Stitching Holiday Lunch

The stitchers took their show on the road on December 3 for our annual holiday stitching luncheon. We stitched and dined at the Cornucopia at Oldfield in Southbury, and it was lovely. Above are Ginny and Sherry enjoying the stitching portion of the morning in the family room in front of a gentle fire.

 Flora stitched a towel in with a message very fitting for the day.

 Linnie enjoyed a laugh and worked on her beautiful mohair knit scarf.

Molly enjoying a carefree laugh - Sue looking confused at her knitting - this is the kind of thing we are used to at our stitching gatherings.

The whole group at lunch. Clockwise from the far left we have: Ginny, Carol, Molly, Linnie, Flora, Sherry, Sue, and Bonnie. Lunch was delicious, the company delightful, and all in all it was a perfect holiday luncheon! Thanks to Bonnie for the pictures! Thanks to Molly for founding the group! Thanks to Flora for the great idea to go to this venue and for setting it all up!

October Projects

Flora finished an embroidered dish towel.

Molly is preparing to frame these embroidered pieces.

Ginny is Sherry's coach for casting off her twirly scarves.

One of many in a long line of finished scarves for Sherry!

September Embroidery Big and Small

On a sunny and breezy mid-September Monday morning, Flora finished her big embroidered dresser scarf! It's taken her many months of careful work and now it's finally done! We were all glad to be there to see her finish it.

Flora paid such close attention to detail that she even signed and dated (in embroidery, of course) her project.

In other embroidery news from today, Molly covered a burn on a shirt with a small amount of embroidered flowers. Big or small, all of today's embroidered flowers are beautiful.

Summer Dinner

Last week Bonnie had most of the stitchers over for dinner on her deck. On a warm summer evening it was perfect to sit outside. The food was delicious and the company was (of course) outstanding! This is KathySue, Molly, Ginny, Sherry, Sue, and Brad. (We were sad that Flora and Jim couldn't join us but they were enjoying a few days on Martha's Vineyard.)

And here is our hostess, chef, and chief photographer, Bonnie (with Sherry and Brad).

Sisterhood of the Traveling Stitchers

Today we met on a beautiful July morning and heard about Bonnie's choral trip to England and Scotland, and Molly's vacation in Iowa. We also discovered that the ruffle scarf (for lack of a better term) has become very popular in our small group. Ginny made this stunning ruffle scarf and gave it to Molly this morning. There aren't words to describe how happy this made Molly.

The Ruffle Scarf Group:  Sherry (our newest member, who started her first ruffle scarf today with guidance from Bonnie and needles from Ginny), Bonnie (our trail blazing ruffle scarfer who is wearing her first one and is now perfecting a newer, faster method of crocheting them), Molly with her new scarf, and Ginny with her second (but doubtless not her last) ruffle scarf in-progress.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, patient Flora continued the diligent embroidery of her dresser scarf.

Stitching in June

Bonnie crocheted this beautiful baby blanket and it's already being put to good use by an adorable little girl.

Virginia made a baby blanket too, and showed it to us at the June 18 stitching gathering.

Speaking of the June 18 gathering, here are stitchers in Sue's garden, acting a little silly. The only stitcher missing from the picture is the person who took it - Bonnie, our reliable photographer.

Birthday Lunch

Celebrating Molly's April 12th birthday a few weeks late, at the Woodbury Diner. Starting on the bottom left and going around clockwise, that's Molly, Sue, Bonnie, Flora, and Virginia.

Memorial Day Party

Molly invitited all the stitchers, plus some other friends, over for a Memorial Day party. Here is our hostess with her youngest grandson, Christian.

Cherie Dalton's husband, Mark, treated us to a guitar performance. Flora is to his left.

Virginia's husband, Don, also performed. It was quite a treat to have two guitarists playing during the party.

Mark, Brad, and Mark's wife, Cherie.

Virginia, Bonnie, and Bonnie's daughter, Julie, and her son, Aiden.

Who doesn't want to be this woman????

Finishing!

                                                          Flora finished her first scarf!

                                                            Molly finished a scarf too.

                                                            Virginia finished a wrap.

                                                                   And also a vest.

Sue finished a blanket. (And Bonnie also finished a blanket but I need a photo of it - Bonnie!)

On the wintery Monday morning of January 10, 2011, Molly hosted the first stitching group at her home. One year and two months later, the group is growing strong, enhancing our stitching skills, meeting each week and, most importantly, becoming better friends. We decided we'd like to have some memories from our times together, and so this blog was born.

Last summer, we had one of our gatherings at Sue's house. This is Sue, Bonnie, Flora, and Molly.

                                    Sue and Bonnie showing off our blankets at Flora's house.

You can see Flora working on her embroidery project (a dresser scarf) and part of the beautiful finished scarf is above.

In October of 2011, we had lunch at Mamie's in Roxbury to celebrate Bonnie's and Sue's birthdays. This is Flora, Bonnie, Sue, and Molly.

We have had many dinners together over the past year. Molly had us over for a Memorial Day outdoor dinner. Bonnie and her housemate Kathy Sue hosted  a dinner gathering during the "calm before the storm" - the night before Hurricane Irene struck Connecticut. Flora and her husband Jim cooked a delicious dinner for us on a dark November night. Sadly, I don't think we have photos from any of those gatherings. But thanks to Bonnie, we do have some pictures from our most recent dinner,which was  at Sue and Brad's house in February.

                                                             Sue making paella.

Another photo from dinner.

Flora brought chocolate cake with raspberry sauce for dessert, and as you can see it looked heavenly. I can assure you it tasted even better.

Thank you to Bonnie for the photo of a girl falling asleep while knitting. Sometimes that's how we feel. But mostly we feel energized and excited to be together while knitting, or embroidering, or crocheting, or doing whatever handwork we bring to our Monday gatherings.