Lucky, lucky me

Oh, I love my mail person. I have received several packages this week.
Without further ado, here are the contents of the packages.

From BeckySC - My Make a Wish exchange
I wished for a biscornu and received this lovely one. I love the color red. Her stitching is beautiful and her finishing is perfect.

The pattern is February Quaker from The Workbasket on 28 count off white using DMC 115. She added our initials and the date. I LOVE IT!!!!! Thank you Becky.

A few weeks back this same Becky had a giveaway on her blog of stitched pieces she no longer wanted. I put my name in for this piece and it came my way at the same time as my biscornu.

It is a standing joke amongst my family and friends that I don't do dishes. My DH does all the dishes and when visitors come they know to do the dishes too LOL. There is no stitched piece more perfect for me. I intend to frame this and hang it in my kitchen.

From Annette, I received my Round 9 Fair and Squares. Check these out. I just love it and the color is stunning. The info is Periphaeria Designs - Courtyard of Alahambra on Toasted Almond Belfast and stitched with Apricot Grove by Gloriana Silk.

And then, another envelope arrived. Becky from OK knows that I am a nutcracker collector and last year had stitched me a beautiful nutcracker as part of a Christmas exchange. She was sorting through some old magazines and found this for me. I see some new nutcracker ornaments in my future. Thanks for thinking of me Becky. I so appreciate it.

And the packages continued.

I received the package from Australia for my Winter Neighborhood RR. I was getting a little concerned as it took 3 weeks for the envelope to arrive. This fabric is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. It is a Silkweaver Opalescent called Starquest. Sophia also included the most lovely booklet for us all to contribute our little bits of info. I have already picked out my pattern. I am just waiting for a general concensus on stitching direction and then I will start. Since I am left handed I believe I stitch in the opposite direction to many others. I want to make this as easy as I can for the other stitchers. I have a feeling I am going to be stitching sideways again to make my stitches go in the same direction as most of the others.

My mom gave me a belated birthday gift - a gift certificate to Ann's store. Although I am on a stitching diet, I don't think gift certificates count. Here is my purchase.

Chatelaine's Evening in the Park, a fat quarter of Opalescent White 28 count Lugana and a pack of Piecemaker needles.

In stitching news - I have done some stitching this week but no major progress. I put some stitches in my Mirabilia RR and yes, it is White Christmas. I have put some stitches in Fairies in the Garden but not enough for a progress photo and I have a small start on a new piece.I have been asked for info on Fairies in the Garden. I have a enlarged photo copy and need to find the original magazine to give that info. I will keep loking. I will save photos of my little progresses for the next time.
Until then, have a good week everyone and keep on stitching.

Hurricane Ike drops by

Guess who came to visit? We returned to our home after visiting with our son for the weekend, with grandson Hunter (2) in the car, to be greeted by this. We have very large poplar trees on our property. Sunday night, we had a tremendous windstorm courtesy of Hurricane Ike. A limb 8" around and 30' long landed on our back deck. It missed our house by inches but did damage the corner of the overhang on our upper deck. You can see in the next photo the damage to our gazebo. It also took out the canopy to my swing and the tabletop to our firepit set. The glass table that was under the gazebo was not damaged in the least.

And sitting quietly on the shelf, amidst the rubble was this ceramic frog light. Can you believe it? And now, we wait for the insurance company to sort out the damage and cost of repairs.

On to some stitching. I received news today that Mary Kathryn received the Fair and Square Halloween Squares I sent to her. She says the cat looks just like hers. This is from the 2007 Cross Stitch Pattern a Day Calendar. And of course, blogger has come by to turn this photo on it's ear or side LOL.

Annette also received her Fair and Square Round 9 squares. She said she was into Egyptian so I stitched these squares for her from an unknown magazine. It is part of a sampler. The name and place - Kathy and Canada are stitched in hieroglyphics. I found the alphabet online and then translated it into stitches.
As I mentioned earlier, we brought out little grandson home with us. My stitching progress was understandably small. It was stitch one - change a diaper, stitch two - find the missing Matchbox car, stitch three - Gramma I hungry - stitch one - Gramma train broken LOL. It was wonderful fun to have him here and to do some one on one bonding.

I did manage to get some stitches in Fairies in the Garden. Although the progress is small, there is some after so many frustrating starts. Tomorrow is my day to stitch on it so I am hoping to have some progress of note. And, of course, blogger did it's thing.
I stitched and finished a design for the MAW exchange so I cannot share it until it is received. It is going in the mail Thursday. I do have to show it off to my fellow Thursday stitchers before it flies off to it's new home.

I picked up Marjean's RR again and plan on making this my focus for the next few weeks until it is completed and returned to her. Can anyone guess which Mirabilia I am stitching?

To finish off my week and weekend in fine form, my children and I threw a surprise 60th birthday party for my husband Saturday night. His birthday is in March but we will be in Arizona and I wanted him to be able to share his birthday with his family and his friends from home. It was a total surprise to him and we had a blast. Here we are - one happy family. DH and I, our sons and their wives.
And a little walking story to share. This morning I was going for my morning walk down the road. I was not happy to be going and I was grumbling along. My knee hurts, my leg hurts, my hip hurts, why am I doing this, I don't want to be doing this. Suddenly, I had this vision of Vonna walking along beside me griping away too. I started to laugh so hard that I had to get to the side of the road so I wouldn't hurt myself. I am sure passing cars thought I had gone a little strange. That thought put the spark back in my step and I made it down the road and home again.

Take care everyone. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my blog and leave your comments. I am still struggling with my dialup but do read most everyone's blogs from my google reader. Three more weeks, and we will be on highspeed until the spring. YIPPEE!!!!!

Keep stitching and remember when you go walking, you could find Vonna or me grumbling right along beside you. LOL

SOMETIMES

Hi everyone. This has been a couple of weeks of sometimes.



Sometimes, even with the best of intentions, things don't work out the way you want them too. I had such great success putting Hunter's quilt together and tying it. Then I tried to put the binding on it. For some reason, the fabric kept slipping and I had to take the binding off three times and finally pin the fabric every two inches to sew it on. One corner ended up a little wonky but you know what - he is only 2 and he won't have it forever. He will outgrow Thomas in no time. Here is the finished set for his room.

Sometimes that frustration continues to build. This is my start -" Fairies are the Flowers in the Bottom of the Garden" that Ann of Knowledge and Needles and I are SALing. I picked a beautiful piece of 32 count natural linen and spent an evening stitching away on the border. I had made nice progress. The next morning in the daylight, I discovered the fabric was faded everywhere it was folded and I could not work around it. I was so annoyed I chucked the piece of fabric in the garbage. I went to Ann's and bought a new piece of 28 count evenweave called Mushroom. Loved the color and started again. Well, the border threads are an olive green and on the mushroom fabric the fabric looked orange and I did not like the 28 count fabric. So, tear out what I'd done and back to Ann's for a third piece of fabric. This is 32 count dirty linen. I love this color. Work away on the border for a couple of hours and discover I was using the wrong color. So, at the end of the two weeks here is my progress - a wrinkled piece of fabric and not a stitch on it. Maybe next week - she sighs hopefully!



Sometimes things go right. I have finished my squares for the two Fair Square rounds that I am currently in and they are out in the mail. No photos yet.

Sometimes if you sit quietly for a couple of evenings and your DH is away you can make some real progress. I am almost done with page 8. I am working on the monster motif on the bottom right and then on to the next page. As usual with my posts, blogger has flipped this photo sideways LOL.

Sometimes you get to do something that is fun. This is the birthday cake I made for Hunter's 2nd birthday yesterday. Each little fish is made individually without a pattern and then added to the cake. It is all made with fondant icing.

Sometimes your heart is full when you little grandson opens his quilt and pillow and lays on the floor, hugs them both and wants to take them upstairs for his nap. Then, his eyes light up when he sees his fish cake and he grins from ear to ear.

Here is Hunter blowing out his candles with a little help from big brother Jackson.

And sometimes, you realize your little frustrations are minor in the wake of Hurricane Ike. My sister and her children in Houston have made it safely through the hurricane but they are without power and will be so for an undetermined period of time. They are also without city water for who knows how long. They are okay and that is all that matters. I am so happy to hear that our fellow stitchers in Louisiana and Texas have weathered this hurricane without incident.

Till next time everyone.

What a Giggly Stitchy Weekend!

Welcome one and all to the group photo of our giggly stitching weekend. What fun we had!!! Our neighbors said all they heard from my house was laughter and more laughter.
They obviously missed the sounds of glee at all that food and the groans at the end of each meal.
We laughed, stitched, ate, showed off our stitching. laughed some more, ate some more, stitched a bit, then ate some more and laughed some more. I took the out of town girls on a road trip to Knowledge and Needles on Saturday afternoon. Hey, you can never have enough stash.
This is the Sunday group photo
Back Row L-R
Ann of Knowledge and Needles, Christin of Christins Ramblings, in the background Beatrice of Stitching with a View, Angie, and behind her Barb, Judy and Sharon
Front Row L-R
Lynn of Kearnel's Korner, Our Queen Adriana, me, Rebecca of Rebel in Ontario and in front our official photographer Dani of Dani Black Belt Stitching Wizard.
The second photo was taken on Saturday. All that beautiful blue water, unfortunately, made the picture really dark. We have
Back Row Christin
Middle Row, Beatrice, Ann, Barb and I
Front Row - Nan, Judy, Angie, Lynn and Dani

Oh what fun we had!! So much that we have decided to do this again next year. Want to join us?
LOL
If you would like to see other photos, I am sure you will find them on Lynn, Christin, Dani and Beatrice blogs over the next few days.
I received a couple of lovely gifts from some of my guests. I must show you the lovely gift from Dani. Details can be found on her blog.
Isn't this just the cutest thing!I have this smalls basket that has nothing in it. Dani's biscornu will take pride of place beside my Book of Stitches that now resides in that basket. One day that basket will have lots of lovely stitchy things in it.
Do you remember this piece? This was to be a Fair and Square and I stitched it on the wrong count fabric. Well, I turned it into a biscornu as a gift for a neighbor who is moving away. I think it will make a great pinchushion for her.
Now, I did a little stitching this week but not enough.
I pulled out Noddy and now he has a car. Once I get the background filled on this piece I will outline the car and then decide where to go from there.
I did a little work on Marjean's RR but am making slow progress. Everyone keep her in your prayers as she is in Louisiana and in the vicinity of the hurricanes. I don't know if she has evacuated or not.

And surprise, surprise - Paradigm has made an appearance. I worked on the motif on the bottom right and got a nice chunk done. I will post this to the Snowbird Blog. I expect to see other posts to that blog too as Dani, Beatrice, Christin and I all worked on it at some point during the weekend. I did some exchange stitching as well but cannot show that for some time.
We have had the most beautiful weather these past few days and it is supposed to continue until late next week. I am going to end now, pick up my stitching and enjoy some of this lovely weather.
Happy Labor Day Weekend to you all!!