And . . . home again

 It was a great week!  Three phenomenal classes, several good friends taking the classes, new friends made, lots of inspiration and motivation, great meals from area restaurants, a hostess with the mostest, a mini-boutique in the classroom--and we get to do it again in March!

This is the second time I've attended an event that Kim at Sassy Jack's has sponsored, and it will not be the last. And, as we all know, I stalk Jackie up and down the East Coast, so, again, I'm looking forward to future classes with her.

I have three full project bags with delicious pieces to complete:

Two of them are ready to move into the finish-finish stage, one needs to be completely stitched--and I have made a start on it. I have to admit, I didn't get as much done as my good buddy Sharon, whose electric needle was blazing! 

Should I admit that I now have six of Jackie's projects from classes just since February? Told 'ya--stalker!

And, speaking of Sharon, who is reproducing her antique sampler collection as Thy Needle's Worke, I started stitching a model for her when we arrived home yesterday. Meet Mary Ann Turner:

She is such a sweet schoolgirl sampler. The top has alphabets, the lower two-thirds has birds and cherubs and flowering shrubs and a fine mansion and lots of motifs. She also has a lovely strawberry border--it occurred to me that I have at least three stitched samplers with strawberry borders. As strawberries are right up at the top of my favorite fruit list, this seems appropriate

And, of course, there was retail therapy.  Sassy Jack's has its own line of reproduction samplers, Sassafras Samplers. The original sampler sat across the room from me, and the more I looked at her, the more necessary it was that she should come home with me. Kezia Turnock has a funky castle(?) and two ladies doing a Vanna and rampant lions and flowers and birds. 

What is even cooler is that Sharon is reproducing another sampler with the same funky castle(?) and a similar border and some of the same motifs--so I see "sister" samplers in my future.

All of these things waiting for my needle and what am I doing? 

Laundry.

Reality sucks.