Post Christmas

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. We enjoyed having all 4 of our children here. Our DD left today but we'll have our oldest DS here until Friday and the next DS here until he goes back to school in mid. January. From left to right in the picture: Chris, Laura (holding Newman, the wonder dog), Mike, and Tony (notice our "baby" is the tallest one...and he's still got time to grow taller).

On the stitching front, I've picked up a bap sampler (Village Square Sampler by Samplers Remembered) to stitch on again. No picture yet but hopefully soon. I also have planned a project to start Jan. 1 with one of my groups. I've chosen LHN's Winter Band Sampler. Yet another one I'll start in Jan. will be Lizzie Kate's Boo banner. I also have a rough "list" in my head of other new projects for 2011. It looks to be another busy stitching year.

In case I don't make it back before Christmas,

Merry Christmas, everyone!

I'm still behind (my tradition, I guess) on preparations. Our adult children will be home with us this Christmas for which we are so looking forward. The weather has been crazy, going back and forth between summer and fall (I'm from OH so the fact that it's not cold makes it hard to feel like it's almost Christmas.) To add to all the "fun", our 20 yo DS is having his wisdom teeth extracted Dec. 22. We're grateful they could work him in so as not to impact (pardon the pun) his going back to college in Jan.

On the stitching front, I've made progress on HIH Wee Carolers. I'm getting close to having to do a lot of either colonial or French knots for the hair on one of the women and I've put it down for a while and started LK's Be Naughty.

I've been reading online about the "crazy" stitching challenges for next year. I'm not officially signing up but have started a list of potential projects for 2011. So many projects, so little time!

I wish a blessed holiday season and a very happy new year for all of you.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

Well, not really here in SE Texas but I'm trying to get the decorations up.

I've done a little stitching since my last post...LHN's Peppermint Lane is all stitched but I need to add the candy cane button. In a moment of insanity I started Lo How a Rose (Brightneedle) over one on 28 ct. It will be pretty if I ever finish it. I promise to try. I also started HIH's Wee Carolers. I thought since I love to sing that I should stitch this for me.

'Til next time!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just in case I don't get on the computer tomorrow, I want to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving.

I spent a good deal of time in the kitchen today teaching DS how to bake pumpkin pies, baking a pecan pie myself, as well as cranberry orange scones, and some honey wheat bread in the bread machine. The vote is in and the turkey will be deep friend tomorrow so I'll let the men-folk take care of it while I busy myself making all the sides.

I have a couple of small stitching finishes to show you. It feels so good to be stitching again after marching season.

One piece is a Prairie Schooler Santa that I stitched for my final "installment" of this year's Bride's Tree ornament sal blog. IMHO nobody does Santa better than Prairie Schooler. I picked a drumming Santa since DS plays percussion in band.

I also finished a freebie (part of the 2006 Indy Town Square freebies) by La-D-Da called Schoolhouse.

I like to display holiday pics of the kids from years ago so thought I'd post some here in honor of Thanksgiving. The youngest "baby" is 15....time sure does fly!

This week....

It's been a little busy around here getting caught up on stuff at home and other activities.

Our dishwasher died so we had to get another one. The installer was over an hour later than the 3 hour window they gave us...on a Friday night. Grrrrrr! But....it's here now and I'm spending less time hand washing dishes.

My bread machine also died. I thought there would be many to choose from this time of the year and inexpensive but I was wrong. It took me a while to find one and I paid a little more than I'd wanted to but I can now bake bread in the machine again. Tried it out yesterday and the house smelled so good!

I had a "hankering" for something pumpkin so made some pumpkin bread. You can tell I didn't spend much time in the kitchen during marching season...the boys have pretty much devoured the pumpkin bread, even the loaf I put in the freezer for later. I have all the ingredients here so I may bake another couple of loaves today.

I spent the best day Wednesday with my walking buddy. First we took our walk and the regrouped after our showers to go shopping in Pearland. Neither of us had a long list of things we had to do so we accomplished a little, had lunch, shopped some more, and then shared a piece of double Godive chocolate cheesecake before starting back for home. The weather was gorgeous too. What a fun day!

I finished another Little House Needleworks ornament called Frosty Flakes. I also started a Thanksgiving design by Sandra Cozzolino but already have lost interest in that one...there are so many other things I'd like to stitch (and I have one more Bridestree ornament I have to stitch for that sal to finish up for the year).

Today is my DS's 20th birthday although he won't be celebrating it at home. We'll have a celebration with him on Monday. Guess I should be preparing for that. lol!

Finished another one

I'm doing a sal of Bride's Tree ornaments and Angel is the theme for November. This is The View Above by Little By Little and is in the Just Cross Stitch 2001 ornament issue.

Recent stitching

Some recent finishes posted above.

Currently I'm working on an angel piece from an old JCS ornament issue, a schoolhouse freebie by La D Da from the 2006 freebie Town Square freebies, and I also picked up an old wip of Christmas Patches by Leisure Arts and worked a bit on it. I hope to have more pictures soon.

It's a whole new world after marching band season. lol!

My poor, neglected blog

As of last Friday's football game, marching band season is officially over. While I enjoy rediscovering my "normal" life, I already miss the kids. lol!

I've picked up some stitching again and hope to have some pics to share soon.

Checking in...........

I know I've been ignoring the blog but it's been for a good cause.

I've been very busy volunteering for DS's HS marching band. I "work" every practice and also am in charge of ordering/buying/packing all their food and drink for both games and band contests. (for 300+ of my "closest friends")

We won second place overall in last Saturday's contest which advanced us on to State competition which will be in San Antonio on Nov. 2.

We're all so proud of the kids who've worked very hard to get this far.

After next week my "normal life" returns. I'm already thinking how much I'm going to miss those kids since I've seen them almost every day since early Aug.

It's been a while........

Same story...busy with band. The show is coming along nicely. I'm always amazed at what these kids can accomplish with all their and the directors' hard work.

I feel like this week has been a cheater week for my stitching. I had some almost finished wips that I finished up this week: sewed a button on Trilogy's Friendship, finished some leaves, tendrils, and lettering on a CEC piece from the Gentle Harvest leaflet, did some French knots and straight stitches on CCN's Season of Love Ornament, and finished the bat's ear and face, some spiders, and over one lettering on a piece from Hillside Samplings called "Come in for a Bite". For having so little stitching time, it sure feels good to have some finishes.

We have the weekend off (no football game) so I'm looking forward to getting some catching up done around home and also more quality stitching time. Everyone have a great weekend!

It's marching band season not stitching season

It's not cooking or cleaning season either. lol!

Part of me thinks I'm getting too old for this....volunteering nearly every day with DS's marching band.....doling out lots of TLC, band aids, ice bags, lugging water coolers out to the practice field, riding the hot "yellow dogs" (school buses), climbing up and down the bleachers during games, staying out way past my bedtime on those long away game nights, etc.

But.........I love these kids and am always amazed at what the directors can get them to acheive. Too soon our youngest will graduate from high school and this will all be a memory. Plenty of stitching time after that.

I did manage to finish the stitching on a couple of small pieces, Trilogy's Friendship (still needs a button or a charm) and some pinecones by Prarie Schooler.

Not much stitching time this week

DS's high school marching band camp started Monday. Since I volunteer there every day, my stitching time has been much impacted. lol!

It's been unbearably hot and humid but the kids have been tolerating it as well as expected. Part of my "job" is to help them cool down, make sure they have plenty of replacement water for their camelbacks (which we've required this year...I think they're being able to nearly constantly sip water has made a big difference in how they tolerate the heat.)

To add to my decreased stitching time, a woman backed out of her parking place and hit my minivan on the driver's side. I clearly had the right of way and she's not trying to deflect blame but it will be a hassle (and consume more of my time) getting the repairs done. We're blessed that nobody was hurt so I'm trying to stay positive about it.

I managed to finish stitching a LHN ornament called Red House in Winter. I love the color of the house on this design.

Did I mention that it's really hot here? lol!

Friday update

Summer is pretty much over. Percussion camp started yesterday (I spent the am scrubbing out band coolers. Luckily I had some great helpers so it was done much sooner than it would have without the help.) Full band camp starts Monday so I'll be there every am helping out.

I worked a bit on One Nation.

I picked up my neice's birth sampler again. Note the date...at least I hope to finish it before she starts high school. I started with a base design and made a lot of changes. I wasn't happy at all with the lighthouse I tried to design so frogged it all and just stitched the original design's lighthouse. I'm awaiting some buttons I ordered and will stitch on a couple pairs of mama and baby fish and a sea turtle on the bottom. I need to stitch on a shell button in the beach section and then I think I'm finally finished.

I have a small finish...a teapot from a CEC leaflet. It's for the teapot theme at the Brides Tree Ornament sal blog.

Until next time.....happy stitching!

2 finishes and progress

Despite it being hot/humid down here (who knew it would be hot/humid in SE TX in the summer?!) I've been keeping up with my 3 mile walks. It's great having a walking buddy to "keep me honest".

On the stitching front, this week I finished La D Da's My Sunshine. We were joking around in one of my stitching groups when a friend stitched a piece that was a song...the joke turned into starting a sing-along stitch-along so this is the piece I stitched for that. I actually cheated...it was in my wip pile...but a finish is a finish.

I also got a bit more done on One Nation. I'm loving this one...the fabric and floss are great, the theme is great. I'd better keep on loving it because it's a huge project.

And almost forgot...I did my first ever "no sew cube" finish on a Glory Bee freebie recently. It was an easy finishing technique...don't know what took me so long to try it.

Keep cool, everyone, in every way. :-)

More Patriotic Stitching

Now that I've finished CCN's Liberty Lane, I started One Nation by ByGone Stitches. It's easy stitching but LOTS of stitches.

I hope everyone enjoys their July 4th weekend and takes a little time to reflect on all the sacrifices made by others to benefit our freedom.

Finish!!

I've been stitching away trying to finish this one so I can start another.

Here's CCN's Liberty Lane with some color changes (with a little help from my friends who are more experienced at changing colors).

Next start is Bygone Stitches' One Nation.

Another small finish and link to another blog's giveaway

I finally decided on a fish to stitch for the Bridestree ornament sal blog. It's a freebie from the xstitchhappy blog. We had a koi pond at our last house so I thought this was appropriate for me to stitch for this theme.

Also, there's a giveaway at the following blog; last day to enter is tomorrow. It looks like a great giveaway package if you're into crazy quilting/ribbon embroidery:

http://gatherings100.blogspot.com/2010/06/first-day-of-summer-giveaway.html

Friday stitching update

I'm really enjoying stitching CCN's Liberty Lane...esp. since I'm using deeper colors.

The finish of each little house feels like a "finish". I'm hoping to finish the whole piece soon because I'd like to get back to the sampler and want to start One Nation by ByGone Stitches.

Blogging help?

As you can see, I've been playing around with my blog picture. I can't figure out why it's so huge, even after looking for stuff on the help section.

Is it the picture size itself or some mysterious setting on the blog?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Finally framed!

I finally took this sampler to be framed and picked it up yesterday. It's only been languishing in my pile of finishes since the 1980's. Yes, you read that right. lol!

My framers did a beautiful job and I have a place on my BR wall for it to hang.

I'm still working on CCN's Patriotic Row. It's been coming right along and is a joy to stitch. I hope to finish it up soon.

My stitching week in review

I've been working mostly on CCN's Liberty Lane this week. Thanks to help from my friends, Renee and Sherre, I've deepened the colors in the design. (I changed my mind on the greens after I stithced those little bits on the right side...I'll be frogging that out and replacing it.) It seems to be moving along despite it being a busy week (for some reason...school's out--I thought that meant I would be LESS busy!).

I had a great stitchy mail day yesterday. I'd bought some used charts from other stitchers' for sale albums and a bunch of them arrived yesterday along with my JCS and Cross Country stitching magazines. If that wasn't enough, the sampler I ordred from The Attic while we were in AZ in March arrived. It's Three Things by Moira Blackburn.

I've already got a wip of a bap sampler, Village Square (I'm probably not getting the name just right from memory).

I also started today a summer themed block for a block sal for one of my online stitching groups.

Someone please help me find time to stitch all this stuff! lol! At least I won't be bored.

Another small finish

I put in the last stitches and button on Little House Needleworks' Winter Sheep ornament last night. I really like this design.

I'm also still plugging along an my bap sampler; it's slow going b/c I've been so busy lately. I also want to start CCN's Liberty Lane and One Nation by ByGone Stitches. I have quite a case of startitis.

Model

I stitched a model for Diane Williams of Little House Needelworks earlier in the year.

It's just been released.....The Mercantile. You can see it at her website www.littlehouseneedleworks.com under new releases.

It was a joy to stitch as are all her designs. I love the frame she chose for it.

On a roll

I'm trying to get ahead on my sal's and DID finish my last block for the block exchange. All too soon summer marching band practices will start, then games, and contests, then Christmas. You get it! lol!

The first picture is my last block for the block exchange on STO with a Christmas tree theme. It's a freebie by Blue Ribbon Designs called A Star on Top.

The second I finished tonight. DS is at his band banquet and DH left for a camping trip. I went out for dinner with some friends and then came home to stitch. Great evening!

The finish is from the 1999 JCS ornament issue and called Christmas basket. I'm doing double duty with this one; it's for the JCS ornament sal on one group and a fruit themed ornament for another.

Another small finish

I decided to try to finish the rest of the exchange blocks for the year. I finished the pumpkin block, a freebie by Drawn Thread, and picked out and started a Christmas tree block, a freebie by Blue Ribbon Designs.

I think I'm in too many sals/block exchanges this year. I've noticed there are a lot of small finishes for me this year but not many bigger finishes. I'm still plugging along on the new sampler I started, though.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day. Only one of our kids was home but the other 3 called. (DS in college moves home next weekend and I'll see oldest DS towards the end of the month near the time he has a conference in Houston.) Even the son at home Sunday was gone for most of the weekend so DH and I ate out one night, grilled steaks the other and tried to get some things done around the house. It turned out to be a nice weekend.

Couple of small finishes to share

I can always tell when the end of the school year is here because of the increased activities.

We had the first marching band boot camp Tuesday evening (I always "work" those.), a concert tonight, and Tony's going for an overnight band event Friday/Sat for which I'll have to help him prepare. I'm also on a committee for a band Legacy event (to honor past and present band directors and students) that's coming up next month so we're busy planning that.

Despite all the running around I was able to complete these two little pieces. One is a penquin freebie I stitched for a block exchange for STO (an online stitching group) designed by Stitchy Kitty. I'm not a penguin person nor a pink person but I really enjoyed stitching this little guy.

The other is an ornament by Little House Needleworks, part of an ornament series Diane is designing this year. There's a blog devoted to these that I've joined too. It's fun to see everyone's interpretations of the ornaments.

He's a Flake

I'm participating in a sal blog for the monthly LHN ornaments this year. Here's the blog if you're interested in seeing everyone's ornaments:

http://littlehouseornies.blogspot.com/

Here's my version of He's a Flake. He's stitched on some Waterlily 32 ct. linen by Wichelt (in my stash for a while) with the recommended floss/beads.

Just finished

I finished stitching this yesterday for our nephew's wedding. It's the third one I started for the wedding...I guess the third one's the charm. I love the passage from Ruth.

Speaking of charms, this is an old design by HIH and the charm called for isn't even being made anymore. I like the sub. I found.

Sorry it's not the best quality picture...I just scanned it. I'll try to get a better picture after framing it.

Favorite sampler?

Do you have a favorite sampler? I realize that's like asking if you have a favorite child. lol!

Here's one of my favorites, Namesake Sampler. I love it for several reasons...first I think it's a great design. The designer is one of my stitching friends, Debbie from My Big Toe Designs. I also love it because of the family initials and our anniversary date "hidden" in the midst of the alphabets. I even remember putting it away for a while and another stitching buddy just told me to finish it already (not in so many words, but I needed a "push"). :-)

I still enjoy pausing for a look when I walk past where it's hanging.

Sorry for the flash. I'm a better stithcer than photographer.

Why I stitch

Do you ever think about why you stitch?

I can remember even way back in high school admiring needlepoint and cross stitch samplers that I'd seen then.

I think my favorite stithcing "genre" has always been samplers (although I enjoy manyother types too). I love the symmetry, the colors, the old sayings, the history, etc. and imagine those little girls way back when sitting there doing their stitching...when maybe some of them would have rather been outside with their brothers. lol!

I enjoy starting a new project, finishing an old one, and just the process of stitching, the tactileness and rhythm. I even love leafing through my stitching leaflets, magazines, etc. dreaming of starting more projects. Stitching is often comforting when things aren't going well. When looking at a certain piece, I can sometimes remember what was going on in my life while I was stitching it. When I'm stitching for someone else, I think of them while stitching the piece and sometimes say a small prayer for them.

I finally have a blog!

I may just be the last person on earth to start a blog. I love reading others blogs and have intended to start one but wonder who on earth would be interested in reading about me. I also get busy and sometimes forget about the computer so I can't promise that I'll be blogging regularly.

I DO like to cross stitch and have been stitching for over 30 years. I'll probably be doing a lot of show and tell here.

Anyway....her goes!!! Look, Mom....I'm blogging now!