Stitchers and squealers!

I've just come back from an amazing weekend with some lovely new friends I've made through an offshoot of the Mirabilia board on Facebook.  Around 20 of us got together in Bakewell to stitch, chat, eat, drink and add to our stash at the first annual Mirabilia UK stitcher's retreat (now named the UK Mirabilia Stitchers & Squealers due to all the squeals of excitement)!  There were so many talented stitchers and we all took our Mirabilia finishes along with us to display, so there was a gorgeous gallery at the top of the Bakewell Town Hall stairs.

Kate from Sparklies was there with her boxes of hand dyed fabric and Zarina from Hawkins Hobbies with Mirabilia kits.  I have been making scissor fobs recently and had a few requests for fobs over the weekend, so didn't get a great deal of stitching done!

We also had fun with mystery boxes (10 cryptic items gathered from a list provided) and enjoyed some delicious cakes we had baked or brought with us.

I'm feeling very enabled at the moment and want to start stitching about a dozen or so designs!  I am looking forward to next year's retreat already.

I've been stitching away on Nora's letter S, which I finished:

And more recently I've started on Rose of Sharon which is my own colour conversion:

I love Nora's new Gypsy Mermaid design as well, so think there may be another start on that in the not too distant future ;o)

I have oodles of uni work to do at the moment, though year 2 should be finished in about 6 weeks, so if I've passed everything I need to, hopefully I will have a summer of stitching to look forward to.  Can't wait!!