Precious Moments Chapel - Part 1 (picture heavy)

Hi everyone, here is the first post on the beautiful Precious Moments Chapel created by Samuel Butcher. It is located in Carthage Missouri and if you happen to be anywhere close by - it is definitely worth you making the trip!! These are my thoughts and pictures of this gorgeous chapel and its grounds.  I took over 150 pictures but I will only be showing the best of them as well as my favourites.  The grounds were well-kept and there was plenty of parking so don't be shy.... go see it!   This lovely Chapel and its grounds are definitely awe-inspiring; the works of art done by Sam Butcher left me breathless and without words to describe them. I wish him many more years of creativity. A big Thank you to this man who has left a legacy for us to enjoy and hopefully our children will enjoy.
As always thank you for taking the time from your busy day to read this blog. Louise


The Entrance

 

Remember the Children



Sculptures in the garden



 


This is his legacy to us



Back from Branson



The St. Louis Arch



Hi there, yes we made it home from Branson, had a great trip and really enjoyed ourselves.  The trip to Branson was in the beautiful sunshine but coming home was a different story.  We left on the Wednesday and headed to Carthage, Missouri to see the Precious Moments Chapel.  Thank you to my dear friend Kathy for recommending that we go there.  It is awe inspiring and I have so many pictures that it deserves its own posting.  The weather co-operated for us to view the Chapel and the rest of the day was sunny.  However on Thursday and Friday - it poured rain and it rained and rained and rained.... get the idea. 

Church in St. Louis near the Arch

On our tip, I did manage to get a few pics of the scenery, local fauna and some wildlife (okay ... birds). We had to stop in St. Louis to see the famous arch. It is immense.   Enjoy the pics.   And thank you for taking the time to read my blog.  Louise

Unknown Birds

        

Gray Heron





Red Bud





This bird had a nest in the Inn

Cecilia's Samplers Retreat

Hello my dear friends, what do I tell you?  We have had a most fantastic time here in Branson at the retreat.  The wonderful ladies at Cecilia's Samplers were very organized and generous with their goodies!  This year when we arrived, we had a little package at our places with a little pad of paper and a cute little pen with feathered hair (we all needed this for our list of goodies) AND a gift certificate for $100 AND if you wore your name tag at the store you received an additional 10% off!!  Hello.... we did some serious damage in the store.  We were teased by other ladies at the retreat because we bought a lot of fabric especially the over-dyed!  Sorry ladies, but for us Canadians,  the value of the fabric was just too good to pass up.  On  the second day, we received a T-shirt for the Girls Night Out retreat weekend; on Saturday, we received a new pair of scissors with a tape measure and a votive candle holder with a home-made candle - the candles were all done by Amy's 2 boys!!  Saturday night, they did the draw for the $250 gift certificate (I didn't win it and neither did Barb) and then they had the door prizes.  Everyone received a Cecilia's Samplers bag (in black with hot pink accents) with some goodies inside.  Some of the bags contained $50 gift certificates while others contained $25 gift certificates for next years retreat.  I won a $25 certificate!!  Whoohoo - guess who signed up to come back again next year - yup, you're right - it's me... I had so much fun that I am definitely coming back again next year.  I think that Barb will also be coming back!!

Normally we would all meet on Sunday morning to say good-bye and get the final goody but many ladies wanted to leave early on Sunday morning so we got our goodies early! We all received a cute little ceramic pot with a lid to start saving our money for the next retreat.  It contained 3 sampler threads as well as a penny to start off the savings.... hmmm... a penny a day would pay for next years retreat!!   

THANK YOU to all of the staff at Cecilia's Samplers - Margaret, Jessica, Amy, Pam, Cecilia, Krista and Ann and their families for making this a wonderful weekend.

Branson, Missouri

Hi there, well as you may have guessed, I am  in Branson, Missouri.  I had such a good time last year at the retreat here that I wanted to come back again.  This year I drove down with my friend Barb, we had a great time driving here,  what beautiful scenery and of course watching the seasons change.   I left Sunday morning and had to scrape the ice off of my windshield!!  And then on Tuesday, I was so warm, I put the AC on in the car.  Here the trees are blooming, it actually feels like spring!
A lot of ladies arrived early for the retreat and we had a great time in the stitching room chatting up a storm.  Can't wait to see the rest of the ladies.  Have to do a bit of shopping this morning and will probably go to the store to buy some goodies.  And yes, Debby I will take some pictures.  Have a great day, enjoy yourselves and thank you for taking the time to read my blog.  Hugs Louise

Hooked on Tea if framed!!

Hi there, did you miss me?  I have been super busy, I was busy doing model stitching for Aury and trying to do some cleaning.  If you know me, you know how much I detest cleaning!!  So of course, I would rather do something else (like stitch) than clean house.  I recently had my spare bedroom re-done from top to bottom and all the junk that was in there was shifted to another room (my soon to be craft room).   So every once in a while I would get the urge to do some cleaning (hummm, it is more like purging) and stuff would go in the garbage or go to the local charity shop or get recycled.  I can see a big difference because for the past 2 weeks (since I finished the model stitching), I have been doing some major cleaning and got rid of a bunch of junk!! Yes, I said junk.... so I feel pretty good about that. 
So what do I have to show you... Michaels had a sale on framing and I took my "Hooked on Tea" in to get it framed and I think it is pretty nice.  What do you think?  I don't know why the colour of the fabric doesn't show up properly but it is a beautiful overdyed opalescent light pink with a blue tinge.  I love the fushcia silk thread and I found out that I had 2 more skeins... whoohoo.... hmmm, have to find me another tea pattern, oh wait, I just bought one in Mystic!  Thanks for taking time out of your busy day to read my blog.  Louise

Aury's Teapot & Hooked on Tea

Hi there, you were probably wondering when I was going to post some pictures of the goodies I have been stitching.  Well, as I mentioned, I was working on a model stitch for Aury and now I am working on another one, hopefully they will both be published this year and I will proudly show them off (again).  lol 

However, in between the models, I did happen to get a bit of my own stitching done.  The first one is Aury's Teapot, she will be publishing this design but does not have a date yet and she has very kindly given me permission to show it to you.  Thank you Aury.  It was stitched with DMC variations 4240 - that beautiful blue/purple combination on a lovely piece of overdyed lugana from Picture This Plus entitled Calypso.  The second piece is entitled "Hooked on Tea" by Eileen Gurak of Eileen Gurak Needlework Designs. It was stitched on Rainbow sparkle lugana which is a beautiful delicate pink with hints of blue.  I used Northern lights silks - Fushia and Jade Green, Victoria Clayton silks - Primitive Black and Dragon Toes and Crescent Colors Bejeweled.  Hope you like them, have a great day. Louise

 

Some goodies from Mystic

Hi there, I am once again apologizing for not posting, it has been a whole week!  Debby wanted to see some of the wonderful goodies that I bought on my trip to Mystic CT.  I had so much fun shopping, I am like a kid in a candy store! especially when I am looking at the overdyed fabrics.  And Sudberry House... oh my goodness, I could have spent a whole lot more there than I did but I restrained myself... I did, honestly!  Okay so here are some pics of the goodies.  I had to buy the candle screen, so I bought the small and the large, then of course, I needed some more Mill Hill beaded kits and floss.  Oh my goodness, one of the ladies at the retreat was using this beautiful floss and I had to go and find out the name of it.  It is Bejeweled (you can see it in the front), it is the most gorgeous green and dark green (almost black) and it stiches up so beautifully.  Then of course, I had to buy a few charts, I love the one with the purse and the hat by JBW, I think that they will stitch up just lovely and I will have to have a few done for Christmas.  Then there are the other Sudberry House goodies, the beautiful Keepsake boxes, the octogon (that one is for me, it has a mirror inside with a cream velvet lined interior) and then I found this pillow with the corresponding JBW design Papillion/Butterfly and all these DMC cones for $3, so I of course had to buy them. 

Now did I have fun, you bet!  And I have even started stitching with some of the goodies that I bought.  So maybe tomorrow I will show you my finishes.  Take care, have a great day and remember, until we meet again, keep on stitching. Luv ya dearly. Louise