Lock It In

Yesterday, the fabulous Danielle and myself attended our first lock in at In Stitches needlework shop located in Virginia. One had been at the shop once before back in March during the Woodlawn show and had been planning our next invasion since then. It is such a nice shop, the staff is very friendly and helpful and the shop is chock full of goodies! I have been on a stash diet as of late, so I had no plans for purchasing anything, but had a few pennies to spend in case anything caught my eye.

That Danielle, she is so awesome! Last week she had gone to Bedecked and Beadazzled and got me this super cool gift while she was there!

Isn't it the cutest thing!! It is a cupcake needle minder. I will have to get a better picture of it when I go home tonight, but the pink rhinestones are my favorite! I love pink! I love cupcakes! Danielle also gave me a fantastic bag of stash that included some great threads and nice bags to keep projects in.

While at the lock in, I got the last two patterns in the mystery sampler and also a small chart from Blackbird Designs. If I was smart, I would have gotten the threads while I was there, but my brain stopped working properly the last few days. Haha. The ladies at In Stitches were so generous at this event! Upon check-in, everyone was given a packet that included a free chart and a $10 gift certificate to use during shopping that day! They were also having a Christmas in July sale so their trunk show items were 20% off and everything else in the store (except for a select few things, like framing) was 15% off! Like I said, I have been on a bit of a stash diet lately. There has just been nothing coming out that has given me that "gotta have it" feeling. But, I tried my hardest to find things to buy, honest! With the discounts and the gift certificate, I spent $10 to get the three patterns I picked up, what a steal! The staff also had a lovely spread of food for us to enjoy during a break and also had some great door prizes. Sadly, I did not win any, but it was fun to see what the other ladies won.

Eventually, I settled in to do some stitching and worked on my sampler.

This is the most recent picture I have. Friday night, I finished the empty spaces on the path and while at the lock in I started working on the one of the houses. Promise I will post an updated pic asap! So many ladies present at the lockin were working on wonderful projects. It was nice to see everyones progress!

Speaking of progress, I also have to show you what I was working on Friday while at the hospital while waiting for Matt to be discharged. Danielle and I had a bit of a laugh over it because, well I messed it up, and by the time I noticed it I had made so much progress I couldn't bear to undo it.

This is my progress on one of the new Mill Hill kits, Vanilla Cupcake. So, as you can see, it is stitched on perforated paper. The side I am stitching it on is white. The other side of the paper is blue. Yes, I am stitching it on the wrong side of the paper. Ooops! I was 3/4 of the way across the bottom stitching the blue when I realized it. Obviously, I just said "screw it" and kept going as I have a bit more done than the blue bottom border. Danielle and I both agree that since the background is solidly stitched, the background color of the paper really doesn't make a difference.

It was so nice to spend some time with other "stitchy" ladies yesterday and be able to shop around for some new stash. I am definitely excited to attend their next event!