more progress and my pursuits

I have been working on Sarah's ABC Pincushion and loving every minute of it. I have one more row which is actually the name. I haven't decided if I'll keep it saying Sarah Tobias or change it to my own. What do you think I should do? Here's my progress on the pincushion.

Friday morning (tomorrow) me and mom board a plane to St. Augustine, Florida to attend a Susan Greening Davis class at the beach. We hear it's going to be in the mid to upper 60's and that beats our cold temps. Right now it's cold in Nashville, but today's high will be 54, which is considerably nice. I just can't wait to hear the crash of the waves and the sewing of my needle. It's going to be so nice and much deserved on my part. Now I just have to get through the flight. Yikes!

Annemiek from The Needle's Content has just released A Primitive Year of Floss Tags design series. The first floss tag is a primitive snowman and it is so cute! You order through paypal and receive the chart by .pdf. I'll be ordering mine tonight so I can get it quick quick quick! I'll probably take this little snowman to stitch on the plane.

Here's the latest on Cameron - he is too funny lately.

Yesterday ----

Cameron went and got Jose's swimming goggles. Bug Boy!!!

This morning ----

I asked Cameron to show me where he put his donut and here it is...such a donut face!

And later this morning ----

Cameron and Chloe were in the dining room with me and suddenly it was quiet. Oh my! 'What are those two doing?' I thought. I took the camera, just in case, and I'm glad I did. There they were...Chloe laying on the rug and Cameron leaning up against her playing with his foam blocks. So so cute these two!

Today's Stitching: Sarah's ABC Pincushion
Watching Today: not decided

looky here

I just received a lovely and totally surprising gift in the mail. I see that it is from my Aunt Pam in Ohio. Several days ago she said she sent something to me in the mail and that it wasn't much - just a little something - but that she saw it and thought of me. I opened the package and to my complete surprise I pulled out a huge piece of 1800's reproduction fabric. It's white and blue stripes, just like the old Civil War type pillowcases. I absolutely adore this with ALL my heart. I was flabbergasted really. I will have to come up with something spectacular for this fabric ~ it's just so unique and special to me. My aunt's note to me, "Julie, I thought you might enjoy this! Love, Aunt Pam". Well, I more than enjoy this. I positively love this piece! Thank, thank, thank you for this fabric!

Also...

...here is my progress on Sarah's ABC Pincushion by Blackbird Designs that I began last night. I am really loving how the silk coordinates with the Cafe Kona linen. It's getting to be very pretty when it's done.

By Friday morning, I'll be on a plane heading for Florida ~ I am counting down the days! WooHoo!!!

Today's Stitching: Sarah's ABC Pincushion; Be Still
Watching Today: 'Death Race'

monday, monday

Today Jose was home because of MLK day and it snowed all morning long, but did not stick. The high was 34, but luckily I didn’t have to be out in it. There were a ton of birds in our backyard this morning while it snowed. I can’t figure out why all these birds invaded our yard. Jose grabbed the camera and took this video. Sorry if it shakes too much ~ Jose is no pro. Cameron got a kick out of all the birds too. It was pretty amazing to see all these birds change their course and switch places around the yard. Cameron giggled a lot.

Next project...

This afternoon I ironed interfacing onto two projects and am still in the process of whip stitching the floss tag from Saturday night. (I’ll have a photo soon.) I am in the process of collecting materials for Sarah’s ABC Pincushion sampler by Blackbird Designs. I don’t have the called-for linen so I called up mom to see if she had something antique-ish and so dad was coming here to take Jose to a movie and he brought over 4 different pieces of linen for me to chose from. So that is marked off my list and I’m ready to begin. Aren’t moms great?? aunts too! :o) I'm staying in the called for count of 32 using R&R Cafe Kona. It's really pretty, but the picture doesn't show how over-dyed it really is. And I love the silk called Kelp ~ it's so pretty!

I am oh so excited about some things. I signed up for the Stacy Nash Club with Country Sampler in Wisconsin and the kit is scheduled to get mailed this week to all “girl club” members. I am so excited ~ you have no idea! This is an exclusive club with an exclusive kit that won’t be sold in stores or through any other avenue. I feel so privileged! The design is a sampler heart that has such cute motifs and on the back is a patch to hold scissors and needles. I cannot wait!!!! I’ll post a photo as soon as I get the chart. It’s so primitive and unique.

Another fantastic goodie is primitivebettys My Favorite Kitten Pinkeep pattern which I ordered through her Etsy shop last week, and she said it will be mailed out come Tuesday. I am so excited about this as well!

Then to top all this off, me and mom board a plane on Friday morning and head to St. Augustine, Florida for a Susan Greening Davis weekend retreat at the beach. I’ve been keeping tabs on the weather and it won’t be warm-warm, but it won’t be cold and that’s all that matters to me. It isn’t shorts and t-shirt weather, but the weather says it’ll be in the upper 50s and into the 60s. I can soooo deal with that. Two of our stitching pals will be there; Sally and Susan. They were at moonlight stitching as well. I just love those gals. And Pat who is the owner of the LNS will be there contributing and cooking. But the whole reason for going is that I get a little vacation away from my boys and home. I need this break. I technically haven’t had a break in years, let alone a vacation. This doesn’t constitute a vacation, but it’s better than nothing and I’ll take it without complaint. :o)

Cameron decided to do a little rearranging of my kitchen. I have video, but can't get it to load. It's really loud too. All the banging around with pots, pans, pie molds, muffin tins, etc. that he did. The moment flung me back to the past and it reminded me of my grandmother in her kitchen ~ she was never quiet. Our saying is "What she doin' now???" with a total crabby-scratchy tone.

Lots of good things to come! Just think, when I get back from out of town I’ll have stitching gifts waiting for me. Ahhhhh, now that is a way to end a good trip, don’t you think? Post later…

Monday’s Stitching: finished make-it and take-it heart floss tag; start on Sarah's ABC Pincushion
Watched Monday: Snatch

two heads are better than one

Saturday night I went to my LNS for a moonlight stitching gathering. About 14 women showed up including Melissa, which my mother has known for many years and who I just met for the first time. Melissa was so relaxing to be around. I truly enjoyed her company and she’s funny too. The make-it and take-it was a cute little heart made into a floss tag ~ appropriate for around-the-bend Valentine’s Day. Speaking of…

I finished my Lovebirds (sorry photo is so dark). It wasn’t anything major, but I enjoyed this Quaker-type piece. It was a pattern I got out of a library book I checked out called "Big Book of Cross-Stitch Designs" by The Reader’s Digest. I personalized it with my first name initial and my DH’s too, along with ’05; the year we married. I plan on finishing it into a pinkeep pillow. I spoke to my Aunt Pam Sunday and she’s going to look into her 1800’s reproduction fabrics to see if she might have a piece that will coordinate well with the color of DMC I used (#3685) – a kind of cranberry red. She has a huge abundance of fabrics, especially repros – you would love her stash! Speaking of Aunt Pam, I have a story…

My Aunt Pam told me a stitching story and she has given me permission to share (hi Aunt Pam!). The other day my aunt was cleaning the baseboards around one of her closets. She was on the floor cleaning a bottom shelf and noticed a clear storage bin that she has always thought contained quilting materials. Even so, and out of curiosity, she opened it to see its contents. Inside was cross stitching supplies and materials and a missing JCS Ornament issue (year 2000) that she recently borrowed from me, which originally belongs to my mother. Let’s just say that my aunt was completely and pleasantly surprised. She called to tell me her news and I was surprised for her. Finding something like this when you’re not looking for it is like finding money. In fact, better than finding money, because if it were money a person would just spend it on cross stitch, right? Yeah, that’s what I thought and that’s what my aunt thought! Anyhoo, it was a cool story I thought and I’m glad I heard it first, or maybe I was second. LOL

I want to share the goodies I bought while after-hours shopping at moonlight stitching Saturday.

Lizzie*Kate Double Flip-its ~ Create and Live. I love the teeny-tiny scissor and heart charms that come with the pattern.

Faithwurks ~ Cat. I had to have this little wooden cat. Isn't this too cute!

Hands to Work ~ My Beloved Tennessee. I instantly fell for this design. I live in Tennessee and don’t have anything stitched with Tennessee in mind, so now I will.

Blackbird Designs ~ Thank You, Sarah Tobias. This is a popular design or book rather. I love all the pincushions within this booklet. The first to stitch is Sarah’s ABC Pincushion. It calls for The Thread Gatherer’s Autumn Twilight which is gorgeous, but my LNS doesn’t carry that and I had to have something to go home with so I could start this sooner rather than later. I picked out Waterlilies by Caron Collection, color Kelp. It has lovely deep colors that I think will look just as good. Here’s a snip-it of the color below (mine has a little less orange though):

There’s a new designer out that I saw mentioned on Petra’s blog called The Stitcherhood. If you’re at all into antique, folk art, or primitive designs check this website out. They have some really nice patterns. There is also a section to download freebies, so go and check them out. Which brings me to…

one of my next quick stitches will be The Stitcherhood’s Valentine Love freebie. I’ve got just the fabric for this little pre-V Day project in mind. I love squeezing in quick stitches (QS) between WIPs and CRs. It gives my eyes something new to look at for a few days and it motivates me to keep stitching on those WIPs and CRs. I enjoy it. You should try it if you don't. Once you finish a little thing you just have to get something else done. All of sudden that needle finds its fire and goes! Whew!!! Tsssssssss

While I was surfing my favorite blogs, my sons were playing around and being such goof-balls. My seat kept shaking and moving about and when I looked down to see what all the fuss was about I had a funny little head staring up at me. The other little head was pulling the little head's hair.

Perfectly happy!

Perfectly unhappy!

Perfectly loved! (I'm sorry big brother.)

Sunday's Stitching: finished Lovebirds by RDBBoCSD
Watched Sunday: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls; Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone