Bach's New Home

Yesterday I mentioned that Bach had a new home.  Well, my lurker was kind enough to send me pictures of where he now resides......  See him there on the left?  He fits just perfectly in that spot, don't you think?  And, look at that organ!  What a beauty!  It belongs to the husband of my "lurker".   Boy, do I wish I could hear him play.  Seeing the organ really makes miss those days of junior high, high school and college wind ensembles.

I'm just so glad that Bach found his home.  I know that he will be well loved!

Happy Stitching (and lurking)!

Tis The Season......

........of GIVEAWAYS!!!!!  Be sure to check out my sidebar for all the great links!

Happy Stitching!

More Kindness and Vacation Day 1

While I was reading earlier this morning I came across a few passages that I thought I would share in light of all the RAK's.  It read "Kindness is the mightiest force in the world......."(*).  Then I also found this, it reads "It is by continuing to give of ourselves that we continue to receive.  In helping others, we continue to enrich our own lives." (*)

That explains this package that arrived in yesterday's mail:

A BBD's pattern that was on my wishlist!  Remember when I said "Don't Count Out Lurkers" and I mentioned that I found a home for the stitched Bach piece that I purchased at an Estate Sale?  Well, the piece arrived safe and sound.  It has been lovingly reframed and it has a special place on a special wall in its new home.  As a thank you, my "lurker" sent me America the Beautiful.  Oh, I love it so!  Thank you so much!  This is just a reinforcement of everything that I have been working so hard for in the past six months!** 

In other happy news, I thought I'd share about my vacation.  Day One we got up early and headed to the OBX (Outer Banks, NC for those of you who have never heard the term "OBX" before).  We were there well before noon so there was lots of daylight left to burn. Hubby decided he needed "alone time" and went to play a round of golf.  That ment that MIL and I went shopping.  I love visiting all the little shops in Duck. (Yup, Duck is the name of the town!)  My favortie shops have artsy things and handmade jewelry that you just don't find at home.  I didn't buy anything for myself that day, but I did find a Hanukkah gift for my mom and step-dad.....handmade, of course.  (I love it when I can get ahead of the game!)  After a fun afternoon of shopping, I was able to sit down and put a needle into my new start, Seaside Memories by The Sampler Girl while watching some fireworks out of the sliding glass doors in the great room.  See, I told you I was going to have a 4th of July start!  And with fireworks to boot!

Day Two tomorrow!  That is if I can remember to grab the memory card out of my good camera!

Happy Stitching!

(*) Both quotes were found in ODAAT.
(**) I've been dealing with much more than I let on in my blog, but one day I will let the words flow in hopes that I can give hope and help to others who may find themselves in similar situations.

Estate Finds and Promised Pictures

Happy Monday everyone!  A new week is upon us already.  Can you believe it?  I'm still trying to recoup from my week of vacation.  I arrived at work to a loaded desk with lots of things to go through.  At least I know I'm still needed here at work!

As is typical of a Monday, I thought I share some of my recent estate finds with you.  Hubby and I managed to go to one Estate Sale before we went on vacation.  It was in a real nice neighborhood that was near our home.  (That is another thing that I like about Estate Sales.......we get to look at neighborhoods that we might not otherwise find......it will be helpful when we are ready to move to a larger home.)  The house was large and had lots of antiques in it.  In my opinion, they were overpriced, but then what do I know.  While I was in the sun room picking out a couple of clear glass flower frogs, Hubby was in the kitchen seeking out Ball Jars.  He found one of the bicentennial jars and so it got added to the collection.  We are now up to 3 old Ball Jars!  And, luckily enough, I had a great purple glass votive holder that has now become the base to one of the flower frogs that I bought.

On the way home from the Estate Sale, Hubby saw a sign for a Garage Sale in the neighborhood behind ours.  Can you believe it, he wanted to stop?  I think that I have created a monster!!!  I'm not as fond of Garage Sales, but you never know what you will find when you stop at one.  (Some of the Garage Sales I have been to have been better than some of the Estate Sales I have been to.)  Luckily enough, I found a nice frame to add to my collection.  The inside measures about 6x6.  Not too shabby for 50 cents!

This past Saturday I had to go Estate Sale shopping on my own since Hubby had to work.  I only hit one sale since I had other things that had to be done around the house before I went to visit my BFF for some stitching time in the afternoon.  Anyway, as I'm walking through the house I was becoming more and more disappointed.  After all, who are these people didn't know their cross stitch designs from their needlepoint?  They deal with estates every day, don't they?  And, all the items seemed to be way overpriced, especially for quilts that were thread bare!  Just because it is old or says "antique" doesn't mean that it has to be overpriced.  Soon I found myself down in the kitchen/dining area and what do my eyes fall upon but this:

Is that not the most amazing flower frog you have seen????  It is made of pottery!  I couldn't find a signature on the bottom, but there were marks on the bottom where it had been in a kiln.  And to boot I found a black glass frog and another clear frog in a configuration that I haven't seen yet.  I HIT THE FROG JACKPOT!!!   I've got quite the collection forming.  Now I will just be on the lookout for colored or unusual frogs since I have plenty of the clear glass ones.  I'm so excited and I can't wait to see if there are any good Estate Sales around next weekend.  I think I'm hooked!

Here is my first self-framed finish.  I spent the last part of my evening last night putting this bad boy together.  Whew!  What a task!  All I can say is "I love my framer" and I will never complain again about the cost of framing.  Don't get me wrong, it wasn't too hard, but it was very time consuming.   I think I will continue to try and frame many of my small pieces, but I will be sure to send the bigger ones to my favorite framer.  (She's awesome!)  If you look close, you may be able to see where I "puffed" the piece instead of putting it behind glass.

Now I Know My ABC's

Blackbird Designs Reproduction Freebie

40ct Vintage Basketweave by Lakeside Lined

Colors were changed to the Crescent Colours Cottons that I had on hand

The frame was purchased at an Estate Sale

Here is the other thing I promised you.  Pictures of the RAK that I received from Faye over at Carolina Stitcher.  Thanks again Faye for the lovely gift!  I hope you don't mind, but I'm following in your footsteps with the RAKs and the pins.  I even tried my hand at creating a few pins last night and I think that they turned out well.  I will be sure to share pictures of my pins soon.

Stay tuned this week, as I have some vacation pictures and stitching to share!

Happy Stitching!

Sunday's Finished

Thanks for all the organizational ideas for my new address book. I finally decided to put each person in by their first name. I also included the blog name, web address and email in addition to the snail mail address. Some of the entries had additional notes such as exchange information or RAK information. I think that this will work out quite well.

My, my......can you believe it will be a new week already? I could still use a few more days of vacation since I wasn't able to get much stitching in this week. Today was my last day of rest before what I know will be a hectic week, but I didn't spend it stitching. Instead I spent the whole afternoon at the kitchen table with some of my items that needed to be finished. While I didn't get everything done, I did finish my BBD exchange piece as well as another piece that I can't show right now.

I also performed my first self-framed finish. Boy, do I respect those of you who are professional framers. My piece was small, but the process was still very time consuming. I don't know that I will continue to frame things myself, but I'm glad to know that I can do it. I took pictures so I'll be sure to post them tomorrow.

My eyes are heavy and my body is telling me that it is time for bed. I've got to get up early tomorrow so that I can take my car in to the shop so that she can return to her "new" status. I wonder what kind of crappy rental car I'm going to end up with......

I hope you have a great week ahead. Happy Stitching!

Now What?

First of all, I would like to thank those of you who have already sent me your snail mail address so that I can pay it forward!

However, I now have a delima. I went out earlier today a picked up an address book so that I could have one that was dedicated to my blogging/exchanging/stitching buddies. I now have several names and addresses to put in my new book. But, I don't know how! Ok, yes, I do know HOW.....just put pen or pencil to paper! LOL!

I just don't know the best way to organize it! Should it be alphabetical by last name? (I don't really know you all by your last names and I don't want to lose you on the sea of pages) Do I alphabetize by first name? (This might be better, but some of you use nicknames) Or, do I put you in there by your blog name? (I don't think this works either since some of you are lurkers, not bloggers)

Now do you see why I'm stuck? HELP!!!!!!

Kindness Begets Kindness

Wow, what a response to the DMC question! I'm so glad to see that I am not alone in my feelings. I thought it was just me, so I dug back into my stash of DMC and there really is a difference. The old stash is much softer. I'll bet something in the process had changed, be it dye or how the threads are manufactured. That will teach me to go out and buy new threads when I have perfectly good threads stashed at home!

I know I haven't posted much this week, but I have a good reason. Hubby and I took the week off and we joined his mom for a week of vacation on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The OBX is a great place to take your family! We love it here and we spend as much time as we can on the wonderful beaches. The whole week was full of sights and adventure. I will update you on some of the fun things that we did and some of my stitching during this coming week.

But, I digress.......

Here is the real reason for my post today. It seems that the "RAK" bug has bit! I've noticed that there have been so many of us that have received such joy from these wonderful Random Acts of Kindness. Including me! Faye over at Carolina Stitcher sent me the most wonderful hand made pins. (Sorry, no pics today as my computer is acting up and I am blogging from my iPod.) THANK YOU FAYE! You are AMAZING!

So, since kindness begets kindness, this is what I'm going to do. I want to perform a true stitchy RAK. But, how is it going to be random and how will I be able to send it to a random
stitchy blogger/reader if I don't know your address? It wouldn't be much of a RAK if I email you and ask for your address, would it?
So.......if you would like to be RAK'd, send me your address and be sure to include the name and www of your blog if you have one(my email is in my profile). You won't know when and you won't know what it may be. How fun is that?

Well, I'm off to the store to pick up an address book! Happy Stitching!