Some happy news and finishes to share!

Well the day finally arrived - I retired last week!  I had been thinking about it for next spring but the stresses of work were getting to me and I decided to move up my timeline.  It's going to take me some time to get used to not worrying about work all the time but I'm looking forward to all the things I will be able to do with the added time. I'll also be able to help my husband more as his job is stressful too so it's all good.  It will be good to finally have more time for blogging and reading other people's blogs - I know a lot of people have given up blogging but I'm not ready to throw it away yet although I admit that Facebook groups are taking a lot of my time.   I've already started a massive list of "things I want to do at home now that I'm retired"!  I've got thousands of photographs and momentoes I want to get organized, file cabinets I need to go through, etc etc not to mention a massive stash of stitching and quilting projects!

I do have some finishes to share at least.  This is Hannah's Brownstone by The Scarlett House. I had such fun stitching this one!  The house takes a long time to do but I loved it so didn't mind . I used a different linen than what comes in the kit - I used Lakeside Linen's Vintage Buttercream which is a favorite of mine.  All the floss is what the chart calls for.

Below is a little finish from Heartstring Samplery called "Instead of Sheep". I love the verse on this as it reminds me of the movie White Christmas when Bing Crosby sings this to Rosemary Clooney.  I changed out the sheep that was charted for a freebie one I found online.   It's framed in a dark green frame - it looks a little black-ish in this photo but in real life it matches the stitched border very well.  

I met a lady at the Primitive Stitchers Retreat in Virginia in May who does framing in her home. Her name is Patti Nicolosi.  I sent her the above piece and another one that I'd had laying around for years unframed - see it below.  She did a great job on both of them - I picked out the moldings from a website she uses and then she ordered the frames, mounted the pieces and put it all together.  I was very pleased with Patti's work and it was very fast too.

This is "Quakers & Quilts" from Rosewood Manor. I stitched it on 40-ct linen a few years ago and it's great to see it finally framed. I plan to hang it near another Quaker sampler I did as they go well together. I remember how thrilled I was to put the last stitch in this piece - there was a ton of back-stitching to do and it took a long time to stitch this but I got it done. 

I fell in love with this ornament everyone has been stitching - Snow Love by Country Cottage Needleworks. I do all my own finishing work and this was fun to do. I love it!  The polka-dot linen is so much fun to use, I'm looking forward to stitching some more pieces on it. 

And below is a little project I re-worked.  I had it framed and displayed many many years ago but my framing tastes have changed since then as well as the decor where I had it displayed. I had it put away for a few years and then I decided to take it apart and do something else with it.  So I gave the frame away to a friend and I made a little mini-quilt out of the stitched piece to display on my little wire stand.  I think it came out pretty cute and now I can enjoy it again. I've long since gotten rid of this chart and I don't remember what the name of this was or the designer but I'm sort of thinking it might have been a chart by Theron Traditions. It was a long time ago!

So here's how it looked framed and how it looks now.  It felt good to give it a new life.

Right now I'm stitching along on Blackbird Designs 'Strawberry Fields Forever'  - doing an SAL with my pal Cindy.  We enjoy doing SALs - keeps us going on projects so they don't turn in to UFO's!

For those of you still out there reading blogs I thank you for stopping by and I look forward to having more time to spend catching up with all of you!  My job has just consumed so much of my life the last couple of years with work travel and long hours - I'm so thankful to now have more time to do the things I love!