Two Beautiful Exchanges Received

I am so glad that I signed up for Becky’s Ornament Exchange; it is an ongoing exchange that runs for an entire year. My second ornament arrived from Donna this past Friday and I must say that it certainly made my day! I truly love the design and the finish on this one. I love how Donna tucked some tulle and adorable Christmas lights into the cone shaped ornament!

2009 Ornament Exchange from Donna

Thank you so much Donna, I can hardly wait to hang this beautiful ornament on our Christmas tree.
Here is the ornament that I stitched for Tracy:

2009 Ornament Exchange for Tracy

Designer: BBD

Design: Quaker Medallion Strawberry
From JCS 2006 Ornament Edition

After spending the entire weekend scrapbooking, I was glad to get home and feast my eyes on Cross Stitch. Waiting for me was a large envelope from Kerstin who was my partner in the final round of FTT Seasonal Fall Exchange. I was so excited when I opened the package and found all of this:

Kerstin stitched a fun design on some ginger type fabric then finished it into this great little pillow. She sent me two pieces of neat cross stitch fabric in my favorite fall colors, a large cut of cotton fabric that compliments the cross-stitch fabric perfectly, two skeins of hand dyes threads (such gorgeous colors) and two new patterns for my stash. What a way to finish this year long exchange with a very talented group of women. Thank you so much Kerstin for this amazing exchange, I love everything that you sent and I adore my new decorative pillow.

I must thank Cathy for organizing the FFT Seasonal Exchange and for inviting me into the group. It was one of my favorite exchanges and I feel so blessed to have received beautiful exchanges from four talented, generous and sweet women. Thank you to Kerstin, Brigitte, Moni and Gaby!


Here is the Exchange that I sent to Kerstin:

2009 Seasonal Exchange Fall for Kerstin

I must confess that I stole the finishing idea from Brigitte who sent me this beauty:

2009 Seasonal Exchange Winter from Brigitte

I do believe that I taxed my brain a bit too much this weekend trying to figure out color schemes and page layouts for my scrapbook. I am also feeling a bit sleep deprived so I must end now so that I can rest and maybe stitch a bit.

I will share a Scrapbook page with you before I end:

Have a great week~

Until next time...

Exchanges: One Down Four To Go

Over the course of three years, I have participated in 80+ exchanges. I have never been late in mailing, and pride myself on always meeting my commitments. Fortunately, those assigned “my name” have been just as responsible. There have only been three individuals (I shall not mention names but shame on them) that failed to honor their commitment and have forever gone MIA. That averages only 1 per year so I cannot complain but I will never understand how people can receive an exchange and not send one.

Here is an exchange that I sent out over three weeks ago but I have yet to hear from the individual, she has not responded to my email, and I have not received her exchange so I must assume that she too will join the ranks of MIA.

Designer: Prairie Schooler

Design: Trick or Treat

It is hard to believe that I only have 4 more exchanges this year! One of those is already packaged up and ready to mail, the other three need to be stitched. Maybe next year I will do as I had planned and not sign up for as many exchanges. Like everyone, I have so many projects that I would like to complete. The WIP basket keeps growing, as does the new stash bin ~ so many projects so little time.

My new neighborhood is large and filled with children so I thought that I would need quite a bit of candy for Halloween. I purchased 12 bags of the Fun Size chocolate bars but only used 6 so I quickly tossed the rest into a flat rate box, taped it up, and mailed it to my son at college. I certainly do not have the willpower to keep all that chocolate around.

Costume creativity was top notch this year. The one that made me laugh was 4 teenage boys standing at my door with only their boxers on and a gold medal around each of their necks. They quickly stated "We are the US Swim Team" ~ I thought that was rather clever. As for this year's cutest trick-or-treaters:

Misha dressed as a clown ~ Lily as a witch

I am heading out this weekend to attend a Scrapbook retreat. I have attended quilt retreats but never a scrapbook one. I just found out that the retreat is being held a mere 26 miles from my house, somewhat close for a weekend get-a-way. I am not much of a scrapbooker and I have very few scrapbooking gadgets. I never intended to add Scrapbooking to my list of hobbies but I am on a mission to create three scrapbooks for family vacations to London, Paris, and Tokyo ~ after that I call it quits!

I shall leave you with this "Wishing Custom"...

Potato Chip

When you have a potato chip that has a bubble in it,

put the whole chip in your mouth and chew exactly

ten times. Make a wish as you swallow. If you

swallow the whole chip at one time, your wish will

come true.

Thanks for visiting!

Until next time...

Fabulous And Fun Exchange

In 2007 I participated in 24 exchanges, in 2008 I topped off at 28 and my 2009 total (thus far) is 28. That is a total of 80 exchanges and I am SO happy to report that I have finally been blessed with a wonderful piece stitched by Edgar! I have been an admirer of his work for quite some time and secretly wished to one day receive something stitched by his hands. If I saw his name on the list of exchange participants, I would think “oooooh, maybe this time!”


My DH walked in with the mail and handed me a box. You can imagine my excitement when I saw the return address label…Yahoo, my heart skipped a beat! As I rushed to open it I was running my mouth about Edgar and his amazing stitching, I am not sure my DH understood a word that I said. I carefully opened the package and saw this fantastic Pinkeep:

Designer: BBD
Design: Trix or Treat
Stitched By: Edgar

I did not get to gaze at it too long before my DH took it from my hands and, impressed with what he saw, commented that it is quite nice. Edgar select a BBD (one of my favorite) titled Trix or Treat and stitched it on 28ct Birds Of A Feather Sandpiper using WDW and Gentle Art threads.

And look at this fun backing fabric!

Cute huh? Edgar also included the display stand, which was sweet of him.

He packed the box with a bunch of fun, and I mean fun, Halloween treats.

2009 HOE Halloween Exchange from Edgar

I love everything but I especially loved the Lip Pop and Pez dispenser. Not only did they make me laugh they made me wish that I had thought of sending that in my exchange ~ very cute! It would be an understatement to say that I am over the moon with this exchange. I guess you can say that wishes really do come true! Edgar, I cannot thank you enough for the wonderful pinkeep and the many treats; you certainly made my day!

I spent the last two days at the huge quilt show here in Houston viewing beautiful quilts and walking in an out of over 900+ vendor booths. My company has left, the house is quiet, I am exhausted, and I am definitely ready to plop on the couch and stitch for as long as I can keep my eyes open.


Thank you Edgar for the wonderful exchange I am so excited and very grateful. Thank you to all that find time to stop by for a quick read, do come again.

Until next time...

Treats And More Treats

And what a treat it was to open my Halloween exchange from Paula C and find this beautiful Halloween Ornament that Paula stitched:

I truly love it! “Happy Jack” makes me smile; he is so very cute (and perfectly stitched and finished). The design was taken from the 2009 JSC Halloween edition.


The box was packed to the rim with so many wonderful treasures:

I gasp when I saw the box of See’s chocolates…my very favorite. It did not take long for me to gobble that up! I shall save the other edible treats for later. Paula also treated me to some of her very useful scrubbers. These top my list of favorite kitchen gadgets they really do work! My kitchen is now looking more festive with the Halloween dishtowel, orange scrubber and washing cloth. There is also a cute pumpkin pincushion, two fabulous Halloween fat quarters, ribbon, and post it notes. Thank you so much Paula for this amazing exchange it was such a treat and you are such a treasured friend! :)

My Halloween Annalee Doll is the perfect place to display "Happy Jack" ~

Fair & Square round #15 arrived today as well. Bridget stitched this cute square:

Thank you Bridget, your selection was perfect!


Here is the block that I sent to Bridget:

Designer: Prairie Schooler

Design taken from: When Witched Go Riding

I have not posted any pictures of the dogs lately so I shall leave you with these:

Lily (1 year)

Misha (12 years old)

They are both tuckered out from their visit to the vet for annual shots.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope that you have a wonderful week!

Until next time...

Halloween Happiness

And just look at this smile (this guy loves his self portrait)...

The minute I saw this skeleton doll I knew what I would do with him ~ I was going to make him the main attraction in my personal Halloween exchange with my good friend Paula C. I had planned on stitching a design from the new Prairie Schooler Boo Too You leaflet and when I saw this doll, I knew exactly which design I would stitch ~ the skeleton. He is stitched using DMC glow in the dark white and finished using a glow in the dark trim that I found on eBay. It did not take long before I knew that I would like to have one of these for my house. I rushed back to the store to get the other doll but sadly, someone else loved him too, he was gone. That is okay, I am just happy that Paula loves him as well!

There are so many wonderful designs in Boo To You leaflet, I could not help but stitch this Haunted house for Paula as well....

And here is the entire exchange:

2009 Personal Halloween Exchange

Designer: Prairie Schooler

Design: Boo To You

Stitched for: Paula C.

Back in late July, I mailed a SBBC Exchange but did not post a picture of the birthday exchange that I sent so here it is….

2009 SBBC

Designer: Prairie Schooler

Design: Summer Breeze

Finish: Project Bag

Given that the entire day has been rainy and a bit gloomy, I shall leave you with this "Wishing Custom"...

When Lightning flashes across the sky, make a wish

Wishing you a week that is filled with many hours of enjoyable stitching!!!

Until next time...

Two New Exchanges

The mail carrier was good to me yesterday; he left two wonderful packages in the mail. The first was from Patti who stitched for me in the Year Long Prairie Schooler exchange. She stitched this pretty design on 40 ct and used a great decorative trim on the edge, very nice choice!

Year Long Prairie Schooler Exchange

Stitched by: Patti

Patti included a gorgeous beaded fob that she made ~ the beads are beautiful. Thanks you so much Patti I love what you sent.

This is what I stitched and sent to Lillie:

Next, I received an amazing exchange from Ronel who stitched for me in the FTT Needlework exchange. I am not certain that the pictures will do this justice…

Ronel is a master at Stumpwork and I am truly honored to own a piece of her work. The detail on this is amazing; can you see the owl’s eyes? They are tiny! The flowers are a combination of red seed beads and French knots (?) and the dragonfly is made from beads with wings stitched in gold thread. The stitching is perfect in every way.

Oh, did I mention that it is a needlebook? This too is perfectly constructed. Given the range of Ronel’s talent, I imagine that she made the lovely pins as well. Ronel also stitched a beautiful little scissor fob, personalizing it on the back with my initials.

In addition Ronel included some Madeira Silk threads (in my favorite color), needles, a pink tape measure, charms, and a fragrant sachet. Thanks you so much Ronel for a wonderful exchange!

FTT Needlework Exchange

Stitched by: Ronel

Finish: Stumpwork Neeldebook and Fob

Here is what I stitched for Gabriele:

FTT Needlework Exchange

Designer: Little House Needlework

Stitched For: Lillie

Finish: Needlecase

I took a trip to San Antonio this past weekend and stopped in at Cross Stitch Plus where I managed to find a few "must have" patterns and a bit of fabric:

Texas Tree

Blackbird Design

Glorious June

I also managed to find two floral frogs and a dish for one of the frogs. I saw this on a blog (sorry can't remember who posted this fabulous idea) and loved it.

What a great scissor holder!!!

Thanks for stopping by and I do hope that you find time to stop by again~

Until next time...

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas...

I was so surprised to receive these beautiful note cards in the mail from Michelle. She was the winner of my BBD Thread Keeper give-a-way and sent me these cards as a thank you. I am just happy that she liked the Thread Keeper so much! Thank you Michelle, you are too sweet. :)

I joined Becky's Christmas Ornament Swap and received a truly gorgeous ornament from Carol.

REST EASY MY FRIEND, YOUR PACKAGE ARRIVED TODAY! :D

When I opened the package my mouth dropped, this beautiful ornament is stitched on 40ct over two, using Atalie floss! ~ How lucky am I??? Carol, you are an angel, please know that I will treasure this special ornament. Thank you so much for making this an extra special exchange! :)

Christmas Ornament Swap

Stitched by: Carol S.

Designer: The Sampler House

Design: Symbolic "X" Christmas Ornament

Here is the ornament that I stitched for Amy:

Designer: M Design
Design: Joy Tree
Ornament Exchange for: Amy

I am such a HUGE fan of the M Design and especially love the word/name trees. Over a year ago I purchased name tree designs for both my boys and, although I have not barely started stitching on one, I REALLY hope to finish them both this year!

FYI: tomorrow is September 9, 2009...09/09/09 what a great birthday that would be. Well, I just read that not only does the date look good, but it also represents the last set of repeating, single-digit dates that we'll see for almost a century (until January 1, 2101). Hmm, I wonder where I will be then? :)

I shall leave you with this "Wishing Custom"...

If you slice an apple into equal halves without cutting or nicking a seed, your wish for love will come true.

Until next time...