The end of July, already?

Where is 2009 going? How is it already the last day of July? Unreal!

Here is an update on my Drawn Thread piece. I haven't stitched as much this week as I'd like. I haven't done too much with speciality stitches lately & I'd forgotten how much I love them! I am hoping to finish "Spring" soon & then I have some other things to stitch. I need to get busy on Christmas ornaments & gifts.... so much to do, never enough stitching time!

We took my sweet little niece swimming again yesterday & I ended up with a slight sunburn last night. It's all tanned now, but a bit sore still. The friends who own the pool arrived home last night so guess "summer is over" now. Bummer! It was wonderful to have our own "private pool" for about 6 weeks though. I think I've grown fins & gills! ;-) I know Hannah has. She made this for me last week.... she's such a sweet child, even though we have done our best to spoil her rotten (which my sister thanks for me often! LOL) And I love you too my sweet girl!

I'm planning to kit up some ornaments & a piece for a personal exchange that I'm going to do with a wonderful lady from the UK, I'm so excited about this one. You'll see why soon enough! :-)

I hope you have a great weekend filled with all of your favorite things! Happy stitching!

BTW, any Big Brother watchers out there? IF so, please go vote for Jeff! ;-)http://www.cbs.com/primetime/big_brother/interact/americas_vote/

Stitching & Friends are just good for the soul....

At least I think so anyway....

Yesterday was a really fun day! I had several friends over to stitch. Here's a pic to start - from the left, Karen SC, Linda NC, Amy SC, Faye NC, Debbie SC. Renee SC was here but she left early so she didn't get in the pic.
All of these ladies met each other for the first time & we talked & talked & talked. Everyone had a great time. I met Debbie for the first time & am looking forward to seeing her again. AND they're all going to the Pals Fall Fling in October, so that will really be fun. Nicole, you were missed yesterday. Will be looking forward to seeing you again soon though!

Linda remembered that I not only an a stash-a-holic, but I also ADORE fabrics. She had been shopping at a quilt shop & picked up these WONDERFUL fabrics for me as a gift. I was on cloud 9! Aren't they gorgeous? The Christmas pieces are cute as can be and will go great with all the new Lizzie Kate's and the Blackbird pieces, OMG! She even had the DMC to go with it! I can't wait to just whip something out to use these with! :-) Oh, and she had it wrapped in red & tied with that really cute r/w/b "America" ribbon that I can also use! :-) Thank you again Linda, I appreciate it so much!

Faye made me this LOVELY fob... it's red and has a pretty tree charm and a charm that says "hope" on it. She also made the pretty card. Faye, thank you again, I love it & will be putting it on scissors today. :-)

After Nicole's visit last Saturday & her showing me her Rolaframe, I decided that's really what I needed, esp. after she showed me how it went together. No basting or taping (I'm too lazy for that, lol), etc... the fabric fits on little "needles" or "nails" and then you just put the pieces back together. It's really quite ingenious! I found the company (with Nicole's help, thank you again!) and ordered some for DSL. They arrived on Friday afternoon & I had my piece all ready to go by Friday night. Have to say, LOVE these! A couple of the gals yesterday liked them too & took some home. Can't wait to hear how they like them once they use them. They're very lightweight & easy to use, or at least I think so!

I've started a Drawn Thread that's been on my "to do" list for years... or actually 4 of them. This is the beginning of "Spring Arbor". I'm going to do all 4 on one piece of fabric... Spring, Summer, Autumn & Winter. Looking forward to this one.... love the silks & the speciality stitches!

And last but not least, here is an update on Brenda Keyes/Heaven Doth Ask. I'm enjoying it and have the first page almost finished. The border is taking awhile, but that's okay. It will be worth it in the end.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit. Have a great week ahead & happy stitching!

A Finish.....

This is Country Cottage's "Garden Girl" & I've always thought it was just so cute! I decided to stitch it finally after seeing Nicole's piece in her Flickr album when she was here last month. I finished it up Sat night & I already have a frame to put it in. As you might notice, I changed a few of the colors around to suit myself (didn't want the word "grow" in green & I liked the 3041 better for the border!). I like how it turned out. It's stitched on 32 ct Light Examplar by Lakeside, my fav fabric!

I had a relaxing weekend... I knocked off work early again Friday & we took Hannah swimming. Nicole asked sometime Friday evening if she could come & stitch/visit on Sat. so of course I said yes. It's always great to have Nicole over. We had promised Hannah to go back swimming Sat. afternoon, and Nicole had to leave around 3 anyway because her DH had plans that evening, so it all worked out for all of us. We had a great time stitching & talking and wow is her stitching amazing. She was working on "The Riddle" & It's more gorgeous in person that in any of the pics on her blog! We slept in on Sunday & then went to visit my parents & went swimming again, and ended up with a very slight bit of sunburn. No idea why, it didn't seem to bother us Friday or Saturday. We will be taking a break from the pool for the next couple of days & hopefully the weather will be nice enough to go back later on in the week. The friends who own the pool will be home from CT sometime around the end of the month & we don't like to impose when they are home, so we go as often as we can while they are away. The pool is just wonderful & I so wish we had one like it, but I don't see $25000/30,000 dropping out of the sky anytime soon. Oh well.....

Back to stitching, I picked "Heaven Doth Ask" back up yesterday & did a few stitches. I'm not sure what's "next", but I'm sure I'll decide on something soon. In the meantime, I'll work on one of my many WIP pieces!

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great week & happy stitching!

PIF Winner Is....

Random Integer Generator


Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

8

Timestamp: 2009-07-19 21:19:27 UTC

The 8th person to post was Faye - Carolina Stitcher. Congrats Faye! I have met Faye & she is a lovely person. I wish I had something to give to each of you who posted for a chance for this lovely piece, I really do. I think you all are truly deserving of RAK & hopefully something good will happen for all of you. Thanks to all for visiting my blog & you never know, there might be another PIF/RAK in the future, so keep watching!

Faye, I will be sending you an email later this evening.

I do have a finish to post, but I don't have a pic yet. Soon.... so do come back!

Happy stitching!!

PIF - Stitched Item Giveaway.....

I have something to give to someone who will frame it/finish it & hang it in their home (or office, etc). It was given to me in a PIF and I had a plan for it, but those plans didn't come to pass, so I am going to pass it on. All I ask is that you give it a good home as it's a lovely piece that someone put a lot of time into. If you would like a chance to have it, please do two things - leave a comment with a way to contact you if you are the winner and two - do something nice for someone. It doesn't have to be a stitching giveaway, but please just do something nice for someone else. We should all do that anyway, right? That's it.... no other strings attached.

I'll draw a winner sometime on Sunday & mail it on Monday. If I don't hear from the winner within a few days, I'll draw a 2nd name, so be sure to leave me a way to contact you!

Have a great day & happy stitching (I'm going to jump in the pool in a bit if it doesn't start raining/storming, another joy of living in the south- lol)!

Another Exchange Sent....

Here is the exchange I sent to Rosalie (no blog) via a private exchange that 4 of us did last year. I was really late sending it, but I hope she will feel it's worth the wait. As you can see from the pic, I stitched LHN's Traveling stitcher but I made a couple of changes to it. I do hope Rosalie likes it. I know it was delivered to her today but I haven't heard from her, so I will just have to keep my fingers crossed that she is happy with her exchange pieces.

I haven't stitched much the past couple of days. My niece came over yesterday & was with us until supper time. We really enjoyed the day. Today after the work was done, we ran to get a few groceries & then went swimming with my niece & sister & enjoyed the afternoon. It wasn't even 90 today & the water was only 86, which was COLD compared to the 92 & 93 it was a week ago, and that's in the deep end of the pool! It was fun though & we hope to go back tomorrow afternoon. I just hope it's a tad warmer. We have plans for the weekend so I'm playing hookey again... I'm sure I can catch up on Monday! :-)

Have a great weekend & happy stitching!

A Gift & An Exchange....

I have two finishes to share today.... first is the birthday gift I sent to Vonna who's birthday was yesterday. This is one of Prairie Moon's Patriotic Boxes with the design stitched & finished into a pincushion. I used 32 ct Lakeside Light Exampler (my fav fabric!) and WDW/GAST's. It's filled with crushed walnut shells & turned out kinda cute I think! :-)

Next up is the last ornament in the 08-09 Ornament exchange group I have been in. This one went to Becky SC. It's by Amy B. Designs (formerly of Sister's & Best Friends) & it's called "Peace". It always makes me smile when I see it, so I was hoping that's what it would do for Becky too. I added the bell & bow at the neck & put some at the top. It's also stitched on 32 ct Lakeside Light Examplar using DMC floss. Hope he makes you smile too! :-)

I am almost finished with an exchange that I'm ONLY almost a year late in sending. Yes, shame on me, I know. :-( This was a private exchange between a few friends & I have put it off for first one reason then another, but that's still no excuse. I have got to get it in the mail this week, I'm determined now! I hope to get to stitch a lot over the next couple of evenings & get it in the mail SOON! Cross your fingers for me! I'll post a pic when Rosalie (no blog) gets it. (waving at Rosalie - hope you're getting my emails now?).

Thanks for stopping by - Happy Stitching!!

Happy Independence Day!

Hope you all have a wonderful & happy day. I wanted to share some quotes with you....

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it. ~Thomas Paine

He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from opposition; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach himself. ~Thomas Paine

This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave. ~Elmer Davis

This, then, is the state of the union: free and restless, growing and full of hope. So it was in the beginning. So it shall always be, while God is willing, and we are strong enough to keep the faith. ~Lyndon B. Johnson

Those who won our independence believed liberty to be the secret of happiness and courage to be the secret of liberty. ~Louis D. Brandeis

Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better. ~Albert Camus

It is easy to take liberty for granted, when you have never had it taken from you. ~Dick Cheney

Happy 4th & Happy Stitching!

Update on a WIP....

I have been stitching and I have two finishes that I'm mailing out tomorrow, but I can't post them yet. So instead, here is an update of my Brenda Keyes "Heaven Doth Ask". It will be so pretty someday, but boy does it seem to be taking awhile! It's on 25 ct Antique Ivory over 1 with DMC. I've put it back down to work on another gift. I'll pick up it whenever the mood strikes me! Here is what it will look like when finished - http://downsunshinelane.com/bkheavendothask.jpg

Hope you are having a great week & that you have a wonderful July 4th!

Thanks for stopping by & happy stitching! :-)