Pictures!

There's the wrinkled "What Cancer Cannot Do" piece that I stitched for my friend who is battling breast cancer. It's all wrinkled from my Q-snaps and I haven't purchased the fabric to make a tuckable banner/frame for it yet...but the stitching is done. I altered the pattern a bit and didn't use the colors listed in the key, but here is where you can find the original pattern for free:
http://www.gloria-pat.com/resources/cancer_charts.html
The fabric I used was 32 count Silkweaver Belfast linen, hand-dyed and called "Remembrance Rose". The lettering is done in Vikki Clayton/HDF "Dark Mauve" premium silk, and the rest is DMC floss.

Now here's my recent eBay win:

That's the "Wildly Western" kit by Bucilla to add to my complete(?) Tall Guys collection. I just love those Tall Guys! Surely now I have them all. Surely...

Last night, I finished the stitching and beading on my next Christmas ornament -- "Merry Christmas" mini-needleroll by Shepherd's Bush from the 1997 Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament magazine. I am now pulling the threads for the ribbon. I've got the stuffing on-hand but am not sure about the ribbon. I'll have to look later to see if I've got the color and width I need to finish it off and take a picture.

So much for doing any shopping -- I am officially iced in now. We are not even supposed to get above freezing until Wednesday, and the weather forecasters seem to think our freezing rain will continue off and on between now and Wednesday morning. Great. *sarcasm* Oh well, if we lose power then we're prepared...we've got the fireplace and plenty of wood, lots of food, two generators, and my wonderful husband always makes sure that every time we lose power, at least one generator outlet is saved for my stitching lamp. :-)))

My housework and laundry are almost totally done, so in a short bit I will be working on the needleroll and other stitching. Tonight we are having leftovers so it looks like a great stitching day and evening to me. Woo hoo! Happy stitching, stay safe, and watch out for that ice!

No pictures yet...

...but I just finished stitching "What Cancer Cannot Do" for a friend who is battling breast cancer. It's hot off the Q-snaps -- wrinkles and all -- so I don't want to post a picture yet. Plus, I hope to get to Hobby Lobby next week and buy some pink ribbon fabric. My plan is to make a wall hanging / tuckable banner-type thing out of the finished piece. Problem is, Mother Nature is most likely going to give us some ice for Monday through Wednesday. Ewwwwwww. No trip to Hobby Lobby 'til that's over and done with.

I fell off the wagon but it's okay -- I consider what I bought "allowable purchases". LOL! One chart was purchased from a friend and I agreed to buy it before I went on the wagon. She finished stitching it and got the chart mailed off to me, so I had to pay for it. It's the "In Love" pattern from the Vervaco kit. I just love that! Anyway, the other purchase I made was off eBay for Bucilla's "Wildly Western" kit. I thought I had all the Tall Guys patterns from the Holiday Sparrow series of them but discovered that kit on eBay. I'd never seen that before! Now it's on its merry little way to my mailbox and then on to my stash closet to be stored with all the other Tall Guys. :-)))

I've got to catch up on everyone else's blog, stitch another ornament, and get a small thing done in order to keep my goals for the month. Technically, I have one ornament done for January but I really finished it in December...so I gotta get another one done. Besides, it'll be one more ornament in my collection, right? Woo hoo!

Hopefully everyone has been doing great. We've been crazy-busy here but at least I've managed a little stitching time. If we do get that icy weather then I'll just stay home, put a roast in the over or a stew on the stove, and stitch my little heart out while the boys play the Wii. Well, that is, assuming my 13-yr-old does his math homework and doesn't get grounded again. Ohhhhhhhh, SNAP! Anyway, keep that frog away and happy stitching! :-)

A finish for me and a gift from Mom

Here is a quick finish I stitched up while we were traveling. It is "Snowflakes" by Pine Mountain Designs. I turned the pillow so that the stitching is in the upper left corner instead of the bottom right as it was shown in their stock photo. I also decided against using the large white felt snowflake cut-out that should be in the dark blue square. It just didn't look right to me and seemed to be rather gawdy. Yuck. Life's too short to display ugly snowflakes. LOL! ;-) So anyway, the pattern is being forward to one of my blog readers. Enjoy the pattern and happy stitching, Heather!

This is an adorable needle roll that my dear stitching friend Carolyn gave to my mother in a RAK package (Random Act of Kindness). My mother, in turn, altered a cat design and stitched this up for me. I love it for two reasons -- my mother did the stitching and it was formerly owned by Carolyn. Every time I see this piece in my home, I think of both of them. Thank you, Mom and Carolyn.

Today did allow me some, even if just a little, stitching time on "O Beautiful". I'm just a few stitches away from getting back to the bands and specialty work. The more progress I make on this piece, the more anxious I get about finishing it and having it framed. *big, huge grins*

With today being the one year anniversary of when I quit smoking, I decided to remove the little counter that shows how long I have been a non-smoker. So for those of you who followed my counter, don't panic -- I didn't start smoking again. LOL! Today I was able to call my insurance agent and let him know that I now qualify for the non-smoker's rate for my life insurance. *goofy lil' happy dance*

I also edited my list of Recent Finishes over on the right. It's now set to show only the last ten finishes. There wasn't an apparent reason to have a list of items that made the page longer than it had to be which surely slowed the page's loading for those who don't have high speed. (I used to suffer through dial-up so you folks who are now doing the same have my sympathy.)

The evening is still young so I think I'll go snack and then stitch some more. Stay warm and happy stitching!

And the winner is...

*drum roll, please*

Lynda! Woo hoo, congrats to you! E-mail me with a list of your stitching likes, dislikes, wishes, wants, needs, etc. and perhaps even some general likes/dislikes. I'll spend a couple of days getting a little goodie bag assembled just for you. You can e-mail me at loriray2003 AT yahoo DOT com. This is going to be fun! :-)

Here's what happened with the drawing of the names: I put everyone's name on a little strip of paper and scattered them out on the floor. Then I called our cat over and told her to pick a name (like she could understand). Well, lo and behold, she came over and sniffed out Lynda's name. Soooooo, I guess that means Lynda has something about her that our cat likes. Consider that a huge compliment because our cat is, um...let's just say "not very nice most of the time". LOL

I told the cat to pick another name (again - like she could understand) but she was so freaked out because I picked up the piece of paper that she had so carefully sniffed out that she wouldn't come back over to the pieces of paper. Hahahaha! Crazy cat! This was fun and I'll have to have another drawing in the future.

Thanks a million to everyone who entered (and didn't enter...*pointing a finger at Lisa* ;-) hee hee). I appreciate the comments and reading everyone else's blogs, too.

We've been out of town for a couple of days so I need to post a picture of a small finish and catch up on everyone else's blogs, too. Hopefully today and/or this evening will allow me some free time to do those things and work on "O Beautiful". Happy stitching! :-)

Happy New Year!

May 2009 be all we each want and need it to be. It's going to be a great year, I just know it!

Today I will work a little bit at the shop because we are taking off tomorrow and going out of town to visit my grandmother and my sister. Brad will do the driving so that means stitching for me in the car - woo hoo! I won't be able to work on "O Beautiful" because it seems linen and I don't get along too well in the car but I can easily work on an aida project, perforated paper, or perhaps a small evenweave project. (Like another 2009 Christmas ornament or a Pine Mountain pillow kit maybe?)

Okay, I'm going to take the plunge here and offer a drawing. If you'd like to be entered, simply leave a comment on this post stating that you'd like to be entered. The prize is a grab bag of things yet to be determined because I will try to pick things to send that the winner likes. Easy peasy, right? I plan on drawing a winner's name on Monday, January 5, 2009, so check back then for a post that announces the winner's name. By the way, that date also happens to be my annniversary for quitting smoking -- one year smoke-free, so celebrate with me!

I don't know how many of you frequent the stitching message boards but I usually do. That being said, the boards seem to be taking a turn towards being negative again. I hate it when those phases happen. Sooooooo, blogging and roaming other stitcher's blogs is becoming my favorite way to communicate with other stitchers, look at photos, and get inspired with tons of great ideas. Don't get me wrong -- I will never quit the boards altogether...but maybe it's time for me to play it safe and avoid 99% of posts that aren't stitching-related.

I don't make resolutions for New Year's but I do have some goals in mind I'd like to achieve (in no particular order):
1. Make it through year #2 without smoking.
2. Be a better mother and wife. (I'm not bad at all but my theory is that we can all find ways to improve, so why not?)
3. Change up my blog a bit...make it more visually appealing, add a few gadgets, etc.
4. Stitch at least one -- but preferably two! -- Christmas ornaments per month.
5. Stitch one "small" per month. I'd love to have a basket of needle rolls! Ooooooooooooh! A small might be a needle roll, Pine Mountain pillow, needle book, etc.
6. Try not to start a new project unless I either finish a project I've already got going, am making a gift for someone else, or if it's for one of these goals (like an ornament or a small).
7. Don't buy any new stash without stitching or purging some of what I've got first. There are a few exceptions which I outlined in the last blogging post. I did add the "purging" part, though. If I go through my stash and sell things that I know I will never stitch, then I can use that money for new stash. The points of this goal are to quit impulse buying and accumlating more than I am stitching because I already have way more than enough. Stitch more, buy less.

That's enough goals for now but I might add to or change that list. The main purpose was to just get some of my thoughts and ideas out and see what I can start working on accomplishing.

Hope everyone is stitching to their little heart's content today and feeling good about 2009. Take care and bye for now! :-)