Finishing is Tough Work

Thursday night was a whirlwind but I did it.....just in time for the holiday too!  I was able to finish the four ornaments for Hubby's family.  One for each of his cousins, one for his aunt and one for his mother.  WHEW!!!  I'm glad that pressure is off!

My favorite one is the snowflake.  Which one is your favorite?

Happy Stitching!

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

I've been a good girl.  I'm steadily working on finishing these ornaments for my Husband's family.  It has taken longer than I thought it would.  After all, it is hard to cut out a circle and an oval on that mat board.  I sure do hope that Santa brings me some better finishing equipment this year!

Here they are so far.....

And the backing fabric......

Hopefully I will get the cording made tonight.  That way I can spend tomorrow evening relaxing in front of the TV with my cording and invisible thread in hand!

Happy Stitching!

More Ornaments

The craziness is still on, but I managed to finish these over the weekend:

Winter Joy by SamSarah
36ct Vintage Pearled Barley by Lakeside Linen
From a JCS Ornament Preview Issue

Love Letters by Blackbird Designs
out of Joyeux Noel
36ct Vintage Pear by Lakeside Linen
Floss colors were modified from original version

I really love how these turned out.  What is even better is the Blackbird one is for my tree.  So, I guess this means that my obligation gift stitching is now over.  I'm calling it quits so that I can "finish" these babies (along with the ones from prior posts) before the holiday.

Happy Stitching!

Tons of Goodies and a Market Giveaway

I promised pictures of the goodies that I was lucky enough to pick up while I was at market.  While this is not everything, most of it made it into this picture.  (Sorry if it is a little dark, we've had rain for the last four days and also got caught in the Tropical Storm Nicole remnants so my lighting is less than desirable.)

Not pictured are some additional charts from Raise the Roof, Miss Crescent's Crowne and Sam Sarah as well as a Jenny Bean T-Shirt from Shakespeare's Peddler.  I also came home with some Crescent Colors Cottons and Belle Soie.  YUMMY!!!  (Thank you dearest Sharon!!!!  Kisses!!!!)

Lately, I've really been into Lakeside Linen and I've got quite the stash to prove it.  However, I've seen many of you using linen from Picture This Plus.  So, since I was unlucky lucky enough to have them just down the hall, I took a quick peek.  After seeing all of the delicious colors I knew I had to give it a try.  I was good and I came home with only one stitcher's half.  I don't remember the name of it off the top of my head, but it is a lovely shade of lilac in 36ct..... (I know, it looks a little grey in this picture, but the color in the picture above shows up a little better.)

This is one of my favorite pieces from the show..........

It is a birth sampler from Chessie & Me.  After I read the saying I knew I had to have it.  It says "When you were born, you cry and the World Rejoices"  "May you live in such a manner that when you leave this earth, the World cries and You Rejoice".  Quite lovely, don't you think?  I thought it was a perfect sampler to add to the stash so that I'll have it on hand when the time is right.

Speaking of the time being right, I think that it is time for another giveaway.  I picked up a couple of goodies from market just for you.......my dear blogging buddies.  It will be a surprise as to what it is, but I will say that I did buy duplicates because I had to have it for my stash as well.  I'm also going to include a few bits of fabric and a chart or two from my personal stash since I had to make room for my new goodies.  (Hubby's orders!)

So, if you would like to join in on the giveaway, please comment on this post only.  To earn a second chance in the giveaway, feel free to post about my giveaway somewhere on your blog.  Please be aware that you must comment a second time to get this second chance since I usually use a random number generator to pick my winner.  Followers only please, as I would love to reward those who faithfully read my blog.

This giveaway will end at Midnight (EST) on October 10th and I will draw the winner on Monday, October 11th.  Good luck to everyone! 

Happy Stitching!

Surprises, Finds and Finishes

Happy Monday!  I hope that you had a wonderful weekend!  I don't know about your weekend, but mine was full of all kinds of surprises. To boot, our weekend was hot, hot, HOT with temperatures up to 100 degrees and heat indexes of 105 and up.  The temperatures make me think of my Arizona friends.  (HI Karen! HI Sharon!  Miss you guys!!!!!)  It is hot again today, but we should have a cool down to the upper 80's later in the week......

During the week I gathered information on local estate sales and I had a list full of sales to visit on Saturday morning.  The first house was way in the back of a picturesque neighborhood. The master bedroom had a fabulous view of a local inlet.  What a picture to wake up to in the morning!  There were lots of great antique pieces that I couldn't afford.  But, I did find a small glass flower frog and bowl set for $2.00.  The frog has a small chip in it, but I can live with that.  Since the frog sits in the bottom of the bowl I think I'm going to try and raise it with some Styrofoam and then I will hide the Styrofoam with shells or marbles or something of the like.  That way my scissor tips will be protected and I will have a nice dish too.

I went to the second sale only to find that it was really a garage sale and the people were asking outrageous prices for junk!  So, I left that one in a hurry and moved on to number three.  The third one had some really great stuff, but nothing that screamed "Buy Me!".  But, as I was leaving the sale I did get a lovely surprise...............(can you read the sarcasm?????)

She might have been a sweet little old lady, but she still sideswiped my car while it was legally parked on the street.  All I could do was stand there and watch her do it!  What a nightmare!  I seriously wonder if she should be driving!  I know the street had cars on both sides and I know that it was a tight squeeze, but there were Suburbans driving by with no problem and all she had was a 2001 Dodge Stratus.  It's not like she was driving a "boat".  At least her insurance company is going to cover the damages.........that is, if I ever get a call from the adjuster!

After the drama, I did manage to go to two more out of three estate sales.  I didn't find anything that was either worthwhile or affordable or both.  Why is it that some people think the words "estate sale" mean "price things really high"?  There were some great old frames at one of the sales, but I wasn't about to pay $80 for one frame when it was approximately 5x7.  Sheesh!

Anyway, Saturday evening I got to spend time stitching with my BFF.  I love being able to spend time with her on the weekends.  We talk, laugh and eat.  Sometimes we even stitch!  Like this past Saturday, I think that we spent more time in silence because we were both concentrating so hard on what we were stitching.  Actually, we were both working on the same project.  It's called Desert Sunset by Fireside Originals.  It is the piece that I'm going to surprise Hubby with, so I had to really concentrate while I had the chance.  I got a fair amount done on it, but I still have a long way to go.  With the exception of the light fabric peaking through on the cactus, I'm very pleased with my progress.  The light fabric is quite noticeable in the picture, but not so much when you are standing back a little.  I'm just going to say that the light parts are the prickly spines of the cactus!

Sunday we went to a cookout at a friend of Hubby's.  There was so much good food and we made some new friends.  We even played a game of Horseshoes (my first ever) and we fought hard to win.  But, the other team got a ringer in the end and that won it for them.  Let me tell you, even though it seems easy, horseshoes is hard!  And, boy do they hurt when you get hit with them.  I've got a small knot on my shin where I got hit.  OUCH!

Whew.....what a weekend!  Well, I guess I will leave you with one last picture.  I did get a little start and finish on Sunday.  I worked on SamSarah's Heart Tin.  It was a real quick stitch.  Now I will just have to really "finish" it sometime this week.  I've got a boatload of "finishing" now that I have also finished the stitching for my Blackbird Designs Exchange.  Guess I will have to call it an early day at work and stop by the quilt store on the way home.  Fabric, here I come!!!!

Happy Stitching!