A BAPless weekend

I spent the weekend at a stitching retreat in New Braunfels, Texas.  It was a very nice weekend.  The food was good.  My room was nice and the bed was comfortable.  And it was great stitching and fellowshipping with old friends and meeting new ones.  

I managed to find a small pile of stuff on the orphan pattern table to take home with me.  I also went over to the dark side and purchased a fat 1/8th of 36 count linen and a fat 1/8th of 40 count linen to try from the store at the retreat. 

And I bought a Texas sampler pattern, "Deep in the Heart of Texas," to add to my Texas pattern collection.  The pattern is by Nouveau Encore and was designed exclusively for our retreat.  For one year, it is available only at Stitches From the Heart, and then it will be available elsewhere at other shops.

I stitched on a Margaret Sherry cat from the 2004 Calendar from the UK CrossStitcher magazine.  I got it on eBay from the UK last year.  I got all the stitching done, but need to finish the backstitching.  This will be a Christmas ornament.

DH finished his workshop benchtop while I was gone.  I started brushing on coats of polyurethane on it yesterday.  The benchtop is of birch and the polyurethane brings out the woodgrain beautifully.  It's a pity it's a workshop benchtop instead of a piece of furniture!

LoneStar