bunnehs, broken resolutions and an award

Happy St. Pat's everyone! It is amazing how many hoops I have to jump through just to get a little computer time, now that DD has taken to getting up at the crack of dawn to do homework. I am sneaking a little update in at work (I know, I am a bad person). I really don't have a lot to show for the past two weeks--I am coming to the end of my bunny stitching obsession, having finished and pillowized the bunny for my friend's DD, and embarked on a bunny for my DS, who rather wistfully asked if he was getting a bunny for Easter when he saw me working on the friend's....

DS's bunny is a freebie from 2009 from By the Bay Needleart (thanks to Catherine for pointing this one out to me) and will also be finished as a small pillow, once I acquire another skein of the GAST that I ran out of with a few dozen stitches to go. Does anyone know of a DMC conversion for GAST Apple Cider so I can hopefully avoid making the trip to my LNS? I have no self control and I know I will emerge with an armful of charts in addition to the floss...I have been on a spree lately on evilBay (Blogger WILL NOT let me upload this the way I want, i.e. not sideways, so please just turn your head at at a 45 degree angle) and before you hoarders protest that this is not that much stash, I will add that I have another 10 charts winging their way to me in the mail right now. So much for no new stash-buying.

Speaking of the mail, I have received a few other goodies I wanted to show--this pretty is from the Please Pass the Biscornu 2010 exchange received from Shay.

I would show you the ones I sent to my partners for the past two months but I seem to have difficulty remembering to photograph things before I put them in the mail, so...if you are really curious, check out the PPB 2010 blog--fortunately the recipients did post pictures. I also received this from Lisa F. for a floss exchange for the ILCS Yahoo group. I love getting stuff in the mail!

I did feel a little bit guilty about all the new charts, so I put some stitches into my Quaker Row. Progress is not as much as I had hoped but at least it's a little closer to completion.

Finally, I wanted to thank Cyndi (www.cyniminsobsession.blogspot.com) for my first ever blog award:

From what I understand, the rules are:

1) Accept the award. Check.

2) Thank the person you received from. Check.
3) Link to the person you received from. Check.
4) Put the award on your blog. Check.

5) List 7 interesting things about you others might not know (I know Cyndi said 10 but I have seen 7 elsewhere, and I'm going with 7). Here goes. We're defining "interesting" very loosely.

--I lived in Japan at one time and taught English for 6 months.

--I have such an extreme fear of spiders that I will not stay in a room if I see a spider on the wall/floor/anywhere else.

--I volunteer for a website called DogsIn Danger that lists adoptable shelter dogs from all over the country.

--My parents named their dog after me (remember I said "loosely")

--I love corn mazes

--When I was in high school I wanted to train horses for a living

--I used to be a devoted runner (B.K.--before kids).

6) Pass on to 10 others. Here is my cop-out. If you are a reader, give yourself this award. I like every blog I read, and I read a lot, so I cannot single out just 10 I think are deserving!

Thanks for reading my blather, and as always thank you for comments, I appreciate every one!

Spring

I can tell that spring is finally approaching--things are starting to bloom around here, I hear a nagging voice telling me that it's high time I thought about getting my vegetable garden started, and I have a strange compulsion to stitch chicks and bunnies.

Thank you all for your suggestions for bunny freebies--after much searching I discovered this Beatrix Potter-ish bunny on the gazette94 blog. I usually hate working on aida but I had this scrap left over from long ago and thought it was perfect for an Easter design. It's hard to believe that I used to stitch almost exclusively 14 ct. aida--it is almost painful to use it now!

With spring being in the air I have been unusually scatterbrained too--I have no less than 5 small pieces going simultaneously, the bunny being one of them. Three are for exchanges and the last is a new LHN that I have put so few stitches in it is really not worth showing. I have managed to make some progress on my Quaker Row. Does anyone else think the squirrel looks a little crazed? My DD had a "pet" squirrel we used to see all the time in the local park that she named Rabies, because he would always let us get a little too close to him, and would chatter and run up and down the same tree like he was being chased by something. This squirrel and Rabies definitely have the same nutty (pardon the pun) expression...

For some reason the kids and I were discussing our favorite blog dogs the other day (you know who you are, Happy, Rory, Abby and Teddy) and they asked if our pups could be my blog dogs. The problem with photographing my dogs is that they will without fail stick their noses directly into any camera they see, which makes it somewhat difficult to get a good photo. Julius, on the other hand, is much more willing to pose for a picture, so we decided to designate him official Blog Cat. Look for Julius updates in the future!

That's all for now folks! Thank you for all your comments on this and other postings and have a great stitchy week!

giveaway winners

Hi folks, just a quick post since I'm pressed for time right now, but I promised to draw the winners of the giveaways today, so here they are, according to the random number generator:

Giveaway #1 (Goode Huswife charts): Shelley

Giveaway #2 (quilts): Terri

Please contact me with your mailing info ladies! I'll be back tomorrow (hopefully) with a stitching update.

a little birdie and a question for my readers

I think two posts in one week has to be some kind of a record for me, but I wanted to show my latest finish, a little freebie from Midnight Stitching (I think). I changed the colors a bit to make it more Easter-ish, if that's a word. This will eventually become a door knocker which will make its way into DD's Easter basket.

Which leads to my question--I wanted to do two more spring/Easter smalls (preferably freebies so I can get started right away), maybe with bunnies or sheep, for DS and for my
BFF's daughter with whom we always exchange Easter goodies. Does anyone know of any charts of about the same size? Your assistance is much appreciated!

My giveaway is still open for another week (see the previous post) so if you are interested go check it out!

A kinda finish and two giveaways

I had hoped to have two "ta-das" today for the two houses I have been working on, but DS decided he was going to get sick this week, and this cut down both on my stitching time and more significantly on my sleep, so I have not had the energy to do much after arriving at home other than flop down on the couch and watch the telly. I did decide that Poinsettia House is finished enough for me. It's not just because I hate borders (I do), but I also liked the simplicity of it as it is. I also wanted to try framing it a slightly different way. On Yuko's blog (Be Happy!)--I would do the hyperlink thing but I don't know how--I saw pics of some lovely xs pieces she had framed with lace along the top and/or bottom border, and I wanted to do the same thing with PH here. (The lace is pinned in place here for purposes of illustration since I'm not sure yet I want to use this particular bit of lace, but you get the idea). Anyhow--ta-da! **Edited to add: Doh! Looking at this again, I noticed that I am missing a stem and leaf on the poinsettia--not quite as done as I thought!**

I have not put even one more stitch in Sibley Hall, which I hoped would be done today, due to the aforementioned lack of sleep, but hope to have another finish to show in my next post (crossing fingers). My pile of shiny new charts continued to call to me, so I broke down and started something new, Quaker Row from Midnight Stitching, on a piece of mystery Silkweaver evenweave using some gorgeous Waterlillies silks (Copper Penny or something like that. I am very bad about not keeping tags or labels so I am never quite sure what I am using). This one is a lot of fun and should go quickly (crossing fingers again).

Aside from this I have been working on another exchange piece for a biscornu exchange, so that's about it for show and tell. On to the giveaways--I am having two this time, since the giveaway items are very different. Here is #1:

Two OOP cat charts from The Goode Huswife, Minerva and Gracie. As with the previous giveaways, these will come with the necessary floss. They were "used" by me but are in good shape. I had at one time considered putting my OOP charts up for sale on eBay put I am much too lazy and not avaricious enough, so my laziness is your gain! Just leave comment on this post--make sure you specify giveaway #1.

And here is #2:

Here are three minature clothesline quilts stitched by me. Just don't ask who the designer is as I have no clue. I found these when I was cleaning out my stash basket recently--these were done when I went through a "country" phase a while back, and though they are cute, they are not quite my style anymore. They could be kept as-is for display, and I imagine they could be used as rugs/quilts for a doll house, or made into pincushions, or ?? I shall leave that up to the recipient. Make sure you indicate giveaway #2 when you comment.

That's all for now! I will draw winners on March 1. Thanks as always for your comments!

An exchange received, Poinsettia House and attack of the sheep creatures

Hi everyone,

Thank you for all your kind comments last time regarding my friend. I try to limit the amount of whining about my personal life on this blog, but it's tough when there's a 10-year-old involved who may lose his mom...

On to more fun stuff. This is the last exchange piece I received from Leeanne (Please Pass the Biscornu 2010 exchange). The pic was (unintentionally) rotated but you can see I have been spoiled again. I wish I could show a picture of the biscornu I sent, but once again I forgot to take a snap of it before I sent it on its way, so I will have to wait for my partner to post a picture and then borrow it.

I have still been diligently working on WIP's. This is my travel project, The Good Huswife's Sibley Hall, which has not made an appearance here for a while (if at all). I tend to get bored stitching large areas in a solid color, such as the lawn here, and the sheep (I think they are sheep anyway) are creeping me out--their heads are too small, their eyes are too big, and they are patrolling the front of this house in a very menacing way. Did I mention that I read a lot of Stephen King and similar trash? Anyway, I hope the sheep look less creepy when the whole thing is done, which should be soon, since DS has started baseball and my butt will be planted in a chair for several hours during innumerable games, practices, etc.

As I mentioned last time, I have also been working on Poinsettia House, and here is how it stands as of now..

I have been enjoying this piece a lot and hopefully will have another finish to show before too long.

Last but not least, here is Spot in his frame (sort of...I just set him

there temporarily for picture purposes, he needs a little adjustment before his final framing).

Thank you everyone for your comments and I hope you all have a great week!

Hi folks,

It's been a while since my last post--it's been a rough couple of weeks, and I've just learned that a friend of mine is gravely ill. I won't bring you down with the details, but I will say that my philosphy from this point on is to live each day as though it's the last, because you never know what life is going to hit you with down the road...

Anyhow, this is my LHN exchange which I can finally show has it has been received by my partner. It is "Miniature Winter Gameboard", a freebie, which I altered to make more of a springtime piece. I included game pieces, some little wooden spools which I wrapped with DMC floss to match the board (seemed like a good idea at the time but I was covered in glue by the time I was done with all of them).

Yesterday I received this awesome package (same exhange) from my partner Conny.

Conny stitched Gourmet Garden on 32 ct. linen using the recommended threads and finished it as a pincushion which she stuffed with lavender. She also included the fabric you see here, lace and lots of little ribbon roses. Needless to say, I am pleased!

I am also happy to report that my Spot the Horse (Carriage House Samplings), a UFO from way back when, is finally done. I am really pleased with the way he turned out and I found a perfect chippy-paint antique-looking frame for him, so he may even be "finsh-finished" soon.

Other than that I have been working on LHN's Pointsettia House, my birthday present from my parents last fall, but no pics yet.

I have been good so far this year...working on WIPs only, haven't started any new projects. I don't know how long this will last, some of the things coming out at Nashville are extremely tempting!

Until next time, happy stitching! Thank you everyone for your comments!