Brentwood 2014 Part 2 - Trinkets Galore

Each year we, The Four from Forest, like to make some little trinket for The Stitching Sisters as a token of our friendship and a memorable keepsake of Brentwood; and we are always pleasantly surprised with something in return.  This year we decided to create tile coasters of some cross stitch patterns with some rubber stamps that Anita found in her travels and Tracey found the tiles at a local ‘Re-Store’ which sales go to the local Habitat for Humanity housing.  I was quite surprised at just how easy this craft was to make.   

First we cleaned the tiles ... and ate some candy ....

...then we ate some candy ...and cleaned more tiles.

The stamps were inked and carefully placed over the tile.

A sprinkle of "magic dust" covers the entire inked area.

Excess dust is carefully shaken off.

Bake in the oven and when finished and cooled, the ink will puff up.

When we added the finishing touches we attached a little poem that we had a contest to see who could rhyme it off after a few glasses or two of wine.

Treasures for everyone !!

One of our trinkets was made by Jayne.
She loves snowmen and when you take off his little hat, he becomes an Ort Jar.

Here's hoping this little poem adds to the warmth of this coming winter and it's bitter cold forecast.

This pretty little scissor case, done in our traditional Brentwood colours were created by Freida and Kerry.  Thanks so much ladies !!

The other side of the scissor case was in tribute in memory of Patti, one of The Stitching Sisters.

This ADORABLE picture is Patti when she was little. 
A few years ago we played a photo game at Brentwood and everyone submitted a picture of when they were little and we had to guess who each other was.

Even though we only knew her for a few years, Patti is dearly missed by everyone and will remain in our memory forever. 

Bonnie

Brentwood 2014 Part 1 - Twiggy

Our annual Cross Stitch Retreat to Brentwood on the Beach with The Stitching Sisters is the highlight of our year.  We cannot wait to spend our 4 days together with our nonstop gabbing, stitching, laughing and sharing time with our wonderful friends we met a few short years ago.  

This year we had a new visitor; ‘VISITOR’ being the key word here.   In case you’ve forgotten our silly tag line of ‘You Can Visit, But You Can’t Join!’, just click on the link so you can read about it.   Thanks to Jody’s sister Holly for helping to provide us with this phrase as it has gotten a lot of mileage, laughs and shocking responses.  

Jody immediately fell in love with a turtle from the Scentsy collection that Anita’s daughter sells;  Jacinda has recently taken up cross stitching and is often reminds us... ‘I know, I know – I can visit, but I can’t join!’ -- Well -- this year Jody decided to bring Twiggy to Brentwood so he could sit with us and we could enjoy his scented sachet turtle shell.   Twiggy was promptly set in place as we sat down to stitch, but something just wasn’t right.  Jody realized he needed something to stitch too, so she remedied that quickly and just when we thought we were ready to settle in to stitching, Anita realized that Twiggy needed to borrow her glasses.  So she remedied That quickly too. 

Just when we thought we were ready to settle in to stitching again, Jody said, “Wait!  We have to get his picture!”  Anita put her things down and took the picture.  And just when we thought we were ready to settle in to stitching again, Jody said, “Wait! Anita – you have to send the picture to Jacinda to show her Twiggy is stitching!”   Anita uploaded the picture.  And just when we thought we were ready to send the photo Jody said, “WAIT!  You have to tell Jacinda ‘LOOK WHO GOT TO JOIN’!!” (laughter upon laughter)  Picture Sent!   And just when we thought we were ready to start stitching again, the reply from Jacinda came in, “He can VISIT!!  He only gets to VISIT.”   Stitching … still on hold until we could compose ourselves. 

If Twiggy had any reservations about joining visiting that weekend, they were soon gone once he realized there was much more to do than sit around stitching and with a bunch of ladies.  

Hey mom!  I found some new friends.

Hey mom!  I bet you can't find me ....

Hey mom!  Stop stitching and come and find me again.

Hey mom!  You'll never find me this time.
mmmmm Werthers.
I wonder how many I can eat before she finds me.

Hey mom!  I found my very own hammock.

Hey look mom!  I found my own wrecking ball.
Hey mom... can we make a video of me if I
promise to leave my clothes shell on?

Hey look mom!  Anita made this really pretty blanket and it kind of looks like my shell.
Do you think if I ask her really nice she will make me
a winter coat that looks just like this?
ahhhhhhhh I think I'll take a nap.

Hey mom!  Look at these Lily of the Valley flowers
that Bonnie brought.
They smell really nice, Just Like ME.

Hey mom!  Is it time for dinner yet?
I'm huuunnnggrrryyyy.

Hey mom!  Can I check my email?

Hey mom look!
!!PHOTO BOMB!!

Hey mom!  Did you know Brentwood wrote a book?

Hey mom!  What does pleasure mean and why does it ride a bus?
I heard dad say something before about a pleasure ride, but I didn't know it rode a bus.
I thought only kids rode a bus to school.  I know...
I'll ask my brothers when I get home.

Hey mom!  I found some shells.
Can I try on a new shell? 
Can I?  Huh?  Can I?

ummm MOM!  HELLLLP!
This shell is too heavy.  Mommmm - it's squishin' me.
Mom?  Mommm?

Hey mom!  Do you want to play a game with me?
How can you resist my adorable smile?
Can we send this picture to Jacinda too?

Hey mom! 
They got lots of neat games here we can play.
huh?  What do you mean you came here to stitch?

Hey mom!  Can I have some candy?
Wow! Look at this giant bag of M&Ms. It's almost as big as me.

Hey mom!  I"m going to hang outside for awhile and get some sun.

Hey mom! 
Look, I can slide down the banister all my myself!

Ahhhh thanks Mom!
 Thanks for taking off my shell...
That feels better.

Hey mom!
Trish is going to teach us how to make her famous
1-2-3-4 Biscuits. YUMMY!
Now you can make these at home ALL the time.

Wow Mom.  We've only been here an hour and
I can't believe all the things there are to do. 
Thanks for letting me join visit.
Hey mom, I like watching you stitch.

Hey mom!
I found my very own pool with a fountain and Everything.

Hey mom! 
I found this really big bed and there's even a place for my shell.

Four days later....

Hey Mom!  Can I drive home?
No Twiggy.
awwwwwww !!

Hey Mom!  Can I hang out the window on the way home?
No Twiggy.
awwwww !!!!
I Never get to do anything I want!

Hey Mom!
Are we there yet?

As you can see Twiggy had a pretty good time during his visit to Brentwood. I wonder if Jody will be taking this little rascal to all the cross stitch outings.  We do after all have another one coming up in a few weeks.....

Stay tuned for more from Brentwood.

Bonnie

Trish's Treasure Box

(Dear Faithful Followers - thank you for your patience during our unannounced hiatus and thanks for returning) 

As some of you already know - each year the Four from Forest meet up with the Stitching Sisters at Brentwood on the Beach for our annual cross stitching retreat where we spend hours and hours stitching, laughing, sharing stories and building great friendships.  Each year that  we visit we learn more and more about each other.  In 2011 I posted a story about Trish and a poem that she wrote after the war in London.  

This year at retreat, Trish treated us all to a special 'treasure box' that was handed down to her when her mother passed away. Inside the box was a variety of embroidery transfers dating back as far as 1908.   She brought the box to retreat and generously offered for us to help ourselves to whatever we wanted.  I couldn't bear the thought of taking even one of her treasures, but she convinced me that she was happy to know that someone would get some use out of them and there were so many she would never ever do them all anyway.  I had a hard time deciding what I wanted, but I had a blast searching through the entire box.   Going through the box was a tad stressful for me because I was so afraid I would rip the delicate papers.  As I started looking at all the unique transfers I knew this would make an interesting blog post so I quickly grabbed my camera.  

Let's take a look inside...

 

Apparently, some of these transfer booklets
came as free inserts with magazines.

If I had a jumper or a frock today, I might consider embroidering it.

It says 'Monster Gift Book', but I didn't find any monsters inside.

Have you noticed all the different names of magazines yet?

As suggested in 1933, I'm considering embroidering my undies.

Transfer booklet - complete with stitching guide.

This next transfer reminds me of Tracey.  When we went to public school (a year apart from each other) we were fortunate enough to have Home Economics classes as one of our school subjects; hence, our love for stitching. Not long ago when I was closet cleaning, I came upon an embroidery project of two Holly Hobbies that I did when I was in grade 8 and brought them to our cross stitch meeting to show everyone; Tracey gasped when she saw them because she had chosen the exact same embroidery project as me!  

Holly Hobby Bonnie and Holly Hobby Tracey.

1975 - Tracey showcasing her Holly Hobby embroidery projects.
LOVE the picture Tracey, thanks for sharing this Retro Flashback!!
p.s  Love the shirt -
- your hair has changed, but your smile is still as radiant as ever.

These Pixies reminded me of my  Brownie days.  Does anyone else remember sitting in a circle and surrounding the spotted mushroom while Brown Owl or Tawny Owl taught us our lessons?

This sea-life collage of transfers made me laugh right out loud because one of the fish immediately reminded me of a movie I saw when I was little.  Can you spot the fish I am talking about?  I tried to find a year on the transfer to see if there was any correlation to the movie, but I didn't see one.  Does anyone remember this movie? 

WARNING: X-Rated wildlife!

I'm not quite sure what it is being suggested that the three bunnies are doing, but it appears to confirm why they multiply so fast. 

Trish found this transfer to be quite interesting, and commented that she could not place a year on the transfer,but given the title of it, she assumed it was published before the war. 

Titled:  The Allies.

Poppies.

An odd collection of transfers ???

This one reminded me of both Anita and Jody because
Anita is Dutch and Jody absolutely loves tulips.
Budding Friendships!

I wonder what this one would look like with some of the new variegated threads. I might have to try it out.

After quite some time going through the box of transfers, Trish finally convince me to take as many as I wanted.  So here is the selection that tugged at my heart. 

Because, of course, Gramma will be teaching
dear little Scarlet how to stitch one day.
I'm not sure what I will stitch this on yet,
but I have plenty of time to decide.

This one is going on the front of an apron.
I can't wait to teach Scarlet how to bake cookies.
When she is old enough, we'll do  &*$%@$%%& cookies.

Perhaps all these transfers can border around the apron??
Please send suggestions, I would love to hear your ideas.

The look on her face depicts mine as well. 
Of all the household chores
dusting and sweeping are the two I despise most.

This one reminds me of Scarlet's nerdy Gramma
who always loved doing the dishes!

YES - I love to iron too.
Read about it here: Bonnie Loves to Iron.

We all need a break from the household chores.
Take the time to read.  Or.. is she singing?
OK then.  Do Both!

All these embroidery transfers inspired me to set down my cross stitching and take up the embroidery needle again.  Stay tuned for the small project I've got started, even I can't wait to see it when it's finished. 

I didn't happen to notice any little helpers gardening amongst collection of chores.  Hmmmm... I'm going to have to take another look at the transfers to see if I missed that one or not.  Either way, while I was shopping last week I came upon Cinderella gardening gloves that I may just have to go back and pick up for a little someone special so she can help her Gramma.  Speaking of gardening, I fear that mine are all calling my name right now and it's a glorious day to be out in the sunshine.  

Til next time, 
Bonnie