Just Another Stitching Blog

I'm in love ...

2012-02-12T22:04:00.000-08:00

with red buttons
with Sergei ... how can you not love a red bird :)
with my new sewing machine ...
with finishes ...

February Baubles from a F&S exchange back in 2008

Love by Carol of iStitch - freebie found here

Valentine by Primitive Hare - freebie found here

with fun framing ... I love the oval frame with this design ... I gave it to Monica (my daughter-in-law) for her birthday this week. She loved it.
with a very old design that I finally had framed and I couldn't be more happier with it.

Share with me what you are in love with *smile*

Rest In Peace Whitney ... you'll be missed. Terry and I were talking about this first time we ever heard her. We were with friends that had just bought her album. We sat around drinking wine and enjoying the album ... good times.

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

I'm grateful for my family ...

I LOVE January ...

2012-01-24T20:09:00.000-08:00

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!!!!

2012-01-19T19:22:00.000-08:00

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 ...

2012-01-12T22:51:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-07T18:17:00.001-08:00

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

2012-01-01T23:55:00.000-08:00

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 ...

Last Stitches for 2011

2011-12-31T17:32:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year's Eve everyone! I wanted to post a quickie with my last stitches for 2011. I made Lisa and I a Happy New Year's pillow ... the design is a freebie from Carol at iStitch. This one's for Lisa ...
here's the back ...
and this one's for me ... love this red!
and the back ... fun fabric!
I also stitched Lisa Merry New Year by The Stitcherhood ...
This sweet design never made it to my finishing table. It's by Pineberry Lane, called New Year 1861 Sample, but I left off the 1861 and put 2011 instead. The fabric it's laying on will be the pillow fabric ...
and finally my very last stitches was the date 2011 on my funky New Year's pillow ... I love it!

Hope you all have a wonderful New Year's Eve ... we're off to a movie and dinner with Ken and Lisa. I'll be back next year!

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

I'm grateful for the year 2011 ...

Family and Finishes

2011-12-29T11:11:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas. Ours was very nice with lots of family and a few gifts :) We spent Christmas Eve with my father-in-law. Had a wonderful Italian dinner at our favorite restaurant's, Vince's.
The kids came over for our Christmas on Christmas morning ... even though my kids are little any longer, Santa still comes a visits ... this year they all got Pillow Pets! lol ... you are never too old for a soft stuffed animal. Robert got the Seahawk, Monica got the WSU Cougar and Chris loves polar bears so of course he got the polar bear ...
Rob looks ready to open his gifts ...
and so do Chris, Monica and Terry ... we had lots of fun, received really nice gifts from everyone and had a yummy breakfast, complete with mimosas.
After our Christmas morning we headed over to my dad's house for Christmas with my side of the family ... more good times ... lots of fun, laughs and presents ... I really enjoyed getting to be with ALL my family through the holidays ... very special times.
I've been on vacation all this week and decided to do a few more ornament finishes. I stitched this sweet design sometime this year, or was it 2010? I can't for the life of me remember when I stitched it but I'm glad it's finished now to enjoy for years to come. The design is by Beehive Needleworks, called Cranberry Deer.
Here's another design that I stitched last year. It was a freebie by Carol at iStitch. Love how this one turned out ...
Seems I don't remember much these days at all! This is another ornament that I've had sitting around for a couple of years. This one I didn't stitch, I think it was stitched for me through the Fair and Square Exchange Blog. Unfortunately I couldn't find the 2nd square, which would have reminded me who stitched this lovely piece for me. I'm so sorry to not know the name of the stitcher that stitched this cute design for me, but I've very glad to have it ready to hang on my ornament tree ...
I do remember about this one!!! lol ... I stitched this ornament a couple of months ago for my dear friend Lisa. We baked Christmas cookies every year and I thought it would be perfect for her ... now it's all ready to give to her this New Year's Eve ... that's when we get together to celebrate our Christmas together ...
Here are all 4 of the ornaments ...
and here's the back of them ...
I also have a couple of stitching finishes. Joy was in this years JCS Ornament magazine. Drema at Needlecraft Corner kitted up this sweet ornament so the cost wasn't as expensive at it would have been buying all the Belle Soie silks. I just love this design. So much so that I sent it to 4 of my stitching friends for Christmas.

Joy by Blackbird Designs

Stitched on the recommended fabric with

the recommended Belle Soie silks

This ornament is also from this years JCS Ornament magazine. The design is Tanya of The Sampler Girl. What a fun stitch!

Good Tidings To You by The Sampler Girl

Stitched on misc. fabric

with the some DMC and

substitution of Victorian Motto's SP P for

WDW Louisiana Hot Sauce and GAST Baby Spinach

for DMC 732

Back to taking down Christmas ... love putting it up ... hate taking it down :(

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

I'm grateful for Christmas ...

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T08:00:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone has a wonderful day filled with friends and family, laughter and a few tears, lots of good food and maybe a movie or game with loved ones.

Merry Christmas from my family to yours

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

I'm grateful for Christmas ...

Stitching, finishing and a couple of presents ...

2011-12-21T17:20:00.000-08:00

Last couple of weeks I've been doing more Christmas stitching and a bit of finishing too. First up is Joy and Peace by LHN. Instead of stitching the snowflake in the left corner I opted for a lovely snowflake button instead. This was a sweet stitch ...

Stitched on the recommended WDW fabric

with the recommended CC's floss

This is a design by Tanya of The Scarlett House. The original design is on a green fabric with red lettering. Amy at Down Sunshine Lane knows I love red and made a suggestion to stitch it on red fabric ... I love love love how it turned out. Now to finish finish it.

Jingle all the way by The Scarlett House

stitched on Ruby Red fabric with

CC's Toasted Marshmallow and English Ivy

I also finished up the Sew a Mystery SAL that Carol held. I really enjoyed participating in this SAL and hope to get my box finished up early next year.

Below are a few ornaments I finished up today. Peace and the ribbon reindeer are freebie designs by Sharon. Thanks for the freebie designs Sharon, I love them! The other two ornaments were stitched a few months ago. I really liked how they all turned out.

and here the backing fabric for all of them ... fun fun fun :)

I received two lovely packages this week from dear stitching friends. Staci and I have gotten to be very good online friends over the last few years and I was tickled pink when this package arrive. Staci knitted for me one of her lovely dish cloths and included some yummy tea. I'm using my new dish cloth and love it! Being a red girl, I'll be using it through out the year.

and this box of goodies came from my dear friend Diane. Sure was a fun box to open! Lots and lots of goodies ...

I was out reading blogs a while ago and found a new to me blogger, Shannon, of A Bit of This and That blog. I really enjoyed reading her blog. One of her posts was asking if anyone wanted to do an ornament exchange with her. I commented that I would like to and we set up a mailing date of December 1st. Here is the lovely ornament she stitched for me and the goodies that came along ...
I forgot to take a picture of what I sent to Shannon so I shamelessly stole this one from her blog ...

Thanks for the Christmas ornament exchange Shannon. It was fun and I would do it again with you anytime.

I still have a couple more ornaments to finish and some Christmas shopping to finish up too ... tomorrow will be another busy day! Hope to be stitching in the evenings though. Thanks for peeking in ... love hear from all of you.

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

I'm grateful for blogging friends ...

Almost Christmas ...

2011-12-20T23:15:00.000-08:00

Hope this post finds you all ready for Christmas! I still have a bit of shopping to do and lots of wrapping but I'm on vacation all this week so the stress hasn't started building ... yet lol

A couple of weeks ago we went to a tree lot to pick and cut our Christmas tree. It was a fun filled day ... perfect Washington weather, no rain! Here's a few pictures of the family picking the tree and cutting it down.

I think we found The Tree ...

Are you done yet?

The tree is home and up and we start to decorate it ... I love watching the boys rediscover their special ornaments ...

I love this picture! I was standing in the kitchen watching Chris and Monica have a tender moment ... priceless ...

is this not the most pathetic picture you've seen lately ... poor Maddy ... feeling total ignored lol

Tomorrow I'm doing some more finishing of Christmas ornaments. I should have lots to share soon. Thanks for visiting and leaving your comments. I love reading them!

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

I'm grateful for blogging friends ...

Happy December!!

2011-12-01T17:16:00.001-08:00

Wow, can you believe it's December 1st already? I sure can't! Where the heck did November go? I have to say I feel just a little bit behind this year and I honestly don't know why. It's only the 1st of December and the house is almost done being decorated, my shopping isn't done ... but my list isn't too long! lol ... Christmas tree farm on Saturday and baking starting on Sunday ... and I'll work on Christmas cards in the evening watching tv ... doesn't sound that bad when I write it down ... but I'm still feeling behind ... owell, this too shall pass.

Thank you all for your lovely comments about my blogiversary ... it was so nice hearing from so many of you. I used the Random Number Generator to pick the winner ... but for the life of me I can't get it to post correctly ... doesn't matter ... here's the winner ... Nancy, who's blog is Lovely In Chocolate.

Nancy said...

Happy Blogiversary Michele! I always enjoy stopping by your blog and seeing what you have been stitching and what you have been up to. Please enter me in your giveaway.

Congrats Nancy ... give me a week and I'll be mailing you your goodies.

I'm off to relax and do some stitching this evening. I hope you enjoy your evening too.

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

I'm grateful for blogging friends ...

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T12:32:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Whether your celebration is large or small I hope you have a wonderful day. I am so thankful this year for all my wonderful friends and family. We had Thanksgiving with our kids last Sunday. Chris and Monica head to her parents this year. We had a great day filled with lots of good food, racing and football and lots of laughs. Tonight we'll be going out to dinner with my father in law and my dad. It's be nice spending time with them both.

I have been doing a little stitching, some I can show, some are for gifts that I'll share later. This cutie is by Country Stitches called October Word Play. It was a fun stitch. Can't wait to get November's Word Play and I'm really hoping there's a December one :)

Country Stitches October Word Play

Stitched on 35 ct WDW Beige

with recommended threads

Give Thanks is a freebie from Paulette at Plum Street Samplers. I stitched this once for myself and once as a gift for my neighbor across the street. The one on the left is stitching with 1 thread over 2 and the one on the right is stitched with 2 threads over 2. I really love how they both look. I used the recommded DMC colors and stitched them on the same 35 ct WDW Beige that I used for October Word Play.

and here they are all finished up ... this one is mine, the rick rack is some of Nancy's from Victorian Motto Sampler. I love her trims. I made mine so it could hang up.

and this one I gave to Joan ... she loved it and hung it up right away. I really enjoy giving stitching gifts to Joan, she really really appreciates what I stitch and displays it right away. I used some of Nancy's chenille trim in dark brown .. love how it looks.

You have a couple more days to leave a comment on this blog post if you want to be included in my blogiversary drawing. Thanks for visiting ... talk to you soon.

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

I'm grateful for my wonderful children ...

Happy Blogiversary to me ...

2011-11-15T19:57:00.001-08:00

HAPPY BLOGIVERSARY TO ME!! I can't believe I've been blogging for 5 years! WOW :) I love looking back at how my blog has grown and how many followers I now have. I've loved reading all your comments over the years.

And I've met so many wonderful stitchers through my blog. Some I've met in person over the years and some just remain very good friends in cyberland. I value all my relationships with you.

Now you all know I'm a big coffee fan, reindeer fan, and red fan ... so I think I'll do a giveaway incorporating all 3 of my loves ... including something stitched and finished by me. If you want to be included in my giveway just leave me a comments on this post only. I'll make leave this open until November 27th.

Thanks everyone for 5 great years ... love ya all!

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

I'm grateful for stitching friends ...

More from Myrtle Beach ...

2011-11-08T17:15:00.000-08:00

So glad you can join me for another long long post about the Fall Fling. Grab your coffee, tea, hot chocolate or favorite drink, there are a few pictures below lol ... I promise to have these posts about Myrtle Beach done before the end of the year! lol ... This post is all about the generosity of stitchers, exchanges and more finishes ...

Beth came armed with sweet gifts for a bunch of us ... I love the little Christmas ornament! and all the goodies where so fun ... check out the reindeer eraser!

Diane's been making these darling project bags ... love my Halloween one

Faye surprised us with these cute envelopes ...

and inside where new beachy scissor fobs! A girl just can't have too many scissor fobs :)

It sure was fun getting goodies from my stitching friends. Every time I use one of my gifts I'll remember that stitcher and how they made me smile with their creativeness and thoughtfulness.

One of the really fun parts of the Pals Fall Fling are the exchanges. Amy hosts 4 different exchanges over the weekend. I participated in 3 of the 4. Below are some pictures of the lovely Christmas ornaments that the stitchers worked hard on ... these birds are sooo sweet ...
Funny this ornament was stitched by three different stitchers, including me ... I love this one done in red ... surprised? lol
Santas! Who doesn't love Santa ornaments ...
Just a couple more of the lovely ornaments ... unfortunately it's hard to take a good picture through the bags ... I wasn't very excited about the ornament on the right when I saw it in the new 2011 JCS Ornament magazine, but after seeing it all stitched up, it's moved to the top of my want to stitch list ...

How cute is this one ... might have to stitch this one too!
below are just a couple more pictures of more ornaments ... yep there were a lot!

I stitched 4 Christmas ornaments for the exchange, so I got four in return. Unfortunately I can only find 3 of them ... wonder wonder wonder where that 4th one is hiding?! Bet Ill find it in January! lol Here are the three I picked out ... This lovely ornament is from my friend Myra in SC. It's a Lizzie*Kate design ... I love L*K and love Myra ... it's too cute ...
And look at these two lovelies ... The ornament on the left is from Mary Hal, SC ... it's a design by Little House Needleworks and the one on the right is from Becky Gwynn, Virginia ... I don't know the designer, but I adore the little snowman button. My tree will look so lovely with these three new ornaments ... can't wait to decorate with them!

Another exchange I participating in was the Halloween/Fall ornament exchange ... here's the ornament I received from Linda Knipple, it's a design by Paulette of Plum Street Samplers. I've loved the rabbit family but haven't stitched any of them ... now I don't have to stitch the Halloween one ...

The last exchange I participating in was the stitched piece exchange. I received this cute cube from Maggie in Virginia. I love how she finished it ...

and love how she personalize the back ... such a lovely momento to look back at year to year ...

And look more finishes! My dear friend Toni finished this cute turkey sheep by Bent Creek. The design is called Gertie Gobble ... fun finish Toni!

I had one small finish and one new start while I was at the Fling ... ya think I would have stitched more at a stitching retreat! lol ... I stitched LHN's Baked Goods for my dear friend Lisa ... we bake for the holidays and I thought this was perfect for her ...

I started this design at the Fling and finished it when I got home .... I love how it turned out ... I used 32 ct Vintage Blue Whisper and GAST Presidential Blue. I can't wait to get this framed!

Along with my initials I also included the initials for my 3 bestest stitching friends ... we've attended many Fall Flings together so I thought it would be nice to remember them on this piece.

I bought myself a little goodie while I was at the Fling ... this lovely shaker tray. There were so many pieces I wanted, but this one just called my name ... I think it looks really nice next to my stitching area.

Well, I hope I didn't bore you to much *smile* Thanks for stopping in and thanks for all your comments ... I love them!

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

I'm grateful for retreats ...

More from Myrtle Beach ...

2011-10-30T11:04:00.000-07:00

Here's the real reason I love going to Myrtle Beach every October ... great friends that I miss so much because they live in Ohio, NY and NC ... but when we are together it seems like no time has past ... Char, Laurie, Chris and Patti .. love you!

and this group of crazy ladies from NC and SC ... a few I met through blogging and exchanges before meeting them "live" in MB ... and a few I met for the first time last year ... they are a fun loving group of ladies that I really enjoy spending time with ... Sandra, Faye, Linda, Charleen, Lynn, and Karen ... love you guys!
Now here's a smiley bunch ... Carol, Fiona, Karen, Nicole, Chris and Diane ... keep me laughing all week!
New and old friends ... just doesn't get better than this!Smile, you're on Candid Camera!

omgosh these tshirts where so funny!!! I really wanted a Bitch 3 one :)

Three wonderful designers joined us this year ... Tanya (far right) of The Scarlett house. This was the only picture I got of Tanya. What a sweet lady and so talented. She does these amazing samplers and cutesy designs too ... I have her newest one, Jingle All The Way and just love it!

The second designer at the retreat was Paulette of Plum Street Samplers ... she's a hoot! I felt like I've known her for ever ... probably because I read her blog and know all about her and her family ... she brought her newest designs with her. I feel in love with Turkey Love and can't wait to start it ... Fiona, Paulette, Carol, Amy and Tracy ... I sure enjoyed sharing a table with all of you funny funny ladies ...

The third designer was Marie of Blackberry Lane Design. Unfortunately I didn't get one picture of Marie :( But I did get some fabulous purple Halloweeny fabric from her to stitch her new design Goblins on Parade. This was Marie's 2nd year attending the retreat. I hope it's not her last one.

I shamelessly stole this picture from Faye's blog because I couldn't find one good picture of 3 women that mean the most to me ... my bestest friends ... love you so much ...

So there you have it ... lots of smiling reasons for why I love attending this retreat. Looks like I have enough for one more post about the Pals Fall Fling ... exchanges, finishes and a few goodies. Thanks for all your comments ... love hearing from you.

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

I'm grateful for retreats ...

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

I'm grateful for retreats ...

Home from the Pals Fall Fling ...

2011-10-25T17:53:00.000-07:00

Can't believe I've been home for a week already! Time sure flies when you are having fun ... lol ... not much fun this week at all ... works sucks, DH had car problems this week and I'm not feeling the best ... but all I have to do is look back at these pictures to remind me what a great time I had with all my stitching buddies.

Part 1 of my trip ... this was the awesome view Chris and I had from our room ... not to bad :)One day we took a walk on the pier ... lots of fishermen and women ... they were catching lots of Spots. I heard that they are great eating, but a pain to clean ...
These little birds were fun to watch all along the pier ...

ahhhh water and sunshine ...

The first couple of days where lovely but then the weather took a turn for the cold, rainy and windy ... I've never seen it blow so hard ... but it was so pretty ...

Crazy crazy wind ... the surfers loved it!

But the real reason we were here wasn't for the weather ... it was for stitching and laughing, reconnecting with old friends and making new friends, more stitching and some stitchers actually finished pieces too!

lots of stitching going on ...

My dear friend Char (no blog) finished this lovely piece. I don't remember the name of it, but she was stitching it for her sister. It's beautiful in person.

When I first saw this BBD design I feel in love with it. I was so excited that it was included in their A Stitcher's Journey booklet and I knew I wanted to stitch it at the beach ... I thought it was just so apropos to stitch it at the Pals Fall Fling with all my stitching friends ... don't you think so Diane? lol funny I thought I'd get it finished having all the stitching time I had, but unfortunately there was some frogging (or as Karen says, reverse stitching!) that had to happened ... guess I can't talk, laugh, count and stitch at the same time ...

Nicole was busy building a house ... lovely isn't it ...

Sandra (no blog) was stitching on this sweet design ...

and this was only one of the Christmas ornaments Faye was stitching ...

Linda (no blog) was working on this cute design and finished it. I just love the bird. I didn't write down the name of this design ... I'll have to track it down, I just love it ...

Here's Charlene stitching on Chessie & Me, Pumpkin Row ... love the fabric!

another stitcher, Lynn (no blog) was stitching on Bluebird Alphabet by Just Nan ... I need to add this to my wish list ...

Well, that's just a bit of the Fall Fling ... Part 2 will be coming soon ... thanks for visiting.

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

I'm grateful for retreats ...

Leaving on a jet plane ...

2011-10-15T18:49:00.000-07:00

This time tomorrow this will be my view for the next 7 days ... I sooooo can't wait! It's time for the Pal's Fall Fling in Myrtle Beach, SC. I look forward to this retreat every year. Can't wait to see long time friends and meet new Pals too. Lots of laughs, hugs, eating and stitching ... so good for the soul!

Last week I finished up just a few more projects ... here's another ornament for the Halloween/Fall exchange ... such a cute pumpkin ...

I had fun finishing this pillow ... love the pom pom trim. I'm giving this one to my daughter-in-law Monica ...
Here's my last finish for now ... I love the fabric I found for this one ... I've had this fabric for a couple of years. When I pulled it out of my fabric stash I just chuckled and thought the witch looked like she was happy dancing after casting a spell lol
I was doing some last minute shopping ... wandered into Marshall's and found this little witch sitting on a pumpkin reading her spells book ... I sooooo couldn't pass her up, especially for 1/2 price! Isn't she cute?!

Thanks for all your comments about my last post ... I really enjoyed reading them all. It's fun to share my finishing with everyone.

Be good, stay out of trouble, get lots of stitching done and I'll see ya'll in a week.

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

I'm grateful for retreats ...

I'm a finishing fool ....

2011-10-09T17:59:00.001-07:00

Next time I leave this much finishing to do ... just shoot me and put me out of my misery! It's been a wild couple of weeks trying to get this pile of finishing done ... a lot of them are for exchanges at the Pal's Fall Fling ... I leave on Sunday, so I had to get my butt in gear! Grab a cup of coffee or tea ... there's a lot of pictures! Remember this picture?
Well here's what they turned into ... I just love this cute finish. It's from The Stitcherhood's eXpressions: Halloween
And a few more ... Boo is from eXpressions: Halloween too and Witch is a freebie from Glen Oaks Primitives.
I stitched this freebie from The Stitcherhood twice last year. One was for an exchange, the other one for me ... I finally got around to finishing it ... I was really pleased with how it turned out ...
Crows was a freebie from primitivebettys ... I found the sunflower button at The Attic a couple of years ago ... thought it was perfect for the pillow ...
I finished stitching Waiting for the Harvest by BBD last year ... I got frustrated getting my initials to fit the design and threw it in my finishing drawer to be done later ... well a year later it's finished into a a pillow and honestly it's my favorite finish! I love the fabric ... love the lace ... love how it looks as a pillow and I'm in love with the design again ...
Here's all three pillows together ... love love love them ... all the above finishes were done last week ...
The week before was finishing ornaments ... there's a Halloween/Fall ornament exchange and a Christmas ornament exchange at the Pal's Fall Fling and I love participating in both ... here's what I'm taking ... This one is from The Trilogy's Sneak Peek Halloween ... I love how this turned out ... the hanger is bats .... this one will be hard to give away ...
I can't for the life of me remember who the design of theses are ... but they turned out really cute ...

Next up is Christmas ... This sweet design was another one I stitched last year and can't remember who the designer is. I think it came from one of the more recent JCS Ornament magazines. This was going to be one of my ornaments for the Christmas ornament exchange ... I say "was" ... when Terry was looking at all the ornaments I finished, he picked this one up and said Oh I really like this one ... I think it might be missed if it was hanging on the Christmas tree this year *smile*

I stitched two of this design ... really quick stitch. One will be for the exchange and one for a gift ... this design is from Lilybet and was a complimentary pattern from one of the LNS's I order from ...

2010 Joy Stamp ornament is from Jeanette Douglas Designs in the 2010 JCS Ornament magazine. This was the first time I've tried this kind of finishing and I love how it turned out! This one is staying home ... I'm going to stitch this year's 2011 Noel Stamp ornament, hopefully before the end of the year ...
You knew I couldn't stay away from this designers most recent chart ... French Country Reindeer by JBW Designs ... this is my new favorite way to finish ornaments ... aren't they cute :)
and here's a picture of all of them together ...
Whew ... took me almost as long to write this post as it did to finish everything! lol ... thanks for hanging in there ... hope your coffee/tea didn't get cold!

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

I'm grateful for finishing??? ...

Happy October!

2011-10-02T00:22:00.000-07:00

We found the perfect way to spend the first day of October ... pumpkin farming :) Chris, Monica, Terry and I spent the day at 3 different pumpkin farms and had a great time. The first farm we stopped at was Bailey's ...

There were pumpkins everywhere ...

and lots of you pick veggies ... I got three huge zucchini's ... I think there's a few loaves of zucchini bread in my future ...

We picked some corn ... been years since I've had fresh right off the stalk corn ... can't wait to taste it ... and look what I found hiding in the corn lol

The property across the street was were the corn was ... loved this red barn and the pumpkin fence ...

Here's just a few of the pumpkins we got ... we also got a few gourds and a few small pumpkins too ...

Here's my family ...

Our next stop was The Farm at Swan's Trail ... they had this happy scarecrow in one of the pumpkin fields ...

Along with pumpkin patches they also had this wonderful garden ...

I would love my backyard to look like this!

I fell in love with this old wagon ... wouldn't it look great filled with all the pumpkins we got?

very pretty unique bridge ...

and the bridge was a perfect place for another picture of Chris and Monica ...

Here's pictures from their flower garden ... lovely dahlias and so many different kinds ...

The third stop was Bob's Corn and Pumpkin Farm ... I didn't take many pictures here but it was a lovely place too ... our favorite things here were roasted corn ... soooo yummy! and lots of homemade goodies ... we bought some Black Bean and Corn Salsa and some Blackberry Butter. Can't wait to try them. It really was a great way to usher in the changing of the season ... I LOVE FALL.

Thank you for all your lovely comments on my stitching from my last post. I really enjoyed reading them all ... tomorrow is finishing day ... wish me luck!

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

I'm grateful for fall ...

Happy Fall Happy Sunday

2011-09-22T18:44:00.001-07:00

This is my favorite time of year. I'm sitting here watching racing and football, the sun is out but the wind is whipping the leaves around ... love it! And my fantasy football team is doing well today .. hopefully I'll get my first win!

Last week I made some headway on TTandT, this is such a fun stitch. I finished page one (top left) and started page two (bottom left) ...
I'm really enjoying Carol's mystery SAL ... I've finished Part 5 and can't wait to see the next part. It's nice because the motifs are small and I can sit and finish it up the same night and I'm enjoying this 40ct fabric too. I'll be getting more of it ...
I pulled out one of my old wips, determined to finish it this year. I purchased Peppermint Twist the first year it was released, which was 2008!! I remember pulling it out last year and deciding to stitch the year on it right away because I was going to finish it in 2010 ... well it's now 2011 and still not done. last week I finished up the red birds on the far right and started on the block below ... I so need to finish this this year ...

I have a ton of finishing to get moving on. This is only part of everything that needs to be finished soon. I'm hoping to have next weekend free to finish finish finish ...

Thanks everyone for stopping by and for your comments. It's always fun reading all your comments.

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

I'm grateful for fall ...

Getting numb butt ...

2011-09-09T10:44:00.000-07:00

Hope September is treating you good. I'm still on leave of absence from work and since all I can do is sit until I have numb butt I've been turning all my sit time into major stitch time and I'm loving it! Sure will be a shock to the system when I have to back to work :(

First up is my new wip ... I've had this design for a year and hadn't started it ... but it's started now and I'm loving it ... It's called Thine is the Trick and the Threat by Prairie Moon. I'm using the a really pretty piece of fabric. Can't find the name of it anywhere :( And the floss I'm using is CC's Blackbird.
Here's what it will look like when I'm finished with it ...
Along with starting a new project, I have a few finishes. I love this one by Threadwork Primitives. It stitched up really quick and is such a sweet design. I think I see a pillow in it's future ...

Woodland Noel by Threadwork Primitives

stitched on misc piece of fabric using

WDW Whitewash, CC Bandana, CC Roasted Chestnut

and GAST Shutter Green

My next two finishes are from The Trilogy's EEHology leaftlet ... they were fun to stitch and very quick too :) Love Frankie ...

Frankie from EEHology by The Trilogy

stitched on 32 Queen Anne's Lace

with recommended WDW threads

EEK! from EEHology by The Trilogy

stitched on 32 Cream Belfast

with recommended WDW threads

I also finished up another Christmas ornament. This is from the 2010 JCS Christmas Ornament magazine. I love this ornament and was thrilled to see there's a 2011 Stamp Ornament in this years JCS magazine ... it's next on my list of need to stitch ..

2010 Stamp Ornament by Jeannette Douglas Designs

Stitched on 32ct Vintage Country Mocha

with recommended DMC threads

We're all excited in this house that football season is starting. Hope my fantasy team does well this year :) With soccer still going strong ... Sounders are unbeatable right now! and Nascar heading into the last 12 races of the season ... our weekends are all about sports, and stitching.

Thanks for peeking in and thanks for all our comments. I love hearing from everyone.

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

I'm grateful for fall ...

I'm seeing red ...

2011-08-31T09:38:00.000-07:00

and lovin' it! This was such a sweet stitch. I'm in love with this fabric and Victorian Motto floss .. heck I'm just in love with it all! lol

Diagramme réalisé par Rosa D. pour le PCB

stitched on 32ct very light examplar

with Victorian Motto Red 24

In my past post I talked about my little mixup with floss colors. I decided to finish the border with Cocoa, which was the recommended floss color. I really like how it looks. Peaceful Night is from the 2010 JCS Ornament Issue. This ornament will be a Christmas present for a dear friend.

Peaceful Night by Knotted Tree NeedleArt

stitched on a misc. piece of fabric with

recommended GAST and WDW floss

I finished up Part 2 of iStitch's Mystery SAL ... I'm just loving this design ...

Thank you for all your comments about my stitching ... I really enjoy hearing from everyone.

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

I'm grateful for red ...

Lots to share ...

2011-08-27T10:24:00.000-07:00

I had a pretty productive week stitching. This was the first week I've really felt like stitching ... starting to get my energy back.

I'm participating in Carol's Mystery SAL along with a lot of other stitchers. Check out her blog for pictures of everyone's Part 1. Here's my Part 1 ... I'm stitching on 40 ct cream fabric with CC's Manor Red. I love how it looks so far ...

While rummaging through my project bags I found this fun design that was almost done ... don't know why it sat for so long unfinished, only took me 30 minutes to complete ... lol

Merry New Year by The Stitcherhood

stitched on a misc piece of fabric with

Belle Soie's Old Crow

The first time I saw this beauty was on Staci's blog and knew I had to stitch it. Well I'm finally getting around to stitching it and I'm so glad I am ... it's so pretty! It's a freebie and can be found here ... I'm using Victorian Motto Red 24 on a very pretty piece of linen, too bad I can't remember the count or the color!

I need your advice/ideas on this next piece. I went a little brain dead and messed up on the border. I'm stitching this over one and wasn't about to rip it all out. Below is the picture ... here's the dilemma ... the border has three lines which should be Cocoa, Lancaster Red (I substituted Garnet), Cocoa. As you can see, the middle line isn't Lancaster Red, it's Dark Chocolate ;( Now I'm not sure if I should continue with Cocoa or use another color? Oatmeal and Schneckley and the other two colors in this design.

I've also been working on Home of a Needleworker ... building a blue house is fun!

I treated myself to a bit of new stash ... you knew I had to get these two charts when Amy at Down Sunshine Lane told me about them ... she knows me all to well :)

Here's the rest of my new stash. DH wants me to stitch him Death by Candy Corn and I'll be stitching Baked Goods for my friend Lisa ... we've baked together for 20 years ... I love new stash!

Sending out lots of safe and positive thoughts for everyone in Irene's path. Mother Nature is one tough lady these days.

And lastly, thank you all for your comments about my surgery and my dad's. Last night we had dinner over at my dad's house. It was my first real outing, that wasn't going to a dr appt ... I even put on some makeup! lol ... my brother cooked dinner for us, dad was his sous chef lol ... it was really nice getting out and seeing my family, but more it was nice to actually feel good enough to want to go out *smile*

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

I'm grateful for feeling better ...

Peeking it to say hi ...

2011-08-17T21:03:00.000-07:00

It's been a long three weeks around here. On July 27th my Dad had total knee replacement surgery on his right knee. I took off a week from work when he went home from the hospital to help him out around the house. After the 1st week of him being home I went in to the hospital for a scheduled hysterectomy. My brother and one of dad's neighbors took over taking care of him while I did my surgery and am now home and recuperating. Dad's doing really great! He's walking with a cane only, still can't drive and is still enjoying being waited on :) Tomorrow will be 2 weeks since my surgery and all in all I'm doing pretty good. Terry and the boys have been taking good care of me. 4 more weeks and I should be as good as new :)

When I arrived home from the hospital I had a package from Kathy waiting for me. Inside was the sweetest gift ... she found some Wizard of Oz fabric that reminded her of me so she whipped it into a project bag and sent it to me ... I just love it!
It's now the new home of my wip, Home of a Needleworker (two) ... I worked on it while taking care of my dad ...
Before my surgery I stitched up this freebie by primitivebettys ... I just love sunflowers so this was a must stitch for me. Not sure when it will get finish finished ... not really feeling up to dragging the sewing machine out quite yet ... I stitched it on some coffee dyed by me fabric and used these threads GA Sunburst, Victorian Motto Red 24, CC Caterpillar, BS Noir and Creme de Menthe. I really like how it turned out ...
Kim was my partner over on the Fair and Square exchange blog for the BBD design round. Here are the squares she stitched for me. They are lovely and stitched over one! I can't find pictures of what I stitched for her ... hopefully they'll turn up.

I've been stitching a bit while recovering from my surgery ... not as much as I wish, but a little here and there ... hopefully as I continue to feel better I'll get more stitching done. But for now, I'm off to nap ...

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

I'm grateful for sunny days ...

8 years later ...

2011-07-24T22:23:00.001-07:00

8 years ago my Dad and I were in Santa Barbara, California helping my great aunt move to an assisted living residence. After a few days of moving and getting her settled, Dad and I took a drive to Solvang for the day. It's a lovely touristy city with lots of fun shops and good food. We found a cross stitch shop that I had to visit. While I was shopping, Dad brought over this Dimensions kit ... a lovely scene of wolves in a forest. He loved it and asked if I would stitch it for him. It was the first time he'd asked me to stitch anything for him so of course I said yes ... a yes I struggled off and on for 8 years. After the first couple of years he stopped asking how the wolves were doing ... lol, smart guy! After 8 years, all I had gotten done was part of the main wolf. I was so gung ho on this at first, but soon realized I just didn't have the brain to work at pattern like this ... every time I picked it up I hated it more and more and felt sooo guilty for not getting it done for him ... well this year he was turning 80 (on June 19th) and again the guilt was really really hitting me hard because they still weren't done. Well, I swallowed my pride and emailed a dear friend of mine, Theresa (no blog), that we affectionately call Turbo Needles. Theresa has done huge designs, loves doing them and said yes when I asked if she would finish the wolves for me. 8 long years later they arrived back at my house last month ... seriously it only took Theresa a couple of months to finish them!! And WOW did she do a great job. I had them framed and gave this incredible framed piece to my Dad on Saturday. He was thrilled and hung it up immediately! I will always been indented to Theresa for getting this piece done for me and my Dad. Ignore the flash on the pictures ... May I present to you ... The Wolves ...
Last week I picked up a wip I had started last year and finished it up ... I loved stitching this one!

Sneak Peek Halloween by The Trilogy

stitched on 32 ct. Belfast Dirty Linen

with the recommended floss

I also finished by Lizzie Kate's Life's A Beach ... fun stitch that should have gone quicker but the 4 ply floss was slow stitching for me ...

Life's a Beach by Lizzie*Kate

Kit complete with fabric, floss and buttons

I hope everyone is staying cool these days! We had a lovely weekend of weather here ... high 70's ... it was perfect! And Terry and I made the best of it. Saturday we spent at the local farmer's market and then went to dinner and a movie. If you haven't seen Midnight in Paris yet, don't delay .. go see it!!! It was wonderful!!! Nice to enjoy a Woody Allen movie again. Sunday we spent in the yard ... then I stitched the afternoon/evening away working on another older wip. It was really a nice weekend ... I hope you all had a nice one too!

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

I'm grateful for sunny days ...

No Red White and Blue ...

2011-07-11T22:14:00.001-07:00

but I have been stitching! Here's a couple of my wips that I'm stitching on this week. First is Home of a Needleworker (too) by Little House Needleworks. I'm loving this design and can't wait to start on the house ...

My other wip is Life's a Beach by Lizzie*Kate. Great quick summer stitch ... but stitching with 4 strands of floss is not my favorite! Driving me crazy and without a needle threader I'd be at a loss ... but it's turning out really cute ...
Last weekend my friend Lisa and I played tourist in our own city ... we headed to Pike Place Market and had a blast! It's so much fun rediscovering your city ... here's a few pictures from our day ...

love all the fresh fruits and vegetables ...look how big these lobster tails are!

and the flowers ... oh they were lovely!
Here's Lisa with the Market pig ...

At the park there's all these incredible flower baskets ...

and of course a trip to the market isn't complete without visiting the first Starbucks ... it open in 1971. I love the original logo ...

I brought home some yummy fruits and vegetables and the lovely flowers in the picture below .. and yea I bought a couple of coffee cups ... surprised aren't ya! lol

Hope everyone is keeping cool in this heat wave ... well heat wave everywhere but here! lol ... but we have had some lovely days ... and Saturday while we were downtown Seattle was at it's best and everyone was enjoying it ...

Thanks for all you comments about my patriotic stitching/finishing ... I so appreciate everyone's kind words.

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

I'm grateful for sunny days ...

Happy 4th of July

2011-07-04T13:09:00.000-07:00

I did it!!! I finished everything before the 4th of July! I have to say I'm pleased with most of my finishes. Below is a little more about each design ...

I thought this pillow turned out darn cute ...

Liberty by Lizzie*Kate (freebie)

stitching on a misc piece of fabric

with suggested floss

stitched June 2011

I tried a new pillow technique on this design. Next time I'll make sure there is more of the fabric showing. Love the raffia hanger ... I gave this pillow to my daughter in law, Monica ...

America by Glory Bee (freebie)

stitched on a misc piece of fabric

using suggest floss

stitched July 2010

I wasn't sure at all about this design while I was stitch it. The red (House Wine by CC) was turning out a bit more pink than I wanted. When I finished stitching the flag, I wasn't any more pleased with it and didn't if I had any fabric that was going to work with the colors. Well it turns out I had just the perfect fabric and didn't even know it! lol .. the fabric has a bit of pale pink in the stars and the blue was perfect too! Added a bit of chenille trim from Victorian Motto and it turned into one of my favorite finishes!

SamSarah Design Old Glory

stitched on misc fabric

using suggested Crescent Colors floss

stitched June 2011

I backed Happy Happy Flag day with the fabric it's laying on, added some chenille trim and love how this one turned out too ...

Happy Happy Flag Day by The Trilogy

stitched on misc fabric

using suggested WDW and GAST floss

stitched June 2011

When I first saw this design I fell in love with the font! Love the rustic look of this finish ...

America by Threadwork Primitives

stitched on misc piece of fabric

using suggested WDW and GAST floss

stitched July 2011

Here's another finish that didn't turn out exactly like I wanted ... it's a bit too top heavy ... but cute ...

Let Freedom Ring by The Sampler Girl

stitched on misc fabric

using suggested floss

stitched June 2010

I used some of my coffee dye fabric for this stitch and I didn't stitch the "white" stripes, I liked the look of the coffee dye color working with the red and the blue ...

July 4th by Hodgepodge Cottage (freebie)

stitched on a coffee dyed piece of fabric

with suggested floss

stitched June 2011

Whew that was a lot of 4th of July stitching and finishing! I don't think I'll ever leave that many pieces to finish for one holiday again! lol ... but I'm sooo pleased to have them all done!!! And now I get to enjoy looking at them all month long *smile*

I hope you all have a very fun and safe 4th!

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

I'm grateful for sunny days ...

Oh Say Can You See ...

2011-06-27T22:18:00.000-07:00

a lot of finishing for me! lol ... In June I stitched Happy Happy Flag Day by The Trilogy (top left in the picture) and July 4th by Bre Stewart of Hodgepodge Cottage (top right in the picture). The other 3 I found when going through my 4th of July fabric ... my goal is to have them all finished up before the 4th ... stay tuned!
Besides stitching 4th of July designs I stitched up this sweet fob design by Shepherd's Bush called Be Happy. Someday it will be a scissor fob ...
I also finished an exchange piece for the Fair and Square Exchange Blog, but it hasn't arrived at it's new home yet, so I can't show you any pictures :( but I can show you pictures of my 4th of July decorating around the my house ... here's my basket of red, white and blue ...
a little display in the powder room ...
My mantle ...

Have you been stitching red, white and blue?

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

I'm grateful for sunny days ...

Happy June

2011-06-04T19:42:00.001-07:00

Hope June is treating you well so far. We've been having really rainy gray days for way too long. We finally have some sun ... lovely warm sun ... so Terry and I spent most of the day out in the yard doing some much needed yard work ... sure felt good to get my hands dirty. Because of all the rain we've had only my white lilacs survived ... the light purple ones bloomed and immediately turned brown ... sniff sniff sniff ... but the white ones survived and look amazing. I love my lilacs!

I had a couple of finishes so far this month. Renee was sweet and loaned me her copy of this Lizzie*Kate design that is OOP. I took this picture before I added the cute chick button. This was a quick fun stitch. Thanks Renee for letting me borrow it!

Lizzie*Kate's Green Eggs

Stitched on misc green fabric

using suggested GAST and WDW threads

except for WDW Peony ... substituted Begonia

I'm really glad to be done with Needle ... I can't wait to have it framed and hanging in my stitching room ... but it was a very boring stitch. Ever stitch a design that bored you to tears but you were looking forward to the finished product? I am planning on stitching Stitch and Scissors too but I think I'll spread it out a bit *smile* If you would like the Needle pattern, let me know in a comment. I know I won't be stitching it again.

Needle by CherryWood Design Studios

Stitched on 28 ct Gingham

with GAST Espresso Bean

Monica and I did some gnome painting at our local you paint pottery place. We had a fun time and the gnomes turned out so good! I haven't painted ceramics since the 70's ... but I know I'll be painting more and more ... Monica and I have a list of "want to paint" lol ... My gnomes in on the left ... I know I'll be painting the little guy soon ...

And before I go I totally forgot about the Travelling Pattern drawing I was supposed to do last Monday ... bad bad bad me. Sooooo the winner is Sally. The gnomes picked her *smile*

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

I'm grateful for sunny days ...

Peeking in ...

2011-05-22T17:37:00.001-07:00

May's almost over, how crazy is that! I've been stitching a little this month, just easy stuff lol ... haven't been feeling great all month, lovely female issues, and it's zapped my energy big time. Ya know there are just days that you shouldn't pick up a needle. Speaking of needle ... I started Needle by CherryWood Designs. Nice easy stitch ... I'm planning on doing Stitch too.

I have 2 friends who are going to be grandmother's of little girls. I haven't stitched a birth sampler in years but when found this design I just had to stitch it, it's an older design by Sisters and Best Friends. I love the font and the colors are so little girl. This one is number 2. Number 1 was given to the new mom to be last weekend. I forgot to take a picture of it before giving it away ... I will get it back after the baby (Layla Marie) is born and add the her birth date and height/weight and will get it framed for them.
Here's my April Christmas ornament all stitched up and ready for final finishing.

Consumed by Gifts by Brittercup Designs

from JCS 2010 Ornament issue

stitched with suggested WDW/DMC

on a piece of misc fabric

Remember this sweet pincushion I received from Diane for Easter? Well today I stole her idea and made a new pincushion for myself ... Here's Diane's ...

and here's mine ...

When I first saw this miniature coffee cup I knew I had to have it ... who knew it would make such a cute pincushion!

here's a close up of the fabric ... perfect don't you think?

A few months ago I was the winner of The Travelling Pattern from Diane's blog. I haven't been able to get excited about stitching this pattern ... not sure why just can't get into it. I don't want to hold up passing her on to the next stitcher so if you want to be the next recipient of The Travelling Pattern then please leave a comment (including your email address) and I'll draw a name on Memorial Day, May 30th. Good Luck!

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

I'm grateful for sunny days ...

Weekend fun and great mail ...

2011-04-25T18:23:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter (for those who celebrate). We lucked out and had a very sunny day on Saturday ... of course most of my day was spent cooking and putting together our Easter baskets, but hey, going to the store in the morning and not having to wear a jacket was almost heaven! lol

We headed to my dad's about 4 ... my brother and his family joined us for dinner and and Easter egg hunt ... yep we still do egg hunts for the kids, plastic eggs stuffed with candy and coins ... the youngest child is my niece Jessica, who will be 16 in November ... the oldest is my son Chris who will be 29 in May ... are you ever too old for a good old fashion Easter egg hunt?

Get ready, Get set ... GO!

Would they really put an egg in there???

hmmmm, should be one here ...
I just love my niece's smile in this picture ... wonder what her mom was saying *smile*

And here's a picture of all the kids ... minus my nephew Nick, he had to work ... aren't they cute!
Here's a picture of our Easter baskets this year. The makings for mimosas was a hit ...
I received my Easter/Spring exchange from Fiona on Saturday. Fiona stitched and finished a very cute Easter egg. I just love it. The bunnies, the flowers, the little pouch that I could put scissors in and look at the sweet pins stuck in ... just adorable! She also made me the cutest ort bag ... yep that's a frog holding the ort bag ... it is too cute and will be well used and hopefully it will keep the frogs away! She also included a coffee pattern and coffee themed fabric. I've never seen this coffee design before and I'm itching to start it ... think I'll stitch it in red :) Thank you Fiona for doing this personal exchange with me. I had a blast! and I love everything.

Here's a close up picture of the egg .. love the ruched ribbon!

Doesn't it look great in my Easter/Spring basket? It will be hard to put all these lovelies away until next year ... not that I'm in any hurry ... I think the basket will stay around until Summer time.

I gave into the enabling of Faye and Karen and a few other bloggers and ordered some finishing stash and some floss from Nancy of Victorian Motto Sampler Shop. I'm really looking forward to some finishing with red buttons and this yummy chenille trim ...

Thanks everyone for stopping by and saying hi ... love your comments! Hope you all have a lovely week.

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

I'm grateful for quiet Monday evenings ...

Easter Egg Dyeing ...

2011-04-23T14:25:00.001-07:00

Saturday night the kids and I decorated Easter eggs. I had found a silk tie dyeing process Monica and I wanted to try. Here's the link if you are interested in trying it ... http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/04/silk-dyed-eggs-aka-tie-dyed. The eggs are aren't edible so we did a few hard boiled then we blew out about a dozen so we could keep them "forever". Below are come pictures of our process ... we had a blast and the eggs turned out so interesting looking. We are definitely going to be making more next year.

First step ... take apart the silk tie. We went to Goodwill for the ties. then you wrap them ...
our little bundles of color ...
then you cover them with old white pillow cases cut up and tie them again ...
into the pot with water and a little vinegar and boil for 20 miutes ...
let cool, untie them and here's what you get ...

Here's the empty eggs getting ready to be dyed ...

Robert wanted to dye eggs in the traditional way ...

I love the colorful bowl of eggs!

I'm so glad that my kids all in their 20's still enjoy "kid" stuff.

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

I'm grateful for dyeing eggs ...

Busy Bunny ...

2011-04-20T19:00:00.000-07:00

I've just been having the best time stitching and finishing for Easter this year. Every year we put together Easter baskets for friends and family and deliver them Saturday night so when they get their paper in the morning, there's a sunny surprise on their doorsteps. This year I'm hoping that every basket has something stitched in them too. And of course there's a few new ones for me too :)

I stitched this design a few years ago. Never got around to finishing it ... I never could find the right fabric for it. Well this year I really just wanted to get it done so I could enjoy it in my Spring/Easter basket. I love the rick rack I found ... the fabric isn't horrible and now I can enjoy it!

Egghunt by Lizzie*Kate
stitched on a misc. piece of fabric with the
recommended threads

I stitched this sweet freebie from Carol of iStitch for my dear friend Elaine. I've know Elaine since I was in high school. We lost track of each other over that last 10 years, but that's to Facebook, she found me and I'm sooo glad she did! She lives about 60 miles south of me. I've been going to visit her about every couple of months and it's like we've never been apart. And one of the best things is that she's a stitcher too! She also knits and scrapbooks. We have lots of fun crafting together. I'll have to get her to start a blog someday *smile* I loved stitching this design and have it kitted up to do again for me.

Easter freebie by iStitch

Stitched on a scrap of white linen with

CC Candied Yams

When I saw this design I knew I had to stitch it, at least once! ... thought it would be great in the baskets ... since we are the Easter Bunny's helpers lol I've only got one stitched so far but it a really quick stitch so one or two more should be no problem ... nothing like leaving it to the last minute!

Here bunny bunny by Angel Stitching

Stitched on coffee-dyed 28 ct. linen

with Belle Soie Chocolate, Fern Frond and Carrot Cake

Lastly, I stitched two more Easter freebie by primitivebettys. I stitched this for Beth in our personal Spring/Easter exchange and just loved it when it was done ... so I stitched another one for me and one for one of our Easter baskets ...

Yep, I having way too much fun stitching for Easter! Thanks for looking and thanks for your comments ... love love love them!

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

I'm grateful for bunnies and chicks ...

My Exchange arrived ...

2011-04-17T18:00:00.001-07:00

My last two personal exchanges arrived at their new homes. First up is the exchange I sent to Nataly. I stitched a little pincushion for her from Raise the Roof's Pins and Needles leaflet. She loves birds and the color blue so I though this was perfect for her ... and she loved it *smile* I made pins for the pincushion and included a scissor fob that I made too .... along with a few other goodies. Nataly has better pictures on her blog ... go over and visit :)

My last exchanged head to Fiona in Scotland. It didn't as long as I thought to find it's way to Fiona. For Fiona I stitched the other pincushion from Raise the Roof's Pins and Needle leaflet.. I'm really glad she likes pink! I also made her some pins and a scissor fob too.Here's close ups of the pincushions ... the fabric they are laying on are the fabrics I used to back them with. I stuffed them with crushed walnuts to keep their needles nice and sharp.

I really enjoyed spoiling all three of my exchange partners and enjoyed being spoiled by each of them too.

Thanks for all your fun comments from my last post. My fuzzy chicks were a hit! lol ... I've had them for about 5 years and have always enjoyed seeing them again every Easter time ... but now with Chicks Rule all finished up, those chicks are more fun!

I've been doing more Easter stitching and hope to have a few finishes to share with you in the next couple of days.

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

I'm grateful for bunnies and chicks ...

Bunnies and Chicks

2011-04-11T20:55:00.001-07:00

Easter stitching/finishing is in full swing here and I'm having a really fun time with it all ... I've stitched up 2 Chicks Rule. One for me and one for Lisa for her Easter basket. I've stitched this fun design 3 times now. Once last year when the chart was released (Lizzie*Kate design). That one I gave to my DIL Monica. I knew I wanted to stitch one for me and well, I was having so much fun I stitched it again! lol I used the same fabric on the back that I used on Peep. I wish I'd bought yards of this fabric ...

I had a big chuckle setting up to take this picture ... I forgot I had these three silly chicks ... now they go with my silly pillow ...

Chicks Rule by Lizzie*Kate

one stitched on a misc piece of 32 ct light yellow linen

and one on a light purple 32 ct linen

stitched with recommended WDW threads

Last month Carol (iStitch Designs) released Sew a Brown Bunny. What an adorable design! So cute that I had to pass it around for Easter stitching. I RAK'd Karen, Michelle and Staci with this sweet design and then I stitched it up for myself. The fabric it's laying on is what I used to back it ...

Sew a Brown Bunny by iStitch

Stitched on a misc piece of 28 ct fabric

with GAST Shutter Green and Belle Soie's Chocolat

One of my personal exchanges arrived over the weekend. I really enjoyed putting this exchange together for Beth. I stitched and finished this Easter freebie by primitivebettys. I really loved how this pillow turned out ... I was tickled when I found a little purple Easter egg in my stash ... I thought it was a fun addition to the pillow. I sent along some fabric, a little Easter towel, some threads, a scissor fob made by me :) and of course some chocolate. I'm so glad you loved everything Beth ...

Easter Freebie by primitivebettys

Stitched on coffee dyed 28ct fabric

with WDW Purple Majesty, Lilac and Belle Soie's Chocolat

I'll leave you with a picture of my kitchen table and my basket of Spring pillows all stitched by stitching friends ... I just love my stitching friends!

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

I'm grateful for bunnies and chicks ...

Finishing and Exchanges ...

2011-04-07T12:00:00.000-07:00

I've spent last week and the weekend doing some finishing and I'm pretty pleased with how everything came out. Three of my finishes I can't show you until the arrived at their new homes. But here are a few finishes I did for me ... first is Peep ... this silly design makes me smile every time I look at it. The fabric he's laying on is the backing fabric. I found it at Joann's and thought it was perfect!

I don't know if you can see very well, but I used this sweet daisy ribbon for the trim around Peep ... I just love the whimsy of this piece ...

Next up for finishing was my March ornament ...

Windows of Faith, Hope and Peace by Primrose Needleworks

Stitched on 32 ct. Amber linen

with GAST Cranberry and Roasted Marshmellow

I was more happy with stitching this design than I was with how the finishing turned out ... I think I'm burning out on finishing like this. Next month I need to try and new finishing technique. I am excited though that I have 6 ornaments all ready for my tree this coming Christmas, and a few presents too :)

In keeping with an idea I stole from Staci , I finished another ornament that was sitting around in my drawer. These sweet squares were stitched for me by Jill through the Fair and Square Exchange Blog. I was excited to get them finished ... can't believe they've been waiting to be finished for almost 2 years!

had to show you a picture of the back square ... I love how Jill personalized it :)

In February I asked if anyone wanted to do a private Spring/Easter exchange with me. Three of my blogging friends spoke up that yes they'd like to do an exchange. My three exchanges went in the mail on Monday. This week I've received two of the three exchanges! Color me surprised they arrived that quickly! My third one is coming from Scotland, so there will be a bit of a delay in showing you that one.

I was so excited when Beth emailed to say she'd like to do the exchange with me. I've know Beth for over 5 years. I met her at a PALS Fall Fling in Myrtle Beach and we've been great friends every since. Beth is a doll and has the biggest kindest heart you will ever meet. This was also Beth's first exchange! I don't know why she's waited so long but I'm pleased as punch to have been her first cause look at the goodies she sent me ...

The stuff bunny is adorable, the blue bunny's are stuffed with chocolate and the pink large egg has sunflower buttons and Beth's new favorite took, a needle threader. Everything is sitting on a wonderful piece of PTP fabric called Monster Mash. The best thing of all was packaged in the purple egg ... here's a close up of the pillow Beth stitched and finished for me ... The design is by Lizzie Kate. I love how she finished the pillow ... look at the sweet bunny buttons along the bottom ... way cute! Thanks for everything Beth ... I just love doing this exchange with you!

The next exchange to arrive was from Nataly. Nataly emailed me and said she'd like to participate in an exchange with me too ... I was thrilled to meet a new to me stitcher/blogger. Go check out her blog if you haven't visited before. I've really enjoyed getting to know Nataly through this exchange and hope we continue to stay in touch. Nataly delighted me with an Easter pail full of JellyBelly's, chocolate eggs, Springy colored socks and a sweet little note pad and a Spring pillow! The design is a freebie by The Stitcherhood. I just love the colors in the pillow and the fabric is perfect! See the trim around the pillow, it's a felt like trim that look like little eggs ... just adorable! Thank you Nataly for doing this exchange with me. I had lots of fun and it was so nice to meet you.

Looks like I'm all ready for some Spring decorating this weekend. Thanks for hanging in reading this post ... kinda long wasn't it :)

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

I'm grateful for Spring Exchanges...

Happy Spring!

2011-03-28T18:16:00.000-07:00

Lots of Spring stitching going on in this house, but only one that I can show you, the others are for some Spring Exchanges that I'll share once they arrive at their new homes.

I finished Peep a couple of weekends ago ... what a fun stitch! I can't wait to finish him.

Lizzie Kate's Peep

stitched with supplies in kit

This sweet pin cushion arrived over the weekend from Diane. Isn't it clever and cute! I might have to steal this idea ... hope you don't mind Juan :)

I started Yule Sampler in December but had put it down to stitch on other things. When Lisa of Primitive Needle lost her life on March 1st I decided I would finish it in honor of her. There's a Facebook group that was created so we could share our stitching in memory of Lisa. Most everyone was stitching a Halloween piece since that was one of Lisa's favorite holiday was Halloween. Now to get it framed.

Yule Sampler by The Primitive Needle

Fabric - Heritage by Picture This Plus - Edinburgh 36 ct.

Stitched 1 over 2 with suggest Crescent Colours

Can't believe it's almost April! Are you getting lots of Spring stitching done? What Spring stitching are you doing? Well, it's time for Castle ... we just started watching it. Great fun series!

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

I'm grateful for Spring ...

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2011-03-17T06:01:00.000-07:00

Last week Paulette (Plum Street Samplers) offered up this sweet freebie for St. Patrick's Day. I had fun stitching and finishing this pillow. I even added a green heart button on the bottom of the pillow and a shamrock and beads as a little extra bling.

got luck?

stitched on coffee dyed 28 ct. fabric

stitched with Crescent Colours Khaki Mocha Erin Go Emerald and Four-Leaf Clover

Terry helped pick out the backing fabric and and the cording. I think he did a great job *smile*

Are you wearing your green today? My Dad, Chris and Monica are joining us for dinner. We're having corned beef, yukon potatoes oven roasted with thyme, garlic and olive oil, corn, hearty bread and of course some Guinness. Hope you have a great day!

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

I'm grateful for little finishes ...

Finishing and Friends ...

2011-03-07T10:07:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday! Hope everyone one had a great weekend :) My week was full of finishing and friends all the way through the weekend. The last weekend in February was my weekend for some ornament finishing. It didn't go very well at all ... seemed everything I wanted to do finishing wise just wasn't going to work out. I wanted to try a couple of new finishing techniques, but nothing was cooperating, not my glue or my fabric or my scissors or my fingers ... I felt like all thumbs! So by Sunday I was so frustrated that I walked away and said I'll be back later. Monday when I got home from work I tackled them again ... and things went a tab bit smoother. I decided to stick with finishing techniques I've done in the past and after all the headaches and frustrations I was very pleased with the final results ... Here's Brittercup Design's kitty from JCS Christmas Ornament Issue 2010 ...

Brittercup Design's Mine

stitched on misc fabric with
combination of dmc, wdw and gast threads

I fell in love with this fabric when I saw Joan use it on one of her finishes ...

I also finished this sweet little reindeer that I stitched way back in 2009. I had forgotten I stitched him! lol ...

Rudolph by The Stitcherhood
so long ago I can't remember
what floss or fabric I used! lol

I had the pleasure of meeting Alison and two of her friends last week. They were visiting the US from Australia. We went to dinner at Bahama Breeze and had a delightful time. I've known Alison online for about 6 years. I first met her on the Shepherd's Bush BB. I'm so glad we had the opportunity to visit in person, she's such a lovely person and very funny too! Here's Alison and me ...
and here's Alison and I and her friends Sharon and Marie ... and yes the dessert was fabulous! Alison and I shared and nope we didn't eat the whole thing! lol

Thanks for all your comments ... I enjoy them!

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

I'm grateful for blood orange martinis ...

Happy Friday ...

2011-02-24T16:41:00.001-08:00

Remember this pile of stitching that needed to be finished but I couldn't show you two of the finishes because they were for exchanges? Well both exchanges arrived at their new homes last week ...
First up is my Seasonal Exchange for Michelle. The design is by Homespun Elegance. I used some ThreadworX variegated thread ... I thought it looked real Springy ...

My Lizzie*Kate exchange was for Kathy. I had so much fun stitching this design ... it was a quick stitch and I loved the colors.

I was in mood for Valentine stitching and Carol of iStitch had just the perfect freebie for my mood ... someday it will be a sweet little pinkeep. I'll back it with the fabric it's laying on ...
and Carol had another Valentine design that I just had to stitch ... not a freebie, but well worth the buying ... I just LOVE it! I'll be finishing this as a pillow using the fabric it's laying on ...
I'm so excited that after my last post I have Spring/Easter exchanges set up with three wonderful stitchers ... Fiona, Beth and Nataly. Thanks ladies!

Love all your comments ... keep them coming :)

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

I'm grateful for cold snowy days ...

Goodies ...

2011-02-11T20:06:00.000-08:00

Faye and I did a personal exchange and both have been received. I stitched for Faye a Blackbird Design that was a teaching piece from the retreat I took last July at the Silver Needle. I finished it into a pincushion.

Here's a side view ... I really had fun stitching and finishing this for Faye ... so glad she likes it :)Faye has a Red basket so I wanted to stitch a little something for her basket ... this little pillow is over one and it is tiny ...
I think it turned out really sweet ...

Faye stitched this sweet bird for me. The design is a freebie from Gazette 94. I'm going to start my own Red basket ... this will be my first piece ... I just love him.

Christina was my partner for the Seasonal Exchange. She stitched for me Holly House by Elizabeth's Designs taken from the 2008 JCS Christmas Ornament issue. I just love this ornament ... stitched and finished so nice. Can't wait to have this hanging on my tree ...

I love the backing fabric she used ...

I just love exchanges! I think it's time to put together a couple of personal Spring exchanges. Would you like to exchange with me? Leave me a comment and if you would be interested in a Spring exchange or even Summer or Fall.

I've been stitching a bit of Valentine's Day. I can't remember where I found this freebie heart, but when I found it I knew I had to stitch it and love how it turned out. Don't know if I'll frame it or finish it into a pillow ...

Letter Heart

stitched on pink molted 32 ct fabric

using Belle Soie's Fresh Raspberries

I started this design early last week. The design is by iStitch ... called Sew Be My Valentine. It's stitch up really fast and I have the perfect black and red heart fabric for it.

It's a very blustery day here in Seattle. Dinner's in the crock pot and my chores are done for the day. I think it's time for some stitching and watching the first Nascar race of the season. Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend!

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

I'm grateful for Valentine's Day stitching ...

Spring has arrived ...

2011-02-06T13:35:00.000-08:00

I received this sweet pillow from Bonnie. She was my partner Round A on the Lizzie*Kate Exchange Blog. Hello Spring is a L*K freebie. I just love this little pillow ... hope it makes Spring hurry up!

There's rick rack all around the pillow with little beads ... I'll have to try that finish sometime, I love the look ... Thanks Bonnie, I just love the pillow!

Another pretty arrived in my mailbox last week ... a PIF from Sonda. She stitch this lovely Joy tree for me. It's so pretty and over one too ... I love how it looks :) She also made me a red Joy scissor fob which will soon adorn one of my red scissors. Thanks Sonda, I love everything!

Friday was Monica's birthday. We took her to Susumu Japanese Steakhouse. It's one of our favorite local restaurants. Smiley group ...
Here's Rudy ... he cooked a wonderful meal for us ... and was pretty funny too! I love watching them cook ...

Everything looks sooo good ... and it was!

After dinner we came back to our house to play some games ... We ended up playing Monopoly Here and Now, it's the one with no money, but as had an electronic calculator thingy that keeps track for your money using a credit card ... it was so much fun! We played until 2am! lol .. but we really finished the game. It was down to Chris and I ... but I was victorious!

the game counts in thousands and millions ... sure wish it was real money!

Well time for the Super Bowl ... we'll be rooting for Green Bay ... don't like either team, but we like GB more than those other guys! lol

Thanks for all your lovely comments ... I really enjoy reading them all!

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

I'm grateful for my kids ...

A finishing weekend ...

2011-01-31T17:21:00.000-08:00

I had 3 exchanges all due tomorrow so I spent my weekend doing laundry and finishing.

There what I started with ...
and here's what I ended up with ... I can't show you the front of two of the pinkeeps since they are for two of the exchanges, but here are the backs, plus one Christmas ornament for me . I was really please how everything came out. Oh and my other exchange I can't show you a picture of because the finishing would give it away. Be sure I'll be back to show you all the pieces when they arrive at their new homes.

I'm going to try and stitch at least one ornament a month this year. Here's my January ornament ... I had so much fun finishing this one!

I've been reading Staci's blog and she's stitching an ornament a month too, but she's also finishing an older ornament from her finish stitching pile ... I loved this idea so here's my 2nd ornament finished ... this was so much fun to finish. I had this great reindeer ribbon and I just love how it turned out ... I received these two stitched squares from Leena in a Fair and Square exchange ... here's the front ...

and here's the back ... fun fun fun

and here's an ornament I finished in December but forgot to show you pictures of this cute little guy ...

Heart in Hand - Monthly Markings December

stitched on an unknown piece of fabric

with the recommended floss

Sure hope my February ornament finishing goes as well as January did!

The last things I have to share with you are gifts I received last week. First is from Lynn (no blog) ... she made me a travelling ort collector/pin cushion. Last October at PALS Fall Fling in Myrtle Beach Lynn and her two buddies had these adorable ort collectors and I fell in love with them, the girls and the ort collectors! lol ... Lynn made a bunch for Christmas and remembered how much I loved them, so she made me one! I just love it and can't wait to use it at my next retreat :) She also sent along these really cute little scissors too. Thanks bunches Lynn!

Carolyn was having a birthday giveaway and I was the lucky winner! Look what arrived on Saturday ... two charts and a lovely pair of Gingher scissors ... they are the new Sonia scissors ... RED and I love them! Thanks so much Carolyn for the giveaway!

I had a great stitching January hope you did to! I'm really excited to see what February brings. I have a few wips that I would like to get done and of course there's lots of new stuff I want to start ... decisions decisions decisions.

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

I'm grateful for my kids ...

First Finish of 2011

2011-01-16T16:40:00.000-08:00

There sure is a lot of stitching going on out there in blog land. I've had fun watching all the new projects being started and seeing some lovely old WIPS being pulled out brought back to life. I can't wait to see all the finishes over the next year.

I've been doing some stitching too ... between working on a few exchanges due in a couple of weeks, I finished Winter Row. I started this design on New Year's Day. I was a very quick stitch and I loved the fabric ... thanks to Mary Kathryn who changed the fabric and threads when she was stitching it ... love the changes!

Winter Row by Bent Creek

finished January 2011

Stitched on Blue Dynasty Cashel

Stitched with CC threads ... Bean Sprout, Caterpillar,

Cocoa Bean, Roasted Chestnut and Snowball

I've been looking at the cup cozies that Staci has been knitting and selling on her blog. I ordered some that I'll be using in our Easter baskets this year ... I just love how colorful they are and how functional ... of course I had to order myself a red one :) see the "m' tag on it? sooo cute!

Last week I celebrated my 57th birthday at the Outback with my family ... we all ate too much but had a great time. Terry and my son Robert gave me this awesome RED mug ...

I fell in love with it immediately ... and there was a Starbucks gift card inside it ... they do know me well! lol

Chris and Monica gave me a couple of Zac Brown Band CD's and these two Wizard of Oz books. I can't wait to start reading them. As much as I love The Wizard of Oz, I've never read any of the books ... well other than Wicked. Has anyone read these books?? I'd love to hear your thoughts if you have read them.

As you all know by now we love our Seattle Seahawks ... we went to my Dad's this morning for breakfast and watched the game against the Chicago Bears ... it was a tough game to watch. They really didn't have a great season we were all surprised when they made it to the playoffs ... well it was a fun ride while it lasted ... now on to next season!

off to work on my exchanges ... February 1st will be here before we know it ... I hope you find your Joy in your stitches ...

I'm grateful for time with my first finish of the year ...

Sweet Friends ...

2011-01-05T21:14:00.001-08:00

Happy Friday! Was this your first week back to work after the holiday? It was for me ... and it was a long one after being off work for 17 days, such did spoil me! This week I received two lovely surprises from a couple of online friends. First package is was from Jennifer. She stitched this lovely stocking for me. The design is from Blackbird Designs stockings, quaker fragments from the March leaflet. I just love it! She also included some pretty floss and a little memo pad for my purse with my initial on it. Thanks Jenn. Every year I hang it on my tree I'll think of you *smile*
The 2nd package that arrived a RAK was from Faye. She stitched for me a cute coffee cup design that is hanging in my kitchen. She also included some coffee ... can't wait to try it!
Oh and look at the back ... I love how she personalized it for me ... cute cute cute! Thanks Faye for the darling RAK!
I was remiss in posting about another Christmas present I received from Natasha. Back in October Tasha offer to let me borrow a PS leaflet (which I still need to stitch from and return!). Well she didn't just send me the leaflet, she also sent me a box full of Christmas goodies. I thought I had taken pictures of everything she sent, but unfortunately I forgot :( But I did take pictures of the very special Christmas ornament she sent ... she said when she saw the egg at a craft fair she immediately thought of me *smile* ... take a look at this egg ... the picture doesn't do it justice ... it's incredible!
and here's the other side of the egg ... sooo special! Tasha, having this hang on my tree this year made me smile every time I looked at it ... thanks so much!
Thanks for all your lovely comments about my Christmas and New Year ... yep, we do have fun!

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

I'm grateful for time with my family ...

Welcome 2011

2011-01-01T13:25:00.001-08:00

We had the best time bring in the new year. I hope you and your families had a great time to. Today is a slow day for me and Terry ... yes we were up late this morning playing Xbox Kinect with Robert and his friends, hot tubbing (it was like 20 degrees outside, but a toasty 103 in the water) and playing Star Trek Scene It ... we all sucked, but it was fun! Here's a few pictures of our craziness ...

What's a party with desserts ... yummy chocolate cups, 2 filled with mocha mousse and two filled with chocolate mousse ... I loved how they were decorated!
Trying to take pictures of these 3 was certainly a challenge! They are worse than kids! lolFinally got one good one!

Getting ready for midnight ... have to have your hats and noise makers!

yep it was cold outside at midnight!

First pictures of 2011 ... love ya Lisa :)

Here's to a wonderful 2011!!!!

Well I'm off to do some stitching ... the Christmas decorations can wait until later to be put away. I'm going to start a new design today ... Bent Creek's Winter Row. Last year Mary Kathryn was stitching Winter Row and I loved her changes ... the fabric was lovely! So of course I ordered it all kitted up, but never started it ... so off to stitch a bit of winter.

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

I'm grateful for time with my family ...

Last Post of 2010 ...

2010-12-31T16:33:00.000-08:00

All ready for a quiet but festive New Years Eve. Ken and Lisa are coming over for games, hot tubbing, steak and lobster and a few margaritas *smile*

This pillow has been my last stitch since 2007 ...

My exchange to Joan arrived while she was away having Christmas with her family. I had such fun spoiling Joan through the year ... Here's what I sent her for our Winter round ...

Here's the pillow that I stitched and finished ... It's by Blackbird Design. I need to stitch this again for myself ... love the design!

I stitched and finished this pillow for KarenAZ ... the design is the same one KarenSC stitched for me! I'm so glad caused I love love love this design *smile*

I have had a wonderful 2010. My family is doing well ... I stitched more than I thought I would/could this year. I had so much fun in the exchanges I participated in and look forward to great exchanges in 2011. I have really enjoyed blogging this year and have met many wonderful bloggers/stitchers, both online and in person. Hope to meet more of you next year. I don't like setting New Year's resolutions, mainly because I can never keep them ! lol ... I do hope to stitch more this coming year, as well as take a better care of my health ... but isn't that what we all hope for each year?! lol ... I do hope you and your family have a wonderful 2011.

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

I'm grateful for time with my family ...

Christmas 2010

2010-12-30T17:08:00.000-08:00

I hope you and your families all had a wonderful Christmas. Mine was really great. On the 23rd we had Christmas with Chris and Monica. This was their year to spend Christmas with Monica's family, east of the mountains, so we got together a few days early. We invited my Dad, had a yummy enchilada dinner and then it was time for presents ...

Robert's thrilled with is huge bag of gummy bears found in his stocking ...

and Monica seems to really like the headlamp my dad gave her ...

hmmm, what's in the package???
here's the grandkids with grandpa ...

Christmas Eve was spent with my brother and his family ... quite a good looking group even if I do say so myself *smile* We had a yummy dinner of honey ham, oyster stew, mac and cheese and lots of other foods ... then it was present time again ... we were all nicely spoiled ...

I received a lovely Fossil watch from my Dad, a gift certificates for framing from my brother and sil, a new Samsung point and shoot from Chris and Monica and a crockpot from all three kids. I haven't had a crockpot in over 20 years ... can't wait to try it out!

I want to show off a couple more vinyl projects that Chris did ... the first was a Christmas present for me ... the Seattle skyline for my laptop ... pretty isn't it ...

Lisa and I found these trays at a craft store back in October. Monica found the graphic and Chris made up the vinyl for us. We were sooooo happy with how they turned out ...

Lisa and I wanted to do a little different one for a friend of ours, Yvonne. We really loved how this one turned out ... we gave her some mojito 2 martini glasses and 2 mojito glasses to go with the tray ... now I want one too!

I think I'll wait til tomorrow to post stitching pictures. It sure has been cold here ... hope you are all staying safe and warm!

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

I'm grateful for time with my family ...

Goodies from Friends ...

2010-12-26T11:37:00.000-08:00

Before Christmas I received some wonderful exchanges and Christmas presents from stitching friends ... grab a cup of coffee, tea or your favoriate Christmasy drink and enjoy the pictures ...

Lenna and I were partners in the Fair and Square Christmas round. Lenna stitched T

he Huddle by Ink Circles for me. She also included a great pillow, with reindeer all over it :) Can't wait to finish this one and hang it on my tree next year ...

Amy of Cross Stitch Pals hosted a Secret Santa exchange. Ellen (no blog) had my name. She spoiled me with all kinds of goodies ... like a yummy smelling candle, reindeer pez and reindeer lollipop, a memo pad and older design by Waxing Moon Designs that I have wanted forever. She included some lovely 35 ct Aztec Red fabric and a skein of WDW's Whitewash. The design is going into my pile of 2011 stitching. Thanks Ellen for a fun secret santa exchange :)
I received a fun box of goodies from Diane ... I got some socks and some Christmas earrings/necklace, cute Christmas fabric, a Just Nan needle holder, some yummy lotion, some Christmas buttons and a very cute Christmas ornament.
Here's a closed up of the ornament ... how adorable is that tree :) Thanks Santa Juan *smile*

Staci was sweet and sent me one of her felted hearts, along with some yummy tea and Christmas candies. Thank you Staci for thinking of me this Christmas season ... I think this heart will hang in my stitching room all year long ...

Christmas Eve day brought a box from Karen. Karen has been stitching for me all year long through Friends Stitching Through the Seasons blog. I always look forward to seeing what she's stitched ...

inside all that white tissue paper ... a very fun M that Karen decorated with scrapbooking paper, ribbons, buttons and a flower. Love the red and brown combination! Also included was this adorable pillow. The design she stitched is called Merry Christmas by Carriage House Sampling. I just love love love it!

Here's a close up of the M ... this will look cute in my stitching room ...

and a close up of the pillow ... cute isn't it *smile*

Karen also included one of her homemade cards asking the question Naughty or Nice? Well she decided I'd been Nice this year and gifted me with a gift certificate to Down Sunshine Lane. How cool is that! This was the last exchange for the year. I was very lucky to have Karen as my exchange partner and I hope she and I can exchange again in 2011.

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas! We did and I'll share some family pictures later in the week. I also have stitching to share with you that were gifts, but I was so excited to get my exchanges/presents in the mail before Christmas that I forgot to take pictures! So I have to wait until the recipients take some pictures for me.

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

I'm grateful for time with my family ...

3 Days and Counting ...

2010-12-22T00:11:00.000-08:00

Can't believe it's almost Christmas! Are you ready?? I think I am ... but this has been helping me a lot! lol
A couple of weeks ago Lisa and worked on some Christmas crafts for friends and family. My son Chris has a vinyl business and helped with our craft this year. We found some designs online and had Chris make them out of vinyl. We found boards at Joanne's, stained them and he added the vinyl for us ... I love how this one turned out!
I decided to keep this one for myself :) I think it looks adorable on my kitchen table. You can see a small board with a vinyl graphic on the small red board. We painted some with red and some with green ... I think the gold graphic looks great on it.
I participated in an ornament exchange in a Yahoo group I belong to ... Carmen (no blog yet) was my exchange partner. She lives about 30 minutes from me, so we decided to meet in person for our exchange. It was so much fun to meet a fellow stitcher in person, especially one that lives so close! We're even planning to get together after the first of the year :) Carmen stitched for me Star (over one!!) from this year's JSC ornament magazine. She also included a little bear in a show, both made by her! And how cute is it that the bear is holding the ornament!
Here's the ornament I made for Carmen ... it's a freebie design from The Stitcherhood. The fabric it's laying on is the backing fabric ... it was a really fun stitch.
All leave you with a picture of one of my favorite reindeer ... all decked out and ready for Santa. I've had this reindeer for a few years ... found him at Pier One but he was too expensive ... but a couple of weeks after Christmas he was sitting all by himself on a shelf way up high ... and dirt cheap by then ... so of course I had to bring him home ... sure glad I did!

I've received some wonderful Christmas presents in the last few days ... I'll post pictures of them soon.

Than you all for your comments ... I love reading each one of them!

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

I'm grateful for time with my stitching girlfriends ...

Happy December

2010-12-05T14:21:00.000-08:00

Hope your December is going well. We're all decorated in the house, except for the tree and Terry is almost done with the lights outside. It's starting to look a lot like Christmas everywhere. Terry's birthday was on Friday. The kids came over on Saturday to celebrate. We went to see Santa and then to mexican dinner and games back at the house. We played some Xbox Kinect and had a blast. I think Terry had a good birthday ... I'm sure his 4 margaritas helped! lol

A little story about the Santa hats ... last year I was talking about how fun it would be if we all wore a red Santa hat for our annual Santa picture ... no one was really wanted to but over the year they all kept coming up with other kinds of Santa hats they could wear ... Like Rob wearing his Seahawk Santa hat ... so we decided everyone could pick any kind of Santa hat to wear. I wanted to wear a regular red one but was veto'd ... so I added a trim of reindeers to mine :) Monica made one for Chris because he wanted a Subaru one, it turned out great! So we have Terry in a Tony Steward #14 hat, Chris in a Subaru hat, Rob in a Seahawk hat, me in my reindeer trimmed hat and Monica in her WSU (Washington State University) hat. I think we look marvelous!

I've been stitching a lot but have nothing I can show you ... yet. Seahawks game is sucky so I'm off to my craft room for a little finishing.

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

I'm grateful for time with my stitching girlfriends ...

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T09:04:00.001-08:00

I have so much to be thankful for ... great family and friends. I hope you all have a wonderful turkey day!

and we have a winner of my 4th Blogiversary ... Congratulations Sharon (itsdaffycat). I'll be emailing you this weekend. Thanks everyone for all the lovely comments you left ... warms my heart *smile*

Hugs, Michele

Sunday Night ...

2010-11-21T21:28:00.001-08:00

Hope everyone had a great weekend ... are you all ready for Thanksgiving? I can't believe it's only a few days away. I love Thanksgiving ... family, football and good food ... what's not to love! lol Last week Monica (my daughter-in-law) came over for a visit and brought me the cutest fabric pumpkins for Thanksgiving ... if you remember I shared some pictures of pumpkins she made for Halloween ... she's getting really good at making them ... they look so cute on my kitchen table.
Last week I finished BBD's Waiting For The Harvest ... I liked stitching this design until I got the my initials. My initials were too wide for the original design, so I stitched to keep the design square ... I really wish I'd left the initials off, for found a small alphabet ... funny how you can be in love with a design when you start on it, but my the end of it you are just kinda ho hum about it ...

Blackbird Design's Waiting For the Harvest

fabric - misc piece of linen

floss - GAST Dark Chocolate

I finished this cute design by Ladybug Lane Design ... it was in the 2010 JCS Ornament issue ... it was a really fun stitch ...

Joy ornament by Ladybug Designs

fabric - misc fabric

floss - Victorian Motto - Burgandy

I started this sweet design Friday and finished it on Saturday ... I just LOVE it! It's a freebie from Tanya, The Sampler Girl ... I can't wait to finish it and enjoy it for Christmas this year ... thanks Tanya for the freebie!

Christmas Eve freebie by The Sampler Girl

fabric - hand dyed by Staci

floss - dmc

Don't forget my 4th Blogiversary giveaway ... drawing is on the 24th ... just leave a comment on my blogiversary post ... Good Luck!

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

I'm grateful for time with my stitching girlfriends ...

Guess Who's 4 Today??

2010-11-15T15:12:00.000-08:00

That would be my blog is 4 years old today! And what a fun 4 years this has been. I have really really enjoyed blogging, even when I don't feel like I have very much to say. The stitching/blogging community is such a wonderful group of women. I've made some wonderful friends and I've been lucky enough to meet a lot of you in person ... it's been a great 4 years! And in honor of my blogiversary I'd like to do a little giveaway. This is my favorite time of year so I'm thinking my giveaway will have all kinds of fun Christmasy things in it ... I have the perfect Christmas basket picked out and I'll be stuffing it with all kinds of fun stuff ... maybe even some chocolate :) So all you have to do is leave a comment on this post, make sure your email address is available so I can let you know if you win. Thanks for making my first 4 years wonderful!

Edited 11/18 to add ... I forgot to put a date that I will be drawing the winner's name lol ... I'll do the drawing on the 24th ... leave a comment on this post if you want to be entered in the drawing.

Now a few Myrtle Beach pictures ... just to show you that we really do stitch at stitching retreats ... here's a couple of pictures of starts and finishes ... KarenAZ started and finished this cute Halloween design by Cherry Wood Design Studio. It's called Halloween Ribbon and is just adorable!

Diane started and finished Turkey Time by Lizzie*Kate and she's sooo excited to be done with it!

I started this design ... It's Blackbird Designs Waiting for the Harvest. I'm using GAST Dark Chocolate on a very yummy piece of linen ...

look at this messy messy work area!

and how can I leave out these great pictures of my stitching friends ... here's ChrisNC, Myra and Toni

I love this picture! Some of my oldest dearest stitching friends ... Laurie, me, Char, Theresa, Beth, Patti and Karen ... love you ladies!

more smiling faces ...

and some gifts from my dear friends ... Karen gave me this lovely chart of Christmas ornaments, complete with the board, floss and felt, some beads (red of course! lol) and a stitch charm that is hanging on my keyring ...

Chris gave both Karen and I this fun witch chart ... we drooled over it back in July when we all went to the stitching retreat in Tulsa ... and she remembered how much we loved it!
and from Sharon I got this hysterical bag! I will always remember who I got this from! Love ya Sharon *smile*

Thanks for letting me share with you my friends and our stitching retreat ... now I can't wait til next year!

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

I'm grateful for time with my stitching girlfriends ...

I'm so spoiled ...

2010-11-04T18:43:00.000-07:00

and so overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness of stitchers and bloggers ... my mailbox was full these last couple of days ... look what arrived ...

This lovely arrived from Lisa. She had my name for Round 6 on the Lizzie Kate Exchange blog. She stitched part of Lizzie*Kate's Thankful Sampler and finished it into this adorable pinkeep. Don't you just love the ribbon! I need to find some of that :) It now sits on my kitchen window ledge for all to see ...

Shelleen had messaged me the other day saying that a little gift was on it's way to me ... today arrived this wonderful coffee calendar! Yep Shelleen knows me all too well *smile* Here's the back of it so you can see all the different coffee and tea cups ... I just love it! and can't wait for 2011 to get here so I can use it ... I think it might go to work with me ...

This package really surprised me ... it's from Faye and Karen who I got to meet last month in Myrtle Beach ... we've been blogging and exchanging this last year and it was just a joy to meet them in person. The little card said this was a thank you from both of them for the little gifts KarenAZ and I brought to Myrtle Beach with us ... here's a picture of the wonderful fabric they sent ... I can't wait to stitch some Christmas designs to go with them, they are lovely!!

and here's a picture of the gifts we took to MB with us ... Karen made the pin cushions and pins for them, I made the scissor fobs ...

Jan had my name for the Seasonal Exchange blog Autumn Round. The design is from The Prairie Schooler "October" leaflet ... it's stitched so nice and finished beautifully into a tin scissor/needle holder ... I was so excited to see it because I don't have a tin like this ... how cute is this!

Thank you everyone for your wonderful gifts and exchanges ... you guys are the greatest!

Hope everyone has a great weekend! I'll be back with the last of my pictures from Myrtle Beach soon :)

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

I'm grateful for time with my stitching girlfriends ...

Happy Halloween ...

2010-10-31T16:57:00.001-07:00

We are so excited! Our Seattle Sounders are in the MLS playoffs! Tonight is the first game, and we are hoping it's not the last one! GO SOUNDERS!!!

Hope your weekend has been a good one. It's been a nice Fall weekend here ... rain, sunshine, wind, leaves blowing all around and just a tad cold in the morning ... love it!

Before I left for Myrtle Beach, Monica came over to give me three pumpkins that she had made for me ... aren't they adorable! She's making some with Fall/Thanksgiving fabric. I can't wait to see them.

This afternoon I finished stitching this scissor fob and then finished it using the finishing kit I had purchased. I really like how it turned out. The ribbon was fun to do ... it's attached with beads and straight pins.

Lizzie Kate Autumn Scissor Fob

stitched on fabric that came with the kit

stitched with suggested GAST and WDW threads

Earlier this month I started on this sweet Halloween design by The Trilogy, it's called Sneak Peak Halloween ... can't wait to get it finished and framed for next Halloween.

of course now I really want this one ... lol

Looks like this will be my last Halloween finish for 2010. I gave it to Karen to finish it for me ...

Lizzie*Kate's Boo, from Eek, Boo, Hiss leaflet

Stitched on 32ct Tabacco linen with suggested GAST/WDS threads

I'll be back in a couple of days to finish up my pictures from Myrtle Beach.

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

I'm grateful for time with my stitching girlfriends ...

Pals Fall Fling 2010 - Part Two

2010-10-28T17:35:00.000-07:00

There's nothing better than spending 4 days with your stitching friends ... well there is something better, exchanging with your stitching friends ... and we had 3 wonderful exchanges this year and I must say everyone did a terrific job of stitching and finishing their exchanges ... it was so fun to see all the ornaments on display and I'd love to share some pictures of them with you ... first is the Halloween/Fall exchange. In this exchange and the Christmas ornament exchange, if you stitch one ornament you get one, stitch two, you get two, etc ... the two ornaments on the right are the ones I stitched/finished ...

and of course what's a Halloween/Fall exchange without a witch in attendance! Isn't she great!! Check out the nails *smile*

Here are the two Halloween ornaments I picked ... they are in my basket on the mantel now ...

Next up are the Christmas ornaments ... just lovely aren't they!

Here are the three Christmas ornaments I stitched/finished ... they are all from Lizzie Kate's Three Blox kit ... they were really fun to stitch. The fabric they are laying on is the backing fabric for Noel and Joy ...

and here are the three Christmas ornaments that I picked ... can't wait to have them hanging on my red tree this year ...

The third exchange was a stitched design finished ... you stitched one and received one ... mine was stitched/finished by Nicole. With this exchange you can trade when it's all over if you want to. I had this, but it was stolen from me ... after the exchange, Beth agreed to trade with me ... we both got pieces that were perfect for us ... I love this!

Here's the pin pillow that I stitched/finished for the exchange. This was the first time I've ever added beads and it was sooo hard to give it away, it really turned out cute *smile* The back says Pals Fall Fling 2010. My new best buddy Diane (aka Juan) traded with Nicole for this one. She had a Fall piece stitched by Karen and wanted one stitched by me ... silly girl ... but it was sweet of her ...

last but not least was our Fall Fling welcome packet ... and Amy put together a wonderful packet for us. Including a design she did for the Fall Fling. The theme was Stitching at the Beach ... I'll be finishing it as a pin pillow ...

Thanks for letting me share this wonderful Fall Fling with you ... I'll finish up with the last of my pictures in a couple of days. I hope the last week of October has been good to you.

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

I'm grateful for time with my stitching girlfriends ...

Pals Fall Fling 2010

2010-10-25T11:00:00.000-07:00

I just spent a lovely week in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina at the Pals Fall Fling. I roomed with Karen once again. We've gotten to be really great roommates and she doesn't snore! lol Chris was in an adjoining room with Michelle ... the 4 of us really enjoyed staying together. Here's Chris and Karen in our room ...

and here's Michelle, Chris' roommate ... what a sweet funny woman ...

Here's the view from our room ... can you think of a better reason to visit Myrtle Beach??

Here's another reason I love my time in Myrtle Beach ... hanging with my dear friends ... Karen, Sharon and Chris ...

but here's the big reason I love attending the Pals Fall Fling ... stitchers! Lots and lots of stitchers!! Catching up with old friends and meeting new ones ... and we had a view of the ocean from the convention room that was open from 8am to midnight ... it was a perfect for stitching (lots of light) and visiting ...

stitchers everywhere ...

aren't they cute! Diane, Sharon and Karen smiling and stitching. This was Diane's first Fall Fling, but I don't think it will be her last ... she fit in a might too good too fast! lol

We got to meet Faye!

More stitchers ... that's KarenSC in the pink shirt. It was great meeting Karen, she's my exchange partner on the Friends Stitching exchange blog ... it sure is fun to finally meeting blogging friends ...

I can't tell you how much fun it is to spend 4 days with fellow stitchers ... we laughed and stitched and laughed and ate and giggled and stitched and walked on the beach and stitched and sat enjoying the view and laughed until we pee'd lol

After spending a week on the beach in 80 degree weather ... this is what I returned home too ... FALL! We had a wonderful wind storm all day today ...

I'll be back with more Fall Fling pictures tomorrow.

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

I'm grateful for time with my stitching girlfriends ...