A patriotic finish, courtesy of Pine Mountain

It's dangerous to go through your stash when you already have too many WIPs. Trust me on this.

Last night, I started and finished my first ornament-type thingamajig. Tonight, I brought out another Pine Mountain pillow kit from my stash and got it done. When I saw the pillow's patriotic fabric, the firecracker button, and the saying "God Bless America", I figured it was just too perfect since the Fourth of July is just days away.

Tomorrow I have promised myself that I will work on that gift for a friend. I might not stick with it all day and all evening, but I will make some killer progress.

Many, many thanks to everyone for their comments! I LOVE seeing what y'all have to say. It truly tickles me to find comments, compliments, questions...whatever is on the reader's mind. It also gives me great pleasure to surf everyone else's blogs, too. It is at other stitcher's blogs that I find some laughter, tons of motivation, inspiration, and living proof that cross-stitch is NOT dying.

To Lisa/Texan (but everyone can read this...if it was private, I would have e-mailed her...LOL) -- To answer your question, I got my Mill Hill "On the Range" kit at Cross Stitch Haven in Oklahoma City. I didn't buy the extra kit (the little turquoise boot). Also, I had it custom-framed instead of using the recommended frame. If you can't find the kit, lemme know and I'll be glad to enable. Er, I mean...help you find it. *angelic smile* And about those Redbird Designs...ohhhhhhh man, aren't they great? We have good taste. *hee hee* I also have their alphabet quilt patterns and the Texas Montly Minis, as well as a few other single, small designs.

To Julie (again, everyone can read this...LOL) -- I will gladly post an updated picture of my year-'round snowman/winter display as soon as I get my shelves dusted. Hahahahaha! That might happen tomorrow...it might happen in a week. Who knows? ;-) Meanwhile, there is a fairly recent picture in my Photobucket album. Scroll down and look on the right side of your screen while at my blog and you'll see a link to "LoriRay's Photobucket Albums". After clicking that link, you will see a list of sub-albums. Click on "Home" and somewhere in there are a few pics of my snowman shelves. :-) I promise to post pics on my blog soon, just because you asked. Don't go gettin' a big head now. *snort* ;-)

Once again, I've stayed up almost an hour past my self-promised deadline. It was worth it -- stitching, watching Forensic Files, and getting a little quiet "me" time. *deep breath* Yeah, that was nice. *big grin*

Meanwhile, wish us luck for my oldest son's baseball tournament this week. The tournament will end Wednesday or Thursday, depending on if we win or lose our scheduled games. The first game is Tuesday evening at 6 PM. Win or lose, we'll play Wednesday evening. At least these are single games and not double-headers like in the regular season. This is really it this time -- after the tournament this week, there is no more baseball for the rest of July. Coach will start calling practice sometime in August before school starts.

We all need a break and are trying to schedule a vacation around mid-July. That was before one of our employees got himself a DUI last Saturday night and was also charged with an open container. Sheesh. How utterly stupid!!! I think his girlfriend wanted us to bail him out. As if! Let him sit and rot until his sentencing July 29th. See if I care. He shouldn't have been drinking and driving. When it comes to drinking and driving, I have ZERO tolerance and ZERO patience. (Betcha already had that figured out.) My point is that I am hoping we can still schedule a vacation. If not, then we MUST take one in August before school starts, even if it's not as long or as far as we had originally planned.

ANYway, my gosh, I have rambled forever. If you've made it this far, come back another time and re-read this entire post if you need help falling asleep. I won't even bill you for the assistance. If you didn't make it this far, well, thanks for lookin' at the pictures. ;-) Nite nite to everyone. *doing my Miss America wave which Carolyn knows all-too-well*

Stash in the mail...ahhhhhhh. :-)

Today was a good stash day. I got all 6 "Winter Greetings" Mill Hill kits, all four patterns "The Twelve Days of Christmas" by Redbird Designs, the three Mill Hill kits I like best from the "Treasured Diamond" series, and the 7 1/2" Gingher pinking shears. (Yep, I tried to slip another pair of Ginghers in there. *hee hee*)

I plan on stitching a lot this evening. We ate dinner out (yippee!) so I'm free with the exception of the boys' baseball practice. Look out frog, here I come!

Teeny ornament finish

I spent the better part of today stitching on a gift for a friend. It's about 1/3 done so I decided to take a break from that project.

In my stash, I found the cutest little stuffed ornament design by Stone & Thread called "Snowflake". (Does it really come as any surprise that I had a snowflake pattern in my stash?) I decided to stitch it up, attach the button, and finish it into an ornament before I went to bed. It's done! I didn't follow any directions or use any instructions...I just went with it. It measures about 4" square. I added a blue and tan checked fabric for the backing and then added a blue cord to hang it with. It's not perfect but I'm very happy with my first ornament finish, especially since I didn't follow any instructions or anything. Here it is:

It won't really hang on the wall like in the photo. I will find a spot for him near my year-'round snowman display. (That was another lil' tidbit of info that shouldn't surprise you.)

For the next ornament, I will follow some instructions because I do want the next one(s) to turn out better...but I'm happy for now.

Meanwhile, I'm quite sleepy as it's 1:05 AM, Central time now. I just had to finish that lil' guy and get it posted before I went to bed.

Nite nite to everyone and happy stitching! :-)

Stitching ramblings...

Well, I took "Solitude" by Mystic Stitch off of my WIP list for now. It has been retired as a WIP and sent back to the "To Do" pile. I barely had any of it done anyway (like maybe a 1" x 2" area) and couldn't bring myself to work on it. It was eating at me that I started it on aida - which I rarely use anymore, and I have been really worried that my fabric would end up too small. Soooooo, I decided to quit while I was ahead. I will still stitch that piece...someday. Meanwhile, there are other projects I need to finish and want to start moreso than "Solitude". You know how fickle I am, though, so gimme time -- things may change. hahahahaha

Today I finally made some working copies of patterns for projects I am working on and projects that I want to start. Why do I put that off like it's some miserable chore? *scratching head*

The top-secret project for a friend is finally going again. This is the THIRD freakin' time I have started it. Third time's a charm, right? *eye roll* If I were to mess it up again this time, I would stitch her something else and I'd probably set fire to the chart, threads, and ruined WIP. Hah! I'd have to do this before the men in the white coats put the straight-jacket on me and carried me away for a looooooong time.

Oh, by the way, I finally started working on "Noah's Sub" again last night. I got part of a sea critter done and a little bit of a wave...probably about an hour's-worth of work...but nevertheless, it's still progress. :)

Ahhhhhhhhh, it's Friday night...the baseball game was cancelled (yes, that was me you heard screaming with joy when they announced that earlier) and I plan on doing nothing but stitching. Hope everyone's weekend is starting as good and lazy as mine. I can't be that lazy all weekend, but I'll enjoy it tonight, that's for sure.

Lizzie Kate "August" Stamp is finished

With my stitching time being basically nil due to the boys' baseball games, I am lucky and glad to have been able to finish another block on this WIP. :-))) Just four more blocks/months to go -- yippee!

I have got to make myself work on that gift for a friend now. It's one of my June goals to get it finished and mailed this month. I'd better hurry -- the clock is ticking!

Blocks for scissors and cross-stitch gadgets/tools

My husband is the best! I have been loving those wooden blocks to put scissors in. Brad went and bought some oak and made three for me! Woo hoo!

The first is a block with seven holes that I am now storing my most favorite Ginghers in:

The second is a block I had him customize. There are four larger holes for scissors, a boo-boo stick, star de-tailer, and whatever else. There are also four smaller holes for my thread picker, stitch counters, etc. I added a needle magnet on the front side. (The beautiful scissor fob, thread picker, and stitch counter you see were made by My Big Toe Designs. Thanks, Debbie!)

The third block has ten holes and is being sanded as I type. It will house the following Ginghers: Bianca, Freedom, and Emma. Roberta will be in my home ASAP. Uh oh, looks like I've got some holes to fill! *mwah hahahaha*

I love my husband. Thanks for looking.

Progress on two more WIPs this week...

Between regular life, work, baseball games for both of the boys, and storms, I didn't get much stitching time. Come to think of it, I didn't get much time for anything, including sleep or communications with anyone outside of my home/work. I am so tired and about to drop but I just posted my WIP pictures at 123 so I had to come post them here, too. (The title of my blog should have spelled it out that I am an addict. Don't act all surprised.) *hee hee*

I got some progress done on My Big Toe Designs' "I Corinthians". As this project progresses, not only am I falling more and more in love with it, but also with other MBT stuff. Talk about some pretty patterns...but to make matters even worse (or better?), the designer, Debbie, seems like an awesome and wonderful person. That makes buying and stitching her designs even more exciting. Anyway, even though there's not that much to it yet, you can see it beginning to take shape:

The second WIP that I made a wee bit of progress on this week is "O Beautiful" by Shepherd's Bush. At this point, I am basically halfway done:

This has been a rough week emotionally and physically. Some reasons are obvious, others you would never guess...but I won't go into details. Let's just say I am ready for a nice, relaxing weekend with my little family. Hopefully we will remain storm-free, stress-free, and frog-free.

Now THAT'S what I call progress!

I posted a work-in-progress (WIP) picture of "Break Time" less than 24 hours ago. Here it is with the windmill finished:

I also got another little pattern done from the "Mother's Wisdom" series by Heart in Hand. I started pattern #3 ("Drive Safely") and finished it, all in less than a few hours:

So, kiddies, that's what happens when you drink too much Dr. Pepper and get a stubborn urge to finish a pattern before heading off to bed. No one should have sympathy for me if I gripe about this later. ;-)

Now I'm off to get some much-needed sleep. Goodnight! Er...good morning!

Uh oh, we have a new pair of scissors!

The latest addition to my Gingher family has arrived! Would everyone please welcome Jamie to the family?

"Hiiiiiiiiii, Jamie!"

Sorry about the glare but my camera batteries are in desperate need of recharging, so I didn't want to chance snapping another shot and watching my camera die. Lord forbid if I couldn't post these pictures on my blog right away instead of waiting a few hours for the batteries to recharge! *snicker*

Here's my latest finish --

That's a Tie On pillow kit by Pine Mountain called "Winter". Of course it now sits on my year 'round snowman/Winter shelves. I hope to add at least one pillow or small picture to that display each month.

I did get some work done on a WIP last night. This is the latest picture of "Break Time" by Stoney Creek:

It's hard to see but I have done some stitching on the windmill blades but it just doesn't show up very well because the floss color is almost the same as the fabric. Maybe I can get the windmill finished up tonight.

Tornado aftermath update: We finally got our power restored at the shop yesterday. Whew! It took a week but hey, we're glad to have to it back and our time without power certainly wasn't due to lack of effort on anyone's part. The head of our Emergency Operations Center keeps insisting we didn't have a tornado. He says it was a downburst. Uhhhhh, okay. Citizens have written letters to the editor of our newspaper with their eyewitness accounts including photos they took of the tornado, yet the powers-that-be still insist there was not a tornado. Whatever. Why can't they just admit that someone dropped the ball and didn't sound the sirens or at least admit that Mother Nature isn't quite as predictable as we'd like to think she is? Because they're men, that's why. HAHAHAHA!

Hope everyone is getting some great frog-free stitching time in and not worrying about this being Friday the 13th. It's just another day. :)

"Poker" by Hinzeit finished

This is "Poker" by Hinzeit for my dad for Father's Day. He is an avid poker player so this is very fitting for him and a gift he will like. I used a different fabric instead of the suggested one -- I used 28 count lugana and is an opalescent by Silkweaver. IIRC, the name of the fabric is Sparkling Forest but I'm not certain. I didn't use the charms because I thought it made it look cluttered. The frame is by Kay's Frames. The photo showed the poker chips in the upper right hand corner but I like it better with the chips in the lower left.

Sorry I haven't been blogging much lately. If you'd like to see photos of some of the tornado damage from my town last Thursday night, click on the link to my Photobucket album and then click on the sub-album named "June 5 2008 tornado damage". Fortunately, we had very little damage at our business and none at our home. Whew! Other people were not so lucky. Some are homeless and there are still quite a few without electricity. We were truly blessed and we are very grateful.

Hope everyone is doing well. The weather is awful for everyone this year! Stay safe, happy stitching, and avoid the frog!

Gingher scissors

Hi. My name is LoriRay and I am a scissor ho'. My scissors aren't just for collecting -- I actually use them and it feels good to do that. I don't plan on doing anything about my addiction so don't try and help me. There is no help for me. I am too far gone. See for yourself:

That's a picture of my entire Ginghers scissors collection. The two silver pairs at the top are the 8" spring-action and 4" spring-action scissors. The rest are all 4" embroidery scissors. The middle row from left to right are: Emma, Ashley, Freedom, Glory, and Bianca. The bottom row from left to right are: Julia, Katelynn, Lindsay, and Penelope.

Due to my scissor addiction, I am certain more Ginghers will find their way into my scissor collection along with a couple of cheap pairs and my new Heart's Content black cat scissors. Oh yeah, I forgot about the five scissor fob kits by Shepherd's Bush in my stash closet -- complete with matching scissors. One of these days, I'm going to make a ton of fobs for my scissors.

Ahhhhhhhhhh, I do love scissors. :-)

Last teacher's gift finished

Well, I finished the final teacher's gift this evening, just in time to give the teachers their gifts tomorrow. Whew! I opted to purchase the male teacher's gift but ended up stitching the three female teacher's gifts. I didn't do that just because the teacher was male but because my 6th grader insisted his male teacher loooooooooooves golf and would prefer a gift related to golfing. So, that's what I did and it ultimately allowed me to relax a bit in getting the third and final gift stitched instead of worrying about four.



The third and final gift is from a Leisure Arts pattern booklet and is mounted on an eraser for a dry erase or chalk board:

The last picture I have for you is a wonderful gift stitched for me by my mother. She did one of those Altoid tins! Daaaaaang, I've never even done one of those! LOL! Here is the outside (top) of the gorgeous tin she finished:

And here is the inside:

Did she do good or what??? I know I am impressed and honored to have this gift. Thanks a million, Mom. I love you.

My life

A friend asked me yesterday if I was having any regrets since I quit Radilogy school. Nope, no regrets...and her question got me to thinking about my life. If you don't want to read sappy, sweet, happy stuff, then back out now.

I am so content. Not "content" like "having settled"...but "content" like "happy and at peace". My life is good. I have two beautiful and healthy boys and a husband that mean the world to me. (The boys are up for rent when their mouths get going and I'd consider loaning out my husband when he decides to use my food storage bowls to house greasy nuts and bolts when he and my oldest son are working on a truck.) I get to work at the shop doing the books while working with my husband/best friend and I get to play happy little homemaker, too. Every week I do our grocery shopping after making a menu which usually entails several new recipes. My little family sings my praises every night at dinner (they do love my cooking!) and we have wonderful conversations.

Today is a wonderful day. I got up with the family this morning, helped the boys do their hair (shhhhhhh - don't tell anyone...it was a first and probably a last), and have piddled around the house ever since. I have had a relaxing bath, done laundry, started a roast in the crock pot for roast beast sandwiches for later (new recipe -- another perk of having extra time at home), posted on message boards, and played with the youngest cat (I tried to be affectionate to her but noooooooooooo). All of this and it's only 10:30 AM. See? Life is good.

The rest of today will be busy -- gotta work at the shop for a bit, wash the truck, clean up a little more around the house (dang cats and their fur balls that seem to accumulate overnight in almost every corner), finish up some laundry, and then this evening will find me stitching. Well, after the roast beast sandwiches, that is. ;-)

I hope everyone finds a reason to reflect and be happy today. *hugs*

Halfway done with teacher's gifts - woo hoo!

As of today, I have one more week to get a total of four teacher's gifts stitched. As of this very moment, I have two completed -- stitched and framed! The first is a design from a Leisure Arts publication and placed in a frame I bought at Hobby Lobby for 50% off -- please pardon the angle I had to get to avoid strange glares and lighting issues:

The second is a Lizzie Kate pattern called "Teachers Touch the Future" and put in another Hobby Lobby frame that I got for 50% off -- again, please pardon the weird angle. I am not a professional photographer and it shows. *snort*

Thanks for looking! Now I have to get busy and get two more done, plus a Father's Day gift. And I wonder why none of my big projects ever get completed. LOL! ;-) Happy stitching!

Another LK finish and a PM confession

Well, there it is! Just a few minutes ago, I finished the July Lizzie Kate Flip-It. I am getting more and more excited about this WIP and am anticipating what it will look like finished. *big cheesy grin*

I want to say thanks to everyone for their comments! It makes me feel good to know people are enjoying the pictures and my stitching ramblings here. And to Carolyn, thanks for the nifty lil' tidbit of advice about clicking on a commenter's name and how that'll take you to their blog (if they have one). I never knew that! Thanks! Cool beaners!

Speaking of leaving comments...one particular person (Lisa) recently left a comment on my blog and asked a question. (Lisa) This person (Lisa) actually asked me how many Pine Mountain pillows I have in my stash. (Lisa) Does she (Lisa) realize that counting how many PM pillows I have might cause me to go into some kind of awful seizure or something equally horrific? (Lisa) Okay...I'll be brave...but if something happens to me, it'll be her (Lisa's) fault. (*narrowing eyes at Lisa*) Okay...here we go...I'm goin' in. *insert Jeopardy music for about a minute or so...and keep an eye on Lisa so she doesn't leave town or something in the event I stroke out and can't return*

Okay, I'm back. I did it. I counted nineteen total Pine Mountain pillows left to stitch in my stash-- this includes tuck pillows and pillow kits that require separate pillow forms. And before somebody (Lisa) asks, YES, I already have all of the recommended pillow forms. (Are you happy now, Lisa?) ;-)

Hee hee, thanks for the laughs. Happy stitching!

And yet another Pine Mountain finish...

I finished this a couple of nights ago but just put in the pillow form and took a picture tonight. This is a finish for me and Brad. You can see our names at the bottom of the stitched area. I was going to add our wedding date in the middle between our names, but since the two boxes on the bottom aren't the same sizes I thought it would look off-center.

2007 Finishes

My list of "Recent Finishes" over on the right-hand side was getting too long. I decided to remove all of the 2007 Finishes and put them here.

12/31/07 - Bent Creek Zippie kit, "Snowman", for me! :-)
12/6/07 - Pine Mountain pillow kit, "Thoughts of Mother", a small Christmas gift for my mother
12/1/07 - Hinzeit's "Racing", a small Christmas gift for my 11-yr-old son
11/23/07 - a pattern from the "All God's Chillun" leaflet as a Christmas gift for my mother-in-law
11/1/07 - Pine Mountain "Snowman Face" pillow kit
10/30/07 - "MKT/Katy Railroad Logo" for my uncle
9/5/07 - "Bucket of Bluebonnets" by Country Cousins for my mother
7/28/07 - Quilt Square for a 123 Board Member's grandson
7/21/07 - "Birds" by Heart in Hand for my mother
7/8/07 - Faithwurks wooden cat with the phase "Here Mousey Mousey" (for my shelf with cat stuff on it)
7/1/07 - Bent Creek's "Wedding Row" (for me and Brad)
6/22/07 - Hinzeit's "Nurse" (for a friend)
6/14/07 - sewed a pair of pajama pants for my bonus son
6/12/07 - Bent Creek's "Snowman" Flatbed Zippie (pattern only) for a 123 member's son
5/31/07 - completed square 5 of 16 for my "Town Square" afghan
5/19/07 - stitched a small card for a 123 member's son
5/18/07 - stitched an apple from a Glory Bee pattern and placed it in a tuck pillow for a teacher's gift
5/17/07 - altered the size and stitched Lizzie Kate's "To My Teacher" for a teacher's gift
5/14/07 - Lizzie Kate's "To My Teacher" for a teacher's gift
5/13/07 - a teacher's gift by Anna Lee Waite Designs that says, "Teachers who love teaching teach children to love learning."
4/22/07 - a freebie "Pi, Er, Squared" for my Algebra instructor
4/14/07 - Pine Mountain pillow kit called "Sew Glad We're Friends" for a friend
4/8/07 - Shepherd's Bush "Forget Me Not" needleroll for a friend
3/25/07 - Pine Mountain pillow kit called "Play Ball" for my oldest son (Steven)
1/16/07 - sewed curtains, two fleece blankets, and three pillow cases for youngest DS's and bonus son's room
1/8/07 - Kreinik's "Snowglobe" 40 count silk gauze kit (over one)
1/7/07 - Hob Nobb's "Winter Blues" (for me)
1/6/07 - sewed curtains and a matching pillowcase for oldest son's room (Steven)

Lizzie Kate June Flip-It done

Yay, it's halfway done! I finished the June stamp last night but was too tired to post about it before I went to bed.

Nothing much to report about here -- just the usual: the boys' baseball games, working at the shop, keeping up the house, etc. It sounds mundane and boring but I'm really loving it! :-) I don't have as much stitching time as I thought I would but I'm still getting quite a bit of stitching time and this summer should prove to be more stitching-friendly. (I say stuff like that all the time and it rarely works out. ;-) )

Before I go, I will do a shameless advertising plug. Debbie from My Big Toe Designs offered door prizes during the recent on-line needlework show. I was fortunate enough to have my name chosen as a door prize winner and I received the neatest package from Debbie! She sent me a thread picker, a scissor fob, and marking pins -- all in my favorite color of purple! I love them!!! Sooooooooo, if you've been thinking about buying some of her gadgets, I say go for it! They are wonderful!

Okay, advertising and rambling over. ;-) You may now return to your regularly scheduled blog-surfing.

Another quick, small finish

This is a little adirondack (sp?) chair that I painted probably 5 years ago. It's a dark green and I had been meaning all these years to stitch a quick lil' something for my mother and her love of gardening. Well, here it is! It was hard to get a good picture because the stitching is behind glass but I think you can see everything.

This was a fun and very fast stitch...I think it took me 2 hours and that was with watching the news and visiting with Brad and the boys, too. LOL!

Now that I look at it, my centering left a lot to be desired but that's easily fixed. :-)

"Always and Forever"

Here is my latest finish -- "Always and Forever" by Little House Needleworks. I completed this on 4/19/08 and framed it today in a black store-bought 5x7 frame. I stitched it on 32 count "Dusk" linen by Silkweaver with 2 strands of "Purple Iris" thread by Gentle Art Sampler Threads. I didn't leave the glass in the frame like I normally do because I just didn't care for the way it looked, so this one is unprotected. *gasp* Of course it's purple because it will sit on a dresser in mine and Brad's bedroom. :-) Also, I added a row to the girl so she was a bit taller. Being six feet tall myself, it made me feel like she was more 'me'. BAHahahahaha!!! I also purposely stitched it to where the guy was more blue and the girl was more purple -- sort of to make it appropriately more feminine and masculine.

I have got to get busy on a gift for a friend but my Stitcher's ADD has been kicking in big-time lately. Yikes! Oh well, at least I'm getting some good stitching time in with very little visitation with the dreaded frog.

Thanks to all of you for your comments. I love reading your responses. If I don't already have a link to your blog, please include it in your next comment because I'd love to visit your little corner of the e-world, too. :-)