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

my heart is content and inspired

I just got my January 2009 Just Cross Stitch magazine in the mail on Friday afternoon. I’ve been meaning to mention a couple things.

First, I love the design by The Sampler Girl entitled Persuasion! It’s absolutely adorable. I so much love and appreciate how Tanya has brought a timeless novel to us and especially to the people (like me) that aren’t familiar with the writings of Jane Austen, so that I may get a glimpse of treasured writings and authors. My favorite part, however, is the verse: “she tried to be calm and leave things to take their course”. There are times I have an immense amount of anxiety bottled up and, lack for a better word, I tend to “freak” out from time-to-time. I don't like this about myself. I have a tendency to over react and it’s just because I worry so about everything. I think the root of the problem is a lack of control or not being able to control all things around me. The verse from Persuasion reminds me of the Serenity Prayer. It goes...

God grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change…
Courage to change the things I can…
And Wisdom to know the difference…

In the early Fall, my mother gave me a silver cuff bracelet with the Serenity Prayer inscribed within it. I think it goes without saying that the verse in the Persuasion piece really speaks volumes to me. This is something I still need to learn for myself and for my own well-being. It’s a constant reminder that I need “to be calm and leave things to take their course.” I am so glad this design was chosen for the JCS. I think this may be my favorite design of Tanya's yet…and there are so many that I love, but this one speaks to me personally. I feel it “belongs” to me.

Thank you, Tanya, for a wonderful reproduction of Jane Austen!

Secondly, in this same JCS issue there is an article about designer Tracy Riffle from Hands To Work Designs, which I also love. The article is entitled 'Designing in Faded Glory'. This article was fascinating to me because it really dove into the designer herself. I love getting to know the designer. It's interesting to learn where they find their inspiration and where those ideas derive. I can identify with Tracy's way of designing. She stumbles on her designs not by way of brainstorming and planning, but by images, sounds and connection to the world around her. I am this same way. When it comes to my daily-dealings I need schedule and planning, but when it dwells on the side of creativity I do much better flying by the seat of my pants. I admire this same principle in Tracy, and I look forward to seeing many new creations from her.