Family and Finishes

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 ...

Goodies ...

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 ...

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 ...

Another reason we go to retreats ...

On Friday The Silver Needle offered two finishing classes taught by finishing extraordinaire Mona. We only took one of the classes, the other one was ornament finishing but we were at the airport picking up Chris during that time. The finishing class we took learning to finish a box ... This will fix Lizzie*Kate's Naughty or Nice pattern from last year. I know I'll be making more of these ... as long as Terry helps cut the mat board lol

Saturday was the 2nd day of our BBD class ... here's a picture of the class piece. It's two projects, one a pin cushion and the other is a needlebook. I finished the stitching for the pin cushion on Sunday, but haven't started the needlebook stitching yet. Speedy stitcher Joan has finished it and it's lovely ... check out her blog. One of the techniques we learned was how to finish a paper mache' box to look like it is worn leather. It was sooo easy and I can't wait to make more.

Alma and Barb brought a lot of their samplers and other projects to us to drool over ... Cathy has some great pictures of the samplers on her blog. I do love how they display their stitching ...

I am really glad I had the opportunity to meet and take classes from Alma, Barb and Mona. I can't wait to try the new things I learned.

One last picture to this post ... the Vera Bradley corner ... heaven in color!

Thanks everyone for your comments ... I've enjoyed reading them and I've met a couple of new bloggers ... what fun! Yes I do have one more post to do about the retreat ... my purchases lol

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

I'm grateful for new finishing techniques ...

Old and New Friends ...

On Friday all the ladies started arriving for the retreat. One of my favorite things about going to stitching retreats is spending time with woman share my passion for cross stitch ... My dear friend Karen lives in Arizona and luckily we've been able to see each other at least once a year. Here we are at The Silver Needle ...

A week or so before the retreat I found out that Joan was coming to the retreat too. I've been reading Joan's blog for a while now and she and I belong to a small exchange group ... in fact she's my exchange partner ... I was soooooo excited that we were going to get to meet in person! Joan such a nice person, funny and omgosh she's a quick stitcher!

I got to meet another blogger that came along with Joan ... Cathy, who's blog I've been reading for a long time now but didn't put two and two together ... I wanted to put them both in my purse and bring them home with me *smile* Ladies, It'm so glad I got meet both of you ...

Another dear friend of mine also attended the retreat. I've known Chris for quite a while now and always enjoy when we get to meet up ... Chris stayed with Karen and I ... and yes we do stitch, I have the proof! lol

and they like Starbucks too *smile*

Friday was spent visiting and shopping during the day but there was also a place for us all to stitch and stitch and wait for Barb and Alma to arrive ... and dinner too ...

Barb and Alma Arrive! Here's a picture of our hostess Lindy, Barb and Alma ...

After dinner we received our first class project ... what a wonderful presentation of the little kits ...

Inside was fabric, floss, buttons, rickrack and an alphabet chart. Everything we needed to make a pin pillow. Some ladies finished there's Friday night, stitching and listening to Alma and Barb sharing their stories. I didn't finish mine until Saturday ... it was such a fun little stitch ...

On Saturday they took a group picture of all the "babies" that were in all stages of finish ... aren't they cute! and all so different ...

Well if you are still reading this long long post, like me you probably have to go potty! lol ... I still have more to share another day.

Special shout outs to Karen and Yvonne for sharing your pictures with me. And also to Mary, who was the photographer for SN.

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

I'm grateful for old and new friends ...