Fair and Square, Wips and general checking in ...

Kim in NY and I were paired up for Round 5 of the Fair and Square exchange. I received the squares a couple of days ago, but the stupid camera battery was dead .. here's a picture of what Kim sent .. she spoiled me! Besides the squares she stitched .. she also sent me a Christmas patter, some needles, a lovely fat quarter of fabric and a magnet from her home state of New York. She also sent me a post card that shows one of her favorite views of New York. Isn't this a nice exchange :)



Here's a picture of the actual squares .. sorry the picture is fuzzy .. didn't realize it until I got it loaded. The design is one of the new Baubles by SamSarah Design. I just love it! The hearts are so fun and she also sent me the buttons that go in the middle of each heart. Kim, your stitching is lovely! The signature square is really unique .. she stitched a heart and then in gold stitched her name and city .. it's really hard to see at first, but when you realize it .. it's just such a cute idea! Thanks again Kim for the lovely exchange.


Since I've been missing in action here on my blog I have gotten some stitching done .. this is Schoolgirl Lesson by Little House Needleworks .. but most of you already know who's it by .. I've seen quite a few bloggers who are working on this piece .. and even a couple that have finished it! It really is a relaxing piece to work on .. I could get really use to monochromatic designs :)


There's a SAL in one of my yahoo groups .. it's a Bent Creek/Heart in Hand/Trilogy group. This SAL was to stitch something BC or Trilogy .. I realized I haven't stitched anything by these two designers in ages so I thought cool, I'll do this SAL. It was really fun looking through my stash and re-discovering what I have *smile* .. I decided on this sweet design .. mostly because it's a kit and I didn't have to work at kitting it up! lol .. sometimes the last thing I want to do in the evening is look for fabric and floss. I'm really enjoying this stitch.


DH and I started the next phase of our remodeling. We're having the kitchen cabinets refaced and the formica and tile replaced. I really like my kitchen cabinet layout and they are still in great shape so we didn't want to do a total replacement. Refacing is cheaper and will still give us what we want .. a kitchen that isn't stuck in 1986 .. lol

Even though I haven't updated my blog in a while .. I have been enjoying reading all our blogs .. everyone is doing such lovely stitching :) And thanks for all your comments .. I enjoy reading them a lot.

I'm grateful for blogging friends ...

I'm back ....

Thank you all for your comments about my great aunt's passing. The trip to California was a tough one but also a good one. It was the first time in I don't know how long that my brother and I spent 4 days together .. just the 2 of us. We laughed, we cried, we dealt the the funeral home and packing up her things at the nursing home together .. supporting each other through some tough things .. but we also go to drive up the coast and spend some time at Morrow Bay and Pismo Beach .. talking about family .. remembering family trips and stories. Thank you Auntie Dee for giving Mike and I time together .. time I won't forget.

When I got home from CA there was a box waiting for me from my friend Karen in Arizona. She sent me the most wonderful belated birthday box of goodies. In the box was a bag of yummy Hershey kisses, a roll of very pretty red ribbon (I know I'll be using this soon!), a very funny birthday card, coffee cup for Arizona, a reindeer pattern that I've never seen before! lol .. a cute note pad with Glinda and and and a stitched piece that she finished into a cube for me! Karen, I just love everything :)

Here's a close up of the stitched cube .. didn't see do a lovely job finishing this! and how perfect is this design for me *smile*

I'm a bit behind, but here's my Lizzie Kate Double Flip its so far .. I'm stitching this on a long piece of banding .. I just love these flip its.

Before I left for CA I had ordered a thread holder from Monique .. I just love it! I also ordered one of her zipper pulls, in red of course, I love it too .. forgot to take a picture of it :( I think I'll be ordering more of these .. great little gifts.

We are all excited about the race tomorrow .. 50th run of the race at Daytona .. gooooo Matt!

I'm grateful to be home ...

Life ...

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Mine was pretty good. Saturday the kids, DH and I went to visit my fil and his new puppy. This picture isn't the greatest, but what a cute puppy! He's a lhasa apsa and is about 8 weeks old. We are all really happy Al got the puppy .. he's been needing something/someone to take care of since my mil passed away .. I think he and "Little Friend" will be happy for years to come :)

Last night I finished my PMP, Spots of Love .. I do enjoy these pillows .. cute and quick finishes and something I can do when I'm not feeling great ...


On a sad note .. my great aunt passed away this evening. She was the last of my mom's side of the family. My brother and I are leaving tomorrow for California to take care the the arrangements. We were hoping to get there before she passed .. Auntie Dee was 93 years old .. she'll be missed.

So I won't be around for a few days, keep busy and hope to see lots of finishes when I return :) And that's for all the compliments about my finishes . and a Hi to new commenters .. thanks for stopping by .. see you in a couple of days ...

I'm grateful for my brother ...

Happy Friday :)

Anyone else as glad it's Friday as I am? I ended up staying home from work today .. my cold has settled in my sinuses and I've had a headache now for three days. I did start my antibotics on Wednesday .. sure hope something starts working soon .. this is getting really old! lol I watched The Jane Austin Book Club on DVD today .. has anyone else seen this movie? I really enjoyed it. It wasn't at all what I expected, but I enjoyed the story line .. the characters and their interactions. The ending was a bit too "nice" .. but all in all I would really recommend this movie.

I have been stitching a bit here and there .. I started Lizzie Kate's Double Flip-it's .. I'm stitching them a a pretty piece of banding. I'm almost done with Spot of Love .. I'll post some pictures over the weekend.

The bright day of my week was Thursday .. when this wonderful stitcher's bource arrived in my mailbox. Sally stitched this as a PIF for me. I've never seen one up close and personal .. didn't she do a lovely job!

and look at the stitching inside! I just love the colors and the alphabet, and the adorable flowers in the middle ... opps, I forgot to take a picture of the colorful threads that were hiding inside the bource when I opened it ...


Sally, thank you so very much .. your stitching and finishing are beautiful. Thank you for stitching this for me ...


I'm grateful for stitching gifts ...

Happy Groundhog Day ...

although by the time most of you read this blog it'll be the next day! lol I heard the "official" groundhog did see his shadow .. so looks like 6 more weeks of winter .. and I for one am ready for some warmer weather. I got hit again with this stupid cold/flu crud. It's been a long time since I've felt quite this bad .. my head is sooo plugged up and all I seem to do is cough and pee .. tmi?? lol I did go to my dr on friday. She heard a little rattling in my left lung, but said I don't have bronchitis or pneumonia .. haven't been running a fever at all. So she wanted to start me on an inhaler 4 times a day and a 20 min steam .. it's only been 24 hours since I started this .. but I'm not sure it'll help. I do have some antibotics but she didn't want me to take them until I try the other stuff .. I haven't been stitching much .. too afraid of making mistakes when I feel this bad .. but I did start a pine mountain pillow this morning .. Spot of Love .. really hard to mess up on aida lol


I did finish one more wip before Janauary was over .. This is Christmas Drawers by Shepherd's Bush. Sure feels good to get this one done. I started it years ago when it was first released. It was one of the first times I was using linen and silks. There were also some speciality stitches, which were new to me but I didn't think I'd have an problems .. see, that's what I get for thinking lol. I believe this little design caused me more problems than any of done todate. The biggest problem was that I don't follow written directions well. I learn better when someone shows me how .. reading directions just gets me all turned around. Since I don't have any friends that stitch, I would take CD to stitching retreats with me .. some retreats I would actually remember I had it along with me .. I'd find someone that could help with a speciality stitch and off I'd go .. of course I'd run into a wall with the next speciality stitch and then would have to wait again to be around stitchers .. long story but I'm really glad to have it done .. finally!



I feel really good about the wips I got finished in January .. I still have a few more, but I'll get them in some kind of rotation and get them done soon too .. I hope :) Now I'm looking forward to starting a few new pieces .. just have to lay them out and figure out which ones to start .. that's soo much fun to do!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend .. enjoy the Superbowl! And thanks for the comments about our snow, which didn't last long at all, and on my wips .. I really enjoy hearing from all of you.

I'm grateful for being done with CD ...

SNOW DAY!!!!

Woo Hoo!!! I love snow :) We got dumped on last night .. it was barely snowing when I went to bed last night .. woke up to a winter wonderland .. it's beautiful .. here's some pictures ...

This picture is from our front porch looking back at the house

This is our japanese maple tree in the front yard ..

Here's our cars ...

And this is looking across the street .. the trees are sooooo pretty covered in snow!

So I'm home today .. and of course schools are closed so Robert (DS#2) doesn't have school and lucky he wasn't scheduled to work today either. After a couple of cups of coffee, we'll be heading outside to clean off the cars and some of the plants .. it's supposed to stop snowing, warm up a bit, but more is predicted tonight.

I'm grateful for snow ...

Finishes and other stuff ...

Wow, can't believe it's been over a week since I'm blogged .. bad me! but I have been reading all your blogs! That is how I spend my lunch hour at work .. reading about all your starts and finishes and familes and life .. nice way to spend my lunch time :)

I've been working on my wips this month and I'm getting some done .. feels great! They aren't big projects or hard .. just stitching that I had started, put away to work on something else and never went back to them .. didn't take much to finish them off .. woo hoo! lol

This is a Pine Mountain Pillow, Halloween Four Square. I do a lot of these pillows, usually I grab one to take on the plane with me .. easy, and I love to decorate with them. The white blob on the upper left is a ghost, can't hardly see him.


This cute halloween piece was from a class I took last October at the Pals Fall Fling. The class was taught by Mary of M-Design. The stitched piece fits into the front of this incredible "messenger" bag/purse. There's also a fall design and a scissor fob that goes along with it all. I had started stitching the halloween design during the class ... can't wait for October! lol


This scissor fob is from a class Lori of La D Da taught at a retreat I went to back in 2006. It's cute little fob with cherries on one side and my initial on the other .. but if you look closely, you'll see that my initial is upside down! lol but it was a fun class and we learned how to make tassels and learned how to make and work with really long cording.



Now this wasn't a wip .. but for the Christmas ornament SAL .. it's one of Tanya's designs (Sampler Girl) .. unfortunately my camera really washed the colors out on all the pictures I took today :( This was a very quick and fun stitch. There's a start button that goes on the reindeer, but I'm going to coffee dye the piece (a suggestion Tanya made in the directions) .. should be fun .. I've never dyed anything before!


We've been having the most wonderful winter weather. It's been cold cold cold (for us) but so incredible sunny .. if we can't get any snow, I'll take the beautiful cold and sunny days. Skiers are in 7th heaven though .. we are having record breaking snow up in the mountains.

Hope everyone had a great weekend :)

I'm grateful for my dad ...

Meet Doug ..

Isn't Doug cute! A very dear friend and coworker of mine, Pat, stitched this for me. It's a hand painted needlepoint canvas. A couple of years ago we were bored at work and did some surfing .. Pat was looking for a new canvas to start. She found Doug and it was love at first sight for both of us. Pat offered to stitching him as a Christmas gift for me .. Doug came home to life with me this Christmas. I just love him! My camera is taking awlful pictures lately .. the colors on Doug as very bright and cheery. I'm going to have him framed. I was going to have a pillow made out of him .. but with all the furbabies around, I really don't want him to get layed on .. so now to get him off to a reliable needlepoint framer.


I've been doing finishing some of my WIPs .. I kinda decided in December that there were some WIPs that I really wanted to finish up .. so January is WIP month for me. This first piece is a teaching piece from a class I took from the Bent Creek sisters .. 2 years ago! yikes! silly to take that long to finish stitching a small piece .. but I love how it turned out. And since it was a teaching piece .. I decided to make it my first pinkeep .. seemed fitting. Again, sorry for the picture .. colors are all off ... but I finished a pinkeep! woo hoo! and it's not too bad .. a little off center ... but I really like my first pinkeep, and I'm looking forward to making some more *smile*


And here's another of my finishes this week .. it's JBW's Pumpkin. I used GAST Fragrant Gloves. The fabric is just a piece I had in my fabric bin .. not sure what it's called.

I also have been finishing up SB's Christmas Drawers, but I ran out of med. olive .. I called and SB is sending me some along with their 2008 scissor fob .. well, I couldn't just call and ask for more med. olive without placing an order for at least one thing! lol .. it won't take me long once the floss arrives to finish CD too .. and I won't tell you how long this piece has been a WIP .. I'm too embarrssed! lol

Thanks for visiting ...

I'm grateful for trying new finishing techniques ...

Happy Hump Day *smile*

Thanks everyone for all the birthday wishes. I had a wonderful birthday. The family did take me out to The Outback for dinner Friday night and everything tasted wonderful, including a margarita and blooming onions. We had an extra guest at dinner .. a friend of Chris' that we have known since the boys were in high school, Jay. He was Chris' best man. Jay's living and working in London. He works for Expedia and put in for a transfer 2 years ago when there was an opening. He's 26, single, and figured if he was going to do something like this now was the perfect time. Anyway, Jay was home for the holidays and stays with Chris and Monica when he's in town .. there is a reason I'm telling you this little bit about Jay .. while we are enjoying the evening and our desserts, we had 3 different ones split between the 6 of us! lol .. anyway, the check arrives and of course DH reaches for it .. but Jay asks DH for the check .. both DH and I say thanks Jay but dinner's on us. Well, Jay totally surprised both of us and said we'd fed him more dinners over the years than he could count and he really wanted to treat us to my birthday dinner .. my present from him. Well let me just say that between a mushy birthday card from Chris and Jay buying dinner .. I shed a few tears that night .. but happy tears *smile*

Saturday we went to my Dad's for the football game and to celebrate my birthday with my brother and his family .. we had a great time, even though the boys lost .. and it was such an ugly game! I got a gift certificate at my favorite frame shop from my DB and SIL and a couple of knives from my Dad. He got me a set of really nice sharp! knives for Christmas, but the set was missing two sizes he thought were necessary. What a sweetie :)

Sunday was spent watching football .. loved all the wins that day! they were perfect! lol .. grocery shopping and packing a few more Christmas boxes .. actually Christmas is offically put away now .. woo hoo!!!! lol

I received a lovely package from the Stitching Bloggers Birthday Club .. Georgie had my name and she really spoiled me. She stitched for me an adorable pillow, scented with lavender .. the picture is a little out of focus but the pillow is sooo cute! She also included a lovely calendar and postcards from Australia where she lives. There was also a lovely sandlewood candle and a skein of Dinky Dye thread .. and it arrived on my birthday! How cool is that :)




Another little gift arrived on my birthday from Vonna. A very sweet card, new needles (can't we always use new needles!!!) and a skein of the prettiest red thread .. and it's called Ruby Slippers .. which as I told Vonna, was perfect. I just love Dorothy and the movie and everything .. including the wicked witch! lol .. my 2008 calendar at work is Wizard of Oz .. thank you Vonna, that was soo nice of you.


And here's a birthday present from me, to me :) I had read on Nicole's blog about this travel cosmetic bag .. and how nicely it fits stash .. I have a weakness for bags/purses and went searching for one .. this style is being retired. I found it in a pretty lime green (this picture makes the color look horrible!) .

Here's a picture of the inside .. I put my birthday goodies in it to take upstairs to my stitching room .. I sure think I'm going to enjoy this bag :) and it wasn't horribly expensive, I found it on Ebay for $28 which include shipping .. not too bad :)

Nice to see new readers of my blog .. thank you so much for visiting and leaving comments .. I really enjoy reading them *smile*

And Barbara .... My mom was 21 when I was born .. she really could have been my older sister .. and her name was Barbara too *smile*

I'm grateful for weekends with friends and family ...

Happy Friday ...

and Happy Birthday to me *smile* .. 54 years ago this was me and my mom (I was about a week old in this picture) .. and yes I was born with a full head of hair! lol


I think this picture is of my 2nd birthday .. I just love old photos :)

The family is taking me out to dinner at the Outback tonight .. sure hope I can taste the food! I'm really looking forward to a blooming onion! lol My cold is starting to get better .. finally slept through the night last night.

In honor of my birthday I would like do a Pay It Forward .. here's how it works ... the first 6 people that e-mail me (michele11wa@yahoo.com) or indicate interest in my PIF challenge, will get something made by me in the next 365 days (this challenge will have a deadline of Dec. 31, 2008). In turn you must post to your blog the same challenge and accept 6 people to send a PIF to...they do it to their blog and so on....sound good?

Looks like my weekend will be full of football and stitching and putting away the rest of Christmas. Most of it was put away last week, the reindeer still need to be put away and there's odds and ends all over the house that need to be scooped up and put away until next year.

Anyone watching the football playoffs?? What team(s) are you routing for?? We of course are all excited about watching the Seahawks kick some major Green Bay butts on Saturday ...



Thanks for all the lovely comments about my 1st finish of 2008 .. and nice to see some new ladies commenting too. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

I'm grateful for birthdays ...

First Finish of 2008

Here's my finish finished for 2008, I finished it over the weekend. I changed the coffee pot from blue to red .. think it will make a really cute pinkeep, like the one Nancy made *smile* I got the coffee cup for Christmas from Monica (my dil) and the bookmark was in my stocking, thanks Santa :)

The only other stitching I've been doing is trying to finish up some WIPs from last year that I would love get done before I move on to new stitching. Wish me luck! lol

Now I'm off to get more tea and snuggle on the couch .. yes you heard me, more tea! lol .. I have a horrible headcold and when I'm sick, coffee doesn't taste good to me at all .. so it's green tea for me and a nice warm fleece blankie.

ps ... sorry I forgot to mention who the freebie design is .. it's Sampler Girl (Tanya) and can be found on her website.

I'm grateful for soft kleenex ...

First post of the New Year

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year! We had a lovely time with Ken and Lisa and their sons Jairid and Travis. We ate too much, played Scene It (xbox version) and Scene It Music version (dvd) and Guitar Hero (WII version) .. lots of laughs and a bit too much to drink .. gotta love having your 19 year old as the designeed driver *smile* .. but it was a great time with dear friends.

I finished Lizzie*Kates Happy New Year on the 31st .. my last stitch of the year. I'm planning on having it finished as a banner. I'd like to continue to add the new year every year.


I finished this Pine Mountain Pillow a few months ago .. can't remember if I ever posted it .. love the little clock button!

and here's my first stitches for 2008 .. this is a freebie from Sampler Girl (Tanya) .. It's called Irish Coffee and says "A Morning Without Coffee Is Like Sleep lol




I've spent most of the day vegging and stitching, playing on the computer, and we watched a movie On Demand .. it was Reign On Me with Adam Sadler and Don Cheadle. It was a very good movie, a bit of a tear jerker, but good. Speaking of movies .. we saw quite a few really good movies over the holidays .. if you get a chance I would really recommend seeing Waitress with Keri Russell, National Treasuer 2 with Nicolas Cage and Charlie Wilson's War with Tom Hanks. All three were very enjoyable, entertaining, and Charlie Wilson's War was very educational too!

Well, it's back to work for me tomorrow after a nice long break .. sure will be hard to go back to work .. not really looking forward to it, but it's a necessary evil lol

A few blogs are sporting a new look with a create signature .. it's really fun! Try it out here ...

I'm grateful for a new year ...