Happy April!

Good Grief!  I started this post at the beginning of Apirl and never finished it ... and now it's almost May!  Hope Spring is treating you well!  Our weather has been all over the map, other than snow, we've had rain and sunshine and rain and pouring down hard rain, sunshine, hail and sunshine again ... and sometimes all on the same day!  lol

Back in February I went to visit my friend Elaine for the weekend ... she's a stitcher too.  We had been talking about learning some new finishing techniques ... we both like learning new things together.  So I went through my drawer of "needs to be finished", gathered all my finishing supplies and headed to Elaine's.  The first new technique we picked was flat fold.  Thanks to Vonna of Twisted Stitcher we had the most awesome instructions!  You can find all Vonna's tutorials here.  this picture

Here's our stitched pieces and our packing fabric ... now the real fun begins!

Elaine was the reader of the instructions, she did an amazing job *smile*

Now were have everything ready to assemble ... and just waiting for a little more glue to dry ...

Hours later ... we have two finished pieces .. These are Elaine's ... The Bunny is the flatfold and the bell is a mounted flat ornament ...

and here's mine ... Celebrate is my flatfold and the other reindeer is my mounted flat ornament.  We both loved learning new things ... more practice is needed with both finishing techniques ... but not bad for our first time!

I stitched these two fun Easter designs but didn't get them finished in time for Easter ... there's always next year!  I think Hop would make a cute little flatfold ...

Hop Squared by Lizzie Kate

Stitched with recommended

 fabric and threads

Hip Hop Easter by Lizzie Kate

Stitched with recommended

fabric and threads

I'm going to frame Rise and Shine and hang it in my kitchen ... such a cheery design

 

Rise and Shine by Hizneit

Stitched on a misc piece of fabric with 

recommended DMC

For the last few years all the girl cousins have tried to get together for a weekend.  This year we stayed at my Aunt Georgene's apartment in downtown Seattle.  Aunt Georgene and Uncle Dick spend most of their time at their farm, so they were glad to lets us use the place.  It's actually two apartments opened to be one big one ... so there's plenty of bedrooms and two kitchens! lol  We all arrived Friday evening and enjoyed a lovely dinner out.

Saturday afternoon we picked up my Aunt Betty and drove up north and had lunch with my Aunt Georgene ... quite a lovely group of ladies!  From left to right, Jan is the oldest cousin, Aunt Georgene is the oldest sister, turn 93 years young last January (my dad is the baby), Val is an adopted cousin, married Kris last September.  Kris and Jan are sisters, next is Aunt Betty, Kris and Jan's mom and last is Sue.  Sue and I being the daughters of the boys in the family.  Totally confused?  lol  I know I am!!!

When we got home from all the fun with the aunts it was drinking time!

and Mexican train time!  Lots of laughs!!

and a last picture .. I love these women!!

I really hope April has been a great month for you and here's hoping all the best with May coming fast!  Thanks for hanging with me even when I'm blogging every few months.  Love ya!

I hope you find your Joy in your stitches ...

I'm grateful for all my cousins ...