Two more ornaments....

I think ornaments come in two's around here.... let's keep that up shall we? ;-)

This cute little ornament is from Staci.... it's Prairie Schooler's "Christmas Day".

And she stitched a little cardinal on the back too....

The finishing is great too, thanks so much Staci, it's adorable!

This lovely ornament is from Julianne. It will hang on my tree if my brother doesn't see it & take it home with him. :-) It's very pretty & wonderful finishing as well. Thank you Julianne!

I haven't stitched at all since Monday. It's been a busy week for some reason. My niece came over yesterday & spent the day with us. We took her to Wal-Mart & bought her a snowcone machine & some of the syrups for her "great grades" in school this year. She always does well & we're proud of her! I also *finally* got a George Foreman grill... one with the changeable plates so I can also use it to make waffles! Now how nifty will that be if it works well? ;-) I'll let you know Sunday how they turn out, IF I get to the store to get something to makes the waffles with that is.... I knew I was forgetting something.... ;-)

I'm having a few friends over to stitch tomorrow... here's hoping I actually stitch too! ;-) Have a great weekend & happy stitching!

Another pretty ornament... and a visitor....

I received another very pretty ornament on Saturday, I'm just slow to get a pic posted, shame on me. This one is from Becky SC... isn't it pretty? She knows I love trees, red & hearts, and this tree is made up of hearts. I really love it & she finished it so nice, thanks again Becky!

We had a very quiet Memorial Day. I worked for a short while & then I stitched a bit. I can't share this one though... it's for a gift that won't be given until October, but I thought I'd better get started on it now. :-) I'll show you in late October when we come back from the Pals Fall Fling! It seems like so far off, but it will be here before we know it.

Memorial Day was also like a "zoo" around here. On top of all the normal birds, we had a really HUGE lizard that wouldn't leave Ray alone in his workshop. It was at least a foot long, brown with red on it's head. UGLY creature- let me tell you. We have some green ones that hang around on the back patio & they are fine, but his one, ugh! He called me down late in the afternoon to see his next visitor.... there was a pretty darn big turtle in the very back of the shop! lol He must have gotten in while Ray came to the house for lunch. He wasn't going anywhere on his on, so Ray had to help him out. ;-) Then while stitching, my *almost* daily bunny friend decided to come & have a big meal of our really tall grass. Isn't he ADORALBE? He doesn't run when he hears noise and we can walk within 10 or so feet of him and he just keeps eating. I love to watch him and his brothers/sisters. :-)

It won't stop raining long enough for Ray to cut the grass, it's just unreal how crazy the weather is this year. He said today he was going to have to cut it tomorrow, but guess what, it's raining again. :-( I'm so ready for the sun to come out & stay out for at least a few days in a row.

Thanks for stopping by & happy stitching!

OOooohhhhhh...... pretty huh?

I received 2 Ornaments today in the ornament exchange group I'm in..... all I can say is WOW! STUNNING! I bet as soon as you saw the pics you said "oooohhhhhhh" too didn't you? ;-)



The first one is from Vonna, and it's simply amazing! It's a Prairie Schooler "Angel" & I'm pretty sure my very first PS ornament ever! It's stunning on that black fabric isn't it? And I LOVE the fact that she's holding a dove. She's my fav of the 3 of these designs... Vonna knows me pretty well I guess. Thank you again Vonna, she's LOVELY!


And this beauty is from Cathy B! Isn't it pretty as can be? I love it as well. It's a Nordic Needle design from one of the JCS Ornament issues & she has stitched & finished it just beautifully hasn't she? Thank you so much Cathy, it's gorgeous front & back!





I haven't stitched but an hour or two since I finished the Prairie Schooler (below) last Monday night. That's about 10 days.... I was moving along so good & started not feeling so great & just lost my rhythm I guess. :-( Maybe I'll pick something up tonight, but I doubt it.

Ray & I played hooky from work today & went out of town. I know, shame on us, but we needed to pick up a few things that we can't get locally and one place we needed to go isn't open on the weekend at all. So.... off we went! I came home with a beautiful Foxglove that Ray has already planted for me, and a bag full of "necessities" from Victoria's Secret. Talk about a SALE! They are having one heck of a sale that started today. I came home with 3 bra's & 12 pairs of undies for just under $65. I did have a couple of coupons for freebies & discounts off, but geez, that's like striking gold as you'll know if you shop at VS! TMI?? If so, sorry! But if you're a VS customer, you should really head over there this weekend!

Thanks for stopping by & happy stitching!

Prairie Schooler Finish....

This is the Rabbit Sampler from the Garden Verses leaflet & I think it turned out so cute. I used all but 2 strands about 6" long of an entire skein of green DMC floss.... unreal huh? Doesn't look like it would take that much floss, but it did. It's worth it though cause I think it's just adorable! It's stitched on 32 ct Light Examplar by Lakeside Linens with DMC floss.

Now.... what to stitch next..... ;-)

Thanks for stopping by & happy stitching!

Stitching, exchanges & more!

Wow, it's almost the middle of May.... where is the year going? I'm shocked that the time is passing by so quickly. My sister told me today that my niece will be out of school for the summer in less than 2 weeks. How can it possibly be that close to summer already?? I have actually been doing a bit more stitching lately (at night) & hope to have another finish to share with you in a few more days!!! :-) We've had computer "issues" going on for almost a week & it's thrown me off so much. It's amazing how much some of us have come to rely on computers & the internet. I sure hope we are all "fixed" now... but who knows. Between that & thunderstroms, I feel as if I've been off the computer more than on lately.

Now on to STITCHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have received two more ornaments in the year long ornament exchange group I'm in!! This first one is from Joan! Isn't it finished wonderfully?!?! Joan sent early & I actually waited until after May 1st to open it. :-) Thank you again Joan, it's cute as can be!!
Next is my ornie from Edgar. It's "Christmas Angel" by Midsummer Night Designs. Isn't it great? I really like it! An angel holding a bird & a tree, what's not to love? Thank you again Edgar! :-)

Next is a design by Prairie Schooler than I did for my mom, with a slight variation. It's from the Garden Gloves leaflet, she saw it in my stash recently & said "Oh, you need to stitch that for me", so I did! :-) I gave it to her today along with her other Mother's Day gifts. I think she liked it. :-) I finished it as a magnet since it was pretty small.

This is Little House Needleworks "Be True" with a few color changes. I changed the dress & bird to a blue & I also changed the words to a different shade of brown. I love how it turned out. It's stitched on 32 ct Light Examplar by Lakeside Linens, which I LOVE! It's a beautiful shade of fabric that I plan to stitch quite a few things on!! I have a frame for it & hopefully Ray will get it framed so I can hang it up one day this week! :-)

We're still watching birds and watching our plants, flowers & trees grow. Maybe you can help me out.... we've seen a lot of these lately... and we *think* they're a House Finch, but not 100% sure. Does anyone know? There are LOTS of them around, but we can't find a really good picture match on either the net nor in several books on birds that my mom has. Any ideas?

And this little guy was having fun this a.m. The weight of the squirrel pushes down the metal "cage" & closes off the holes, but it's fun to watch them try to get to the seed. Mean aren't I? ;-)

Hope you have a great week ahead filled with lots of stitching. Thanks for stopping by!

Lots of pics to share....

No stitching pics at the moment, but I should have a few later today! These are from around our yard that Ray took yesterday. The view at the beach was wonderful, but you know, I still like "home" best! :-)


We had a visit by a Painted Bunting.... isn't he GORGEOUS?

And a finch.... he's pretty too!

And here are the 5 baby bluebirds, though you really can't see them too well in this picture. Trust me, they are there & had their mouths wide open when we peeked in! ;-)

Here are just a few of our plants on the back patio... I love petunia's... these are some we have hanging on two different posts... aren't they pretty!

And a couple of blooms on the bleeding heart... this sat out in the weather all winter... I didn't expect it to come back. It was blooming like crazy earlier, but not so many blooms on it now.

This is one bud on a miniature rosebush that my mom gave me in Feb. We have part of it inside & part of it outside. This little bud popped open yesterday. So pretty.....

Here is another Petunia I bought at the Garden Club plant sale a few weeks ago. The blooms were a much darker red when I bought it. I assume the PH in the soil is what caused them to become lighter & brighter? It's still pretty though!

And another variation of Petunias. When I bought these two plants, they were red and PURPLE, now the purple has turned to fuschia. Very strange to me. I'm certainly NOT a plant expert! I have some Dahlia's (no pic this time) that did the same thing. They were a deep orange & now are light orange. Still pretty though......

And the Fuschia that Ray bought me recently... it's SO pretty & the hummingbirds just love it!

Here is our peach tree... has quite a few peaches on it & Ray said he cut off about 70+. Wonder if they'll be tasty? ;-)

And a few pears on the pear tree... we also have an apple tree & a plum tree. The plums that were on it have disappeared (birds?) and the apple is much later getting started than the others. Hope to see apples on it before long though!

This is Ray's grape vine that he started last year and hopefully we'll have lots of grapes. It looks very healthy anyway! This is just a small part of it, it's about 5 times this size, all in a year's time. Wonder how big it will get!?

And our blueberry bush has quite a few on it. Wonder if Ray will get any before the birds/bugs get to them all? ;-)

And last but not least, this is from a very OLD plant. Long story, but Ray's aunt has has oxsalis (Shamrock) since she got married (50 years+) that was her DH's great grandmothers. She gave me one tuber with maybe 4-5 stems on it about 12-13 years ago. I have a pot full in the house (just the green), this pot out front in our courtyard that we mixed with some of the purple that my mom gave me, and it's in several spots in the back yard & we have given tubers to several people as well. It just grows & grows & I LOVE it! Funny thing is, the leaves on the one in the house look slightly different from the ones outside. It's all from the same tubers though, so it must be the sun/heat causing the difference. The planter beside of it has some Dahlia's we just planted... they are starting to grow, can't wait to see what they turn out to be.... lol They are supposed to be red! To give you an idea of how big this is, the pot has to be at least 18" across. It stays full all spring, summer & fall!

Thanks for stopping by & check by soon for some stitching pics! :-)

Happy stitching!

Honey... I'm home..... **edited!

Did you know I was gone? ;-) Ray & I took a super quick 3 night vacation this week. Wonder where we went? Here is what I woke up to all 3 mornings at 6 a.m.-ish..... can you say GORGEOUS!?!?! I already miss it, trust me....There isn't much that's as beautiful as the sunrise over the ocean, at least there isn't in my opinion! We stayed in a lovely oceanfront condo & I HOPE to go back to the exact same spot next year.

I was standing in the bedroom door taking this pic, we were right on the beach, it was wonderful!

These pics were taken from our balcony, looking south.....

and this one is looking north. It was gorgeous and I am so ready to go back.......

All were taken in the early morning (before 7 a.m.) so there weren't too many people on the beach. It was simply LOVELY....

To answer a question that has been asked, it's Garden City SC (just south of Myrtle Beach. A GREAT place to stay!

Thanks for stopping by & have a wonderful weekend!
Happy stitching!