Another Ornament!

This one I received from Marika, for the SBEBB Christmas
ornament exchange. It's from the JCS 2008 ornie issue by
Primrose Needleworks. Stitched on 40 ct linen-wow, such
tiny little stitches! She also sent me some pretty green linen,
some felt ornies, some hand dyed floss, and some finnish chocolate!

You don't have to worry Marika, I love everything-especially
my ornament! It hangs in a special place on the front of my tree!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Ornaments to share!

I've been wanting to post these for awhile now, just haven't had
the time. First up, Angela and I were in a private ornament swap
together. This is what I stitched for her. I LOVE snowmen!! So I
just had to stitch this one up. It's by Barbara Ana, from a new
booklet she just put out this month called "more Christmas
ornaments". It's stitched on 28 ct summer khaki linen with dmc
and dmc color variations floss (my own color substitutions).


Next is the ornament Angela stitched for me. I love it! And it's
a snowman (of course). I only have 4 cross stitched ornies on
my tree (including this one) so it is proudly displayed right in the
front! Thanks again Angela for swapping with me. It was so much
fun. We'll have to do it again next year!


And last but not least, the SBEBB ornament exchange to Cindy.
I had a difficult time deciding what to stitch for her. I wasn't sure
what the weather is like in Singapore. So I settled on this one
from Blackbird Designs. It's called "winter song" and is in the
JCS 2008 Christmas ornie issue. I personalized it with her initial.
It is also stitched on 28 ct summer khaki linen with dmc & sampler
threads. There is a better photo on her blog!


The entire exchange I sent to her. I even found a notepad with
the letter "C" on it!

HOE Floss Tag Exchange!

Well, this is way overdue-I know. Wonder if I'll ever catch up
to my posts?? (ha-ha). First up is the floss tag exchange that I
sent to Caroline. I stitched her a design that is actually from the
Prairie Schooler. I took a part of one of their designs from the
Measure of a year book. It is stitched on 28 ct monaco (hand dyed
by me) with DMC light effects threads from their jewel collection.
It really does sparkle-try clicking on photo for a better view.


Here is the back. I stitched our initials, the group name, and the
date.



This is the whole exchange I sent to her. I made the simple tote
bag you see underneath. I thought she could carry her stitching
or whatever around in it. I guess her DD loved the notepad set
so much that she made off with them. I'm glad everything was liked!


Last but not least, my floss tag exchange that I received from
Georgie. She must have read my blog and discovered that I like
purple and fairies. Not sure of the designer or fabric used. Isn't
it cute?! It's just the right size. She also sent some matching floss
and some wonderful smelling soap. Thanks again Georgie!

HOE and F&S

I'm still a little behind in my postings-as you can see from the
date on the pictures.
I received my HOE Prairie Schooler exchange from Rita
awhile back. She stitched me 2 PS designs! How lucky am I?!

I just love the blue/green scissors she sent with the fob. At last,

my scissor collection is finally growing.

And the entire package-complete with all the great

extras. I especially love the gorgeous Woodland Green

silkweaver fabric! It's so pretty and sparkly! This is my

first fabric from them.

Thanks Rita for an awesome exchange!

A few days later-

I got word from Heather that she finally received the

Fair and square Halloween exchange I sent her.

I stitched her Lizzie Kate's Peek-a-boo from her "Autumn

things" leaflet. I Stitched them on 32 ct Irish cream linen.

I used dmc & dmc color variations floss. I made the signature

square match the design square.

I was late in sending her this exchange and I felt horrible. This

is now a non-goodie group. She waited so patiently, that I just

had to send her something extra.

I hope I don't get in too much trouble but I figured it was

the least I could do for making her wait. So this is what I sent.

Besides, I'm always looking for an excuse to send someone one

of my handmade zipper bags!

I can't believe Christmas is only 32 days away! Yikes!

Take care everyone and thanks for the comments!

Make a wish & a PIF

I am so lucky! In the same week-I got another pinkeep.
I received my first wish from the MAWBB. I wished
for a pinkeep and Angela fulfilled my wish! She picked
the perfect design and colors. My living room is blue &
tan, which is where it sits-proudly displayed. And I love
the saying-especially fitting with Thanksgiving just around
the corner. Thanks again Angela! I love it!



I received my very first pinkeep. I had signed up
for a PIF on Lisa's blog. This is what she sent. She
had no idea I did not own a pinkeep of my own. It
sits right next to the one Angela made me. Thanks
Lisa, I love this little freebie design! Great finishing
btw. I hope to PIF something after the holidays!

Thanks for the comments! Take care everyone!

HOE Prairie Schooler & A return Crazy Exchange!!

Carol sent me this cute little return crazy exchange.
Isn't he adorable? I hung him in my living room with
all my other little Halloweeny things. She does such nice
work. The finishing is just amazing. Click on photo for a
close up of the tiny gold seed beads around the edges.

Batty Jack scissor fob
Design from JCS October 2008

Here are the rest of the goodies she sent me.
I love the marbled scissors! One can never have
enough of those. And chocolate soap-
how did she know I am a chocoholic. It smells good
enough to eat! Thanks again carol!

Here is the HOE Prairie Schooler exchange I sent to

Leigh. I had such a hard time deciding what to stitch

for her.

I finally decided on "Night Owl" from JCS

October 2008. This is one of my favorites

from that issue.

Stitched on 32 ct Irish cream linen (I think),

with dmc threads.

And the rest of the exchange, complete with a

handmade Halloween zipper bag (made by me),

perfect to carry around her Halloween stitching!

I'm so glad she liked what I sent.

Thanks for stopping by! Until next time....

Squares to share!

Heather sent me these adorable little squares for the fair and Square
Halloween round. It is "Fright Cat" by Bent Creek. Any suggestions as
to what I could make these into? They are about 6" squares. Since the
design is more fall-ish and not so Halloween-ish, I can display them
through November. Any thoughts??

I think I will take a break from F & S until the Holidays are over.
From now until January first, I'm just too busy. I tend to make a
lot of my presents as opposed to buying them for people. It's just
getting to be so expensive and I think people love handmade things.
So between that, the kids, D.H. (cuz sometimes it seems like I have
4 kids, not 3), Christmas, and then youngest's Birthday 4 days after
Christmas, there's not much time left for me. I'm sure I'm not alone
on that one. Plus, I have found so many other wonderful groups/boards
out there that I just joined. I would like to give them a try too.
Take care everyone!

Some things I've been meaning to share...

I can't believe it's been almost 6 weeks since my last
post. Wow-time does fly. Between getting ready for
my craft fairs and then my FIL having a heart attack-
there just wasn't any time left in the day to post. I hope
to change that.
Anyway, first up is the Crazy exchange that I sent to
Carol. I decided on a fall design as opposed to a Halloween
one, that way she could display it until December. Not that
I don't love Halloween-because I do!

*LK's "welcome fall" from the "Autumn Things" leaflet
*Stitched on 28 ct. summer khaki linen
*I used sampler threads & WDW floss. The lettering is WDW's
holiday collection -"Indian summer". I love it!
*Made into a small wall hanging/banner.

Here's the entire exchange that I sent her. I'm so glad she likes

what I made.

Birthday gifts!

Thought I'd show some of the birthday gifts I received.
Since my birthday was last Thursday the 4th, my mother
threw a party at her house last Sunday for DH and I (since
our birthdays are only 9 days apart).

Mom got me the frog statue for my garden and the small
stitchy kits. She also got me some coffee themed plates
(that look great in my kitchen) and a couple of shirts. My
stitchy friend up the street got me the rest of the stuff here.
She knows I just love my coffee & coffee themed stuff.
DH gave me my gift early. Last month he bought me a really
nice, barely used mountain bike- so the whole family could go on
bike rides. I also received some money and a few scratch tickets
(they weren't winners). Oh well! I am sad to report that I did not
receive any stitchy gifts. :( But I love all my other gifts just the same!
Fall is here! Take care everyone!

Blog award!!

I am so honored!

I was given this blog award by Lynda . Thank you so much!

Here are the rules for this award!


1. The winner can put the logo on their blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links to those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of those you nominated.



I have several blogs I read and I love every one of them! There are just way too many to choose from, so in the spirit of the award, here are 4 blogs that I have nominated! I would pick all of them if I could!


Carol
Lisa
Mercy
Harmien

I hope you'll visit these blogs! And thanks again to all who read my blog and leave comments. I really do appreciate it.

More stash shopping!

July 4th weekend, we stayed with some relatives who
have a house on Lake Waukewan in Meredith/New
Hampton, NH (It's next to lake Winnipesaukee). Any-
way, us girls just love to go shopping. So we headed into
Meredith to a few stores. We went into some neat stores
on Main street. Then we went to our usual consignment store.
Love that place!! Next- I had a quilt shop in mind that I wanted
to visit just up the road from the consignment store. I gave
them a call first to find out if they carried cross stitch patterns
-as some do. Well, they didn't. We didn't really have tons of
time so I decided not to go. I mean, I could look at fabric for
hours on end if you let me. I did ask them if they knew of a
place around that did have needlework charts. They did!!
They gave me the number of a store back on Main street.
I called them up and asked where they were on Main, as I
was just there and didn't see them. They told me where and
said I needed to hurry that they were closing in 10 minutes!
Yikes! We quickly flew back to Main street, found the store,
I ran in myself and just started grabbing stuff. I've never
shopped so fast in my life! I was thrilled to find that they had
some different charts that my not so LNS doesn't carry.
Come to find out, this store has been there for 25 years. They
do framing also. We've been visiting this area for 4 or 5 years
now and never knew they were there. Just goes to show ya-
if I hadn't asked the quilting shop, I never would have known.

Take care everyone! Thanks for the lovely comments
on the previous post about my first biscornu! They are
very much appreciated!

My first biscornu!

Of course-I finished it way back at the beginning of
July and I'm just getting around to posting it now.
Isn't it cute? I know many of you have already seen
this stitched 100 times by now. But it's my first biscornu
and I'm very proud of myself. I will admit that I had to
stop a few times while sewing the front to the back. Boy,
is it tedious-whip stitching all those little backstitches
together. My eyes kept going crazy on me. Thank you to
Carol S. for sending me the pattern-as I was not able to
get the software to work.

As you can see in the picture below-I even signed and
dated it in the corner. It was so much fun making this.
I can't wait to make more. Especially some Halloween/
fall ones! I just love Halloween and Fall.

Buzzing Around Biscornu by Barbara Ana
Freebie-link found here
28 ct monaco-hand dyed by me
dmc fibers

Exchange sent!!

Yes-I know, I'm way behind in posting again! Shame on me!
Time just got away from me again. Anyway, on to the fun stuff.
These are the squares that I made for Lisa V. for the F & S
round #7. I read that she liked sheep, and I thought that this
was just the cutest little design.
i also sent her a handmade zippered bag, some ribbon for
finishing, and a CCN chart. You can see photos on her blog
link in post below). She's already made them into a pinkeep!!

Design-"Bless Ewe" by Pine Mountain Designs
Stitched on 32 ct cream linen
I used dmc, sampler threads, & the white on the sheep
is rayon floss.
Take care everyone! Thank you for your lovely comments!

Exchange received!!!

I'm still a little behind in posts (about a month to be
exact). Back in June, I received my squares for F&S
round #7 from Lisa V. She found out that I like tea &
that I love the color purple and stitched me these.
So pretty! Not sure who the designer is.
(Click on photo for a close up).

This is the whole exchange she sent all together-
including all my wonderful goodies. Thanks again Lisa.

Teacher's gift

This is the only teacher gift I had time to
make. It was made for DD's (McKenna)
teacher for the end of the year. I wanted to
do something special since I knew this
teacher was being let go-due to budget cuts.
Not to mention, out of all the teachers that
my 3 children have had-she was my favorite.
She will be missed!

Lizzie Kate's-Teaching is a work of heart
Stitched on 14 ct. fiddler's aida (I ran out
of linen & only had a few days to stitch this).
Finished into a pillow. I added a ribbon bow
and then an apple button on top.

Thanks for all your wonderful comments!!

Freebie exchange!!

Here's what I got from Nic W. for the HOE freebie exchange.
She stitched for me not one, but two things. A scissor fob with
my name stitched on the back & a butterfly charm. I also got this
cute little pillow/pincushion. She stitched the same design, but
the fob is stitched over 1 thread. The pillow will soon have a
permanent home in my basket of smalls, which will be kept on
my sofa table in my living room.

Design-Lizzie Kate (freebie)


Here is a pic of the whole exchange she sent me. Beads, rayon
floss, a button, felt and some body wash and lotion from Avon.
Thanks for a great first HOE exchange Nic.

Stash shopping!!

Oh was I a bad girl!! Back at the beginning of June, I went
to my not so LNS with my stithin friend down the street.
I don't go there very often since it's a 40 minute drive. So
with the gas prices being what they are, I figured I'd make
it worth my while. I won't tell you what I spent. Here's what
I got! Can you tell it had been awhile since I had gone?!
I did manage to get 10% off my whole order. Thank goodness
she has a frequent buyer program!

I just couldn't resist-I wanted one of everything!

My first floss ring tag!

Thanks to Staci's wonderful tutorial, I made my first floss
ring tag (awhile back). I had seen so many neat ones made
by her on her blog that I just had to make one myself.
Thanks for the inspiration Staci!!
I made it for Jen R., for the HOE freebie exchange.

Design-Trail Creek Farm
fabric-hand dyed by me (28 ct monaco)
fibers-dmc



These are the other items I sent to her. The pansies
pincushion is handmade by me. I also included some
buttons (not pictured).

I can't wait to make one for myself & my stitchin friend
who lives down the street.

I'm back!!!

I am a very, very bad blogger-I know! I thought once
summer got here things would slow down a bit. What
was I thinking?! i have 3 kids home all day. I don't have
any time to myself. But I do promise to post a lot more
often. I have tons of pic's to share. the first is the gift I
made my Mom for Mother's Day. I took a plain black
sweatshirt and turned it into a cardigan. Added some
Laurel Birch patches. I made the binding by hand with
a matching LB fabric. She loved it! I plan on selling these
types of sweatshirts at craft fairs in the fall.

Here's the back.

-Until next time!!

Long time no post!!

Sorry everyone, spring sports season is here. Don't have much time to post. My evenings are filled with either DS's baseball games/practices or DD's soccer games. I do have some finishes-finally!


This is the square I stitched for Tina's snowman RR#36.
It's "Let it snow" by Barbara Ana. Stitched on lt.blue
fiddler's aida. I used all dmc floss. The hat and the word "snow"
were stitched using janlynn variegated floss.



These are the squares I stitched for the fair and square
exchange-round #6 for Neila. She just loves coffee (like I
do) so I thought this design was perfect for her. It's "coffee
crazy" by Lizzie Kate. Stitched on 32 ct off white linen with
dmc threads.

My last one to share is also "coffee crazy" by

Lizzie Kate. It's the square I stitched for my

coffee RR#36 for one of my yahoo groups I'm

in. Stitched on off white fiddler's aida with dmc

floss and Gentle Art sampler threads. I don't really

stitch on aida anymore. I had joined this RR before

I became addicted to evenweave/linen. That's it for

now. Thanks for looking! BTW-I love comments!!

Win free pink ribbon fabric!

Just go to http://stitchpink.blogspot.com/ and enter to win a free piece of pink ribbon fabric and help support the fight against breast cancer!

Zippered Bags!!!

Zippered bags for sale!!! They are extremely durable and heavily lined. Machine washable and dryable. Perfect for just about anything-stitching projects, cosmetics, ipod, cell phone, GPS units, credit cards/cash, etc. They are available in 3 different sizes-Large (17"w x 12"H)-$16 (pictured on top), Medium (12"w x 9" h)-$10 (pictured on bottom), and small (9"w x 6"h)-$6 (not pictured). Each size is available in any of the 5 patterns pictured. Click on photo to see them close up. I will be posting more bags soon so check back often. Leave a comment (or email me if you belong to one of my yahoo groups) if you'd like to purchase any. Also-there is a small cost for shipping depending on how you want it sent. It would either be $2-$3 for parcel post or $6 for priority (2 day) shipping. Contact me for prices on more than 1 item or international shipping. Thanks! Have a great day!

A finished finish!

I Finally finished the little leprechaun guy into a wallhanging. He has a home on my downstairs bathroom door. My current WIP is Lizzie Kate's "Think Spring" which I will be finishing into a bell pull. Till next time...

St. Patty's finish!

This is a finish for myself for once-LOL. Don't get me wrong-I love doing exchanges but you have to make something for yourself now and then. It is from Heart in hand, monthly mania-March. It was so quick to stitch up, and the patterns are only $2 each.

Hello everyone!

This is my first attempt at this blogging thing. I've seen so many neat and creative blogs out there I figured I'd give it a try. I belong to several cross stitch yahoo groups. This is where I'll post my WIP's, RR's and any completed projects. They could be cross stitch, knitting, paper crafts, etc. The photo next to my profile is a piece I made for a St. Patty's Day exchange I was in last year. I thought it was cute so I just had to post a photo. I hope you enjoyed your visit.