Come join us at Celebration of Needlework, Midwest

It seems like I have just finishing unpacking and doing laundry from our wonderful cruise to Alaska and it is time to repack again for Celebration of Needlework this week in St. Louis/St. Charles Missouri. We scrambled to get the boxes ready - thankfully I had class materials all ready! I have several things to share, one is from Don Henrickson who won first prize at the Utah State fair with 'Strawberry Stitches', congratulations Don! Another award winner is Pat Rusch from California who won best sampler at ANG with 'My Stitching Album'! Congratulations to Pat. And Barb Kneller finished the North to Alaska Sampler as well on the weekend, way to go Barb, awesome.

Finally I downloaded my pictures into my computer from the trip and they turned out well. Lots of good memories, I didn't do very well at taking pictures of the salmon running in the streams but you can see a blob of red! I only have a tail out of the water with whale watching and I was in the rest room when my husband and others saw the bear and cubs so  I don't have that either!! Imagine! But I do have one of some of the stitchers on the White Pass Train into the Yukon from Skagway and one of Dale and I on our float plane ride out of Ketchikan, which was just terrific!

Still rocking

WOW! is all I can say! what an awesome, spectacular trip. It was truly a wonderful time from start to finish. Our North to Alaska trip on the Sapphire Princess couldn't have been better. A great big thank you to Judy Bradford of Cambridge Cruise Centers for making it such a treat; absolutley no worries, except my fabric issue, but we won't talk about that because it all turned out,  just plain great sailing!  Thanks so much Judy for all your hard work at making all us stitchers so comfortable and always there for us. My boat here on the prairies is still rocking at times, just that sensation of movement, of still being on the ship. We had wonderful weather, all the locals in every place we went, Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway- kept saying "it has been raining for weeks this is our first day of sunshine, you are lucky" and lucky we were. From the first day in Seattle - Anne from Gloriana Threads  who is out on the west coast came in and spent the day with us, what a treat, to the last day in Victoria at Button and Needlework Boutique who treated us to wine and goodies, it was terrific. Changing Tides in Juneau had our Northern Lights finishing fabric for us, Traditional Stitches and The Silver Needle had goodies in our bags for us. Thank you to all those people who made it a very special trip. It is very much appreciated.

I know so many of you on the trip made some new friends which is extra special and I got to spend some time with everyone which was really great. I see your smiling faces and it makes me happy. Glad you loved the projects, yes it was 2 projects, we did a small Alaskan Sampler- called you guessed it - North to Alaska - and we also did a passport cover - called - Passport to Alaska - and yes one stitcher is done!!! -Barb Kneller of Portland, OR has already sent me a picture of her finished piece!

My sincere thanks to you - you cruising stitchers who came sight unseen of the projects to do, and embraced them and stitched happily away. You made it the success this cruise was and again it is greatly appreciated.

Hope all is well in your little part of the world what with all this 'weather' and that I may be honoured with seeing you again soon. I must admit by Wednesday I relaxed  and forgot about my little electronic issue! and had a great time.

Hugs to you all,

jeannette

Passport to Alaska!

And we're off! to cruise the inside passage to Ketchikan, Skagway and Juneau and ending with a nice little evening in Victoria! How excited are we? Very! We have a ton of surprises for you and it will be super to have a day in Seattle first. My husband is very keen on the ballgame and the flying over the fjords tour. This promises to be a wonderful trip and I am delighted you are all coming along. Remember to check back and see what is new when I return on the 5th and if you are in Missouri in mid September join us at Celebrations midwest. I will be teaching 3 Pines Sampler -specialty stitches and 3 Pines Accessories - a great finishing class. So come and see this fun event with lots of different booths - shops and designers alike, I think we will all enjoy it immensely.

Off to bring our beloved dog Cleo to wonderful friends who will take care of her and pack! I have piles everywhere.

Mush!

jeannette