A couple of finishes ...

Sure is nice to finish up April with a couple more quick finishes. The first finish is my heart on Willeke's Friendship RR. Willeke picked a lovely piece of 28 count evenweave and asked us to use the DMC conversion.

and here's a picture of what it looks like after 5 of us have stitched our hearts .. I really am having fun with this RR. I love seeing all the different interpretations.

My other finish was this cute rooster pillow I got at The Attic on my GCGC trip. The designer is Olde Colonial Designs and came with everything, even the DMC black lol ... I did add a touch of my own to the design .. bet you can't guess .. can you???

I think he looks right at home among his rooster friends ...

Well I'm off for a girls weekend at the beach with Lisa and Yvonne .. we are taking a nice long weekend .. friday through monday :) and I'm sooo looking foward to it! And maybe I'll even get a little stitching in too! Hope you have a wonderful weekend and here's to all those April showers bring you May flowers!

Thank you all for your lovely comments about my BBD sampler. It was a delight to stitch and I'm making plans for the sampler for my mom.

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

I'm grateful for sharing my stitching ...

A sweet finish

I finished the BBD freebie Petites Lettres. I couldn't find any small motifs that I liked. I played around with some charms and was showing DH a couple of my ideas when he reminded me that his mom loved silver. So I went with these two silver charms .. I really like how this piece turned out and can't wait to start on the one in memory of my mom ...

Here's a picture of my mother and father in law .. he's still with us at a very active age of 87 .. please ignore the dirty picture frame! lol

Thanks for visiting and leaving comments .. I do love them! Hope you have a wonderful Wednesday! And I hope you find your joy in your stitches ...

I'm grateful for sharing my stitching ...

Finishes and happy mail day ...

I keep forgetting to share with you pictures of some wonderful finishes that Vonna did for me recently. First up is my Lizzie*Kate Christmas is Forever, finished into a box ... I just love how Vonna finished this box!

I'm going to use it for my Christmas jewelry ... isn't the fabric perfect!

I stitched this piece in 2007 and just now got around to having it finish-finished ... This piece always makes me smile ... it's In Every Nest by Raise the Roof. I love how Vonna finished this one too .. check out the cute bow!

and here's the back fabric ... very cute ... Thanks Vonna! You know I love all the creative things you do with our stitching *smile*

When I got home from work today there was a package waiting for me. Now I haven't ordered anything in months and I'm not in any exchanges right now, so what could this package be? It came all the way from England and the return address said it was from Sally ... well now I'm more curious ... what could Sally be sending me?? Quickly, but carefully, I ripped open the mailer and was very touched by a handwritten note from Sally telling me that she stitched something for me as her surprise PIF recipient and that when she saw this pattern she just knew she had to stitch it for me ... something about me liking reindeer??!!! lol Now acting like a child at Christmas I quickly, but carefully again, unwrapped this wonderful needleroll ... omgosh am I one lucky girl ... look at this!!!

So perfectly stitched ... she is a wiz with her finish of needlerolls! Sally, you just made my day! Thank you soooooo much ... like I said over and over in my email to you ... I just love it!

Looks like our weather will be warm and great working in the yard weather ... so my brownish green thumb and I will be getting some dirt under the nails and hopefully weeds will be a thing of the past ... at least for a couple of weeks. Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

And I hope you find your joy in your stitches ...

I'm grateful for special friends ...

Jumping on the bandwagon ...

Yep I went and did it .. I started Blackbird Designs new freebie. I know you know which one I'm talking ... seems like every other blogger out there has either started it or just finished it .. and I didn't want to be left out! lol I've decided that I'm going to stitch two of them, in memory of both my mother and my mother-in-law. My mom's been gone 11 years and my mil 4 years. I miss them both so much ... I really like the idea of stitching one for them. So, I started with my mil's first, the fabric and thread just jumped out at me. I'm using Belle Soie Herb Garden, green was her favorite color and a piece of 36ct Edinburgh Sand ... here's what I did this evening ...



Any plans for the weekend? I can't believe it's the last weekend in April! Hope we have a little sunshine this weekend .. my yard really needs some tender loving care!


Thank you for all your comments .. I really enjoy reading them .. you make me smile and laugh .. and that's a really nice thing *smile*

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

I'm grateful for memories ...

Stitching and weekends ...

Last week I finished another heart for the Friendship RR that I'm participating in. This one is Danielle's (no blog) .. her fabric was 40 ct but a pure delight to stitch on. I stitched my heart with Belle Soie's Peacock. I loved how it turned out.

I started this piece in Arizona. It's Bent Creek's Rise and Shine. I love the colors of this piece .. and the rooster makes me smile everything I see him! lol ... I still have borders to finish and there's coffee cup on the right side of the design.

I started this one last week. It's Small Tokens by Blackbird Designs. I have lots of BBD in my stash but this is my first time stitching one .. how silly is that! I see a lot more BBD stitching in my future ..

Saturday I went with a couple of friends to this quilt exhibit ... American Quilt Classics, 1800 - 1980: The Bresler Collection. What a wonderful exhibit! I wish I could have taken pictures. The detail of the handquilting was just amazing to me. Such little stitches! lol ... there was a charm quilt that was looked like it would fit a full size bed ... there was not one duplicated fabric in the entire quilt! It must have taken a few years to amass that many different pieces of fabric. There was one quilt that was a teach piece, there were still basting stitching in it. It was a wonderful way to spend a Saturday. Lunch and a quilt show with friends ... fun fun fun :) Here's a picture of Connie and Lisa on our way to the museum ...

So it's Sunday .. a little laundry, a little stitching, even a little fabric dyeing, and a lot of Lifetime movies lol. I hope you have had a great weekend and

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

I'm grateful for the Grand Canyon Girls Club ...

Ahhhh Friday :)

We are having very typical Washington spring weather this week ... it rains, it's sunny, it rains and thunders, and then sunny again. Gotta love Mother Nature! Speaking of Mother Nature ... how awesome was the Grand Canyon. The pictures just don't tell you the entire story. It's more awesome that I ever imagined. If you've never been, go! and if you have been, go again! lol .. here's just a view pictures .. I know you've been bored to tears hearing out our trip! lol .. there's a lot more in my webshots album if you want to see ...

The clouds were so fluffy ...

still snow hanging around ...

I love this view of the Colorado River through the trees ...

and yes, they do wash their hands! lol .. I couldn't resist a picture in the bathroom ...

my GCGC GF's .. love you all!

and here's the bears that greeted us at the cabin .. what a great place to say goodbye :)

Of course we all bought little gifts for each other. Chris brought us each a new scissor fob .. she knows I love Halloween ...

here's some goodies from Karen ...

and this little sweetie is from Ruth .. love the flamingos :)

We had a grab bag exchange the first time at the cabin .. I received Ruth's grab bag. Her grab bag had a theme ... California ... She had re-names all the Belle Soie silks with California things and the fabrics had names too! We were all in hysterics reading all of them!

When we were planning our Arizona trip we were talking about some stitching things we would like to do or to learn. Karen's gotta to be such an expert with coffee dyeing fabric and making floss tags we decided to do both. The first night we arrived at the cabin (Friday) was grab bag exchange and floss tag construction. We were supposed to stitch our tags before getting to AZ and then put them together with Karen. Ruth, Chris and Karen got theirs done .. mine wasn't working out so well so Karen said she'd finish it for me. I was outlining with only one thread instead of two. I couldn't pick up a stitch! I will be making more though .. very fun relaxing finish! Saturday night, late, we decided to try coffee dyeing. We all had a blast! I think I want to get this a little darker, but I'm going to stitch Coffin Buzz by Plum Street Samplers. I think it'll be really nice .. don't you?!

and this is a piece of VERY orange fabric that was in my stash .. I thought the coffee would tone it down a bit and would be perfect for a Halloween design .. I just love how it turned out!

I do have stitching to show but I'll leave that for another post .. this one got kinda big in a hurry! lol

Thank you all for your fun comments ... I really enjoy hearing from everyone. Hope you have a great weekend .. looks like we are having sun all weekend! woo hoo!

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

I'm grateful for spring days ...

Happy Easter

The eggs were dyed earlier on Saturday .. Even with my kids being all grown up, I still enjoy dyeing Easter eggs .. I think they turned out really pretty.

and the baskets all put together .. this is the 29th year of the Walker's helping the Easter Bunny .. yep, for the last 29 years DH and I, with kids, have filled baskets and delivered them late Saturday night to friends and family. We leave them on front porches so they are there when they get their Sunday morning newspaper or get ready to leave for Church. It's a tradition that we have really enjoyed as a family .. and this year, Chris and Monica decided to start their own tradition of delivery to a few of their friends and family. I really enjoyed learning that they were carrying on the tradition .. here's the baskets we delivered this year .. lots of hopping around!


I hope you all have a wonderful Easter with your families and I hope you find your joy in your stitches ...

I'm grateful for playing the Easter Bunny ...

Stash ...

Here's some pictures of my stash from our shopping trip to The Attic ...

Ruth is the one responsible for showing me and Chris the Erica Michaels chart .. there's an adorable cat with antlers to stitch up :) I fell in love with the Rooster immediately! Although I told Karen I wished they had it in red! lol .. I might find a way to add a bit of red to it .. maybe red scissors??

This chart was a hit with a few of us .. I think Chris and Ruth both bought it, Sharon too maybe? The chart reads .. Why is it when I'm halfway through Creative joys diminish. It's more fun to start a piece than it ever is to finish. lol I'm sure we can all relate! And I love how the piece really isn't finished! This will definately be my next start .. I love the fabric and floss colors I picked :)

I got the Attic Needleworks chart thinking it would be fun to add 2 more women to the picture, we'll see if that ever happens! lol

Looks like I was in a very brown mood! I got the heart buttons for my Friendship RR. I was thinking they might be a fun to add to the piece when it's all done. I don't think you can really see it, but the yellow button is a unsmiley face button. Cracked me up and I just had to buy it.

Before heading out to the cabin, we stopped in at a quilt shop. We were looking for this catcus fabric. Goes great for the backing of a pinkeep or flatfold.

of course you can't walk into a quilt shop and walk out with only one piece of fabric, can you?? I can't ...

Looks like this weekend might be a quiet one. My dad is really sick with the crud going around, so our night time Easter egg hunt will have to be reschedule from this weekend to next weekend. Probably better since I'm starting to feel a bit better, but not 100% yet. I'm off to stitch and watch some Friday night tv.

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

I'm grateful for quiet friday nights ...

Arizona ... Day 2

I forgot to include a picture in yesterdays post .. a very important picture of our dear sweet Sharon with needle in hand. See, Sharon is the mom of a delightful 18 month old little boy, Josh. Like so many of us when our kids were young, a needle and thread and floss in hand was a rare occassion. This picture is proof that Sharon does stitch .. in fact she was the first of us to finish the piece Karen designed for us ... Cheers Sharon!

Day 2 was our road trip to Karen's LNS, The Attic. Here we are ready to head out ...

it was a beautiful day ...

Looking back at my pictures, looks like I didn't take any once we actually were at The Attic, but both Karen and Ruth have pictures of our visit. I don't have a LNS close to me and I have to admit I went a bit overboard with my stash purchases ... but I had a blast doing it! I get a giddy when I can actually touch fabrics and flosses, ooh and goo over models hanging all over. I know I bought a couple of charts that I never would have if I hadn't seen it stitched up. Pictures of stash will be coming soon. I'm not entirely unpacked yet .. I started getting a head cold on the way home from AZ, well now it's a full blown cold, another one .. grrrrr!

This is one of my favorite pictures of the 5 of us .. the V is for VACATION! and we spent a lot of time throwing up the V and yelling WOO HOO WE'RE ON VACATION!! lol

I won't give away secrets about how much we all spent at The Attic .. but I know the ladies there were happy to see us :) and I was the winner that day .. followed closely by Chris, Sharon, Ruth and Karen.

More tomorrow .. I'm off to take my drugs and head to bed.

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

I'm grateful for hot tea ...