I LOVE January ...

Not only is January my birthday month, what's not to love about your birthday month?! It's also a month of new things ... new 2012 calendar, new snow, new pants (I've been losing weight *smile*), new stash (I've been splurging a bit), new Gingher scissors (had my 50% coupon on me when I found Alicia at Joann's), new challenges at work (oh Joy!), new movies (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is one awesome movie) and and and a couple more new finishes!!! Yes, two more finishes ... I'm soooo pleased!

May I present to you January Word Play. With all the snow we had last week I just had to stitch this fun design. I've now stitched October Word Play and January. I have November and December to start. Have you seen February Word Play? Sooooo cute!

January Word Play by Thy Needle & Thread

stitched on 32 ct. light Examplar linen

with suggested GAST threads

I am absolutely in love with this next finish. I started this at least 3 years ago. I don't know why it took me so long to finish it. I loved the fabric, loved the silks and loved the design. I'm so happy to have it done finally and can't wait to get it framed to enjoy all December. I posted about this wip back in November last year. At that time I had decided to leave the 2010 date that I had stitched on it earlier. After finishing it last night the date just bugged the heck out of me so I frogged the date out and I'm so glad I did ...

Peppermint Twist by Blue Ribbon Design

stitched on 36 ct. Lakeside V. Wood Smoke linen

with Belle Soie silk conversion by Jean at The Attic Needlework

I'm tickled red that I was able to finish 3 wips this month. And hope to keep up and finish at least one wip every couple of months. I treated myself by starting Sergei this evening. What a fun stitch this will be. I just love that red bird *smile*

Thanks everyone for all your wonderful comments. I love reading them!

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

I'm grateful for new jeans ...

SNOW!!!!

I love a good snow storm and we've had a doosey. It started Monday night and continued on and off until today. We have about 6 inches here. Not as much as a lot of towns around here. I work in Everett, 25 miles North of where I live, they got about 12 inches dumped on them. I was lucky enough to be able to work from home all week. I don't mind driving in the snow, I just hate drivers out there that think they know how to drive in it. When the kids were younger and had snow days from school I would just take a day of vacation and stay home and play with them. I loved snow days back then. All the neighborhood kids out playing and sledding and laughing and building all kinds of snow people. Then it was an entry way full of wet mittens, coats, hats and scarves and hot chocolate warming on the stove. I do miss those days very very much.

But ya know, adult snow days are kinda fun too. There was lots of sharing of snow pictures and stories during my online meetings. After work I closed the laptop, grabbed hubby and the dogs and went for a walk. We all really enjoyed our walks in the snow. Why does everything look better in the snow? And with no one out driving around neighborhood it's just so quiet ... it really is nice when it snows.

Of course with the snow comes a lot of problems for people too ... car accidents all over the place, people losing power, trees falling ... knock on wood we've been very lucky to be safe and warm.

I have been doing a lot of stitching too but no pictures to share, yet. I do have snow pictures to share with you ... surprised?? lol

Day 1 ... after Christmas we moved our Christmas tree outside ... I'm really glad we did ... looks so pretty!

My neighbor's flamingos ... bet they wish they were still in Florida! lol
One of my garden gnomes ... holding his ground ...
Day 2

Where's my gnome????

I decorated this basket for Christmas ... it sits on my front porch ... I'm really glad I hadn't taken it apart yet ... doesn't it look pretty all dusted with snow ...
all my garden gnomes are going to be mad at me ...
Day 3

This is the view from my kitchen nook ...

Hope you are staying nice and warm in your neck of the woods and getting lots of stitching done.

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

I'm grateful for snow day memories ...

Another finish ...

Another happy dance in 2012! Another wip bites the dust and it feel wonderful!

Earth Laughs by MDesign

stitched on a lovely piece of light blue fabric

with recommended Crescent Colours floss

After two finishes in the first weeks of 2012 I treated myself to a new start ... I started Quaker Christmas by Midnight Stitching. I'm in love with this design!! I'm stitching it on a lovely piece of 32 ct R&R Antique Cotton ... yummy yummy fabric! I"m using the suggested colors ... GAST Cranberry and WDW Juniper ...

My birthday was on Wednesday (the 11th) and my father in law gifted me some eggs. They were my mother in laws glass eggs that she collected years ago. She's been gone for 7 years now and we miss her everyday. I was thrilled to have a little of her to enjoy and remember. He had wrapped each egg in brown paper ... it was fun unwrapping each treasure ... I can't wait for Easter ... they will be displayed and enjoyed by all of us ...

I had a wonderful birthday with my family and received a new sewing machine from my kids and a gift certificate from my dad, which I'll be using for some much needed framing. My husband gave me some money and I immediately order Sergei by Plum Street Samplers. I can't wait to get my hands on him!

Thank you all over your lovely comments about my first finish of 2012. You are all so sweet with your comments!

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

I'm grateful for memories ...

First Finish of 2012

Doing a very happy dance ... I finished Home of a Needleworker last night and I'm so pleased with how it turned out! Can't wait to get this puppy framed ... now I want to get started on the first Home of a Needleworker ...

Home of a Needleworker (too!) by Little House Needleworks

stitched on 32 ct Very Light Examplar linen

using suggested Crescent Colours threads

I've had the crud this week ... not fun at all, my poor nose feels like it's going to fall off :( but I have been stitching and just being lazy, well other than work. I've been seeing lots of first finishes for 2012 on everyone's blogs. I'm hoping to have another finish before the end of the month. I pulled out Earth Laughs by MDesigns. There's only one more flower and some border left to stitch.

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

I'm grateful for finishing a wip ...

Welcome 2012

We had a wonderful New Year's Eve with Ken and Lisa ... went to see Sherlock Homes ... great movie! Then it was off to dinner then back home to welcome in 2012 ...
yummy desserts and playing a new card game we got for Christmas ... It's called Quiddler and was loads of fun ...
I love to look back all the finishes that I completed during the year ... it's funny there is always one or two finishes that I'd forgotten all about. That's the nice thing about blogging or keeping an online photo album ... you get to look back at all you accomplished ... it was a very good year for stitching ...


2011 Finishes

I don't tend to set many stitching goals for myself but I do like using January to finish up some wips that are oh so close to being finished. So that's what I'll be doing and hopefully showing you some great progress :)

I did spend today starting a new design. I don't have a good picture of it yet, but I'm in love already! The design is Quaker Christmas by Midnight Stitching and I know it will be hard to keep my hands off it while working on my other wips.

Here's to all of us having a very wonderful 2012 ... filled with lots of joys and laughs and of course lots of stitching.

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

I'm grateful for the new starts ...