"Winter" Seasonal Exchange & SBEBB Winter Quaker

First we have the "Winter" Seasonal Exchange from Myrna! She must know how much I love red, look at all of these wonderful red goodies & this Needleroll stitched on red. I love how she tied in the same motif with most all the items... and I do love snowflakes & these ornaments are adorable. The candle is beaded and just gorgeous and the shade of red is perfect! I think she knitted the lovely dishcloth as well, just amazing! Knitting is one thing I never learned to do. And I have plans for that Whitman's Tin (and the chocolate in it!) The mug is really neat too, the star motif almost looks like stitches. Thank you Myrna for a wonderful exchange package!!!!! I wish my pics were better... I'm not much of a photograhper, sorry!


Next is the SBEBB Winter Quaker from Suzanne. The first package went missing so Suzanne stitched another. I love the Quaker medallions on this, just lovely! Thank you Suzanne for the Quaker needlebook and the extra fabric & threads as well.

Hope everyone is getting lots of stitching in & having a great weekend. I'm working to try & catch up from the time I spent at car dealers & the insurance office last week. Oh, and an update on that... we now have a new vehicle. Renee came by yesterday & decided it was perfect and smelled really good. lol The color is "Red Jewel" and it is very pretty! ;-) I do hope to stitch later, wish me luck! Have a great Sunday everyone!!

Two Exchanges I Can Share....

Now that two exchanges I've sent recently have been received, I can share the pics with you. The first is the Winter Seasonal Exchange I sent to Nancy. It's a design by The Sampler Girl & I finished it into a pillow. It's made somewhat like a Pine Mtn Tie One On pillow if you're familiar with those? The stitched piece is like a "sleeve" that can be slipped off the form if need be. Nancy loves Quakers & I thought this was somewhat "Quaker-ish". :-) Hope she enjoys it!

Next is a My Big Toe Scissors Block with her design "A New Beginning". I stitched it on linen banding it calls for with Crescent Colours Silk Grape Juice for Terry. I also included the "Love" Scissors from Kelmscott. Hopefully Terry will be able to put it to good use! Maybe I should have asked Ray to drill more holes in it for her? ;-) The same design is stitched on all 4 sides.

We are still trying to decide what to do about the car situation. They called late this afternoon with the news that the vehicle we wanted to see/drive is now here. We're going to run over in the morning to see about that. If it's not what we want, Ray has found something in Sumter to go check out. Decisions, decisions....

Happy stitching everyone!

WOW!!! Look at this wonderful exchange....

I'm doing a private exchange (March, June & Sept) with 3 wonderful friends, and my first package arrived today from Rosalie!! She sent not one but TWO lovely, lovely stitched gifts!! Look at these beauties.... an adorable pin cushion filled with crushed walnut shells with JBW Designs new "Lark" (which I love)... and it's stitched over one!!!
and this beautiful heart shaped box which she painted/finished & lined (beautifully btw) with a simply precious design by a mon ami Pierre! Isn't it so cute?

She also sent me a charm with my name on it & suggested I put it on one of my stitching totes (great idea!) and this adorable fabric to use to make "tags" out if. It's all wonderful Rosalie, thank you so much!!! Rosalie (she's from Maine) & I met last Oct at the Pals Fall Fling in Myrtle Beach & spent a lot of time together. She is an amazing stitcher, a very sweet lady & lots of fun to boot! She doesn't have a blog, but trust me when I say she has done lots of amazing stitching!

I hope you had a good Easter? Ours was quiet and I actually did get some stitching done. We are in the process of getting an estimate to fix the hail damage on our car from that horrible storm on the 15th (so frustrating) and we're also looking into trading for a new vehicle. Why is this such a stressful thing? We looked for hours on Saturday & then went back for a bit this afternoon. Now we have to take the car in at 10 a.m. on Tuesday to see what the estimate is & then we'll decide on the trade. The thing is, the vehicle we want is at a dealership in another state!!!! They say they will get it though... so we'll see how (and IF) it works out. Cross your fingers for us.

Thanks for looking at my lovely exchange pieces. I mailed Terry's to her on Saturday so hopefully she will have it soon & I can post it. It's not as amazing as what Rosalie sent me though... :-(

Happy stitching!!!!!

Lovely birthday gift from Vonna....

I received a lovely stitched birthday gift from Vonna in the mail today! She stitched an adorable Prairie Schooler rabbit for me! Isn't it so cute? And as usual, her finishing is amazing!!! Thank you so much Vonna for being so kind & for sending me a birthday surprise! :-) :-) :-)

I finished two exchange pieces this afternoon & have them all ready to mail tomorrow, and I have more to work on this weekend. I still haven't quite talked myself out of starting some new from my "to be stitched list" either.... so watch out! ;-)

Hope you all have a great weekend and a happy & blessed Easter!!

PS- Tessa, your package DID go out today! Thanks again!! :-)

Stitching Bloggers Birthday Club gift from Carla!!!!

I received a WONDERFUL package in the mail from Carla in the Stitching Bloggers Birthday Club group!! Look at all these lovely goodies, esp. the beautiful thread holder that Carla stitched & finished into her own original design. Isn't it great! She read that I LOVE red, so she decided to make/send "reds", and she did a FANTASTIC job!! Everything is just wonderful... I love the Blackbird Designs Moda fabric squares, each one is better than the last, and the Tourincoton pattern tin is so adorable, I can't wait to stitch it. And look at the lovely red threads..... which is better, red threads or chocolate??? Hmmmm....

I tried very hard to get a close up pic of this lovely silver thimble from her country of Peru, but it keeps turning out blurry. I'm not a good photographer, but I'll get Ray to see what he can do! I love it all Carla, thanks so much!!

Happy stitching everyone!!!!!

WOW - Speechless...... AND......

Okay stitching friends.... to say I'm speechless is quite an understatement here. I'm thrilled, touched, honored, humbled, blessed, lucky and probably a lot more, but I can't come up with the words. This may get long, but bear with me.....

I have a stitching friend, Teresa, that I met approx. 5/6 or so years ago through Char OH, whom I met via Cross Stitch Pals about 10+ years ago. Teresa is one of Char's closest friends and they are both truly wonderful people. Teresa is an amazingly fast stitcher and has rightfully earned the nickname "Turbo Teresa" for her amazing talent at finishing so many LARGE projects so quickly. Several years back when Stoney Creek came out with Hummingbird Trellis, I fell in love with it as did many other stitchers. I decided I needed to stitch it, but not as an afghan, but on a large cut of linen. At that time, all I could find that would work was a 20 ct linen & to stitch it over 1. Fine, right? I bought everything & got started. This is as far as I ever got with it before it quickly became a UFO.....
I'm not even sure what year this was! lol

Anyway, Teresa had gotten it as well & was just stitching away, as pretty as you please on hers. Last time I saw it, it was really close to being done & I was happy for her & told her I was jealous too! Kept asking her (teasingly, of course) when she wanted to work on mine. She kept telling me to give it to her & early last year, she told me to send her mine & let her work on it. I argued with her but she kept telling me to send it. It got to the point where her mother even told me to send it to her. Well, I packed that sucker up with all these millions of skeins of DMC it takes (well, almost a million) and sent it to her. She was supposed to visit in the Spring & I thought hey, if she can get a bit done on it, maybe I'd get motivated to finish it. I'd feel so guilty that I'd have to stitch it since she put time & effort into it, right??

Well, look at what arrived in my mail yesterday afternoon.....

I truly wish you could see how amazingly beautiful this really is. The pic isn't very good as it's hard to get a close of up a design that's approx. 24" x 28" over 1 on 20 ct linen. The colors are so vivid and the stitches are so tiny. It's truly just stunning! I have no idea what I have ever done to deserve such a kindness from Teresa, but I hope to be able to pass the kindness along in some way, someday, though it may takes years & years! I do plan to do something special for Teresa, even though I know she did it because she wanted to, not because she expected something in return. She is truly a remarkable person and I'm blessed to call her my friend!

And btw, last Springs plans changed because we were building the new house & the schedule kept changing, so Teresa didn't get to visit then. I'd thought I'd see her in Oct at the Pal Fall Fling but she moved from OH to KY & had to work.... so she just kept on stitching.... I NEVER thought for a minute she was going to finish it when I sent it to her.... but I'm so thrilled that she did & it will ALWAYS have a place of honor in our home. THANK YOU Teresa!!!!!!!

TWO finishes to share....

Finally I have something I can share....

I stitched LHN's "My Needles Work", finishing it up on Saturday. As you can see, I changed the "stitching" from the rooster to a bunny!! I love the way it turned out! :-) This was a fun stitch. I'm going to frame it (no mats) & hang it by my computer I think.

Also, here are the next 4 LK Double Flips. I stitched the first 4 in Dec when the DF's were first released (you can see the pic in my Dec postings). I then stitched the next 3 back in Feb & left "Care" until today. The last 4 are due out in April, can't wait to finish this project. I'm going to finish it into a bellpull since it's on banding. It's been a fun & quick stitch so far.



I have a couple of other finishes too, but since they're for exchanges, I can't share them yet. I will when they get to where they are going. My list of items to stitch is just growing longer & longer. I have JN's Bluebird Box (without the bird) to stitch, the JN kit that Tessa was kind enough to trade, Victoria's Sampler "Where Stitcher's Gather", which I LOVE, and now I have SB's "My Earth" on the way as well! That doesn't count all the WIP/UFO's I have going..... First though, I have 2 F&S pieces & 2 SBEBB exchanges to get on the way. I wish I could stitch for 6-8 hours a day! ;-)

We had some severe weather here yesterday with 2 tornados VERY close to our home (one about 3-4 miles away & the second about 7-8 miles away). We have hail damage to our car & Ray is so upset. :-( Not sure if he will get it fixed or just take a loss on it when we trade it in, which he is planning to do by the end of the year anyway. He always takes such good care of vehicles that they look like new. This storm was just unreal. It looked like it had snowed. Some of the balls of hail were as big as quarters. I LOVE spring, but I really hate the storms that come along with it.



Thanks for looking & hope everyone has a great week ahead. Happy stitching!

Happy Birthday to me.... (EDITED!)

I'm trying to be positive & happy today and my dear friend Susan (aka "The Brat") wanted to help.... she sent me this 3.4 lb (yes, that's 3.4 POUNDS) bag of M&M's. I just have to LOL & plan on buying a larger size of clothing before too long! ;-) I have had calls from my mom & my sister first thing this a.m. & woke up to several emails & ecards. Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes. I do appreciate it! I don't have any plans today really other than stitching and NOT working this afternoon. Actually, I worked extra long yesterday to make sure I wouldn't be too behind if I take today off & I've only worked about 2 hours & I'm done for the day. Yeah!!! :-)

And to Ruth... no dear, no surprises from Ray or anyone else in my family. I told you, we don't "do" surprises in this family unless I'm the one behind it. ;-)

Hope everyone has a great day!!

**ADDED at approx. 7:30 p.m. ---

We just returned from my parents house where my mom cooked a delicious meal of chicken & dumplings (one of my favs & one of her specialities) & also made a wonderful chocolate/chocolate cake. I'll tell you next week the reason she did this, but for now, let's just leave it at I had a lovely afternoon/evening with my entire family. :-)

PS- To Ruth - the message you left had me roflol... thank you! ;-)

Kinda down in the dumps a bit.......

And me being in the dumps over this is really silly, but..... my birthday is on Thursday, and for the past 20+ years we have celebrated my dad's bday (which was yesterday), mine & Ray's all together with my family one day during the week or our birthdays. It's not a big "party", but we do get together & have a meal & all spend time together. This year, no one has mentioned a thing about it. Not a word. I spoke to my sister on Sunday & said "well, guess we're not doing anything this year" & all she said was "I guess not". I know, I sound silly don't I? I agree with you, but it does make me sad as it seems our family is not as close as it used to be. I'd be willing to bet you that my brother doesn't even call to wish me a happy birthday. I guess it's time for me to grow up & stop wishing that a birthday was in some way "special" from any other day. :-(

And to make it so much brighter, Ray has asked me over & over what I want for my birthday & I keep telling him a "surprise". He doesn't like that answer, he wants me to tell him something specific. We've been married for 20 years, and we were together for over 2+ years before that. He KNOWS me well enough to know what I like. What's so darn hard about going to a store & just buying something or sitting down at the computer to order it? Guess what he's getting for his birthday next week? The same thing as me..... whatever he wants to go out & buy, which will be nothing! lol That's okay though, we will be together & that's enough of a gift for me. He's my best friend & I love him dearly. I don't need a gift other than that!

I know, I told you it was all silly, but it's how I feel. As I said, it's time for me to grow up & quit thinking about "birthdays" & be thankful for all the blessings in my life. I am truly blessed and I'm happy about that.... and that should be enough!

Maybe I need to just go stitch for awhile....

Edited to add -- This is not about gifts! It's about family & special times/memories! I wanted to clarify that so no one gets the wrong impression here!

I GOT MAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's late, but I finally found a few minutes to take a pic & make a post! Take a look at what I just got in the mail!!!!!!!!!!!
YES! The entire kit from dear sweet Tessa!! She had an extra kit & she sent it to me. What a great early "birthday gift"!!! I'm going to send her my JN Bluebird Box pattern when I'm finished & several other things to thank her for her generousity!! I just love this design & can't wait to stitch it. I am, however, going to change it from the pink gingham linen to Flax to match the Bluebird box. You know me & my "pink" thing anyway, right?! lol Anyway, thank you again Tessa for being willing to trade this kit. I am glad we "met" & I will try to get a package on it's way to you very soon!!!! :-)

Hope everyone has a great Friday & happy stitching!!!

My Squares for Christina L....

Here are the squares I stitched for Christina in the F&S Round 5.... it's Rose Cottage by Country Cottage. I put her initials in the box instead of the word "Rose" as you can see. I think it turned out really cute even if it is pink! ;-) It was a fun stitch & I'm looking forward to stitching more of them. Waiting on today's mail... have a great day everyone & happy stitching!

My F&S From Christina L in Sweden.... (and a bit more!)

I received my Round 5 F&S from Christina L... isn't it adorable? She changed the house to gray to match our house & did the "sweethearts" as our 20th anniversary was in Feb. That was so sweet of her wasn't it? She also sent other goodies... a cute Helga Mandl pattern, trims, of which I will use the green to finish the squares into a pinkeep, and some yummy chocolates! Thank you again Christina, everything is just wonderful!!

I have actually been stitching a bit. I have more than one piece I'm working on right now.... an exchange piece that I can't talk about, and last night I worked on LHN's My Needles Work. I think it's just adorable & I plan to hang it by my desk to remind me to get out of this room quicker each evening so I can go & stitch! ;-) I also have an itch to pull out several larger pieces, including And A Forest Grew & my personalized sampler. That's thanks to a call from Carolyn NC who will be at my house Saturday to stitch. I'm going to blame it all on her! lol

I'll post more pics soon... and I'm waiting on a special package from the other side of the world, can't wait to show everyone what a lovely lady was kind enough to send me. It's an early "birthday gift" for myself (which is next week!) and I'm thrilled about it.....

Until then.... happy stitching!