My first flatfold

After returning to a very hectic work week I was very happy when this weekend arrived, knowing I'd be heading to another SAL. This time the hostess was Dani and the group is our Yahoo Southeastern Ontario stitchers' group. The SAL was slated to start on Friday evening with a sleepover followed by another full day of stitching and a flatfold tutorial. Some of the group were also staying over Saturday night. However I was sooo wiped out at the end of the week that I chose to sleep in on Saturday morning and join the group midday. Besides, Bob was playing an organ recital on the Friday night which I felt I should attend. It turned out to be a very interesting evening with several organists playing music for the macabre to celebrate Halloween! Following a very restful sleep I headed off to Dani's place in the morning and landed in just before noon.

It was the perfect day to stay put and stitch. The rain came down for most of the day but we were comfy cozy inside with stitching, movies, good company and all sorts of munchies.

The group consisted of Rebecca, Chrisanne, Christin, Dani and myself. This was my first time meeting Christin who is a very good stitcher and made me jealous with pictures of her stash closet in her apartment! Talk about stash, Dani then proceeded to show off her stash room!!

Imagine a room with binders full of charts, drawers full of beads and fabric as well as a wide selection of threads. On top of this she has a table and room to do her finishing. I wasn't thinking or I would have taken a picture for you. Thanks ladies! I mentioned these lovely stashes to Bob and he's considering re-doing our extra bedroom as a craft room for me !!

I managed to take a few pictures of the group although Christin was camera shy so I'll have to get her next time. In the left picture we see Rebecca and Chrisanne who are sharing an Ottlite because some of us forgot ours! Thanks Becky for bailing me out. On the right Dani is at work on her RR.

Christin was busy with TW The Castle. Check out her blog for pictures. She's chosen a really lovely piece of fabric. Chrisanne has a number of ornaments to complete (14 if my memory is correct) and tried her best to involve us but there were no takers! Rebecca was working on Xs and Ohs Children of Quilters which is to be a gift for her grandmother. I have a new start, PS Pumpkin Patch.

In the afternoon, Dani took the time to show both myself and Rebecca how to finish one of our pieces as a flatfold. She had emailed us earlier in the week with a supply list we needed so we were all set to learn. After cutting our mat boards she showed us how to lace our pieces rather than pinning them so that we'd be familiar with this method. I chose to do my HM Blood Donors and Rebecca had Lizzie Kate's Fall Y'all. After a couple of hours (and a little cursing!) I had a finish. It's not perfect by any means but I did it!! I'm planning on asking for some of Judy O'Dell's finishing books in the future as gift ideas.
Thanks Dani for all your help. Now that I've seen it done once I think I could manage another on my own.

Following this Dani had a yummy lasagne supper for us complete with Caeser salad and garlic bread. Yours truly supplied a Skor creme pie for dessert and then it was back to more stitching. Don't you just love it! Rebecca took her leave around 8:30 to head back since she was hosting a birthday party for her oldest the next day. I left around 10:00 to join Bob in Ottawa which is only about a 20-25 min drive away. We thought it was just easier to stay there for the night rather than return home since we were both in the area and would only have to return again in the morning for our church service where Bob is organist (an hour's drive from our place). This saves us some commuting time as well as giving us an extra hour's sleep. At the church there is a room complete with couches, kitchenette and bathroom which we take advantage of at times particularily in bad weather. We just leave a couple of sleeping bags at the church. They don't mind having us there because it's extra security for them having someone onsite.

Now I'm home again and headed off to prepare my lunch for work tomorrow. I won't have much stitching time the next couple of nights because I'll be busy carving my pumpkins and roasting seeds. Hopefully the weather will cooperate on Wednesday for all the Trick-or-treaters. I just love Halloween!!