A finish (sort of), a WIP picture, and plants...

TGIF, everybody! :-) Thanks for the comments! To reply to a couple of them from the last post...Cindy, you're a nut! LOL! I will check out your blog tonight or tomorrow. Should I be afraid? ;-) And to Pam, yes ma'am, those are bottles of Stitcher's Lotion in the picture of my stash haul from the previous blog entry. Love that stuff! My favorite is the Blackberry & Vanilla. Running a close second is Raspberry & Orange. They both feel good and smell good. :)


Stitching news...Last night, I put the final stitches in Little House Needleworks' "Blessed are the merciful" -- the second of four patterns I am stitching on one piece of fabric. Halfway done, woo hoo! Please pardon the wrinkles:

I'm thinking about making it into a pillow that will sit in a dark brown rocking chair. Maybe...maybe not...we'll see. My mind might change a few times before this thing is even finished. LOL

I started an iris by Just Nan a day or two before the end of May. I thought I'd have it done within a couple of days but nooooooooooo. You know how life gets in the way sometimes? Well, life is finally out of the way for a bit and I was able to put more stitches into it last night:

I can't wait until this is finished (surely this weekend!) so I can put it into the matching iris frame. It'll go into our bedroom which -- thanks to mine and my mother's stitching -- has an increasing amount of purple irises and lavender-shaded things. (Yes, my husband sleeps in there, too. He actually doesn't mind! LOL)


Today I passed by the nursery on the way to pay a bill. On the way back by, I just had to stop because something caught my eye. No, not a baby nursery...a PLANT nursery! ;-p Anyway, there were these huuuuuuuuuge planters full of assorted plants and they were drop-dead gorgeous. The prices were just drop-dead. (hahahaha) They were asking between $100 to $150 for them! *thud* Sooooooo, I made my own for about half the price. Whaddya' think?


I love it! It sits on Brad's side of the driveway so I hope he likes it. If not...well...it's too late now. Or maybe I could sell it for $150. HAHAHAHAHA


Happy Friday, happy stitching, and don't forget to count your blessings. *hugs*

Stitching updates! (and a little rambling, of course)

Hello to my fellow stitching addicts! (Don't even try to deny it. We are what we are.) *hee hee*

I'd like to publicly thank CindyF for her recent giveaways on her blog. My name was drawn for the "Home Words" chart by Prairie Schooler. Thank you so much, Cindy! You're a sweetheart! Here's what I won:

I've been able to stitch a little lately but not as much as before. Continuing with my "Stash Closet Discoveries", I started the Redbird Designs Texas Alphabet Quilt. Since my sewing abilities are improving and I'm gaining confidence in that aspect, I figured it was time to jump in. Here is the first finished square, "The Alamo":

This past week, Brad, the boys, and I traveled to Ft. Worth to watch the Nascar truck races. As luck would have it, it was the most B-O-R-I-N-G truck race ever. There were two cautions for the entire race and both were due to debris. No, we didn't necessarily want anyone to wreck...but it wasn't even a close finish! *yawwwwwwwwwn* But there is a plus side to all of this...

We stopped in Decatur, Texas, at this little antique store that also happens to have a room and a hallway dedicated to cross-stitch supplies. I did some stash shopping there (WOO HOO!) and when we returned home, my stash-in-the-mail was waiting for me. (Wagon? What wagon?) Here's my haul:

In other news, I'm still in the running for a job I applied for. Have I mentioned it here before? It's for a 911 dispatcher job at our local police department. Last night was my first of two "sit-ins" where I observe the dispatchers in action and ask questions. Get this -- I can stitch when it's slow! *doing my funky lil' dance around the room, thankful you guys can't see me* I go back Friday night to observe a weekend night. I really like it and honestly I'd be surprised if they didn't pick me. We all hit it off so well! Sooooooo...we'll see what happens there.

Meanwhile, I'm thanking God that our area got some beneficial rain today but dodged the hail and tornadoes that occurred south of us. Whew!

Guess I'll go roam some blogs and then do some crafty stuff, like maybe cutting more fabric for the quilt squares, stitching, etc. Happy stitching! :-)

Another quick finish

After roaming through my stash recently, I decided that I have some of the coolest stuff...and it's just sitting there in my closet. Sure, it's fun to drool over but no one is truly enjoying my stash as it sits there, right? Sooooooo, as you can tell by some of my recent finishes, I decided to do something about it. Even if they're just small finishes, I'm thinning out my stash and getting things done so that they can be enjoyed. The next thing I picked was a little something for my wonderful husband.

That being said, here is a close-up of my third finish in four days:

That is "I Simply Love You" by Twisted Threads. It is stitched over two on 32 count Silkweavers linen called "Days Gone By". The lettering is done with two strands of Caron Waterlilies "Sable" and the heart is stitched with two strands of Six Strand Sweets "Mocha". I mounted the fabric and put it in a box that has a frame as a lid which you can see better here:

The colors are more true in the first photo. The frame opening measures 5" x 7" so it's not teeny but not big, either. The box now sits on one of our bedroom dressers. It's really lovely! Good thing I like that box/frame combo because after roaming all my framing/finishing stuff, I found out that I had three -- yes, THREE!!! -- of those boxes stashed away. And all the same color, too! Gah! In other words, look for two more of these in the future. Plus, I made a mental note to buy a black one. I'll try to make sure I don't end up with three of those.

Okay, now I'm off to go find another little something that I can hopefully finish today or tomorrow. This is fun! :-)

Two finishes in two days!

Okay, so they're small finishes but they still count! :~)

Today I spent the afternoon stitching and finishing a teeny little scissor fob from the kit "A Folk Art Sewing Box" by Hillside Samplings. Of course, you just know there was a Liberty Hill piece in that kit. *hee hee*

Here is the front:

Here is the back with my initials and current year:

Finally, where else would I display this little fob other than in my Liberty Hill curio cabinet, right? *big, huge grin*

I love it and it looks just perfect in the cabinet. There is a pincushion still do from that same kit but I'm behaving for now and not starting anything new. Yet. It's still early. *hee hee*

Thanks, as always, for looking, commenting, and visiting. Happy frog-free stitching!

Christmas ornament #6 finished

And here it is:

That is Victoria Sampler's "All Spiced Up" from their leaflet called "Button Up For Christmas #2". I used the threads, wire, and buttons from their embellishment pack but stitched it on a mystery piece of linen from my stash.

Other than this ornament, I've been working on my "Footprints" WIP. Maybe I'll have an updated WIP picture in the next day or so.

Thanks for looking! Now get off your computer and go stitch! LOL ;-)

Major happy dance!

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! Guess what I finished last night? If you said "Hillside Sampling's Folk Art Sewing Roll", then you're right!

Here it is all folded up:

Unroll/unfold it once and this is what you see:

Unroll/unfold it again and then you see the complete inside of the roll:

Here is the back of the entire sewing roll:

Here is a side view with the roll all folded up:

Here is a picture of the completed roll with the box that came with the kit --- note my little helper in the background:

And finally, here is where the roll and the box will reside -- on the bottom shelf of my curio cabinet that is dedicated exclusively to my Liberty Hill collection:

I am so excited to have this roll finished and added to my curio cabinet. Thanks for looking!

Tonight I hope to finish an ornament. Maybe, just maybe, I might start a new project. *mwah hahahahaha*

Happy stitching! :-)

More pics, yay!

I'm on a roll now! LOL! Actually, I've just sorted through more pics that I want to post for y'all to peek at. Some are stitching-related, others are not. Hope you enjoy them all! :)

My wonderful friend Carolyn sent me the most thoughtful gift in the mail. Know what she did? She sent me the Criss Ginghers!!! *drool drool* Aren't they gorgeous?

Here is a picture of my Gingher scissor collection (plus a couple of other scissors) where they sit in my stash closet:

And just look at the cats Q-snap cover my mother gave me -- too cute!

And just for grins, here's Freddie (aka: Little Miss Hateful) sleeping on top of the piano:

Now back to stitching stuff...want to see some of my WIPs?

This is my "Valentino's Three" Tall Guys by Holiday Sparrow:

And this is my "Folk Art Sewing Roll" by Hillside Samplings:

And this is my "Break Time" by Stoney Creek:

And finally, this is "Bathtub" by Imaginating:

Thanks for looking...again. LOL! I fell so behind on blogging and posting pictures but I think it's all caught up now. Whew! Plus, I'm still catching up on reading everyone's blogs and posting comments on them, too. Thanks for your comments! :-)

Lots of photos to show you what I've been doing...

Hi everyone! I've received a couple of e-mails wondering about why I haven't updated my blog. Sorry! Life gets in the way sometimes but it sure is nice to know there are folks out there in the e-world who care. So instead of rambling on and on about what I've been doing, here are a ton of pictures to show you so you can see for yourself. :-) But no griping about work or anything icky...just the good stuff is all I'm gonna talk about. Woo hoo!

My 16-yr-old plays baseball and he got his first game-winning RBI (run batted in) recently. Here he is with the official ball -- and yes, we got a display case for it. *hee hee*

My other son is 13 and he plays drums now. He's only had eight or nine lessons over the last month or two and he is outstanding already! (That review comes from other people and not just his proud momma. LOL) So here he is in his room drumming on his very own drum set:

One of the top-secret gifts I stitched for my mother for Mother's Day was this Shepherd's Bush needleroll called "A Mother's Love":

My serger finally quit frightening me so much so I cleaned off my work area and made a cord cover for my OTT Lite -- easy peasy!

Before going to my oldest son's sports award banquet, we were taking pictures are home. For those of who you don't know what Brad and I look like, here I am along with my crazy husband:

Can you tell that he's the crazy one? *hee hee*



On top of being a Gingher addict and a cross stitch addict, have I mentioned before that I'm a Liberty Hill addict? It's certifiable now because we bought a curio cabinet and dedicated it solely to Liberty Hill pieces:

One of my dozen WIPs right now is the Folk Art Sewing Roll. I am on the fourth of four stitched areas and then it'll be time to do the finishing work. I am so exicted and can't wait to start adding some stitched Liberty Hill / Hillside Samplings pieces to my curio. *major happy dancing*

I've also been working in my sun room/garden room and outside. Here is a picture from my front porch of a hanging basket that I fell in love with -- the stand is from Home Depot and the plant is from Wal-Mart:

Well, I didn't post the other two gifts that I stitched for my mother for Mother's Day and I'm sure there are more pics I should post...but that's plenty for now, don't you think? Hope you enjoyed them!

Take care, happy stitching, and bye for now! :-)

Finally -- back to stitching and blogging!

Hi everyone! Sorry I've been absent so long. Between trying to get our taxes finished and everything else life throws at us, I just haven't had the time to post on any blogs or boards, much less stitch much. But now...I think things are almost normal. (Whatever "normal" may be, right? LOL)

I stitched another ornament before the end of March but didn't get it "finished" until about a week or so ago. Here it is:

That is "Snowflake Ornament", the first in the series of Christmas ornaments by Stoney Creek from their February 2008 magazine. It is stitched over two on 28 count opalescent Lugana with Azure Skies Caron Waterlilies. A Mill Hill treasure is in the center and has two different colors of Mill Hill beads throughout the design, too. I made my own cording as well as my own tassel and have decided I hate making tassels. *grumble grumble* But it turned out okay...all except for the hanger, which is not-so-pretty. Notice I cut that part out of the picture? hahahaha Oh well, I like it overall other than the fact that it's about 4 1/2" square and that's a bit larger than I thought it would be.

Hey, quick question to my readers...How many WIPs do you have? My mother forced me to count mine (okay, so "forced" is a strong word) and I have twelve of 'em. *thud* So, 'fess up in your comments with how many you have...if you dare! *mwah hahahaha*

Hope everyone's been doing great. I hope to be back with more pictures soon. Take care, bye for now, and keep that frog away from our stitching!

I'm baaaaaaaaack!

A couple of weeks ago, I was able to get together with a group of stitching friends (a rare treat for me!) and just look at the above picture to see the goodies they gave to me! Wow! I love it all!

I was also able to do some stash shopping. So much for the wagon, huh? The next two pictures are of the stash I bought. Two lucky finds were the Liberty Hill pieces in the upper left corner of the second picture. And yes, that's another pair of Gingher scissors in the upper right corner of the first picture. Those are the gold-handled epaulette scissors. But wait...there's more! In the upper left corner of the second picture next to the Liberty Hill pieces, you'll see the 3 1/2" black oxide scissors. Yay, two more additions! I have a third addition planned already -- next will be the 3 1/2" pewter scissors...mark my words...but first, I have two Liberty Hill pieces on order. Lemme pay for those then we'll see about the Ginghers. *hee hee*

There hasn't been much time to stitch lately. I have been working on a Christmas ornament that will hopefully be finished later or tomorrow so I'll post pictures when that's done. I also stitched my sister a floss tag but forgot to take pictures (DUH!). Sooooooo, I stitched one more pattern on my Heart in Hand "Mother's Wisdom" project. Just four more to go! I'm stitching on 32 count linen over one. There is a quarter in the picture for a size reference. They are so easy and fast to stitch, so maybe I'll just get 'em done soon. Here's the latest picture:

We are supposed to get between 3 and 7 inches of snow tonight/overnight. *crossing everything* It wouldn't even hurt my feelings if we ended up in a blizzard warning -- and that's only a county away at the moment! Quite odd for southwest Oklahoma at the end of March but I'll take it! :-)

Remember my friend from church who is battling breast cancer? She got a great report on her last doctor's visit -- her treatment has reduced the size of her measurable tumors by 30 to 40 percent! Isn't that wonderful? Keep those prayers coming anyway and thanks for all the prayers you all have said so far.

Hopefully everyone is warm, safe, and frog-free. Happy stitching!

Welcome home, Audrey! Welcome home!

Ohhhhhhhhhhh my goodness!!! They're here, they're really here! It was so hard not to tackle the mailman today when I saw him coming with my package! These are the Audrey Gingher scissors that came in a set -- I believe they are from 2003. The first picture is just of them in the box, and the second picture is a close-up so you can see the floral design better.

Both the Audrey 8" shears and the Audrey 4" embroidery scissors are at home with the rest of my Gingher collection. This is a set of scissors I thought I'd never have so I'm just tickled pink to have them! Woo hoo!!!

No real stitching news to report...my time this week has pretty much been spent doing unimportant things like taxes. I hope to have my priorities straight soon (LOL) and get back to stitching. I will be out of town and away from work (woo hoo!) all week next week so surely I'll be able to stitch then. Hopefully a lot!

Meanwhile, thanks for looking and commenting. I enjoy everyone else's blogs, too, and I do try to comment so you know I've been there. Happy stitching! :-)))

4th Christmas ornament of 2009 finished!

And there it is! It's actually much larger than I wanted so I'll probably use it as a hanging decoration instead of an ornament. (Most likely it'll be displayed during the holidays on that exact same hook. LOL) The pattern is 2006 Santa Ornament "From the Heart" by Homespun Elegance. It is stitched over two on 28 count linen with DMC threads. The linen color is 18th Century Brown. I covered the back in a matching tan flannel fabric and the trim is just Lion Brand yarn that I found at Wal-Mart, braided, and sewed on per the instructions on the pattern.

This is the fourth ornament I have stitched in 2009. If I can keep up this pace then we might end up with a Christmas tree decorated with lots of Christmas ornaments for the first time ever!

The other day, I finished one of my mother's gifts that I plan to give her for Mother's Day. I can't reveal it here because she is known to loiter here. Er, I mean...read here. Good thing I live over seven hours away from her or she'd just come over and steal it like she did my frog fob. *snort* ;-)

I've had a great lazy Saturday today and trust me, it's much needed. It's tax time and guess who's doing our taxes? Lucky me!!! Oh well, just remember -- if you hear a distant scream next week, it's probably me.

Now I'm off to work on Mother's Day gift #2. *hee hee*

Stash haul alert!

Hello to my fellowing stitching addicts! :-) As most of you know, I've been on the wagon for about two months now which means I haven't been buying hardly any stash...virtually none! Sooooooo, this weekend found Brad and I were child-free -- which is rare -- and we went to Tulsa, Oklahoma. Do you know what that means??? I was at the Silver Needle! Woo hoo! *still happy dancing*

Not only did I get to shop at the Silver Needle, but I was also able to go to Stitchworks, Michaels, Jo-Ann Fabrics, and Hobby Lobby! Here is one of two pictures of my stash haul:

Oooooooooh! Ahhhhhhhhh! I got several square frames from Michaels, some eyelets and a hoop from Hobby Lobby and Michaels (the eyelets are for floss tags/rings and the hoop is for a miniature knotted rug kit), and the rest of the items are from Silver Needle or Stitchworks. Mostly Silver Needle. LOL! I did purchase a few more things...

Liberty Hill stash additions! *more happy dancing* I looooooooooove Liberty Hill stuff and can't get enough of it. I got the needlework tool box, a thread keep/thread board, a hornbook kit by Hillside Samplings, and the Acorn Hill First Stitch Finders kit by Historic Stitches. Ohhhhhhhhhh, I am sooooooooo happy to have these! And you thought Gingher scissors were my main weakness. HAHAHA

Here's a picture of the Liberty Hill stuff I already had:

I had the Folk Art Sewing roll kit, Folk Art thread keep, and the Folk Art sewing box that has the scissor fob and pin cushion kit. Those kits are calling my name. I feel several new projects might be started soon. LOL

Now, about those eyelets...I decided that I am going to be making more floss tags/floss rings. The one I made so far was fun! I'll be making more and will give some as gifts but I might try to sell some, too. Who knows? So meanwhile, I've been accumulating what I need to make a ton of those things. Here is my Crop-A-Dile along with a case of eyelets, rings, etc.:

Do I have to confess that I have about a dozen other eyelet shapes on order? *hee hee*

Well, it's time to catch up from our weekend getaway. Yuck. I really want to stitch, fondle, and roam blogs instead. Until I check in again, know that I appreciate my stalkers (followers) and love the comments. Happy stitching!

Yay, another ornament finish!

Okay, so it's not like it was a tough one to do but hey, it's still a finish, right? :-) I sat down and completed the stitching and finishing in just a few hours but that was the plan. By this time in '09, I wanted to have three or four ornaments finished up. When I was searching for my next ornament, I picked this one because I adore snowmen and it was obviously very quick and easy to finish. Soooooo, this makes ornament number three! It is from the 1998 Ornament Issue of Just Cross Stitch magazine and is by Homespun Elegance Ltd. It is called "Starry Snowman". It measures about 3 inches across and I stitched it on some mystery linen from my stash, I believe it's 28 count and some sort of raw/natural linen.

Side note -- a while back, I purchased a good-sized lot of linens and evenweaves from eBay. (*drool drool* Ooooooooh, eBay!!!) The good majority of them were labeled but some were not. Even though I can figure out the count relatively easily, I'm not going to the trouble to identify manufacturer and exact color name, especially when the colors are all neutrals and earthtones, ya' know? I'm just glad to have the fabric! :-)))

Hope everyone's week is starting out on a good note. Mine started good as we've rented some movies and started watching them last night. Of course we had the fireplace going. My family was together, we had a good movie to watch, I had my stitching, and the fire felt great -- how much better can it get? Anyway...two of the movies we have are "Open Season", both the first and second ones, and we watched the first one last night. Too cute and funny! We started the second one but the news was fixing to come on, Brad was starting to doze off, my oldest son was tired, and my youngest had succumbed to his allergy meds and fallen asleep. Maybe tonight we'll watch the second one. Bring on the popcorn!

Another thing I did last night (after finishing my third Christmas ornament) was get back to work on "Break Time" by Stoney Creek. Good grief, they love their color changes, color blends, and backstitching, don't they??? Oooooooooh, but they are so worth it. Watch for an updated picture later in the week, probably Thursday night or Friday.

Take care, happy frog-free stitching, and bye for now!

My first floss tag / floss ring and a WIP picture

That is the first floss ring / floss tag I have ever made. But it won't be the last! The finishing took about an hour and a half but I don't think that's too bad considering I've never done one before and I was taking my own sweet time getting it done. This will be a surprise gift for a friend I have "known" through the cross-stitching message boards for years, and that's why I can't post the back of it because if she reads this blog (which I don't think she does) then she'd know it was for her. *hee hee*

Thanks to the Snippets and Stash blog, I was able to find easy-to-follow instructions accompanied by pictures on how to make the floss tag. Here is the link: http://snippetsandstash.blogspot.com/ The only difference is that I used my Crop-A-Dile tool instead of the one listed in the tutorial. Once you click on that link and arrive at her blog, just scroll down until you see a little section on the right called "Tutorials", then click on the link for the floss tags. Easy peasy! :-)

Next is a WIP (work-in-progress) picture of my "Valentino's Three" from the Holiday Sparrow Designs series of Tall Guys:

With tomorrow being Valentine's Day, I think I might just keep stitching on this piece. It's appropriate, don't you think? LOL

BTW, for those asking and wondering, we made it through the bad storms and tornadoes just fine the other night and hope y'all did, too. The storms fired up about 20 to 30 miles east of us, so we missed all the excitement...thank goodness!

My husband (Brad) and I don't "do" Valentine's Day, so he took the day off yesterday (woo hoo!) and even made arrangements with my ex to pick up the boys after school. He wanted us to have a whole day together...and we did! We didn't do anything spectacular but that's part of what made it so special...just being best friends and enjoying each other's company is part of what keeps our marriage alive and happy. His thoughtfulness and our day together yesterday beats any over-priced bouquet of flowers or heart-shaped box of candy.

May everyone have a wonderful Valentine's Day tomorrow and a relaxing weekend. :-)

What do you think?

I've finally gotten around to making some changes to my blog. The plain ol' black and white had gotten old, especially with Spring just around the corner. So...whatcha' think? Feel free to vote -- the poll is located right there ========================================>

My stitching yesterday and today so far has been on my Tall Guys, "Valentino's Three". Watch for an updated picture later in the week. Heck, maybe later tonight. You never know about me. LOL

Our weather forecaster said we might get severe weather tomorrow morning/afternoon, which might even include a tornado. *thud* This is FEBRUARY, for cryin' out loud!

Hope everyone had a great Monday. I'm going to go stitch and probably play some Wii games with Brad and the boys. Take care and bye for now!

The best pillow I've ever made!

Okay, so it's the first pillow I've ever made but that still means it's the best pillow, even if only by default. LOL! Here it is, hot off the sewing machine:

Actually, I'm pretty impressed with my first pillow. I opted out of mitering the corners or adding trim because it was my first sewn pillow effort but maybe next time. This pillow and the little pink book next to it will be given to my friend today or tomorrow.

If you're the praying type, please add Melissa to your prayers. She could really use them. If you're not the praying type, then we'd gladly accept any good thoughts/vibes you can muster. Thanks to everyone -- your thoughts and prayers are much appreciated.

Now for more pillow information in case some readers are interested... I got the finishing techniques from a book titled "Needlework from Stitch to Finish" by Summer Louise Truswell. She has a way of making things so much easier! The pillow measures right at 12" x 12". It is framed and backed with a pink ribbon breast cancer fabric I purchased at Hancock Fabrics earlier this week. The pattern is from Gloria & Pat and is free! It can easily be found using Google...just do a search on "Gloria Pat free What Cancer Cannot Do" (or something similar) and it should be the first thing that pops up on the list.

Thanks for looking and thanks for your comments. *hugs*

Christmas needleroll finished

And there it is! The needleroll is a bit smaller than "normal" ones as it is only ornament-sized. It measures right under six inches tall and is less than two inches across at the widest point. I altered the design a bit and used a totally different button than what was called for in the pattern. Count this as one of my finishes that I'm proud of. :-) (Side note -- this is only the third needleroll I've ever made and is by far the smallest. It was a bugger to turn right-side out! LOL)

Well, that completes my ornament for February so I have go post it at the ornament SAL blog.
The stitching was finished on 1/25 but I "finished" it today. That makes my second ornament for the year, so I'm only one behind were I wanted to be. We'll see if February lets me catch up because I also want to make a floss tag for a friend. (Another side note -- I bought a Crop-A-Dile yesterday for those eyelets/grommets in the floss tags. I played with it last night and it's one handy-dandy tool! Okay, okay, enough free advertising. LOL)

Hope you're all getting some frog-free stitching time in. I plan on stitching this evening but don't know yet if I'll be working on "O Beautiful" (which is coming along VERY nicely!), or the floss tag, or maybe work on the finishing of the cancer piece I stitched for a friend. We'll see...but either way, I'm heating leftovers for dinner so you know what that means: more stitching time! Woo hoo! LOL ;-) Bye for now!