stitch, therefore i must shop

I hate shopping, but not shopping for stitching essentials, charts, linen, etc., and especially done with friends and/or family. =) Halloween afternoon I played over at my friend Sally’s house. Had so much fun! We went to her LNS which I had never been to. It was a neat little place. It had more than just stitching to glance over, but I stuck to the essentials and bought a little more stash. After wards Sally and I went for a juicy, heart-stopping cheeseburger which was d-lish. The conversation was much needed on my part, and then we headed back to her house for a little Sewing101 on a cute little pumpkin ornament she’s putting together.

Sally reads a lot. I mean A LOT. She has books in relatively every room of her house. I admire a person who reads and reads and reads. She allowed me to take pictures of her cozy library nook which is absolutely adorable and these photos probably won’t do the space any justice. For someone (me) who doesn’t read as much as they should or as much as they really want to I love looking over books. There is just something about reading over the spines and wondering what's inside. Maybe it’s the smell of the paper under the cover. I don’t know, but there is something about looking over shelves upon shelves of literature and storytelling that intrigues me.

I love Sally’s décor too. She has a thing for bunnies as well which are tastefully placed throughout her home. Did you notice her Jane Austen shelf? So cool. Sally wrote the Tennessee Criminal Law Case Finder book. She has two copies, but I had to take a photo as I’m proud to know this about my friend. She’s an attorney and I formerly worked for a criminal defense attorney so these books are intriguing and familiar to me anyway. The light is hand-painted and is really pretty. I just love this space and I enjoy the company I keep when I’m there. Sally, thanks for sharing Saturday with me. I thoroughly enjoyed our visit. Good luck with your finishing!

Shopping Saturday…

I plan to finish Bent Creek’s Winter Row into a long pillow and Lizzie*Kate’s November Flip-it into a needle cushion or maybe that’ll just get put into a basket for decorating. No needles required.

I couldn’t believe how many LHN charts this shop had in stock. I love the house series, but really want to stitch the Two White Houses first so that’s the one I purchased. Funny thing is that I’ve never seen Necessities Sampler before. In fact, there were some I had not seen before Saturday. I love it when that happens - it’s like new found treasure. I saw CCN’s Forest Snowfall and had to have it! The verse is so sweet and the little deer-bunny combo sold me. Pretty colors too. You know, you just can’t go wrong with his mother-daughter duo, can you?! Has everyone seen the Ornament of the Month Dianne has designed? These two amaze me with their talent and speed at which they create.

Shopping Sunday…

(L-R) 32 ct. Ice Blue for Winter Row, Bent Creek; 32 ct. Antique Ivory for Clara’s Skating Sampler, The Sampler Girl; 28 ct. Confederate Grey for Forest Snowfall, Country Cottage Needlework; 32 ct. Flax linen for Rain in the Country, The Sampler Girl; 28 ct. Vintage Autumn Field for Mr. Darcy, The Sampler Girl; 28 ct. Raw linen for November Flip-it, Lizzie*Kate.

The best part about all the gorgeous linen is that I shopped at moms for it – LOL. The boys and I went to mom’s house for a French toast breakfast, mixed with fruit and bacon, and coffee. Orange juice for the boys. After cleanup, which I gladly took on, I went through mom’s gobs of linen for these new charts I just bought and ones I received last week. If you can imagine, I’m pretty happy right now. Giddy actually.

Sally allowed me to borrow Little Women. I’ve never read this story. Can you believe that? I know…shame on me. Sally already crossed her fingers at me so I get it – LOL. I read about Louisa May Alcott. What an intriguing and robust woman she was. It makes the temptation to read her novel even more the fancy. So without further ado…Talk soon!

new stash

See...I said earlier this morning that I was a spoiled daughter. Look what came in the mail today from my dearest mother. ALL Sampler Girl products, of course, from Tanya's $5.00 one-day sale last week. I'm so happy about these designs. Love the card!!

Like I said before, I am the luckiest, most blessed daughter and niece in the entire world. Btw, Cameron's doctor appointment went well this afternoon. He does have an ear infection but nothing ear drops and antibiotics can't cure. He has no temp and no other illness so that's a much needed relief. He goes to daycare tomorrow, however, because fantastic news for me...I have a job interview!!! I haven't worked outside the home in 2 years so I'm a bit nervous. Wish me luck. =)

Well, I must be going. Dinner bell is ringing - nothing special tonight. Onto the next...Talk soon!

"expressions" by cameron

Cameron has been quite the expressive little toddler this weekend and I have to share his accomplishments with all of you. Cameron hardly says a word other than Mama and Dada and the occasional yes or no nod. Now that doesn't mean he doesn't make a sound because he does. Boy does he ever!!! He's loud and sometimes disruptive. He decided to copy us and say some words this weekend...FINALLY! I'm so proud of him. This weekend Cameron said:

Jose
Papa
Baby
Red
Nut
More
"D"
"E"
"O"
Harry Potter

Isn't that fantastic? For some reason Cameron is really interested in watching Harry Potter so he attempted to say the name several times and I'm not going to hold him back.

Remember my mentioning reorganizing my DMC inventory/storage? I've adopted my Aunt Pam's system. I'm having so much fun getting this all together. Here's where I started.

I've made lots of progress since I took this photo. And trust me when I say this, these aren't the only Loran bags I have either. I have 3 of my own and then I inherited my late-grandmother's and my late-aunt's DMC stash as well. Currently I am finished organizing mine, but now I have to go through theirs. This part shouldn't take too long b/c the bags and boxes are already set up. It'll be nice when this is all organized though, but for now I'm having fun.

Cameron wanted to express himself in creative ways just like mama so a coloring Cameron went...

He enjoyed sitting in his chair next to me while he did his thing and I did mine. Doesn't he hold his crayon with such precision?

Cameron is currently taking his afternoon nap and I'm finishing the laundry and posting this. :) I think I'll get back to organizing my floss and maybe try and stitch or start a finishing project. We'll see what time allows for me...Onto the next. Talk soon!

motif-ing it up

So much fun this one!

I feel so good about my JA sampler. I’ve started on the motifs. I have more progress photos than this, but for some reason they were loading at the wrong angle. Has anyone else had that problem with Blogger before? I'll have to take new ones and try it again. Anyhoo...I’m halfway done with the house. You can’t see the other set of windows below b/c I didn’t want to unroll my rod – sorry. :-( I think I’m going to halt on the house for now and make my way towards the right of it to keep things in line and then make my way down my rod-n-roll.

Saturday me and the boys were at a birthday party all afternoon. Our little friend turned 10. Her father is a good, good friend of mine and dh. It was a fun-filled day for sure; tiring too. It was a pool party so the kids had lots of fun and the adults grilled out and laughed it up. Met some new people too. The day got away from us b/c we forgot to check our mailbox. So today we got our mail and look what was inside…

I can’t wait to start this little needle/pin cushion. Looks like it’ll be a quick one. This evening me and the boys ate at my parent’s house and I didn’t make it home in time to watch PBS’ Masterpiece Mystery which is airing Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple stories. I’ll have to catch this one on PBS.org. You can watch them online after they’ve aired. I’m off to sit and stitch for now. Talk soon!

memorial day

My Grandpa was a WWII veteran. I can’t possibly imagine the things he must have witnessed during the war and I can’t possibly fathom the nightmares that followed. But one thing I know, he was a remarkable man of very few words, but when he spoke it was funny and genuine. He passed away from pneumonia in 1993 when I was 16. There isn’t a year that passes where I don’t wish he were here today so I could sit and chat with him. I know he would find my morals, opinions and views uplifting, and he would agree with my thoughts wholeheartedly. He would also find my sons fascinating and that makes me laugh. I love him more today than ever before and wished that he was here with me and my family. [This photo is really in color and I turned it to gray scale. These are grandpa's hats, his dog tags, and a Japanese flag he acquired somehow before coming home.

Grandpa in the South Pacific during the war.

Grandma and Grandpa in their younger days.

I stitched Bent Creek's Courage a couple years ago in remembrance of my grandpa. Sadly, I haven’t found a way to finish-finish it yet. Once it’s finished I am setting it next to the items (photo above) that belonged to my grandpa located in my curio cabinet.

I’m thankful for days like Memorial Day because it’s just another excuse, another reason more, to sit back and pay tribute to him and all the others just like him. Happy Memorial Day!

Onto stitching…

Me and mom met up with our friends, Sally and Susan, today to do a little Memorial Day cross stitch shopping because the LNS was open and why not!!! We had a good time and continued our visit at Red Robin for lunch. That was yummy-fun. Even Jose tagged along at the store and for lunch ~ he was awfully patient and well-mannered! Here’s some great stash I picked up on our outing.

I love the punchneedle sampler design by Stone & Thread. You don't see these too often in punchneedle so I had to have it. Everyone notices the Notforgotten Farm Christmas Cat! design. I love the verse: Not a critter was stirring...except for the CAT! LOL I don't own a cat but it is still cute. And lastly, Banbury Cross by Little by Little. This design just struck me. At first I didn't realize that the monkey was riding a rooster and when I looked more closely I knew I had to have this chart. The colors are yet again vibrant. The design itself is really cute. It reminds me of India - minus the rooster. It's just a whimsy piece that I think will be fun to stitch, so into the stash pile it goes.

Birds and Berries by Sheepish Designs. The colors in this piece are so vibrant and cheery.

The leather cording and yarn stuff would be nice to use for hanging pillows or cupboard door cushions. There was scrap linen and this piece was only $2.20. It is 32 ct, 9 1/2 x 10 1/2. I plan on dyeing it with RIT dye. Not too shabby I thought. I got a skein of pink Perle cotton to make a tassel for a pair of vintage scissors I own.

Me and the boys are off to have dinner with my FIL. I believe we're having Mexican food at El Chico ~ Adios!

Talk soon!

i love being productive

Finishing
Cutting
Baking fabric
Coffee staining
Distressing
Ironing
Piecing
Gluing
Mod Podging
Measuring
Fabric sorting

"these are a few of my favorite things..." (this is my effort to sing like Julie Andrews -ahem!)

I have been pretty busy lately and I haven't posted in a couple days because of that. I wanted to have something worth posting so here it goes. I have been in a storm of craft supplies.

I finished 2 projects, yes 2 projects in one week. How's that for having a rotation and sticking to it?!?! I'm very pleased with myself. I even had time to do "extra" projects and I still have more to tackle. Yay!!!

I finished Sarah's ABC Pincushion Tuesday night. I changed Sarah Tobias to my own name (duh!) and stitched '09 at the end. I used a different silk than what was called for ~ I used Kelp by Waterlilies. It turned out really really pretty. The fabric behind the piece is what I am going to use to finish the pillow pincushion.

I finished Pig and Chicken by Hooked on Rugs. I may just frame these two but their fate hasn't been sealed just yet. This was punched on weaver's cloth using WDW and GAST.

Now that I have finished two projects this week, Tuesday and Wednesday are open for something new or something old to fill those days. I think I'll take one project from my WIP's basket and move it to rotation, and I'll start a new project for the remaining open day, even though I shouldn't. :o)

Other than that, I have been crafting up a storm in the last couple days, let me tell you! For the first time ever I took a stab at covering a paper box with fabric and then adorned the top with a punchneedle piece. The punchneedle piece was actually a mini rug design for a dollhouse, but I had other ideas. I even took my fabric-covered box even further and made a little stitchery word ("LOVE") using a piece of white felt and blanket stitching around the edge. I coffee stained the felt, sprayed distressing solution in the bowl, baked it for 5 minutes, pressed it with the iron for a few seconds, and applied it to the side of my box.

I am happy with the results overall. I used Mod Podge to apply the fabric and I used this tutorial to make it all happen. I think I'm going to add twisted cord around the rug edge to soften that up a bit. I used the same piece of fabric that came from the quilt I made my MIL, so the fabric has meaning. I have to give Beth credit for inspiring me to even attempt this project or else I would have never done so. Thanks, Beth!

This is the progress I'm making on the January Primitive Floss Tag by Annemiek (aka The Needle's Content). I dyed the fabric myself with walnut crystals. It's a cute little tag. I'm also waiting patiently for February's tag, but I know that Annemiek is very busy keeping shop and doing her thing. :o)

This is what came in the mail today.

From the Notforgotten Farm, obviously. This little charm is so teeny-tiny and sweet. I can't wait to wear it. I like it so much that I ordered the red saltbox house from Lori this evening.

I've done so much since Saturday. I ironed and planned out my Be Still piece ~ I'm thinkin' I'll lace it onto board instead of using tape. I finally decided the fate of my punchneedle piece Family, and I also went through all my fabric and have chosen a coordinating fabric for it to be mounted on and then framed. It is prim so I like it a lot. I've steamed and pressed all my pieces and are now awaiting Finishing Fridays. :D

I'm still working on re-organizing my crafting area and still there are shelves that need to come down in order for newer and bigger ones to go up. I'm in the process of revising my current rotation too. The rotation is still working, but I'd like to have more than one project per day, but not everyday; just a couple of days a week. Also, my mother and I are in a round robin together and we've chosen to work on Carriage House Samplings' Shores. She is almost done with the first block and I cannot wait to get my hands on this piece. I'll take photos once I receive it from my mom. And here is what I picked up from Market on Sunday.

It's late and I must head off to bed. G-night! Will post Saturday's adventure soon.