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 ...

Happy 4th of July

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 ...

Sunday Night ...

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 ...

Snow Day ...

Looks like there won't be much snow around here this year ... I'll just have to enjoy the snow on my mantel. Most of the Christmas decorations are still up but I wanted to change up my mantel for winter fun. Yesterday I stitched and finished this sweet design by Tanya, The Sampler Girl. I was gifted the pattern Gone Sledding by Karen and Snow Day was an extra goodie. This was a fun stitch and I love how it finished up ...

Here's a look at my winter mantel ... The pictures in the center are of my mom and dad back in the mid-60's ... they are posing with a snowman that my dad had just finished making. This snowman was a labor of love and we all enjoyed him in the front yard.

I received my Christmas Fair and Square squares from Jill ... I love this reindeer, love love love him and I'd been meaning to stitch him all month ... now I don't have too! *smile*

Karen finished a couple to things for me just before Christmas ... Here's my Lizzie*Kate Jolly Holiday. The colors were very different so I told Karen to pick out some funky colorful fabric to finish this into a cube. I love how it turned out. The bow inside the red bow on top is a sparkling lime colored ribbon ...

She also finished Sew Noel for me ... pattern design by Carol of iStitch. I love how it turned out, even with my floss bleeding issues and a couple of mistakes ... I gave this to my friend Lisa for Christmas ... she was really please with it.

Well I'm off enjoy a lemon poppy seed muffin with my coffee and then I'm going to start Gone Sledding.

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

I'm grateful for memories of my childhood ...