PLUM STREET SAMPLERS

Myrtle Beach

What a nice time I had at the Pals Convention this past week! Although I'm happy to be home, I truly miss each person I met there, and came away with new friendships and aching sides from laughing so hard.

Shortly after arriving, I met up with Tanya Brockmeyer from The Scarlett House and we headed straight down to the beach...

We stood in the ocean until the jellyfish started washing up, so we decided it would be better to chat further up on the sand. ;)  (Besides, Tanya was better able to photograph cute surfer boys that way.)

Would you believe I barely got any pictures while I was at the retreat? I had decided ahead of time that I wasn't going to barge up to people and ask them if I could take their photos, so I only took a few random shots and some of the grab bags. Now I wish I'd imposed myself on people, bc I'm bummed that I don't have fun photos!

Here's one though. This is Amy of Down Sunshine Lane - the founder of the Pals Convention. :)

I do have a "real" photo of her, but it was taken on my iPad. Hi, Amy!

This is her husband and right-hand-man, Ray, trying to get a group photo...

Hi, Ray!

The days were spent stitching and chatting and eating and shopping, but the highlight of the week was the annual Grab Bag Exchange. Each person brought a container filled with stitching goodies, and they were lined up on a table. Then everyone received a ticket...

When your ticket number wascalled, you could either approach the table and choose whichever container you fancied (the objects inside were a mystery), or "steal" a container that someone else had taken. Once the last container had been received, everyone opened their grab bags at the same time, finding out what was inside and who brought it. It was such a fun event, and I still laugh when I think about Fiona-from-Scotland whispering to me, "She's a baracoota, that one!" when one of the attendees started scanning the tables for something to steal.

This is Fiona, trolling the room, looking for the container she most desired...

Here are some of the grab bags that were on display...

This one got stolen the most... Amy made the bag, and it was gorgeous!

There were 3 ornament exchanges: fall, Halloween, and Christmas. Here are the ladies, checking out all the Christmas ornaments on display before getting to exchange them.

If you've never been to a stitching retreat like Pals, I highly suggest you give one a try! What a great way to meet new stitching friends and get really motivated to finish up the projects you've started. I'm so happy I went!

I leave you with a shot of Miss (The) Scarlett House herself, taking a photo of me; I'm sure, though, that there must have been some surfer dudes in the background. ;)

If any of you who were at the retreat are reading this, I sure enjoyed meeting you all!

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Carol: We will go snorkel-drowning together one day.

Toni: Niiiice.

Amy: Mike says it's perfectly fine if you have a crush on him, as long as Ray doesn't mind.

Chris: Sure wish I had a stocking ornament. I wonder if anyone will make one for me?

Fiona: I have one Scottish product left, and I'm thinking of saving it to remind me of you. teehee.

Ray: I think you need to give those collard greens a chance.

Susan: You buy all the fabric you want - I won't tell a soul.

Lorrie: I still want your hair color.

Karen: Where WERE you sitting on that flight?

Faye: Now that's a calling card! You sneaky thing, you... ;)

Diane: Mike says he does those all the time. ???

Michelle: That pink feather just cracks me up!

Nicole: You should have been the one stitching Angry Bird. It would have been done in about 2 hours, no doubt.

Siobhan is Pining for My Plums.

I'm sorry, this post has absolutely nothing to do with that title, but after reading Siobhan's blog, I was kind of bummed that she didn't go with the original title she came up with for her post, so I decided that someone had to use it. So there it is.

Kind of looks bad up there, now that I think about it.

Anyway, if you haven't read Siobhan's blog before, you should head on over with a cup of coffee and look around. And keep a credit card next to your mouse, bc you're going to need it after seeing all of her stitching posts.

But before you go over there, I'd love to share with you some pictures of Sophie's bathroom! (I know, who cares about stitching when you can look at bathroom photos!)

When Sabrina left for college this year, Sophie decided it was time for her to move in to Sabrina's bathroom and claim it as her own. She carefully cleaned out drawers and cabinets, and then placed all of her own cosmetics and cotton balls lovingly inside the newly-emptied spaces. Then she asked to be taken to Wal-Mart to choose a new color scheme, and since she's the baby, I dropped everything I was doing and took her there.

Since I wasn't going to be painting the bathroom, she chose bright colors to go with the aqua color that was already in there. I love how it turned out!

I stitched this little Bent Creek design for her when she was a toddler...

She insisted that the handsoap match the decor...

...and I surprised her with a little iHome iPod dock that plays all the Selena Gomez tracks a girl could want... and trust me when I say that Sophie takes singing in the shower to a new level..

This is my favorite part of her bathroom... she used to love taking baths in the kitchen sink.

And that's it!

Okay, you can go look at Siobhan's stitching now. And before I forget - you'll not only need your credit card handy, but you may need a bottle of Clearasil too. Just sayin'...

Who Says

Back in the '90's, Bre and Sabrina got to go to their first concert: 'NSync. (That happened to be my first concert too, but that will be our little secret.) And this week, after asking, "Who the heck is 'NSync?" Sophie attended hers too:

Selena Gomez!

We went with one of Soph's BFF's (and business partner for The Glitz Girlz) and her mom, and on the way there, the girls took quite a few self-portraits of themselves. Here is one:

And here is another, after reaching the concert venue:

They were so excited. That is, until we walked about a mile to the end of the line. It turns out 9,000 other people had the same idea we did about what to do on a Friday night.

Nevertheless, after standing in line for over an hour, we finally made it into the concert area and headed down to the field...

Selena brought a band called The Scene along with her, and all the tweens went wild...

It wasn't until an hour-and-a-half later, when Miss Gomez herself appeared, that the REAL screaming began. Behold: the teenager every young girl in America wants to be...

...including my own.

A quick change into her boyfriend's (Justin Bieber) favorite color...

...and then again, into Sophie's favorite outfit of the night...

Sophie and her BFF kept disappearing into the crowd to wriggle their way toward the front, dancing and jumping and singing like seasoned pros...

...and when Selena closed the show with the tween anthem Who Says, they came back to their moms, who were exhausted from watching all the dancing.

I do believe these two got our money's worth. ;)

 

Ladder Ball and Other Nonsense

This past weekend we had a cookout, and Bre brought her friend Adam (who had just gotten himself a mohawk for an '80's-themed party). After our burgers and sides and Sophie's Incredible Orange Edible, Mike decided everyone would enjoy a game of Ladder Ball (also called Monkey Ball), so outside we went...

Here's Adam, looking fierce, focused, and ready to dominate:

But he'd better watch out for Soph, who has her dad as her partner...

During warmups, Bre whacked herself in the top of the head...

And while she recovered, Mike got ready for his big move...

There he goes!

Bre's up...

An excited spectator...

And an excited player...

When the game was over, the winners congratulated each other...

...Although Mike took the lion's share of the congratulatory cheers...

When Mike and his lowly teammate started to do their victory dance again, Bre decided she would rather pretend she was on their team the whole time...

...Than admit to losing.

Sabrina had to leave for work before the games began, so she and her dad went at it the next day...

And if you thought MIKE was bad when it came to winning, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

Adam, if you never come back to the Stewart House, I will understand.

 

 

Retreat!

Saturday I had the pleasure of attending the annual stitchers retreat hosted by the lovely ladies of Reflections Framing and Cross Stitch. What fun it was to meet so many new friends and to enjoy time with this group of ladies who genuinely love all things cross stitch. The venue was wonderful and the food was fantastic - and I even won a gorgeous eggplant-colored Namaste clutch as a door prize! Who knew walking through the door would be this much fun! ;)

Here is one of the lovely Reflections ladies, Julie, working on a sampler by Sampler Cove... her stitching is superb, and her eyes are very blue. Those two things don't really go together, but I just had to mention her blue eyes. :)

Here is something that Patty was working on... it's the entire alphabet by Prairie Schooler, all on one 40-ct piece of linen. This is the bottom half.. the top is folded under. To die for, Patty! Seriously!

Praire Schooler has the coolest designs, don't you think? Here are some close-ups of Patty's masterpiece...

I think the fox is my favorite!

And another stunning sampler, this time from The Sampler Company, tent stitched over one thread by Merry...

It's just gorgeous, Merry! Merry has a twin, btw, named Merrilyn. I really hope I gave the correct sister credit regarding this sampler! :)

Sweet Sandy and her mom Jane (who offered to teach me how to knit) gave me these dish cloths, since I love love love them and can't can't can't make my own...

There is actually another one in the bunch, but it's currently draped on my kitchen sink, drying out. Once you go knit, you never go back, btw. Thank you SO MUCH, Sandy and Jane!

I designed an exclusive pattern for the retreat to go with the weekend's theme, which was A Stitcher's Recipe for Friendship. Julie stitched it up and her husband created the gorgeous pedestal for its finish, and I can't get over what a fantastic job they both did!

Each lady attending the retreat received the pattern kit, as well as a pedestal and all the materials needed to finish it. Here is the darling box the kit came in, courtesy of Julie (who spent many long hours getting these to look just right)...

Before I left that day, I had the honor of being asked to draw the winning ticket for the raffle of a pair of plaid Sajou scissors worth $100. (I could barely draw the ticket for all the drooling I was doing over them!) A special lady (and first-time retreater) by the name of Abbie won them, and I'm so happy she did: earlier in the day, she had quietly asked for each attendee's mailing address bc she wanted to mail each person a custom beaded scissors fob as a token of friendship. Congratulations, Abbie, on a prize well-deserved!

I truly hope you'll be able to join next year's retreat. Maryann (and Maryann's significant other), Connie, and Julie are the most gracious and energetic hostesses you'll ever meet. Thank you so much, ladies, for a wonderful day of stitching (stop laughing, Julie - I got at least a dozen x's in!), food, and lots of new friendships!

Nothing In Particular Day

I got the most wonderful package in the mail last week, from my dear friend Chris. Once in a while Chris will send something along that is completely unexpected, and this particular something was accompanied by a note that said "Happy Nothing-in-Particular Day!" (Btw, Chris is the most fabulous gift-wrapper, and tends to details that I would never even think of; while I'm spending time looking for a stick-on bow in the party aisle at Target, she's perusing the much-more interesting Aisles of Chris's Imagination.) (And is it "Chris's" or "Chris' "? Either way, she's got the imagination!)

For some reason, I'm one of those people who thinks if I open a package carefully enough, I may be able to re-use the wrapping on another gift some time. It's not out of a desire to be frugal, but rather bc I hate to see beautiful wrapping go to waste. However, I'm never careful enough, and once I hear that tiny accidental rip, the game is over and I tear into it like my mother on Christmas morning.

Here's what was inside! What a sweet Nothing-In-Particular Day surprise!

Isn't that the most adorable tiny coffee mug? She made it into a pincushion with the sweetest pins from Just Another Button Company. I love love love it!

And take a look at this...

I was completely blown away by this sweet gesture. I just sat and stared at it, thinking that in a million years I never would have expected that someone would actually stitch one of my designs, personalize it, and give it to me as a gift! It was the most thoughtful, wonderful gift to receive.

Thank you so much, Chris! They are happily displayed in my home, and whenever I see them I'm reminded of your friendship and how you can turn a nothing-in-particular day into a very special one.

Beginning

I went to the funeral of a neighbor and friend on Saturday afternoon. When I stepped out into the gloomy day, I was astounded at what I saw: hundreds of robins in all the trees over his family's house and in several trees surrounding. The birds were all chirping in unison, and the sound was so pleasant that other neighbors were coming out of their houses to look up. I have no idea why they chose to sing in those particular trees, but it's something I'll never forget.

Before leaving for the church, I snapped what photos I could. What beauties these little spring birds are. And may God bless the family whose house they gathered over.

 

Psalm 147:7-9

"Sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God: Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains. He giveth the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry." (KJV)

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I like to change out the image on my desktop every once in a while, and just in case you do too, and you'd like to use one of these spring robins, here are a few semi-hi-res photos for you to use. Simply right-click the photo and choose "Save image as..." You may need to reduce the size, however, to fit your monitor.

Here's a different version of the above photo:

Enjoy your day!

Utah!

Hello everyone! I've missed you all! It's taken me quite a while to sort through all the photos we took on our semi-family (Bre couldn't come with us) vacation to Park City, and I'm still not quite finished. But I'd love to share with you what I've got for starters, and I'll finish Part 1 with Mike's TubeCam video, which we actually had to film twice bc the first time he pushed "off" instead of "on." :)

Can you guess which airline we flew? I have to say, they are the nicest people, and they don't holler at you for almost breaking their arm if someone's suitcase is too heavy for the overhead compartment. (Now that was a sight to witness!)(Btw, it wasn't my suitcase.)(Moving on.)

And the goodies they fed us! Not just peanuts and pretzels, but these fabulous little snacks, which I haven't been able to locate locally...

Sophie brought her Bonkers along...

And I brought mine...

This was the view from Sabrina's seat...

Which means there was no escape from the man sitting next to her...

Our layover was in Las Vegas.

I'm not too sure I like the gleeful expressions on my childrens' faces in this shot...

(Thankfully, an airport lady shoo'ed them off before they started asking for quarters.)

Once in Park City, we stayed at the Marriott Summit Resort, which was absolutely wonderful. I highly recommend staying there if you ever visit this area!

The next day, we all headed up the mountain. I was NOT looking forward to this bc of a nasty fall I had in Colorado last year, but I gave it a chance...

Sabrina is an excellent skier, but when I decided that I wasn't born to be an adrenaline-junkie like my husband and daughters seem to be, she stayed with me for the majority of the trip bc she was afraid I'd be lonely. ;)  (Besides, she was more interested in snowboarding, but the resort we ski'ed at - Deer Valley - doesn't allow 'boarders.)

While Sabrina and I had an amazing lunch in the lodge, Mike and Sophie headed back up the mountain...

Mike's BFF from childhood (Marty) and his family were vacationing with us, so eventually they joined up with Mike and Sophie. Sophie, please introduce Nick to blogland, will you?

I love this next picture. It looks so travel-promo-ish. Or maybe Carnival Cruis-ish.

Hi again, Nick!

Here we are later that night, getting ready to go out for dinner... next to me is Gabby, and Marty's-wife-Beth is next to Soph... Gabby has a twin brother named Zach (he's behind Nick in the photo above), but he was in the corner playing video games, not wanting to join we chickadees.

The next few days were filled with more of the same - skiing and shopping and swimming and eating - and tubing! If you've never gone tubing, you're missing out. Remember, I am NOT an adrenaline-junkie, but I love tubing!

(Don't worry - I haven't forgotten about Mike's TubeCam. It's coming up!)

On the last day of skiing, Mike and Marty decided to ski the blacks. In case you're unfamiliar with ski terminology, here's a quick lesson: mountains have "runs" on them, which are the paths that skiers take to ski down the mountain. These runs are categorized as Green (easy), Blue (intermediate), and Black (advanced). The Black runs are then broken down into subcategories: Diamond (very advanced), Double Diamond (only experts should attempt), and Triple Diamond (you will probably die).

Here are the two besties, getting ready to attempt a very advanced run...

Here's the part that makes my stomach flip: am I the only one who notices that the run just drops off?

And am I the only one who doesn't think that narrow pathway is an exciting challenge?

Let me interject a little back-story here: at dinner the previous night, I distinctly heard Beth tell Nick that he was not to go down the black runs with Mike and Marty. I saw the look in her eyes when she said it, and I'm pretty sure she wasn't to be challenged on it.

Unfortunately, I don't think M&M saw the same look I did.

And I'm really sure Beth would not have consented to THIS:

Let's take a closer look at that sign, shall we?

I'm afraid I have to side with Beth on this one. The sign clearly states who best should ski the Mayflower Bowl.

I ask: Do these look like experts to you?

I'll be back soon with more of our trip, but first... Mike's TubeCam! Hold on tight, bc it's much faster - and colder - than it appears!

Tubing in Park City, UT from Paulette Stewart on Vimeo.

P.S. I am only teasing about my sweet husband; he is, in fact, quite capable of skiing the blacks, and usually does so with Sabrina (while Breanna 'boards with the boys). ;)

Inspired!

Last week I had the pleasure of visiting the home of Darlene Andersen, who used to co-own a cross stitch shop called Treasured Stitches. When Breanna was still in her stroller, Mom and I would walk up to the shop and admire all the sampler models on the walls, and then I'd add to my ever-growing collection of Fanci That and Shepherd's Bush patterns.

The shop closed eventually, and Darlene began traveling and lecturing on the history of Adam and Eve samplers (are you hearing this, Siobhan?). She has stitched 55 of them (if I'm not mistaken), and invited me over to take a look. I brought my camera with me, but truly had not realized just how many samplers she had hanging on her walls, or I'd brought a wide-angle lens. Please forgive me for the tight photos - I literally had no more room to back up!

Here are some laying on a bed, waiting for a place to hang...

This one is Darlene's favorite...

And this one was mine...

Hi Darlene! (Darlene was looking upward into her hallway, answering all my questions about her stitching.)

Hey Kim, remember Frances Eden? She's on my list of things I WILL complete for 2011! (Kim let me adopt her half-finished Frances bc she changed her mind on the fabric and fibers. I was more than happy to take it off her hands!)

This is one that Darlene calls her "Bubblegum Adam and Eve" bc of their bright pink complexions! (LOVE this one.)

I was astounded at all the Mary Beale stockings Darlene had stitched! And she did them all in a year!

She also had a gorgeous tree in her sun room, full of all of the ornaments she has stitched over the years. I can't recall how many she said there were, but they are all wonderful...

She had even taken my Eliza Pennance chart and stitched it 4 times, in memory of 4 of her loved ones that had passed. You can see one of them in the bottom left of the photo below...

What a lovely tree!

Darlene, thank you so much for allowing me to take photos of your stunning handwork. Your samplers are beautiful, and I came away feeling completely inspired to stitch and design! Your home truly is filled with treasured stitches.

Heaven Gave...Friends

My very first internet-friend, Chris, finished my Heaven Gave Rain pattern recently, and she sent photos to prove it. :)  I'm always pressing Chris to start a blog to showcase her work, bc truly she has the most amazing eye for color and decor. Everything she touches is transformed into something beautiful!

Thank you for sharing these with me, dear Chris! And how do you always find the coolest stuff to make vignettes with?

Enjoy your Wednesday!