Spring has arrived ...

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 ...

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

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 ...

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

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 ...

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

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 ...