Back to our regularly scheduled stitching & sewing.........

I'm back on schedule after spending most of June working on blogiversary giveaways and RAK's.   I had 2 RAK's that I sent out earlier this July to Barbara of Mainely Stitching and Karen from My Favourite Things.  Both of them have been reading and commenting on my blog since my very first post 5 years ago so I wanted to reward them as faithful followers - thank you both!

I forgot to take a photo of Barbara's RAK but you can see it on her blog posting here.   I stitched a Prairie Schooler design ("Farm Fresh") and made it into a little pillow. I sewed a fabric project bag for her and also sent a needleminder from Paula Kelmscott's collection.  I chose a chickens theme for the stitched piece because if you read her blog you'll know Barbara raises chickens and of course since she lives in Maine she certainly needs to have the lighthouse needleminder. 

For Karen's RAK at least I remembered to take a photo this time before mailing it......I chose another PS design  because it reminded me of Karen with its cat and yarn balls.  Karen has 2 cats and she's not only a great stitcher and finisher but she knits too.   Karen  also received a mesh project bag I made and I included some fat quarter quilting fabrics for her to use in her finishing business.  I'm so pleased that Barbara and Karen liked what I made for them.

Prairie Schooler #116 - Y is for Yarn

Stitched in DMC on 32-ct linen, finished pinkeep-style

(By the way I found the cute little easel shown above at JoAnn's recently in the picture frame department and I went back and bought several more -  they cost about $2.50 US or less with a coupon of course.   What I love about these is they are small and work great for pinkeeps - they have sort of a rustic finish in brown/black.) 

There's a few things I finished back at the end of May that I haven't gotten around to blogging about...you know how it is.   May seems ages ago doesn't it although it's less than 2 months - how the time flies by when you're busy!  I stitched this piece below because it reminded me of an LNS I used to go to, and also to recall a special trip to Hawaii some years back.   This piece didn't seem that big when I started it but it was tons of solid stitching as you can see and seemingly endless sand..OMG.  I changed out the wording on the pattern and added a couple of hibiscus flowers.  This pattern used lots of specialty stitches which added some nice texture to the palm tree trunks, the water,  etc.

"Kona Coast" - oldie from Ewe & Eye & Friends

Stitched with DMC on 32-ct linen

Closeup of Kona Coast

I did manage to finish up my puppy dog quilt on time for the baby boy christening in June - my husband delivered it in person as I couldn't go with him to Chicago this time. I'm told the family loved it so mission accomplished once again.  I just found out that another niece is expecting so next year I'll need to do another baby quilt - it's tough keeping up with all these babies!

"Dog Daze" baby quilt - stitched & quilted by me

Pattern by Kimberly Rado

I posted about this last year..I had finally finished up an old quilting UFO that had been a nemesis of mine for way too long... this pattern was so much work!  You make tons of blocks then you cut them in half diagonally and recombine them all again.  There are many, many seams that drove me crazy matching up.   I took the quilt top to my longarm quilter a few months ago and I got it back a few weeks ago.  The quilting is fabulous and now at least I like this quilt again LOL.     I sewed the binding on the edges and have happily moved another  project to the 'finished' list.  I have no idea what to do with this quilt.....I'm thinking of asking for a quilt ladder for my birthday this fall as we have only 2 beds in our house which already have quilts,  and I'm short on wallspace.  I have lots of quilts just stacked up in closets.   I really don't need any more quilts of course but do you think that's going to stop me from making more?  :)

"Radio Flyer" - pattern by Miss Rosie's Quilts
Quilt pieced by me and quilted by a longarm quilter here in Phoenix......
hope you can see the beautiful quilting on the borders, and the back of the quilt really
 shows the pretty swirl pattern - love it!

Lastly thought I'd post an update on Quakers & Quilts. I got really tired of this piece and was trudging through it with a grumpy attitude...as in 'why did I ever decide to stitch this??'.  This week though I finally reached the point where I can see the end is getting near - I just have some more on the right side to do - one more quilt block and a little bit of the upper section.  I'm probably about 85% done.  Hallelujah!!   I'm starting to anticipate a happy dance!  I've got the energy going now  and working hard to finish this up quickly. I'm so anxious to start some new stuff but I am keeping to my rule of finishing a WIP first.   It will be heavenly to have all this tedious backstitching and the half-stitches behind me!

"Quakers & Quilts" by Rosewood Manor

(why does it look good until you photograph it and then every wrinkle shows?!?!)

Be back soon I hope!  Thanks for dropping in............

Blogiversary Winners!

Gee, I so wish I had a gift for each of you - thank you all for entering my giveaway contest.  I wanted everybody to win something!

Giveaway #1 (the rose-themed pieces) went to Follower #130  as determined by the Random Number Generator.

That turned out to be Missy of  Raven Stitches.   I hope this cheers Missy up a bit - from reading her blog today I see she has been laid up with a flare-up of chronic pain the past few months.    I've found out it's not that easy to choose a winner from a Follower list as you have to manually count it out yourself from the first follower forward.  Anyway, congratulations Missy and I hope you enjoy the prizes.

Giveaway #2 (the Whitman tin set) - the name was pulled from the 60 people who left comments on the last post.   DH pulled out Sally's name over in the U.K.   Good for you Sally!

Giveaway #3 (cherries flatfold & bag) - this winner was also chosen from those who commented - and it's Carol E.  Funny thing is Carol lives here in the Phoenix metropolitan area like I do but we've never met.   I see from your blog that we're both royal watchers Carol.  I got up in the middle of the night to watch Will & Kate's wedding just as I did back when Charles & Diana tied the knot.   Congratulations! 

I have sent all of you emails today so you can send me your addresses.

It's been horribly hot here the last few days with some crazy evening storms - our "monsoon" season has returned.  We were dog-sitting over the holiday weekend so we had a total of 4 dogs to keep an eye on and that kept us busy.    I'm still working away on my RAK's - one is done andI'm working on the finishing for #2.  Number 3 is not started yet unfortunately but I'll get going soon.  

Have a great day everyone and as always I so appreciate you stopping by my corner of the web! 

Let's celebrate! Five-year blogiversary giveaways!

Yes I haven't posted in awhile but I have been stitching to celebrate my five-year blogiversary today.  Wahoo!!  Where did those 5 years go so fast??  It's hard to believe it's been that long.  Okay, I know I don't post enough, and I don't get as much done as some of you but I still love blogging. I love reading what the rest of you are doing and I think it's great how stitchers support each other through the ups and downs we all have in life.   I have learned so much in the past 10 years from online interaction with other stitchers. My online adventures started out when I joined a Yahoo quilting group and one of the members was talking about her Yahoo Drawn Thread group - so I joined that and the rest is history.   From there I joined a few other Yahoo groups, then I added in  stitching bulletin boards like Cross Stitch Corner, the Teresa Wentzler board, Legacy Embroiderers and a few others.   I often wonder what has happened to some of the "regulars" on the bulletin boards who I don't see blogging.  I hope they are well and stitching!  Over the years I have saved off hundreds of photos to my computer that inspire me (probably some of your very own projects).  I've also saved tips and instructions, and been inspired to spend countless amounts of money on stash thanks to all of you 'enablers'  LOL.  I'm sure my husband now regrets telling me years ago that I needed my own computer!   Thank you all for adding to the love I have for my stitching hobby.

Now onward to the giveaways!   I have 3 prizes that I've made to give away. I also am working on 3 not-so-random RAK's (I've selected the 3 people already)  but they're not quite ready yet so it will be sometime in July before I can post those.

The all-important 'rules' -

#1 giveaway will go to one of the  current followers of my blog as of this morning.  I'd like to reward one of these nice 156 stitchers who have stuck with me even though I'm not the most exciting blogger. Thank you people!   I will use the random number generator to select a number between 1 and 156 to award the first prize shown.  

#2 and #3 giveaway winners will be chosen randomly by my husband from all who leave a comment on this post.  Doesn't matter if you are a follower or where you live to be included in the giveaway for these 2 prizes. You can post a comment (one per person please) anytime up until next Tuesday morning July 5th at 7:00 am Arizona time.   If anyone has trouble posting a comment you can send me an email (my email address is in my profile) and let me know so that I can include you in the drawing.  I'm giving you a week as I know many people travel around the July 4th holiday.   Please be sure your profile either shows your email address or you put something in your comment so I can contact you if you win.

Photos of the giveaways........

Giveaway #1  -  this is a needlebook I made from Little House Needleworks 'Rose Sampler' pattern.    Some Bohin needles will be included, a pair of Gingher stork scissors with matching stitched fob, and a rose-patterned project bag that I made to coordinate with it all.

Giveaway #2 - I finally did something with one of the stack of tins that I have!   I used the pattern from Jane Timmers "Whitman Tins Sewing Set" to make the little coordinating pincushion and lining for the tin.   I added an oval magnet on the inside lid of the tin to hold your needles, and 2 counting pins are in the pincushion.  You can see the 2 sides of the pincushion in the photos.  Also you will receive a package of Bohin needles, a pair of Paula Kelmscott mini-stork scissors with matching tassel, and a project bag I made out of some gorgeous batik fabric.

Giveaway #3 -  This is a flatfold I made from a freebie pattern I saved off years ago from Maryse's free pattern blog.  It's called "Les Temps des Cerises" loosely translated as "Cherry Time".    It's backed with some cherry fabric of course, and you will also receive a mesh project bag I made with a cherries theme (approximately 10" X 10"), a cute pair of Paula Kelmscott mini-stork scissors in black, and a package of Bohin needles.

Good luck everyone and thank you for coming by to visit! 

Totally Tuesday............

This morning we had the most wonderful cool breezes – ahhhh. Have to enjoy it as very shortly the heat of summer will be here to stay and there won’t be much mercy on us until fall. I just wish it could stay this way awhile longer!  My husband Dave and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary at the end of April – and coincidentally by reading Vonna’s blog I found out we share the same anniversary. I got my husband an iPad that he had been wanting and he gifted me with new wedding rings! We reset the diamond from my original yellow-gold wedding set into a new white-gold setting and also reset an anniversary band I had into white gold as well - that one is still at the jewelers as they had to order the setting. I'd never been able to wear the anniversary band with my former ring set as they were curved.    I still love my original wedding set and of course it has sentimental value so I kept it and we put a gorgeous sapphire in where the center diamond was before. I’m loving wearing my new rings while sitting on the couch reading blogs with the iPad of course. :)

I’m still reveling in the fact that Star Jones got kicked off of Celebrity Apprentice this week  LOL. DH and I have been waiting and hoping for that. It sure is crazy some of the wacky stuff we watch on TV these days – I never thought I would be interested in a bunch of crab fisherman in Alaska and loggers in Maine  either but I find myself watching the craziest stuff these days!

I recently got an order from Amy’s “Down Sunshine Lane” – the rest of the supplies I needed for kitting up Lizzie Kate’s Christmas Rules & Halloween Rules. I haven’t started them yet but hopefully soon. I was so pleased with the lightening-quick shipping of my order from Amy too – it was great having it arrive at my door in just a couple of days. Even though I have an LNS in my metropolitan area, it does take a couple of hours for me to drive there, shop, and drive home again – about the only time I have to go is Saturday and it takes up a chunk of my weekend.  So I still shop online some for the convenience and time-saving.  I'd love to make the Halloween Rules twice – once for me and once for a friend who loves Halloween but we’ll see.  I’ll be lucky if I get it done once let alone twice!

I’ve been diligently pushing forward on some projects of course. I started this king-sized quilt about 2 years ago – it’s a reproduction of an antique quilt that Moda Fabrics put out . The colors are subtle but I really love it – it just has so many pieces! I was cutting and sewing forEVER it seemed and no wonder – I counted it all up and the quilt has almost 1500 pieces in it! I finally reached the point of laying it out as you can see here – I’ve got my rows all stacked and numbered now so I can start sewing the blocks into rows and then the rows into the final quilt. I could’ve kicked myself as when I laid it all out I discovered I made like 16 extra blocks somehow – I miscalculated something when converting the pattern to king-sized. Sigh............... It’s funny as I just happened to fall in love with this quilt when I saw a model of it – and we have since redecorated our bedroom in shades of browns, mochas and aqua so that the quilt should fit in perfectly someday. It’s been a long haul so far but this quilt will not defeat me!

I had to break away from the big quilt this week as it was time again to make another baby quilt. My husband’s niece had a little boy not long ago and I’ve made quilts for all the new generation babies in the family so I’ve got to get this done in the next month in time to make the christening in June. I have this darling pattern called “Dog Daze” and so there will be 9 dog faces in this quilt. Here is the work in progress – trust me it’ll be much easier to recognize the dogs when they get their eyes and noses. Luckily I found a nice collection of cheerful fabrics at the quilt store on Friday and I got this far over the weekend – everything is cut out and ready to start sewing. I’m pretty happy with it so far and for once I picked something fairly quick and easy!

Meanwhile back on the stitching front.......I’m trying hard to finish up this little project by Ewe Eye & Friends called Kona Coast. It hasn’t been my all time favorite project, but it was one of those ‘self obligated’ projects – ever have those? I’ve had this little pattern probably a dozen years or more – the model used to hang in a local LNS and I always liked it so promised myself I would stitch it someday. For some reason once I make a stitching or quilting commitment I have to see it through. The shop has long since closed so I wanted to do this kind of to remember the place. They used to have an annual retreat in Hawaii and I believe EE& F designed this for one of their retreats as it has “Kona, Hawaii’ and ‘1994’ on the pattern. I will be leaving those out. I just have this endless sand at the bottom to get through and the borders and I can put this in the ‘finished’ column. I’ve been toying with the idea of making it into a tote bag.....but then again maybe I’ll just watch for a good framing coupon at Michael’s. I don’t take most of my things there but this one is just small and not something that I want to spend a lot of money to frame.

Quakers & Quilts has been coming along as well – this project and I have a love/hate relationship! I love how it looks but I am really REALLY tired of stitching it. Those quilt motifs along the bottom take a long time and there is so much backstitching – it reminds me of my days of stitching Paula Vaughan patterns – you’d think you were almost done once you got the cross-stitching completed then you’d spend a couple weeks backstitching. Aaarrgghhhh! I’m about two-thirds done so hoping I can knock this off the list maybe over the next month or so. I have the Quaker Diamonds pattern also by Rosewood Manor patterns but now that I look at the chart I see it uses all the same colors as Quakers & Quilts. I guess I could convert it to something different but right now I've lost my desire to stitch it. There are just those other hundreds of patterns in my cabinets that need my attention more!

My stitching companions Abby and Buster celebrated their birthdays last week. Buster is officially 8 and Abby about 7.  They had a great day enjoying their special chewies and new toys of course. My babies are getting older sniff sniff.........which reminds me they still don’t have the stitched Christmas stockings I thought I’d make years back........!

I’m also secretly making plans for some good giveaways this summer – I’m coming up on a significant blogiversary so making some special items and and gathering other gifties.....please stay tuned over the next couple of months!

Bless the U.S. Navy Seals & our Special Forces

The world is a slightly better place today.........we haven't forgotten.  

Spring update........

Happy Springtime readers & friends!  I hope spring is sprouting around your home like it is for us.  We’re having beautiful weather here in the southwest - everything is blooming....the temperatures are great...we have gentle breezes...the birds are nesting......life is good!   I've been away for a bit - went out of state to visit my mom for her birthday, then I went to a quilting retreat weekend up in Show Low Arizona and we had relatives visiting all last week. Now things are getting back to ‘normal’ finally so I can catch up on my blogging.   

I've been more in a quilting than a stitching mode the last few weeks but I did finish up my Jenny Bean pin tuffet recently. It was love at first sight when I first saw this on someone's blog last year and I finally sat down and stiched it up.  I admire it every day while I’m in my office/sewing room even if the DH wonders why I keep making more pincushions just to look at!  I LOVE all things "Jenny Bean".  :)

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"Jenny Bean" by Shakespeare's Peddler

My own silk conversion on some sort of 40-ct linen

Don’t you just love the pins that Just Another Button company is making now? I picked up this little wool kit called Stuck on You that came out at market and it’s got adorable pins in it too. I can’t wait to make this up as soon as I get a little time.  The chocolates look good enough to eat!

Now I’ve got to share with you some framing I recently got back from Jill Rensel’s studio. I’ve never sent anything to Jill before but have admired her framing that I’ve seen posted on bulletin boards and blogs over the years. I had 2 projects that I had framed a few years ago locally on a sale - I got a discount if I let the framer pick out everything but in retrospect I found that doesn’t work too well for me – I need to see and stress (yes I do stress!)  over what it’s going to look like before it’s done. The workmanship was great but it just wasn’t what I had envisioned and so it’s been bothering me ever since. It was even worse when I thought about all the money I spent and then to be disappointed makes a sad situation.  Everytime I walked by them hanging on the wall I was a little bit peeved at myself.  Well long story but I finally got around to packaging them up carefully and sending them to Jill back in October to have some rework done. She was very busy with holiday framing and all so I didn’t get them back until March but it was worth waiting for. Yeah Jill!!  I’m so happy I had them re-done! The two projects were already professionally mounted from the first framing, and we were able to reuse the big frame on An Open Heart so the rework dollars weren't too bad actually.

St. Peter's Fair by Shepherds Bush was originally framed with mats and a frame that I thought were just too dark for the soft colors used in the piece. Jill used the same mat design she sells as a pre-made set for this design but did mine in blues & greens instead of the usual lavender/pink ones.

"St. Peter's Fair" Before:

"St. Peter's Fair" After:

This Drawn Thread piece when originally framed just seemed so
b-o-r-i-n-g.  It’s a very large piece and the neutral mats just didn’t do much to show off the piece in my opinon. I like the new moss-greeen mats Jill added  much better.  It’s another task I can mark off my list and I’m looking forward to sending some more pieces to Jill.   I made a lot of progress with my framing list over the past year but I still have about 6 things waiting in line - that's the downside about finishing things -then you've got to tackle the framing!

"An Open Heart" Before:

"An Open Heart" After:

Our quilting retreat 2 weeks ago was fabulous as usual – I didn’t take many photos this time. I’ve been there several times so end up taking the same photos of the place it seems – not to mention I barely took any breaks from non-stop sewing except for eating great food and doing as little sleeping as possible LOL.  But drum roll please...I finally finished my “Winter Memories” quilt top.

"Winter Memories" - pattern by The Acorn Quilt & Gift Co

(just ignore the chain hanging down from the ceiling fan!)

I started this hand-applique quilt almost 2 years ago so really glad to put it over to the finished column. I made some substitutions in the pattern (I can never leave things alone) replacing an embroidered wreath block with an appliqued sled (thank you Yahoo images...) and I re-drew the mitten block as I didn't like the one in the pattern. What's funny is a friend and I fell in love with this quilt at a quilt show vendor mall a couple years back and we went crazy hunting down the some of the same fabrics used in the model.   We found everything we needed through a combination of quilt stores, eBay, and a friend's wholesale account at Moda Fabrics..........but now I have enough fabric left over to make about 5 more of these quilts!  When will I learn to stop over-buying??    Now the quilt top needs to go off to be quilted by a longarm quilter. I’m not doing much machine quilting of my own quilts these days – I don’t enjoy it and it is hard on my shoulders. (I can’t bear going through any more shoulder surgeries!) I’ll do baby quilts or wallhangings but that’s it. The longarm quilters  can do so much more and do it so much better  than I can do on my regular sewing machine.  It adds to the cost of course but to me it's worth it rather than struggling along and doing it myself.  I just don't have the time to hand-quilt very many quilts either.

Hope to be back soon - next week is a 4-day workweek for me as we have Good Friday off (or in the politically-correct corporate world, it's "spring holiday").  Whatever you call it, I can't wait for a 3-day weekend!

Blue Ribbon Design finish - woohoo!

I don't know but once I get down to the last hour of so of finishing a piece I start to make lots of mistakes.  Is it a curse or something?  More likely I guess I get impatient and don't pay as much attention to the chart and my stitching. Or it could be that it was almost midnight and I was tired and riding on too much Diet Coke.....   Anyway, as I was finishing up the last snowflakes and penguin, I must have made about 7 or 8 mistakes Friday night - so frustrating!  All is fixed though and I was not defeated in my journey to another finish.

Here is Blue Ribbon Designs' "It's Cold Outside".   I was using a Q-snap at first and for some reason pulled my linen a bit wonky but I'm sure my framer will straighten it out - glad I'm not mounting this piece as with all those border lines it needs to be perfectly straight!  I just love the little penguins and that's what really drew me to this design. 

It's Cold Outside by Blue Ribbon Designs

Stitched on 36-ct Haven by Picture This Plus with various overdyed floss

I got a lovely package in the mail on Saturday from Kathy over at The Flying Needle.  Kathy was kind enough to host a UFO contest awhile back on the Legacy Bulletin Board.  I was one of the winners so Kathy gifted me with a lovely piece of Silkweavers linen (my favorite count too - 36), some gorgeous Bohin scissors and Bohin needles too.  I am just thrilled to have these.  I had finished my 'English Sampler" last year for the contest - I think I started it in 2005 (blushing...) but so glad I finished it.  Winning a prize was just an added bonus - thank you Kathy!!

Yesterday I finally got out my kitted Jenny Bean pin tuffet. I love the Jenny Bean designs and this one will be a quick stitch.  I don't why I waited so long to stitch it but I guess it's just guilt because my WIP/UFO basket is always calling to me.  I told myself I need a reward before diving back in the basket of projects needing attention.  

This is going to be a short work week for me - I head back to Illinois on Thursday to visit my mom for her 80th birthday!    I'm traveling with one of my brothers who lives near me.   I'm going to have to dig out a warm jacket - it's been in the 80's here in Phoenix the past week although cloudy and cooler today.   I'm not sure if I can stitch on the plane or not.....normally if I don't have my magnifier I have to wear readers over my regular glasses and I don't like to do that in public - I can't imagine why but people somehow think wearing 2 pairs of glasses is odd LOL.    It's either that or take my glasses off completely and work about 8" from my face. Neither one is very good.   Not to mention there is so little room on the planes these days that sometimes it's just not worth trying to stitch. Maybe I'll just go for reading or snoozing to my iPod music instead. 

Thanks for your continued visits to my little world. I'm always excited to see a new comment. I follow about 150 blogs myself and I know how hard it is to keep up with everyone let alone comment.   We all need more hours in the day!

Dickens Village Ornament finish

I thought I'd be posting this a long time ago, since I wanted to do an ornament a month this year.  It's March but better late than never!  This ornament seemed to take a lot of stitching, I think my next choice is going to be smaller and simpler.  This is from the leaflet  "Dickens Village Ornaments" by Margaret & Margaret.  There are 5 patterns for little Victorian houses in the leaflet.  I adore house ornaments and end up buying a few each year it seems if I happen to see any while out Christmas shopping.  :)  Eventually I hope to do the other 4 house ornaments but it may take a while.  It's charted for DMC on 26-ct fabric but I used my own silk conversion since I wanted the ornaments a bit smaller.   Even with 36-ct fabric this turned out about 3.5" X 4". 

My lonely ornament tree finally has it's first ornament!

"Old Curiosity Shop" by Margaret & Margaret
36-ct Lakeside Vintage Basketweave with various silks

Now back to BRD "It's Cold Outside"...........