PALS Weekend

I'm back from my first ever PALS Retreat in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  It was hosted by Amy of Down Sunshine Lane.  (I know I've been back since Sunday.....Sorry it took so long to post this....I've had too much on my mind lately!)

The view from my balcony....

I went with a few friends and I met a few more while I was there.  I got to see Karen, whom I haven't seen since May 2010 when I went out to Arizona for a visit.  I also got to meet my Friends Stitching Through the Seasons partners, Faye (I send to her) and Diane (she sends to me).  There were many other friendly blogging faces including Michele of Just Another Stitching Blog as well as many others who I just can't remember at the moment.  I also made some new friends while I was there (Hi Chris!) and I even got to meet Paulette Stewart of Plum Street Samplers.

But, enough of that!  I know you don't really want to hear about all of that.  Instead you want to see all of my goodies.  I understand completely!

First off, this is what I brought with me to exchange.  Starting at the top and moving clockwise.....Scatter Sunshine by Shepherds Bush (stitched exchange), Noel by ??? (Christmas exchange), Pumpkin Stack by Chessie & Me (fall exchange), Autumn by The Stitcherhood (fall exchange) and in the center a stocking from one of the Blackbird Designs Stocking Booklets (for my Friends Stitching Through the Seasons exchange for Faye).

Thursday night was the Halloween/Fall exchange.  I'm not a Halloween kind of gal, so I just went for Fall.  All I can say is that whom ever got my pieces were pretty lucky since I was this close to keeping the Autumn pillow for myself.  Here's what I got.....

Turns out this was done by one of my Saturday Stitching Sisters!  I love it Darlene!

This lovely needleroll was stitched by Shery from Indiana.  I've made a few needlerolls for others, so I know how hard it is.  Now I finally have one for my own!  I love it!  Thanks Shery!

Friday we did the Christmas exchange and the grab bag exchange (and boy, you should have seen some of those grab bags!  Fabulous goodies of scissors, fabric and stitching tools to name a few.).  It was tons of fun!  I only managed to get one ornament stitched and finished up for the Christmas exchange, but I really like how it turned out.  In return, I ended up with Amy's ornament!

Thanks Amy!  I love it!  I can't wait to get up on my ornament tree!

This little Ott light was the only thing in the grab bag I "won".  It's a nice little portable light run by batteries.  I can't remember who said that they entered this bag because it didn't have a name with it.  Oops!  So, many thanks to whomever you are!

Saturday we had a stitching and a sewing exchange.  Here is what I got in the stitching exchange.

This lovely needlebook was made by Diane of GA.  The stitched area is actually a pocket to hold scissors or threads.  It's amazing!  Thank you Diane!  I love it!

I'm not great with the sewing machine (yet), but I saw a great tutorial and I made this for the sewing exchange.  After I was done I wanted to keep it for myself.  Good thing I have some leftover supplies because I'm going to have to do this little beauty for myself!

In return I got this...... (again, I can't thank the person because there was no card with it.)

There were two coffee cozies, but they were being coveted by Michele, so I shared my joy and gave her the other one.  But, isn't this one cute?

Thanks for sticking with me through this long post.  Next time I'll catch you up on what I was working on while I was at PALS.  Let's just say that I now have my eye on a Crazy January finish thanks to all my stitchy time last weekend!

Happy Stitches!