cathy and I.















And here is Jo and Patti.
















Everyone was so sweet and fun to hang out with. I hope to be able to get to CATS again next year:) I had such a good time!!!

Here is the start that I did make on the LTD garden kit I got for the class I did. This is the center medallion of the garden. The colors are really pretty. I will be getting back to this as soon as I finish White Wedding. Even more motivation to get that one done:)

September/October Goals

Here is an update on my September goals. I actually didn't do too bad considering the limited amount of time I had.

1. finish body of Woodland Fairy-YES
2. Finish parts 8 and 9 of Mystery 9-NO
3. Finish page 4 and entire border of White Wedding-ALMOST
4. Finish Crazy Cat Lady exchange-YES
5. Stitch on Butterfly Rest-YES
6. Stitch birth sampler for work friend-YES

And here are my October goals...

1. Stitch on Woodland Fairy
2.Finish parts 8 and 9 on Mystery 9
3. Finish page 5 of White Wedding
4. Finish Autumn Exchange
5. Finish Christine's RR
6. Stitch on Butterfly Rest

Here's to a successful month.

PS I will post CATS pics later today... I had a great time!