St. Michaels Weekend...

I am deliciously tired!!  What a great weekend I had spent with my stitching pals!  It was fun to spend time with Astrid  and all the other ladies who attend our annual stitcher's retreat.  We stitched, laughed, shared our finishes, and an unmentionable caper I have been forbidden to describe until all the police reports *wink* have been made public.  I can only say it involved kidnapping, ransom and threats of bodily harm to innocent bystanders.  I was forbidden this morning, under threats of not being invited back next year (I believe they mentioned black balling) with the only explanation being, "What happens at St. Michaels, stays at St. Michaels."

Here we all are, smiles all around, when only moments before we were nearly dumped on the ground.  All I will say is that Astrid has been known to "rock the boat".

I was able to FINALLY finish the old SAL I had hanging around.  I know there are others I should have stitched, but I am pleased this one is finally done.  I hope I can get it framed one of these days, I dearly want to hang this one on the wall.  The pattern was from this website a couple of years back.  It's no longer available, unfortunately.

I also finished stitching the wedding sampler for my physical therapist.  I wanted to stitch the wedding date for her, though it was not in the pattern.  I played around  a wee bit, and finally back-stitched it above the heart.  I asked the other ladies and got varying advice, and would love to hear your honest opinion.  I guess the final decision will be made by the person it was stitched for, but I do know if it was mine I would want the date displayed.  I assume she does too since she specifically gave me the date.  I will see her tomorrow, and will let you know what she decided.

I worked on Matter's Choice also.  I haven't done much stitching on this one, and it was one of my crazies from last year.  If I'm lucky, maybe I'll get it done this year.

Ms. P was in attendance this year, and I love listening to her talk about antique samplers and the schools in England where young ladies learned to stitch.  The antique staplers are amazing, delicate, stitched phenominally well by young girls, and I'm jealous of their talent!  She brought along one she had recently acquired.  If you think I'm crazy stitching over one on 40 ct, this one was probably stitched over one on 50+ count!!  It is only 3 inches by 3 inches!!  Beautiful isn't it?

I look forward to a few things we do for one another while we are there.  We usually find a small something for each other, so here is a picture of the gifts I gave this year, come crocheted bookmarks and my rendition of hogs and kisses.  The little tins are full of mints.

Here are a few of the things I received in return.  

And we play Yankee Trader.  I'm sure there are other names, and it's too involved to explain here, just know it's usually fun to play and this is what I finally ended up with! I love that it is my signature color of lavender!

And that is all for tonight.  My guys have been missing me, and now that they are home from youth group, my presence is requested.  Thanks for reading, and please do give me your opinion of the wedding sampler.  I leave you with some pictures of our "retreat".