lots of exchanges received

Hi all,

I have not managed to complete a single thing this week, even Valentine Rose which only needs a few dozen stitches more...I have been exceptionally scatterbrained, bouncing from one project to the next, with at least 4 or 5 projects in my travel bag. Nonetheless, I do have some pics of various exchanges received by my partners. Please note that all of these photos are my partners' pictures, since no matter how I try I can never remember to photograph anything before mailing it.

First are the pics from the Please Pass the Biscornu 2010 exchange: the one on the top was for Gillian and is a freebie from the Floss Box. The second was for Michelle and is another freebie from a French blog, both done with DMC.

Next up is from the Seasonal (Spring) Exchange. Becky K was my partner and since she likes primitive designers I stitched a Stacy Nash design from the Garden Gate needlebook/pinkeep leaflet, but finished it as a pillow/basket liner on (I think) Days Gone By evenweave by Silkweaver. I always worry exchanges are going to get lost in the mail and this one gave me fits--it took 2 weeks to go from California to Oklahoma. What the....? I could have walked there faster!

Last but not least is the BBD exchange sent to Ela in France--another one that took forever to arrive.

This is BBD's Bluebird pincushion done in Carrie's Creation Old Brick. I also sent one of my box finishes--the design was a freebie on the BBD site and was an adaptation of an old/antique sampler.

I was sad as this was going to be the last round of the BBD exchange but thankfully Patti, one of the participants, took it over so it will continue.
Thank you girls for letting me steal the photos. I am going to try to remember to get out my camera next time before I shove something in an envelope. Thank you all also for visiting and(hopefully) commenting. Until next time!

two birdies, a little brick house and Paris at twilight

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a great Mother's Day! Ours was free of drama and bloodshed, just the way I like it : ) Anyway, I finished up the La D Da birdie mentioned in my previous post. Here he is fastened to a prim box now being used to house my overflowing stitchy and sewing accessorites. I used a walnut stain on the box, painted over with whitewash and sanded it to make it look aged. The interior was lined with heavy card stock and varnished.This was a very simple finish but I like the way it turned out.

And here is the other birdie mentioned in the caption, my Seasonal Exchange piece from Conny. I thought this was quite adorable. It is from a Prairie Schooler booket, Birdsong. I have been on a bird-stitching frenzy lately so this birdie has lots of company! I am waiting (somewhat anxiously at this point) for my own Seasonal Exchange and BBD pieces to arrive at their new homes. Both were mailed more than a week ago so I hope they arrive soon.

I think I mentioned previously that I was working on the BBD Anniversaries of the Heart series. I finally got around to taking a picture of Valentine Rose. It would have been finished this past weekend but I forgot the chart at my office last Friday (work has been a little slow lately). I am hoping for another finish in the near future...I am falling behind on this series!

Finally, I had one more little finish--BBD's Souvenir de France, done on a greyish linen with Weeks Dye Works Twilight. The fabric it is sitting on was used for the backing. I recently discovered crushed walnut shells so I have been finishing some pincushions. Unfortunately it takes a long time to mop this stuff off the floor, as I learned when DD decided to use it for one of her own projects....

That's all for the time being. I added a poll on the sidebar relating to my impending blogaversary giveaway so let me know what you would be interested in receiving. Until next time, happy stitching!

virtual stitch-in progress and some garden pics

Well the year is flying by--I don't know if it seems that way due to my rapidly advancing age or because of the fact that I keep pretty busy (mostly because of the kids--I myself have no life) but it seems Halloween should be upon us soon : ). The garden is finally in full swing. I won't bore you all with too many plant pics but I had to show my favorite roses, called Stars and Stripes. I am not a huge fan of roses but these are pretty cool. And since I hate store-bought tomatoes I grow lots of them every year. My local nursery has a pretty good variety and I like to try some of the more unusual types--this one is Green Zebra. My still-tiny corn plants are in the background. The last is a picture of my herb garden with my big bay laurel in the foreground. Having a garden is my favorite thing (actually the only thing I like) about summer. I could really do without the heat and scorching CA sun.

All right, enough plant talk. One of my Yahoo groups had a virtual stitch-in over the weekend and I put several hours in on my latest project, Bird in Hand by La D Da, for which I used DMC and some mystery overdyed linen. Didn't quite manage to finish, though he is close--he will eventually be slapped on the top of a large wooden box I am using to contain some of my stash, so hopefully I will have a finish-finish picture soon.

I also wrapped up this little Stacy Nash Garden Gate pinkeep--this was supposed to be for an exchange but I didn't want to part with it when it was done so I stitched something else for my partner instead!

Not much else going on. I added a Wish List on my sidebar so if you happen to have any of these charts and wouldn't mind parting with them, please let me know. Thanks for all comments!

mail goodies and never too early for Halloween

Hello everyone, hope you all have gotten in lots of stitching time since my last post! It occurred to me that I have been negligent about showing some goodies which came in the mail recently,
so here goes--




This month I received two biscornus from the Please Pass the Biscornu exchange:



the first one from Bonnie is a freebie from a Russian blog (she did not say which) done with beautiful CC Bethlehem. The second, from Sheila, is a freebie from The Floss Box. Unfortunately I seem to have a terrible time getting decent pictures of these little things, but they are beautifully stitched and finished. Maybe some day I will remember to take photos of the ones I send out before they are packaged up, lol.





A while back I won a drawing from Marion of The Lake of Shining Waters blog in honor of her birthday. Marion sent this fantastic package--given my great self-control, I immediately dug in and stitched up the Plum Pudding Needlarts Bits of Blue as an Easter/birthday gift for a friend (I'd like to say I remembered to take a picture, but...). The Brenda Gervais designs are also really adorable--I had nothing from With Thy Needle and Thread in my stash before, and they are on my short list now!

I was also fortunate enough to win one of the many, many giveaways from Joyce at http://www.octoberfarm.blogspot.com/. I received the lovely milk glass candy dish on the right and then became enamored of milk glass--on a trip to my local antique mall I found the duck covered dish and had to add him to my small collection. I think both pieces are made by Westmoreland
but I am not sure of their age.





Finally, a little Halloween stitching. My DD left yesterday on a 3-day trip with her 7th grade class. She has been away from home before at sleepovers at friends' homes but never for this length of time, so I have been moping around reflecting on how quiet the house is without her, and how she will eventually grow up and leave for good, and there I will be, an old lady living alone with too many cats. So to cheer myself up I stitched up this little freebie from Primitive Betty's which will be finished up as an ornament for her upon her return. I know, we are an odd bunch--but she is a big fan of Halloween too, as well as of little black cats.



That's about all for now. I have been stitching a little on the BBD Anniversaries of the Heart pieces but mostly on exchange stuff, so no other stitchy pics. Thank you for visiting and for all past, present and future comments!

winners winners chicken dinners

I know, lame title. Overall this will be a boring post unless you won something, lol, since I am at work and therefore no pics. I did finally get my garden put in so there will be some snaps of that next time, as well as of some mail goodies.

So without further delay, Mr. Random Number Generator says the winner of the tote is

Lisa

and the winner of the Quaker Row chart is

Cindy in MA

so please contact me with your mailing info and I will get these goodies out to you ASAP. Thanks to everyone else for entering and thank you for all your nice comments! I still have many, many charts either already stitched or never to be stitched so look for more giveaways in the future including a big one for my first blogoversary in June.

Quaker Row fini, mission pics & a giveaway

I thought I would sneak in another post before DD goes back to school and starts her 6 a.m. highjacking of the computer again. I finally finshed Quaker Row, although I cannot get a decent picture of the whole thing to save my life, so I am presenting it in segments, unironed of course, lol. The fabric is not blue, this is early-morning light as I took these outside in my as-yet unfinished garden.

We, or rather DD, had much better luck with the snaps of San Juan Capistrano. This is just a small sampling of the mission and grounds. If you eve find yourself in the area I highly recommend a visit, it is gorgeous--San Juan is called the "jewel of the missions" with good reason.

And finally, a small giveaway. I am a collector not only of patterns and related stitchy stuff, but also tote bags to haul said stuff around, since I stitch before work, waiting to pick up kids from school, at baseball practice, etc. I brought this tote on eBay from a seller who specializes in making these bags--it has vintage chenille, rick rack, a button closure, and two large pockets on the inside. The other side is the pink strawberry fabric you see here. It is a good size too, about 13 x15 and is really well made but--I never use it. And it is taking up space. So, if you are interested, please leave a comment on this post, and if more than one person expresses an interest I will have Mr. Random Number Generator pick a winner on April 15.

Until next time, thank you for visiting!

*edited to add: I almost forgot, would anyone like the Quaker Row chart? If yes, then please indicate when you comment!*

long time no blog

Greetings everyone, I hope you all had a happy Easter holiday! My kids conducted their usual annual experiment on the effects of eating chocolate all day (the results are pretty much the same every year) and we 0had an additional experiment on the effects of a 7.2 earthquake on a swimming pool (it makes really big waves). Needless to say this will be an Easter we remember for a while!

Things have been tremendously busy at work lately (with no end in sight) but I have managed a little stitching and finishing in my absence from blogland. Here is my son's bunny which I was able to finish in time for Easter. The fabric used to finish this piece was a lucky find in the bargain bin at Michael's--I think it looks like speckled eggs!

This LHN piece was DD's Easter offering. I always thought this was a cute chart and it stitched up very quickly, done with the recommended DMC threads on natural linen. I simplified the border a bit as I was running out of time to complete it.

Some more of my recent purchases arrived in the mail and I could not resist getting a start on BBD's Snow Garden, done with the recommended GAST and WDW threads. I am liking this one too even though it seems that the colors in photos of the BBD model are quite a bit different from the colors of my stitched pieces. Valentine Rose is next on my to-do list though I am not stitching all the small houses on one piece of linen.

And I had one more small BBD finish-- since it is never too early for Halloween, I dug into my stash for the 'Tis Halloween booklet and finally stitched up one of the small stockings. I hope to have many more completed for display in a few months!

I had hoped to have pictures of my veggie garden to show off in closing--I grow tomatoes, pumpkins, corn, peppers and whatever else happens to catch my eye every year, but this year things have been so busy it hasn't exactly gotten off the ground yet--so I leave you with some pictures my DD took of a few things that are blooming around here. The kiddies are on spring break and we are taking the train to the misson at San Juan Capistrano in a few hours, so I should have some good pics to share next time.

Until then, have a great week and thank you all for the nice comments!