battlecry: retreat . . .

LOL!  Sometimes you just need to retreat . . . on a retreat . . . to a retreat.  That's exactly what I did last weekend! But it was my favorite kind . . . the kind I don't have to drive to.  A Camp MACOBA retreat! This was my Sassy Affirmation Sisterhood Sister's (SASS's) third annual summer retreat at the camp.  It was originally scheduled for July, but Todd's surgery happened, so we pushed it to August.  GOOD thing those cabins have A/C!!

It was Gail's (center) birthday weekend, so of course the appropriate signage was put in place!

I didn't even bring my machine this year.  I worked on getting my two wool tubs and my tub of floss in order, finished up several handwork projects, made some acorns, kitted some wool applique projects for fall, and started *and* finished a delightful Christmas tree cross stitch.

Wool Candy Corn bowl filler (in front of my fabric bouquet)!

 

LOVE this finish!!!

Acorns!!  :)

 

We took a field trip into town on Friday and visited Patches & Stitches and had dinner at a fabulous pizzeria, Sam & Gregs.

Saturday we took a field trip down to the creek! We splashed for a bit and took the requisite "feet in the water" photo!

And we all took a ton of pics of the creek, too!  ;) My idyllic spot!

There are a TON of assorted varieties of mushrooms/fungus around the camp right now . . . it's been so hot and humid! There was one 'shroom that was way bigger than my hand!  But this was a fungi I'd not seen before . . . 

It's called a Wood Ear Fungi. Aptly named, right?  That's exactly what it looked like on the tree bark!  So cool! The woods have ears . . . they're listening all around . . .

Sunday we all felt relaxed and rejuvenated!  It was Gail's actual birthday, and since we'd done the 'feet' shot in the creek, we decided to do a party hat shot parting shot . . .

We're so silly!  I'm glad I have a circle of friends like this.  They're the BEST!  :)

 

I'm ready for another long weekend . . . yay for Labor Day!  We'll try and head out on the boat on Monday, with the Merkel crew.  So look for lake pics next week!

Arrivederci!!

:)

multiples . . .

This past weekend was a loooooong, lovely weekend!  I had a retreat with my Stitcher's Etc. group at Hinkle Hill Retreat House in Bell Buckle, TN scheduled for Thursday through Sunday.  But since I knew I'd miss my boat day with Todd on Friday, I took an extra day (Wednesday), which we spent on the lake . . .

It was really a gorgeous day.  Blue skies and popcorn clouds!  We didn't get into any rain (you never know when a little storm cloud is going to pop up, because of the high heat and humidity), but we did see rain coming down on the lake less than a mile away . . .

We could even see that the water was white-capping!  It got close to use, but it fizzled out before we got any of it.  The clouds always make for glorious sunsets.

Sigh.  I could look at sunsets all the day long.  So pretty!

Thursday morning I loaded up and headed out pretty early.  My table mate *and* my bunk mate was one of my BFFs.  We came prepared to be silly!

I had my area set up like I like it . . .

We had a good group of ladies ... twelve in all.  This isn't the greatest photo, but it gives you an idea of our sewing room.

I also came prepared to be productive.  I got a LOT (for me) finished over the four days. I kitted four wool applique kits (one is not pictured) . . . 

 

I finished up my Christmas Quilt by getting the borders on it . . .

This is my August UFO Challenge project, so I'm glad it's done!  Originally I'd just planned to add borders to the long sides, because the quilt is so much longer than it is wide, but after stitching on the three borders on both sides, I decided it needed something across the top and bottom, so I used the focal print to go across.  I like the final look!

I also stitched together and trimmed over a hundred, 1-1/2" half square triangles; pieces that I'd trimmed from the Christmas Quilt when I pieced the feathered stars.  

I'm not quite sure how I'll put them together, but I'm thinking it would make a pretty pillow sham.

I free-hand put together this little pumpkin wall hanging, from start to finish, Saturday morning. 

It was fun! The pumpkins came from this Benartex panel . . .

It's got a glint of metalic, which is my happy place. I meant to use the leaves across the back of the piece, but I forgot. In fact, I just *now* remembered that was my original intent.  That's what happens when you make things on the fly!

Saturday afternoon we all did this cute little zippered pouch:

Darling, right?  And super simple to make.  I love to do a group make 'n take!  Then Saturday evening I made (or at least got a good head start on) another set of Jack-o-lantern placemats.  I gifted a set to the local grands last fall.  This set will go to the California crew.

I still need to applique the faces and quilt them, but the hard part is done!

I got some hand-stitching in, too, which was nice. We wrapped up late Sunday morning after a terrific brunch, but before gals started to leave, we made sure to get in a group photo . . .

See?  A good group!  I've already got next year's dates on my calendar!

:)

road trippin . . .

Backposted (because how ever many years from now I'd regret not having posted these pictures along with their stories)!

This past weekend was the second annual retreat for our Sassy Sisterhood!  We hit the road on Wednesday morning and shopped and ate along the way . . .

We stayed in the same cabin (that suits us so, so well) as last year, tucked in the Smokey Mountains in Sevierville, TN.  It's really sweet and cozy, and just the right size for three gals stitching away.  (And I just realized I never did a post just on our reteat last year.  This is why I'm going ahead and backposting!  It makes me so sad when I look back on the blog for something and I didn't post about it!)

My intent this year was to finish the teacup stitchery and to finish appliqueing all of the wool blocks from the Hospital Sketches BOM.  I succeeded . . .

Yay!  I love it when a plan comes together!  Finishing my BOM blocks is my goal for January's UFO challenge (in our Stitcher's Etc. group).  I'm glad to have this off my plate!

We also had a group project that we worked on.  Last year it was "Ewenice" (which I did blog about).  This year it was . . .

TAHDAH! Pompom sheep! Aren't they darling?  We used the tempplates from Betz White. Mine is the bottom one.  Lavender.  ♥  She's hanging from my rear view mirror in my car.  She's so CUTE!

We had a light dusting of snow while we were there . . .

Idyllic! We decided that was the perfect day to stay put and have a fire in the fireplace:

And Downton Abbey on the screen. Ha! It was such a sweet, laid back time.  Perfect get-away.  We booked for 2023 before we left!

;)

event hopping . . .

It was a fun ... but busy ... week-to-the-end!  

Sunday, we celebrated Evey's SEVENTH birthday!  Good gravy, where has time gone??!

She is feeling very grown (she's seven, after all), but still a huge fan of Piglet, so she was very pleased with the Piglet scrunchy, necklace, and earrings we gifted her! 

This little girl has larger than life feels ... you can definitely see it in her sweet face!

Mid-week, I got a call from James ... they'd taken June to the ER.  She'd tripped and fallen, breaking and dislocating her elbow (because one or the other wasn't enough).  

June seemed to handle it all in stride (especially once they gave her something for the pain). Something about that age ... your limbs are a force to be reckoned with as they grow and grow!

She got a lovely green cast for her troubles.  She's got this ... it's hard to keep June down!!

My last event with Essential was on Saturday.  We hosted the Essential Women re-Connect Retreat at the camp (and I was on the planning committee)!

The decorating team did a terrific job of making the pavilion look pretty.

I had a lovely group of ladies at my table.  Smile!

One of our favorite activities was making "jar-cuteries"!  Isn't that just clever?? They were super easy to put together, and were very yummy, too!  We had a lot of fun with these.  I'm happy to share the instructions with anyone that might have interest.  Good way to enjoy a personal charcuterie!

I did a little talk on hospitality and thank yous ... to that end, I whipped up one of my little pineapple mugrugs/candle mats as a door prize (mind you -- I did that Friday night)!  

Saturday was a full day ... but evidently not just for me! I love getting photos from the Panter crew!  Sawyer battled it out on the soccer field . . .

Look at that fierce concentration and focus . . . his typical 100%!

And Olivia ... 

She tried out for her local ballet company's production of The Nutcracker!!  James told me she practiced and practiced her audition dance for weeks.  Now for the patience to hear back!  It might mean a December weekend trip to the west coast!

Tonight I'll head to Huntsville to spend a couple days with the local grandgirls.  And soon I will be sharing BABY EZRA pics!!

:)