What I Kept

It's always a joy to receive gifts and these gifts, brought home from Sue Donnelly's recent Stitcher's Hideaway in Mystic Ct, were especially delightful.  Between the well-stuffed Swag Bag that marked each stitcher's place and the door prizes, I came home with some real treasures

Some interesting floss from the Swag Bag:  Here you see some Threadworx in a rich Victorian Christmas Red and a selection of DMC flosses: #3 and #5 Perle cottons in gold and lavender pink, a rayon floss in Christmas green, a pale gold graduated cotton and an even paler gold color infusion.  All lovely additions to my floss stash.

Also in the Swag Bag: A useful new tool and a pin cushion: The corner gauge will be most useful both in my stitching and my quilting.  The pincushion is made from a sweet little silk-screened bit of Victorianna.

From the Swag Bag: this kit is from Nan's Hands and uses some specialty stitches to make a very simple and quick ornament.

Also from the Swag Bag:  The next is a charming Prairie Schooler promotional card.  While I don't actively seek out and collect these cards, I do keep every one I come across.  They make great charts for use in exchanges and small gifts.  I will definitely find time to stitch this one before Christmas.

And a number of charts that I will definitely stitch:

This chart was a door prize. donated by Glory Bee,  it is one in her clever, witty and whimsical series of Christmas sayings.  This one warns "When you stop believing in Santa, you get underwear".  I have used other charts from this series to make Christmas gift bags.  I can see this one holding a gag gift of underwear for one of my children in Christmas 2014.

From the Swag Bag: Sue Donnelly's own design.  She designs a chart and makes up a kit for every hideaway she hosts.  I have stitched all of the charts for the hideaways I have attended and this one will be no different.  I think this design might actually fit inside one of my cut-out Christmas Cards.  I could finish it as an ornament and insert it in the cut-out for mailing and then the recipient could use it on her tree.  I am thinking this might make a lovely token gift for my husband's cousin.  We have long since agreed not to buy expensive gifts for one another but I always like to give a small token of some sort. 

And another door prize, this one donated by Stitcher's Hideaway, is a Brightneedle kit with a lovely tuck pocket for carrying a cell phone or other electronic device or a small memo book.  I already have one in which I keep the calculator I carry in my purse.  It will be nice to stitch this one up and use it for my phone or my notebook.

A second keeper from the Swag Bag is this Just Nan chart called Needle Flitters.  I was especially delighted to see this chart in the swag bag since I had been intrigued by the Needle Tweets that started this whole series going a few years back.  At the time, I thought the Tweets way too pricey for what they were, darling little gifts to tuck into an exchange.  You can read about my thoughts on the Tweets here.  Finding the Needle Flitters in my swag  bag was a very pleasant surprise indeed.

So, there you have it: the reason I felt no need to buy charts while on retreat.  I felt free to concentrate on floss and scissors precisely because I had been given such a fine array of charts that I will absolutely enjoy stitching.  These are all relatively simple and easy charts, perfect for interspersing within my current rotation of complicated class projects and WIPs.  What could be better?