I know everyone's saying it .. but where the hell did September go?? It's not that I'm complaining .. I actually love this time of year .. the colors, the smells, the holidays, the weather, even all the rain we get .. I'm just surprised how fast the month went and I didn't cross off nearly enough things to do on all my many lists! lol

Saturaday Lisa and I got together to starting working the Little Stitchies Bareroots .. we picked the one with all the flowers on it .. not exactly the best choice for our first attempt. There's a whole lot of cutting to do just for one .. we want to make 15 of them .. we really liked putting them together .. really like the look of them .. but damm there's like 23 leaves for each rug! lol .. here's a picture of one, it's still a work in progress, not totally stitched down ...

sure doesn't look like the photo on the leaflet .. but I still think they are cute .. but way too labor intensive ...

I had a quick little finish this afternoon .. stitched the new Halloween Pine Mountain Pillow while watching the Nascar race and the Seahawk game .. I took it to dinner this evening and gave it to my dil Monica .. totally forgetting to get a picture .. lol

I worked on my Family Sampler this week .. I'm really enjoying working on this piece .. love how it changes everytime I add a letter or a motif ...

I'm off to bed .. hope everyone had a great weekend!
I'm grateful for the fall ...

A Finish and A Find ...

I finished stitching another Christmas ornament this week .. The design is Christmas Redwork Ornament from Historical Stitches. I'm thinking about backing the ornament with one of these two fabrics .. I'm leaning towards the green fabric with the Christmas lights on it .. What do you think??


I'm really excited about my new find .. today during lunch I stop in to one of my favorite fabric shops and look what I found .. an adorable banner hanger with yes, a coffee cup and coffee pot on it. I knew instantly it was perfect for Hinziet's Coffee. It was stitched for me 2 years ago in an exchange. I had it made in to a banner that same year, but never found a good hanger for it. I played with painted dowels but they never turned out like I wanted. So when I found this hanger I just had to have it .. it's now hanging in my kitchen and I love it!!!


On a personal note .. I want to thank everyone that comes by to say Hi .. I really enjoy reading all your comments .. as much as I enjoy reading all your blogs. I've been online for quite a few years, enjoying all the different stitching communities out there for all of us .. I've had the pleasure of meeting online stitching friends at retreats. My family has always been very supportive of my online stitching life. They are constantly in awe of how generous stitchers are .. whether it's words of support and encouragement or a well planned exchange .. stitchers are always there for each other .. and that was never more apparent that this week .. when bloggers all came to support Mary Ann. It warmed my heart to read Vonna's and Barbara's blogs and all the comments that you all left in support.

One thing you probably don't know about me is that I'm a lover and collector of quotes .. I'd like to leave you with this quote from Maya Angelou ...

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

I'm grateful for how you all make me feel ...

A Finish and some stash ...

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Mine was busy but really good. My friend Lisa and I got together Saturday morning to go over a few ideas for our Christmas craft. Every year for the last 10+ years we do a craft for presents for family and friends .. we have a great time coming up with ideas. We think we are going to make these ... Little Stitches by Bareroots .. we are going to make one this weekend and see how it goes .. we might be changing our minds lol

Late Saturday afternoon Lisa and I went to lunch with a friend from high school that we haven't really seen other than at reunions .. Yvonne was my first roommate when I moved out after high school. It was soooo wonderful to reconnect with a dear friend. And then Saturday night we went to dinner for Chris and Monica's anniversary .. no I didn't eat! lol .. there was like 3 hours between leaving my lunch date and arriving for dinner .. burp! My Dad and FIL had dinner with us .. it was really a nice evening.

Sunday was MY day .. DH and Robert went to the Seahawk football game and I took the dogs for a pampering at Petco .. which left me to a quiet house all to myself, well except for the cats, but they're easy *grin* .. so I stitched and watched the nascar race, stitched more and watched the end of the Seahawk game and then went to pick up the dogs .. it was a perfect Sunday :)

I did have a finish this weekend .. cute Christmas ornament by Glory Bee for last years JCS Anniversary issue .. it was a really fun stitch ..

I went to my not so local stitch shop last week and got some fun stash .. I'm really really excited about the two books I got .. one has awesome borders and one is full of lovely alphabet designs .. I just love a good book *smile* .. I'm also excited about the floss rings I found .. I think they will work perfect for my silks.





Hope everyone is having a great start of the week!
I'm grateful for books ... all kinds ...

Happy Anniversary Mr. and Mrs. Chris Walker

Happy 1st Anniversary Chris and Monica! I know we say this all the time, but I'm so shocked how fast this year flew by .. my son and Monica were married one year ago today .. what a beautiful Seattle day it was and how happy my DH and I were to welcome Monica to our family. I hope for lots of beautiful Seattle days for years and years to come ...

I'm grateful for my son and daughter in law ...

Fair and Square Exchange

Happy Friday Everyone!

I received my F&S squares from Amy yesterday .. I just love them! It's a very familiar design to me .. but look at the color changes .. she knows I love RED and Coffee :) lol Thanks you so much for stitching these for me Amy .. I just love them!


And I heard that Amy received the squares I stitched for her ... she loves RED like I do so I thought this french miniture design would be perfect for her *smile* I really enjoyed this round of Fair and Square, it was my first round and definately not my last one!


I'm grateful for red ...

A Great Friday ...

I received the most wonderful package today from Kim .. I signed up for her PIF and it arrived today .. and I love everything! Look what Kim sent me .. all coffee stuff! Guess she reads my blog eh? lol ...

Here's a picture of the pinkeep she stitched for me .. It's sooo cute! I love the hanger and the twine ... I'm taking it to work to hang in my cubicle ...




Here's a picture of everything she sent .. the little coffee cups are magnets! After taking the pictures, the magnets are on the frig .. they are perfect! She also included a couple of DMC flosses and two freebies that I don't have. Kim, thank you so much .. I just love everything!


A great mail day and a great finish today too .. I finished my Pals Sampler! Woo Hoo! I just love how it turned out and can't wait to take it to Myrtle Beach, SC this October for the 10 Anniversary retreat. This will be the center of my signature RR .. I'm hoping to have lots of stitched signatures from all the wonderful Pals that will be attending the retreat *smile* There's one square that looks empty, but it's an anchor done in all white .. I might be changing the color later .. and right below it is a blank square left for each stitcher to personalize with their initials or a charm or button .. I'm going to do my initials and I want to find a charm with the word Joy on it .. because stitching and my Pals are part of my Joy ... so one of my goals for this weekend is done already .. now on to my next weekend goal .. I think it's going to be a good weekend *smile*



I'm grateful for stitching friends .. online or in person ...

Coffee Stash Coffee Stash ...

OMGosh have you seen the newest coffee design from LHN?? How cute is Frap! and being a Latte girl, I can't wait to see it stitched up! I'm in love! Can't wait to see the three Tea designs *smile* Now can someone find me a few more hours in the day so I can stitch?



Speaking of stitching .. my goal for the weekend is to finish my Pals Sampler, a Christmas ornament that I keep having to frog .. grrrr .. and do some serious stitching on my Family Sampler .. I really don't want to start anything new until I get those done .. but dammm there is so many things old and new that I want to stitch! Well, maybe if I got off this computer I'd have some stitching time .. but hten what fun would that be .. no blog reading/posting? That's just not right! lol .. well, off to my stitching now .. hope everyone is having a great week .. TGIF!
I'm grateful for new stash, especially coffee related *grin*

9/11 ....

Tough day isn't it .. can't believe it's been 6 years. DH and I were at the bank that morning re-financing our house mortgage, everyone remembers were they were don't they .. even my international friends remember ... this really happened to all of us. In between working, I've been reading a lot of news about this day on Yahoo news .. I found this wonderful website and wanted to share it with you, click here. I love this idea for turning to the positives to remember 9/11 and all the people that lots their lifes and all the heros that helped that day.

Glory is a Trilogy design that I was in the middle of stitching when 9/11 happened. Sitting watching TV for the next fews days, I decided that Glory would make a wonderful memorable piece for our family .. it's hanging in our hallway and is one of my favorite pieces.

I'm just grateful today ... for everything ..

Kinda long..care for a cup of coffee or tea?

It's September! and fall is definately in the air in Washington .. the days are warm and the nights cool off .. the spiders are weaving crazy webs all around the house and you can smell fall in the air .. I love this time of year .. almost as much as winter.

I've had a nice few days .. DH and I took a short vacation .. with the remodeling we've been doing, and DH has been way busy with his business this summer, we just didn't get away for a long vacation .. but when the opportunity to pick up our friends from their Alaska cruise we jumped at the chance .. they were arriving in Vancouver, BC Friday morning. Originally we were going to head up to Vancouver on Wednesday .. but we decided to go to a sprint car race wednesday in Skagit. For those Nascar fans out there .. Kasey Kane was sponsoring a fund raiser at the track with Tony Stewart and a bunch of local sprint car racers. DH's favorite driver is Tony and we had a blast at the race, got a room at the local Holiday Inn and drove up to Vancouver in Thursday. Seattle is only about 3 hours from Canada .. it is such a pretty drive up to Canada .. I forget how green and lush it is .. we got caught in a bit of traffic at the border and beyond ... got to our room in the early afternoon, found a wonderful pub right next door to have lunch, it was so good we ended up going back for dinner that night lol We spent a few hours walking around Gastown, window shopping and people watching .. two things that DH and I really enjoy .. poof it's Friday .. the cruise ship arrives, we pick up our friends and head back to Seattle.

Saturday we spent the day in Seattle at Bumbershoot .. It's an art/music 3 day feastival in downtown Seattle .. we always see some awesome music .. this year was no exception .. Rodrigo y Gabriela to me was the most memorable performers that we saw .. here's what the write up said .. Sharing a love for metal rock since they became friends as teenagers, Rodrigo y Gabriela have traveled the world playing their rhythmic, Hispano-influenced, acoustic rock since 1999. Now residing in Ireland, they recently topped the Arctic Monkeys and Johnny Cash to reach Number One on the Irish charts .. if you ever get a chance to hear them in person, you will be blown away by their guitar skills .. sometimes their fingers were a blur!
The rest of the weekend was typical .. cleaning, laundry, and yes I actually stitched! lol .. I haven't really stitched on much except for the Pals Sampler .. it's coming along good, but I'm ready to be done with it and moved on to something else lol .. I am working on my F&S share, need to have it done this weekend yikes! The washed out squares have white in them that isn't coming through well .. here's my progress ...

and I got some new stash today! I got two new scissors, the Putford and the Hillier .. omg the Putford's are really small! lol .. then I got 3 new Lizzie*Kate's .. the 2007 Special Edition Chritmas Kit, Tiny Tidings XII and Boo Squared .. of course I want to start them all right now! lol

WOW, that was quite a book I wrote .. if anyone stayed with it the entire way .. thank you! *smile* .. but if you didn't .. who'd blame you! hee hee hee

Thank you all for the lovely comments about my PIF for Jamie .. and hope everyone had a great long weekend!
I'm grateful for my DH ...