 He is finally done after all these months!! WaaaaHooooooo!!! Hugs! Today was a great mail day! I recieved a RAK from Carla! She sent me an entire spool of Vicki Clayton's silk! I love silk, and I've never tried HDF so I can't wait to try it. It's called Auquamarine and is beautiful shades of variegated blues & greens. She also sent me 3 cards of Wisper floss!! I've been wanting to try this forever!! I haven't been able to find it in my area and my usual online sources don't carry it. She sent bright pink, white and red...I see a fuzzy santa beard in my future! LOL I am so thrilled with this RAK....THANK YOU SO MUCH CARLA! You totally made my day! 
I wasn't going to show a pic of this yet but since I'm completely done with the stitching, I thought I'd post a pic. It's all ready for the backstitching!! Yay! This dragon has taken forever, but I'm almost done...pretty exciting, eh? 
As you can see in the above pic, I've already started backstitching the very tip of the tail...I'm off to do some more...HUGS!! I've had a couple of very slow stitchy weeks. I've been down with the flu along with the rest of my household. My kids missed almost a whole week of school. It has just been awful around here! This is my Valentine exchange I recieved from Kay. I love that little ladybug! 
I was able to get part 2 of the Alla Turca SAL done. I think this is the only SAL that I'm actually keeping up with. I am enjoying it more than I thought I would. I wasn't quite sure if I would like the floss color that I chose, but I am liking it more and more each time I look at it. 
Since I haven't been doing much for stitching lately, I am going to put all my focus into the dragon and the Hunt SAL. I really need to just get my butt in gear and get the dragon done! It seems like I put in about 10 stitches and then lose interest. UGH! I think my biggest problem is that I have too many things started and I keep skipping around too much. I'm not seeing enough progress on any one thing and it's killing me. So....this week I'll focus on just those two and see how I feel. Anyway, that's it from my little world. HUGS TO ALL!! The last 2 weeks have been slow stitchy weeks for me. I just lost my groove somewhere. I've had a bazillion computer issues and had to go back to using my old dial up. Finally got a new laptop and I'm loving it! Hopefully I can find my stitchy groove and back to normal. This is the 3rd and final biscornu I've made for Donna. I hope she likes it! It was a freebie I found somewhere a while back, have no clue where, but it's been in my freebie folder so I thought I would try it. I used "Bahama Seas" from the Dye is Cast. Love the color! The pic is awful, but it's on a blue fabric scrap that was in the scrap pile, have no idea what it is. It's probably the smallest biscornu I'll ever make. Its only about an inch and a half wide! LOL 
This is what I did with the PIF from Patty.....it's my very first cube finish! I think it turned out pretty cute! The pic doesn't show the snowfakes all that well, but even my hubby thought it was cute. 
Thursday was a wonderful mail day for me!! I recieved 3 packages all in one day! The first one was from my mom for Valentines Day. She sent my favorite needles!!!! Yes, they are the cheap kind, but they are my favorite! She also sent a giant piece of 28ct evenweave, and a cute little ceramic teapot figurine that didn't make it into the picture. It's already on a shelf looking pretty. Thanks MOM! 
Next, I recieved a RAK from Jess!! She sent me Lizzie Kate "Good Things" and ALL the 'special' floss to do it!! She knows I love LK so this is perfect for me. She also sent me some of my favorite popcorn, but it's already gone! What can I say, I was hungry...LOL Thanks Jess!! 
Last I recieved a package of fabric from Carrie. She traded me my HAED pattern for the fabric and she totally spoiled me! I love Silkweavers fabric and she sent some wonderful colors. "Blue Fusion", "Strawberry Milkshake" and "Rainbow Dreams". Thanks Carrie! 
Not much more to report for the last 2 weeks. Had parent/teacher conferences and both boys are doing wonderful! We did find out that my youngest son is ADHD and may fall somewhere on the autism spectrum. What are the odds that we would have 2 sons with autism?! Hubby and I knew there was an issue with him, we just weren't sure what it was. It's kind of a relief to know for sure. This week I plan on finishing part 2 of the Alla Turca SAL and trying to get the dragon fully stitched and ready for backstitching and beading. Should be a busy week! Hugs to all!  I recieved my first blog award from Frishawn! Thank you so much! I never thought my ramblings were that interesting! LOL So now I need to pass on the award...lets see...I'll pick:
Janet - because she is just one funny lady! Jess - because I can call her a midnight and she always has time to chat! LOL Donna - because she is just an extra special chickie! Terri - because she has something like 118 HAED patterns...that just makes her flat nuts! Patty - because she went over and above in finding me that pattern I just *had* to have! OK ladies...now it's your turn to pass it on! HUGS! Wow! I can't believe the first month of 2009 is almost over! Seems like its just flying by! It's been a good stitchy week for me! I finished this biscornu for my friend Donna. She will be teaching a biscornu class soon and so I thought I would make a few for her students to look at. This one was made using 14ct aida and Caron Wildflowers floss called "Holiday". I love the way this one turned out! 
On Tuesday, I received this in the mail. Abi from one of my yahoo groups sent me this handmade card and this beautiful floss as a thank you for being her Secret Santa this year. Thank you so much Abi! It is wonderful! 
On Wedensday and Thursday, I made this little biscornu for Donna. I think it's got to be the ugliest one EVER! I used a mix of different threads on 32ct fabric. Not sure exactly what the fabby was or what threads I used, I was just grabbing as I went. I hate it! I'm going to send it to her and let it be the "What NOT to do when making a biscornu" piece! LOL 
A while back I sent out a request for a certain UK magazine because I've been looking for a certain pattern. Well, Patty came to my rescue and mailed me what I was looking for, BUT.... she also sent me a RAK at the same time! She sent this cute little Heart in Hand pattern called "Snow" and a skien of SSS called "Mud Pie"!!! She even included the button for the pattern! THANK YOU PATTY!! I'm going to work on this one this week and make it into a cube. I've not done one of those yet, so it should be interesting. This pattern will also be used as a PIF in my group. (CrossStitchAddiction) When I finish, I'm going to put it in a card signed with my name and location and send it to someone in my group, they will then do the same thing and mail it on. When everyone is finished, I will have the pattern and card sent back to Patty and she can see how far her kindness has went. I hope it all works out the way I have planned! I think it will be neat to see it go around to everyone. 
Yesterday I finally pulled out the unfinished dragon and put a few stitches in. Not much to show, but hey, a stitch is a stitch, right? He now has eyes and the beginning of his fire breath. I still have to finish the wings and do ALL the backstitching! That will take some time, since I have to backstitch each little scale on his body and tail. I'm going to start pulling him out once a week until he's finally done. 
Today I will be starting a new project. It's an AOY piece called Raggetty Ann. The ladies from one of my yahoo groups picked it for me to do, so guess that's what I'll be stitching today. I have 3 SAL's I should be working on, and 4 more I need to start but I've been putting them off. BoInk has officially become a UFO...I've just lost interest in it. I plan to finish it one day....just not soon. LOL My stitchy plans for this week is to make that little "Snow" pattern into a cube, finish one more biscornu for Donna, work on the AOY piece that I'm starting today and hopefully put in a few more stitches in Mr. Dragon. Hope everyone is having a great week! That's it for me! Hugs to all!! I finally finished my 1st ornie for the challenge! It turned out a bit crooked, but it's a cute one. The darn pic sure doesn't look it though, I really need to take a class on picture taking! LOL This was one of those Mill Hill kits that I recieved from my Secret Santa at Christmas time. (THANKS PAT!) 
Here's my progress on the SAL we're doing in my group. Not much to see, but at least it's progress, right? I've got 3 other SAL's I'll be participating in this year. I still need to start 2 of them! Guess I better get my butt in gear! 
This morning my youngest son got into my beads so I sat down with him and made a few scissor fobs. I think I'll "PIF" them to a few people. Pic doesn't do them justice, they are cute! It made me realize I need to start investing in more beads, I sure don't have much variety! LOL 
Next is a long shot, but I'm tossing it out there on the off chance that someone will want to trade with me. I purchased these from 123stitch about a year ago. These were meant for someone I was in an exchange with, but that person had already recieved the same items from someone else, rather than send her duplicate items, I kept them thinking maybe someone else would be happy to recieve them in an exchange. So far I've not found the "right" person for these items. One is a piece of 25ct Antique White Jobelan, size 34"x36", it was bought specifically for the pattern. The pattern is from HAED and it is called "Queen of Hearts". I've never removed either item from the packaging since I recieved it from 123stitch. The pattern runs between $13.00-15.00 and the fabric cost $22.00. I'm willing to trade for Silkweaver fabric. NO AIDA! I'm looking for 28ct and 32ct evenweaves only. I know there are alot of you that do the fabric of the month club, so maybe someone has a bit too many pieces that you might never use. :) 
Anyway, that's my short update for the week. Hope to get alot more stitching done this week! Hugs to all!I've had a slow stitchy week due to health issues but I have managed to get a little done. This is my finished first part of the Alla Turca SAL from the Stitchers Heaven group. I'm using DMC# 729 on Antique White 28ct Monaco. Don't know why I chose this color, it was the ugliest one in the bag. Guess someone has to use the yucky colors..LOL! This will be put away until part two comes out in February...Can't wait to see what it will look like! 
Since I haven't been able to stitch as much as I would like I decided to pull out this ornie and do something small. I'm not done, but I'm having fun with it. I haven't done one of these before so it's a nice change. This will be my first one for the 2009 Ornie Challenge. Can't wait to get it finished! Hopefully it will be done tomorrow and I'll have the finished pic to show in next weeks update. This pic turned out really bad, I just couldn't get a good lighting with the flash...I'm camera illiterate! LOL 
Stitchy plans for this week will be to get this ornie done, work a bit more on the Hunt SAL and hopefully get close to being done with the dragon. I really need to get back to that one! That's it for this week! Hugs to all! Wow! My first blog entry for 2009...and what a year it's been already! This is my progress on the SAL in CSA as of yesterday...not too bad, huh? I made it all the way across the top! I'm glad to have had a break from the dragon, I REALLY needed it! 
My 9 year old son has been dabbling in stitching, and decided to knuckle down and do something yesterday. This was what his project looked like last night before he went to bed. 
He woke at 6:30 this morning and went straight to work on it again! He was like a little machine! LOL This is the finished piece..... 
After deciding that he wanted to send it to his Grandma Judy he decided it would make a good door pillow. I was a bad mom and forgot to get pics of him cutting and sewing it together, but I did get one of him stuffing it! 
This is his finished project! Not bad for a 9 year old autistic kid, huh? 
This is him with the envelope all ready to be mailed, guess I better get out of my jammies and take him to the post office! 
He's already picked his next project. It will be a panda bear. I believe the kit is a 5x7 so it should take him a bit longer....I hope! I think I've created a stitching monster....LOL I thought this was a pretty good start to 2009, hope we didn't bore you all too much! Hugs to all! This is my last update of 2008, I did not finish my sons dragon in time for Christmas. Here's my progress as of today..... 
I didn't give any of the kids their pillows since I didn't get his done. It wouldn't have made a difference anyway, all the local stores are out of the pillow forms that I need! They all had smaller ones in stock, but I *have* to have the 20" ones for them to fit properly. I will continue with this project till it's done then just give the pillows to the kids when they are all finished. It made me so sad not to have completed this but my son was patting me on the back telling me that it was ok. I have alot of stitching projects planned for 2009 and I will be taking up knitting this year too. I'm going to be taking a class at the end of January and wil learn how to knit a scarf. WooHoo! I've been wanting to learn how to knit for a long time. I'm also planning to get a couple of quilts done. I have a few that are already cut out, they just need to be put together. My daughter made fleece blankets for the boys and hubby for Christmas and they were a hit with everyone! I was so proud of her for getting them done. She had NEVER used a sewing machine before so it was a big accomplishment for her. I think I might get her a machine for her birthday this year. She and her boyfriend have finally decided to get married!!!!!!!!! They are planning an October wedding! Holy Cow! I must be getting old! LOL Anyway, that's my final update of the year. Thanks to everyone that has cheered me on with getting that dragon done, all your comments have been wonderful! Hugs to all! Sorry everyone, I completely forgot about this over the weekend! Did a draw this morning before the boys went to school and they picked........BREE!!! So Miss Bree, the magazine will be on it's way to you this Saturday when I make my post office run. Enjoy! Thanks everyone for the comments on the dragon. I'm making progress but it's slow going. I've got 9 days to get it finished...wish me luck! Hugs to everyone! I can't believe it's already December! Seems like the older I get the faster the years fly by! Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. My mom came to visit for the holiday and brought me a big box of old cross stitch magazines. I found a bunch of patterns that I *have* to do. It's amazing what you can find in old magazines! I haven't had much time lately to work on the dragon, but I've put in a few more stitches. I'm so sick of green! All I have left to do is the head/neck and the wings then it's the Kreinik, backstitching and beading.....yep, I know, alot to get done. I do have hope that it'll get finished before Christmas though. This is the only thing I'm working on until its done. 
Now for the contest part...... I recently subscribed to Just Cross Stitch magazine and they ended up sending me 2 copies of the Ornie edition. I also received one from Carrie in an exchange. I've passed one on to a friend and I have one more copy to give away. So, if you haven't been able to get it and you would like this one, leave a post on this blog and I'll draw a name on Saturday for it. 
Until next time, stay warm and safe! Hugs! October 6, 1986 - November 25, 2008 
This Thanksgiving my daughter lost a very close friend of hers. Mathew James Shannon McLean. They met the end of her Sophmore year of high school and dated through the following summer. They have been close friends every since. These kids used to run around in a big group all through high school and they liked to call themselves "the Pirates" I used to tease them all because they would name their cars like pirate ships. It was always "lets get in the Salty Wench and go get a burger" or "We're taking the Devil dog out to the lake" I got many a laugh out of those kids. I've watched them all grow up and it breaks my heart to lose even one of them. Matt will be missed by many. He leaves behind a wife, a son and many friends. I received this lovely ornament from my Secret Santa today! The pic didn't come out very well, but it is cute! The white part on the stocking is done in whisper floss (i think) and it is kind of fuzzy. Makes me REALLY want to try it! Isn't this just adorable? Thank you so much Secret Santa, I love it! 
This is a card I recieved from Robyn. She had emailed a few weeks ago about some patterns that she had and wanted to return them to me, she also made this cute little card and stuck in the package too. I had to show it off, I just thought it was too clever! Thanks Robyn! 
Here's what I ended up doing with the candy cane I stitched a while back. It is flat and I will be putting it inside a card, then the recipient can just pull it out and hang it on her tree. Thank God for tri-fold cards! LOL 
Here's my progress on the darn dragon...not alot. I have just lost my drive to work on this. I did pull it out this morning and put in a few stitches. It WILL be done for Christmas, I may be putting the last stitch in the night before, but it will be done! (i hope) 
Not alot going on here, my kids are out of school for the whole week and my mom is coming to visit for Thanksgiving so it will be hectic around here. It will be nice to visit with my mom though, I haven't seen her for awhile. It sucks living so far away from family and friends. Anyhoo, that's it for now! Hugs! I recieved this wonderful package in the mail today! It was the Ornie exchange from Donna. She sent the cutest little snowman ornie! It's all done with beads, so I know she had to have spent hours putting each bead on. Thank you Donna, for taking the time to put this together for me! She also sent me some wonderful goodies along with it....2 skiens of GAST (Blue Spruce and Dried Thyme) and a skien of Caron Wildflowers (Holiday) There was also my favorite fabric! Silkweavers, 28ct Jobelan in the color "Lavendar Swirl"...I already have a project picked out for this! LOL She also sent a cute snowman button and some tiny little gingerbread man buttons. It was a wonderful surprise to get in the mail today! Thanks so much Donna! 
Here's my progress on the dragon over the last 5 days. Don't look like much yet, but it's there. I'm on the second color of green, and to be honest....I'm REALLY starting to hate the color green! I don't even have the head done yet, this is just the bottom part of the body. I really hope it's done in time for Christmas, my son would never let me hear the end of it! Next year it's only ornaments! LOL 
Anyway, that's my update for the week! Hope all my stitchy cyber friends are staying warm and happy! Hugs! I was tagged by Cherie.... http://countrygalcp.multiply.com Here's the rules: 1. Link to the person who tagged you. 2. Post the rules on your blog. 3. Write six random things about yourself. 4. Let each person know they've been tagged by posting on thier blog. 5. Let the tagger know your entry is up. Let's see, six random things about me: 1. I would love to own a beach house someday. 2. I don't know how to swim and I'm terrified of water. 3. I hate driving in snow. 4. My favorite show is Heroes. 5. I'm a book junkie and can read an entire book in a day. 6. I have the ugliest feet of any woman on the planet! LOL Ok, I'm going to tag..... Jess, Bree, Carrie, and JoAnn (kaghos) hehheh I recieved a package in the mail on Friday from 123stitch. I knew I hadn't ordered anything, so this was a wonderful surprise from my "Secret Person". I'm still not sure who it's from, but I've been wanting one of these for a long time. Thank you whoever you are, you really made my Friday! Now I'll be able to catch that thread no matter how short I let it get! 
Today I received my pink exchange from Jeannie in CSF group. It was full of goodies that I love! Pink is one of my favorite colors so this was a perfect exchange for me. I can't wait to use that fabric, it's white with pink hearts all over it. The mini kits are great, I will probably pull one of those out this week to get a quick finish fix while I continue on the dragon. 
And speaking of the dragon, here's my progress as of today. It still doesn't look like much, but I've made it to the end of the tail finally! This dragon has the longest tail I've ever seen! And I'm finally using another color of green!!! Yay! You can't see much of it yet, but it's there. Now I'm working my way back up the tail and I think I'll start backstitching it as I go just so I don't have as much to do when it's finished. That'll be a new thing for me since I usually wait till the end to do any backstitching. I'm on a mission to have this done at least a week before Christmas....let's hope I make it! 
Hope all my cyber friends are well! Until next time......Hugs! I can't believe it's November already! It seems like this year has just flown by! Some of you may know that my hubby and I have been together for 20 years (21 in December!) Things have gotten a bit rocky between us for the past 6 months or so. We've moved and finances have gotten a bit tighter, just day to day stress has started taking a toll. I'm happy to report that we are working on "us", and I feel like we are getting back that old spark again. We both agreed that we have put so much focus on the kids and have put our relationship on the back burner for too long. We had a "date night" last Saturday and we've started working on getting "us" back. We plan to continue the "dates" and we have started really talking to each other again. It's amazing how much can be worked out when two people really sit and talk to each other and listen. I feel like I'm falling in love again. Pretty sappy, huh? LOL I'm getting so irritated with our postal system! I mailed out 3 packages on October 25th and only one of them have arrived at its destination! I keep checking the tracking on them and they haven't been updated since the 28th! I don't know if they are lost or what, but I'm to the point of pulling my hair out! I did recieve a package today, it was my bingo prize from Krystal from one of the yahoo groups I belong to. The picture doesn't do it justice, but I absolutely love everything! She sent me the cutest little Halloween candle holder. It's shaped like a witches shoe! A wooden thing of letters that spell out spooky all painted in black and orange and a few other items. I love everything! I had completely forgotten about this so it was a wonderful surprise today! Thanks so much Krystal! 
I was a bad mom this year and didn't get out to get my boys Halloween costumes so my boys came up with their own ideas. My youngest, Brady, decided he wanted to be an army guy. He didn't want any help in putting it together so I just went with whatever he decided to do...... This is what he came up with!! He got into his daddy's face paint and came out with it all over! He reminds me of the kid from the old black and white Little Rascals tv show. LOL! I can't tell if he's disgusted or happy with it....... 
This is a little candy cane I found on Cyberstitchers.com. The pic looks terrible but it's cute in person. It was made with the intention of going on a card for an exchange, but I think I'm going to do the card a bit different. I'm going to make this into a sideways flatfold and put muslin inside to write my message on. I'm thinking I can use a sharpie to write my message and it would be a unique card that can be displayed year after year. We'll see how it turns out.. 
Here's my progress on the dragon for my son Bodie. Not much to look at yet. I've been doing this green part and can't seem to get away from it. Believe it or not, this is 2 full skeins of #906! The chart calls for 4 skiens, so I've still got alot of this color to go. It doesn't look like much yet, but I will be adding more color soon and you will be able to see more details. I haven't been working on it too much this past week, guess I better get my butt in gear! 
I do have one other finish but I can't show it yet. It's an ornament for a Secret Santa Exchange. It turned out pretty cute so I'll save that for after Christmas when my partner knows who I am. Until next time, stay safe and happy and keep those needles smokin'! Hugs to all! I finally got my new "Crop a Dile" in the mail the other day!! Yay! I saw this on someone's blog and idea after idea started rolling through my head. I just had to have one! So I was talking to my mom on the phone one day and she was in JoAnn's and I asked her to look and see if they had any. They did but it was only the tool itself and not the whole kit, for $29.99. So I hopped online real quick and found this whole kit at JoAnn.com on sale for $24.49 and they had a 40% off coupon for online orders!! So mom went home and ordered it for me, don't I just have the best mom EVER?!! LOL It really was a good deal, and I know we'll have all kinds of fun with it. 
This is the chart for the dragon I *have* to get done for my son by Christmas. It's 4 pages that I've taped together. It's from the book "Oriental Cross Stitch"..... 
Here's my progress so far....... not so good, eh? I REALLY hope I can get this done in time. I'm doing it on 32ct Jobelan because I was afraid if I used 28ct it would be a bit too big for a pillow top when it's finished. I forgot how tiny those holes were.... 
Lastly, this is my very first completed biscornu. I tried one before, but it ended up being a square scissor fob, I just couldn't get the putting it together part, but I found this in the JCS 2008 Ornie magazine and had to try again. This time around it wasn't so hard! I love the way it turned out and plan to do lots more in the future. This one became an ornie for an exchange, I hope my partner likes it. The pic isn't that great, but I think it's cute! 
Well, that's it for this week! Hope all my stitchy friends are happy and healthy. Hugs to all!! What a busy month it's been already! I've been trying to get some upcoming exchange pieces done and out of the way so I can work on my sons big dragon and be done with it for Christmas. This is an altoid tin I made for an embellishment exchange. I'm going to put some of the embellishments inside it for a little extra surprise when my partner opens it. Hope she likes it! 
Here is my very first try at a flatfold. I stitched this piece earlier in the year and just couldn't decide how to display it. I found a tutorial on Meari's blog and decided to try my hand at it. For my first try, I don't think it turned out that great. I made a mess of the glue, it was everywhere. You can't tell by the picture but the glue is even on the stitching! What a mess! 
After finally figuring out how to make one, I decided to try again..... I like this one much better! I definately will be making more of these in the future! They are so stinking easy and a fun way to display the odd piece of stitching. 
I finally finished the last dragon for my youngest sons pillow top!!! Yay! I'm so glad to have those out of my way! Big time Funky Dancin' on this one!! I found some really neat green fabric for the back, just got to get an 18" pillow form and it'll be ready to turn into a pillow. 
Now I'm working on a couple more exchange pieces and will be getting started on my other sons big dragon. Wish me luck on getting that one done before Christmas! Hugs to all! | |
