I'm so spoiled ...

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 ...

Exchanges arrived ...

I had a few exchanges arrive at their new homes last week and I'd like to share them with you.

First is my year long exchange with Joan through the Friends Stitching Through the Seasons blog. For the Autumn exchange I stitched her a Blackbird Designs stocking. I love how it turned out. Karen finished it for me ... love the bat trim ... pictures stolen by me from Joan's blog ... I forgot to take pictures before I mailed everything ...

Blackbird Design stocking from

Tis Hallowe'en design called Deadly Nightshade

stitched with WDW Pumpkin and CC Blackbird

Here's a picture of other goodies that I sent ... I really had fun putting this together for Joan.

The next exchange was for Kathryn through the Fair and Square Exchange Blog. This was a fun stitch ...

Bent Creek Snapper - Happy Halloween

stitched with suggested WDW and GAST threads

on misc 32 count fabric

I stitched and finished this pillow for Lisa through the Season Exchange Blog. I just love how this pillow turned out ... I usually have a tough time finding fabric that goes well with the piece I stitched ... I really lucked out this time ...

Lizzie*Kate Autumn Greetings

stitched with suggested GAST thread

on a misc. piece of fabric

Have you seen this wonderful collection of pinkeeps? The purchase of Pinkeep Story benefits Unicef. I purchased it a couple of weeks ago. It's a wonderful collection of pinkeeps. For approximately $22 you can get either a hardcopy of the charts of a PDF version.

Hope you all had a great weekend ... mine went way too quick, as they all seem to do. I'm busy getting ready for my trip to Myrtle Beach, SC ... stitching stitching stitching and some finishing too ... I love participating in all the exchanges that happen at the PALS Fall Fling.

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

I'm grateful for sleep ...

Spring and Exchanges ...

Happy May to you all! Did anyone get flowers on their doorsteps on May Day? I remember making paper cones our of colored paper, picking flowers out of the back yard, putting them in the paper cones and hanging them on the door knobs of some of my favorite neighbors ... sometimes they were filled with grass and dandelions lol .. what fond memories I have of the 1st of May :)

Last week I didn't stitch on my rotation pieces ... instead I finished up an exchange and then stitched a couple of fun quick spring stitches ... now to get them finish finished! First one is Fresh Spring by Homespun Samplar. The bunny is stitched with GAST Maple Sugar and the rest of it is stitched with an unknown GAST color. Quite a while ago I bought some of GAST's special edition sets. Unfortunately I didn't know that the floss tags for each color, didn't have the color name on them, and I threw out the list before realizing it ... owell, they are still pretty colors and nice to stitch with ...

Next up is a freebie by The Stitcherhood ... the fabric looks purple'y in this picture, but it's just a nice neutral ... I do love the DMC purple and green for this one ...


I have two exchanges to show off to you too ... I received this lovely floss tag from KarenSC for the Lizzie Kate exchange I'm in ... I love this spring design! Sooo colorful and Karen did a great job on the floss tag ... this was her first one! I hope it isn't her last :)

here's the back fabric on the tag ...

and over on the Pals message board I participated on a Spring Stash Exchange ... here's what I received from Meg (I don't think she has a blog) ... didn't she send some great things! It was really fun to do an exchange that wasn't about stitching something, but about ending along new stash ... I hope we do another one like this soon ...

Friday afternoon I took off to the ocean for the weekend with my dear friends Yvonne and Lisa ... this was our 3rd annual trip and we had a blast as always ... walks on the beach, yummy hors d'oeuvres, pomegranate margaritas, lots of laughs, hot tubbing, an evening at the casino (we were all winners thanks to Yvonne ... she won big on the penny slots!) and of course great shopping ... good times with good friends ...

Here's the 3 of us in front of a sign of one the shops we visited ... had to get a picture! Yvonne is the one on the left, Lisa is the one on the right ... little old me in the middle ... definitely 3 wacky women! lol

I'm back to my stitching rotation this week ... Peppermint Twist is up for this evening ... can't wait!

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

I'm grateful for the ocean and good friends ...

Fun Mail Week ...

Yep sometimes mail can be fun! Doesn't happen very often around here ... it's usually bills in the mail, but this week there was more fun than bills. The thank you emails have been sent so now I can show off what I received. The first to arrive a package from Donna. I won a drawing on her blog a couple of weeks ago. Don't you just love this paper!

everything was so nicely tucked away in the box ... I almost didn't want to disturb any of it ... but of course I HAD to see everything ...

Donna was so generous with her giveaway. There's ribbon and fabric and a cute Halloween pencil, a really cute orange pedicure kit, a Stacy Nash pattern that I can't wait to start, and a really fun looking Halloween kit with felt and fabric applicas ... and tucked at the very bottom is a copy of the new JCS Halloween issue ... Donna, thank you so much for everything :)

Another happy mail day brought a little package from Sharon. She had my name for the Lizzie*Kate Exchange Round 2. Look what Sharon stitched and finished for me ... an adorable Halloween cat ornament ... my camera washed out the fabric, it's really a pretty green. Maybe Sharon got a better picture of it before she mailed it ... I'll have to check out her blog, cause the green fabric really is wonderful. I can't wait to decorate for Halloween, he'll be a great addition. Thanks Sharon, I just love him and your finishing is wonderful!

In between packages I received some needed Belle Soie's Noir so I can finish Kindered Spirits. All in all ... it definately was a great mail week!

Tuesday was SAL day with Natasha ... I got a little more done on the bird, he has a tail now and the starting of an autumn leaf hanging off his tail feathers. I didn't get as much done as I wanted ... hopefully I get more time next Tuesday ...

I'm really glad tomorrow's Friday ... I have a busy weekend but hopefully a productive one too ... those two don't always go together do they!

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

I'm grateful for fun mail days ...

Exchanges ...

Look what came in the mail today ... it's my Lizzie Kate Exchange from Melissa. I just love this pattern! Kinda perfect for me, don't ya think? lol .. she did a lovely job finishing it and it's now sitting happily in my kitchen. Thank you so much Melissa for stitching this for me :)

And my exchange piece arrived at it's new home too .. this was a surprise exchange, we didn't know who was stitching for us. I got Sharon's name and thought this August flip it would be really fun to stitch. Karen finished it for me ... I think it turned out really cute ... I'm glad Sharon likes it :)

Before I get back to stitching and watching Tuesday night tv I wanted to share a picture of one of my wips ... it's called Earth Laughs and is by MDesign. The fabric is a very pretty light blue, the same I stitched Joyful Summer on. Someday I'll get a better photo of the fabric ... this is really a fun design to stitch ... I was only going to stitch one flower a week but looks like I'll be stitching a couple more before I put it away again ...

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

I'm grateful for pretty coffee cups ...