Back to Normal--Whatever That Is?

The evil inspection lady is gone!!!! YaY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Actually she is not evil, I just get all stressed before she gets here, so now I can chill. Maybe a nap is in order??????????

And the Retreat is over. It was fun, but a bit frustrating at times. I learned my lesson about "inexpensive" thread quite awhile ago, but since I have had my supplies packed since the June retreat I was still in possession of quite a few of them. I got the flu right before the last one so I couldn't go. Needless to say--thread painting was interrupted quite frequently by broken thread, broken needles, wadded up thread, cursing, etc. At one point the knob came off the side and almost an entire spool of thread started spilling out the side of my machine. I almost had a nervous breakdown. Fortunately our fearless leader operated on her and all was well. Finally I gave up and decided to work on my alternate project. That didn't work well either. I was not happy with one of the fabrics after I started putting things together. Ugh!!! So I spent quite a bit of time watching other people sew and deciding that there were quite a few new patterns that I was going to have to buy.
So, speaking of our fearless leader and very able assistant:

Michelle and Nikki from Handcrafters House

Landscapes were being created

New machines were being broken in

Tote bags were being whipped up

And hopefully--this is what my frog will look like when I get new thread and muster up the courage to keep going. This is the one that Michelle did. It is one of her original patterns from Raggedy Stitches.

That is all for now. I did manage to find some fabric that I think will work well as a background for my last couple of Harmony BOM blocks. I am going to fiddle and see how I can make it not so obvious. That I think will be todays trial. And then on to my carolers. I really need to finish them. Really I do!!! Hope you are all having a great week. Til later, A-