Winterfest 2014

 Last fall when Amy approached me about teaching at Winterfest, 

we talked about doing a Valentine project.  

Something cheerful to work on during the cold of winter.  

I came up with this idea in my head and made a paper sample up. 

 Next I picked a palette to work with - that was the hardest part! 

And it morphed over time as I started creating.  

The brighter jewel tones really spoke to me.

 It was a delightful mess of colorful wool and threads.  I wanted to incorporate some vintage buttons and bits and bob of lace I have collected over time.  I also wanted a project that could be up year round, not just for Valentine's Day.  My heart is full of love for my family as this time and so this led me to the final product!

 The envelope is what we spent a good amount of time.  It is lined with peltex and has a sweet little crocheted edge.  You could tuck away some photos or love notes inside.  The tree has 6 hearts representing each of our 6 children.  Two velvet heart for my husband  and me.  For colorful hearts for our parents.  I had fun painting and doing a simple embroidery on an old postcard I found at a flea market inn Vienna this past spring.  On the large heart I included some special scouting pins from my sons, my husbands Air Force pin, and few other little things that needed to have a better life out of a dark drawer!  I thought it was kind of fun to clip two photos of our parents wedding day.   I joked that the button filled heart was representative of all of the adorable grandchildren I will have one day :)  I hope the ladies will fill their project with love and happy memories.

I still need to add a few dangles and get my backing on, 

but it has been such a fun project o create.  

Many thanks to all of you adorable ladies for your patience and love!

Some of the cute ladies in class!  

I know I didn't get photos of everyone - I am easily distracted when teaching!  

I loved being with each and every one you!

Riverwoods Conference Center in our hometown, Logan, was a beautiful venue for Winterfest.  It's always so rewarding to see what becomes of everyone's work.  Such creativity!  Hope I'll get to see some of the finished projects one day!  Happy Stitching :)

PS.  I also taught a hand stitched journal class and left my camera home :(  

Here is a peek at what I taught.  

They are so much fun to do and they make wonderful gifts!

A New Year

Doesn't the a new year hold such promise? I started this one off on a very lucky note!  I won a giveaway from the fun blog (here) of The Middle Sister!  Gayle is such a talented, creative, warm person.  Who does a give-way on their birthday?  Gayle does! I have followed her blog for awhile now and got to meet her in person this past fall at my open house.  I'm looking forward to some rug hooking days in the near future and I'm certainly going to treasure this sweet little quilt.  Can't wait until Molly comes up so she can gently tuck her baby doll under it!  She and Gayle share the same New Year's Birthday :)

I wanted to thank everyone for their sweet words of encouragement and love.  Our family has grown a lot in the past few months and we have been reminded over and over of the genuine kindness those around us possess.  Thanks for the love and prayers.  We feel it.

We reopened up our etsy shop.  My daughter put up my book, Savor The Seasons and some kits for the pillow covers.  We will be adding more kits and patterns soon!  Check out our etsy shop here!

I have been busy preparing for a couple of classes I am teaching at Winterfest  next week.  One is a hand stitched journal and the other is a Wool Lovers Mystery project.  It's been hard to keep a secret!  I am excited to post the pretty little piece next week after my class gets the first look. It has been a great way to spend my time.  Designing is quite a process.  I usually start with something in mind and tweak things to get them just so.  This last one was a bit of a challenge.  Not sure if was just that my creative muse had been in hibernation for too long what the problem was, but it definitely went through some awkward teen age years before it blossomed :)  Now I can't get enough of it.  I can't wait to see what the ladies do with their own interpretations of it.

It is full of color, stitches and lots of old buttons :)
I gleaned a lot of inspiration from all the visual eye candy on Pinterest

It feels good to back!
Happy Stitching everyone!
xo