Scissor Keeper Exchange

I participated in a Scissor Keeper exchange with a small group of stitchers and here is what I stitched for BeckySC:

Designer: The Cat's Whiskers

Design: Scissors By Any Other Name

Fabric: 36ct Edinborough Linen, Flax

Threads: Threadworx Overdyed Pearl 12 "Very Berry"

Stitched for: BeckySC

What a perfect design for this exchange! The word Scissors is stitched in 4 languages: 

Ciseaux = French

Forbici = Italian

Scissors = English

Tijeras = Spanish

I was able to stitch a portion of the design and mount it on a small wooden box.  I love how this turned!

I will be heading out at about 7:30AM (just 6 hrs from now…I need to get to bed!) to begin my 1600-mile trip to New York, NJ, MA. Little Lily (6# Yorkie) will be the perfect road companion, quiet and sweet. I will be attending a HS graduation party in Massachusetts, which will give me the opportunity to see many of my relatives, I will get the chance to see a dear friend in NJ, and I will help my son move into his Manhattan apartment. I'm not sure when I will be returning home, probably at the end of June so this will be my last post for a while.

Thanks for stopping by.  Come on back in July. :)

Until next time...

So Glad To Say It's Done

WAHOO! The quilt is back from the quilter and is complete, except for the label that is. I spent last night applying the binding and as soon as I finish this post, it is up to the sewing room to make the label. Here it is in all its glory…

It's Done!

College Quilt for Connor

Design: Shimmer

WAHOO! Primitive Wizard of Oz is stitched and framed, in record time I might add.

It's Done!

Designer: Midsummer Night Design

Design: Primitive Wizard of Oz

WAHOO! Scatter Seeds of Kindness is complete. Okay, the stitching was completed in 2001 (no, this is not a typo ~ it has been stashed in a drawer for 9 years) but it is finally framed.

It's Done!

Designer: Mary Garry

Design: Scatter Seeds of Kindness

Mary Garry designs may well be my favorite!  Seeing this one framed makes me want to immediately stitch all of the charts that I have in my collection.  Although I probably will not do this, I am moving some of them up on my "to do list".

I got my son to hang both on the sampler wall. Here he is in action:

Naturally, he had to do a bit of clowning around. Yup, made me laugh!

I am happy to say that he follows instructions well and returned the pictures to their correct position.

It is difficult to get a decent picture but here it is:

Just when you think that life can’t get any better, the mail person delivers this…

HOE Early Christmas Exchange

Designer: BBD

Design: House on Holly Hill

Stitched By: Sadie

Sadie had my name for the HOE Early Christmas Exchange and stitched this beautiful ornament! I immediately recognized that it was a design by BBD (one of my very favorite designers). Thank you Sadie, it will make a wonderful addition to my Christmas tree!

I hope that you are all enjoying your weekend.  It is rather hot and humid here in Texas so I shall remain indoors and stitch.

Until next time...

Another Prairie Schooler Ornament Completed

Just a quick post to share a picture of the Ornament that I sent to Janet for the HOE Early Christmas Exchange.

HOE: Early Christmas Exchange

Designer: Prairie Schooler

Design: Songs of the Season

Stitched For: Janet B.

Songs of the Seasons is such a great leaflet, I love all of the designs!  I am finishing up on yet another one of the designs (that makes 3) and have plans to send it off as an exchange piece.  I really would like to take some time and stitch all four designs for my Christmas tree; it's only May, I still have time.

Guess who is home from college for the summer???

GOOFY :D

Yup, I'm happy!

Thanks for stopping by~

Until next time...

A Woman On A Mission

I am exhausted, really I am.  I lack sleep and I hear the humming of the Bernina in my ears! I sat behind my sewing machine for hours sewing a quilt top. I wanted to make a graduation quilt for a relative using the school colors of the college that he will be attending. The problem is he did not make his final decision until the very end of April. Once the decision was made, I had to select a design and I had to do it quickly since I needed to construct the top, get it to the quilter, and get it back into my hands before the end of May. Yikes! Given the time constraint, I thought that I would do a very simple design, like a rail fence...

No, this is not what I wanted to make so I continued to look until I found the perfect pattern. Two hours into the construction of the quilt top, I knew that I made a huge mistake. It was going to take me FOREVER to complete it. Too late now, I had cut so much of the fabric there was no turning back. There were a few days that I started sewing at 11AM and continued until 2AM. It all paid off because I completed the top and dropped it off at the quilters on Monday. She promises to have it back by May 24th, which gives me ample time to apply the binding before I leave for New England at the end of the month. And what did I manage to stitch in 4-5 days???

THIS:

Graduation Quilt for Connor

Pattern Design: Shimmer

Size: 67w x 86h

I have been participating in a bi-monthly Ornament Exchange and have a picture of the Ornament that I sent to my dear friend Carol S.

2010 Ornament Exchange

Designer: Prairie Schooler

Design: Songs Of The Season

Stitched for: Carol S.

I hope that all of the Mom's had a wonderful Mother's Day. I talked with each of my boys on Mom's day; it would have been nicer had they been here. They sent me a great gift, a Video Conversion System. Now, I can convert my old VHS taped to DVD. Prior to moving to Texas I had quite the scare, I thought that my DH sold our VHS storage cabinet (with all of my VHS tapes) during his yard sale; you know the ones you cherish like the birth of your children and all of their birthday parties. I was devastated! Well, as luck would have it, he did not sell the tapes; he had packed them in a box. That episode made me realized how important these tapes (memories) are and I decided that I needed to convert  them to DVD’s, now I can.

I must say that an even better Mother’s Day gift will arrive on Saturday. My youngest son is returning from college for the summer….Yahoo!

Many thanks for stopping by, I truly enjoy reading your comments!

Until next time...

Wonderful Mail Day!

I was so excited to see a package in my mailbox from Edgar; I am such a fan of his work! I knew immediately that he must have had my name for the Ornament Exchange run by Becky. Well, you can only imagine how quickly I tore into the package and how wide my eyes got when I saw this beauty…

Ornament Exchange From Edgar

Gorgeous, simply gorgeous! Edgar chose a design called “Christmas Pinkeep” from the JCS 2007 Ornament issue. Oh how I wish that it were Christmas so I could hang it on the tree. For now I will display it on a one of many small display trees around my house… this is much too nice to tuck away until December! Thank you Edgar for all of the time that you put into stitching and finishing this beautiful ornament…I shall forever remain a fan of your work and blog!

I have been busy behind the Bernina stitching up those "pain in the neck" quilt exchange blocks. We had one set due May 1st and the next due July 1st. I will be heading to NY/MA for the month of June so I had to stitch the July blocks early. I love the block but I cannot stand stitching them! Here is a picture of the two sets…

Brown and Pink Quilt Block Exchange

As I mentioned I have plans to spend June in the Northeast. My son is moving from an apartment in northern NJ into an apartment in Manhattan so I offered to go up and help him move. I will also have an opportunity to attend a relatives HS graduation. I am racing to complete a “college quilt” for him; this should have been started much earlier! I must end now and head back to my sewing room…that college quilt is not going to sew itself.

I would like to wish all of the Mom's a very Happy Mother's Day. I will leave you with two of the most important reasons I LOVE being a Mom:

ONE:

(Then- Enjoying lunch)

(NOW)

TWO:

(Then-impressed with his "guns")

(Now)

I will miss them both on Sunday!!!

Thanks for stopping by~

Until next time...

Off To See the Wizard

I am happy to report that I have finally put needle to thread on my Primitive Wizard of Oz. I saw this design on Michele's blog many months ago and rushed to purchase it. Sadly, I did not rush to start it! I have watched as Michele made progress, each time telling myself that I should get started. When she posted a picture of the completed design I decided that the time had come! It is a relatively quick stitch (nothing like my HAED WIP) so I knew that all I needed to do was pull it out and take that first stitch. After not so many hours of stitching here is my progress...

• Design: Primitive Wizard of Oz
  Designer: Midsummer Night Designs

I am using all of the colors called for except for the green, which I changed to NN Creme d menthe. It will not be long before I complete this one and get it framed to hang on my sampler wall.

This past weekend I got started on some finishing work. I have three of the LHN Monthly Ornaments stitched and was able to finish "He's A Flake"

• Designer: Little House Needleworks
• Design: He's A Flake
• Monthly Ornament

I happened to have some little icicles that I added to the bottom. You really can't tell from the picture but I found some trim that glitters; it looks great with this design.

I am just about done with the finishing of the first two ornaments but I will save these for another post.

After waiting many weeks for my Victoria Sampler order to arrive, I spent two days stitching the Ireland and France International Hearts. This is a gift for my aunt, a gift that I needed to get it mailed this week (which I did, phew!). I was in a rush to get to the post office and snapped a quick photo ~ a quick "not so good" photo!

Designer: Victoria Sampler

Design: International Heart: Ireland and France

Finish: Flat Fold

I have been good about not signing up for every exchange that I see posted! I am still participating in a few but I am trying to leave substantial time for a little "me" stitching...as Martha would say, "That's a good thing!"

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

BOOK

If you accidentally drop a book, step on it with one

foot and make a wish. Be sure to pick it up with the

hand that's opposite the foot you used; otherwise, your

wish won't come true.

Until next time...

So Very SWEET!

I received a surprise package containing some very sweet See’s Chocolates from my very SWEET friend Paula C. She sent me a box of my favorite See’s Lemon Truffles (delicious) and she also sent me an extra special gift, a beautiful bookmark that she made. I do not know a thing about “tatting” but it certainly does not look like it would be an easy craft. Paula did a wonderful job~this is truly gorgeous. I cannot bring myself to use the bookmark; instead, I am displaying it in with my small Limoges boxes. She also included the cutest little fabric bag, take a look…

Thank you dear friend for your thoughtfulness, it certainly brought a smile to my face.

I participated in a Pin Pillow Exchange and received this beautiful piece stitched by Karen.

Pin Pillow Exchange
Designer: BBD
Design: Bluebird
Stitched by: Karen

I love this little pillow and I must say it is finished perfectly just look at how nicely stitched the edge is…

PERFECT in every way ~ Thank you so much Karen, I truly love my new Pin Pillow!

I stitched for Staci and decided on a Strawberry Pincushion design by Nicoletta Farrauto of Niky’s Creations…

Designer: Nicoletta Farrauto
Design: Primitive Strawberry
Gift of Stitching ~ February 2010
Stitched for: Staci

I must thank Cindy and Deb for awarding me with Blog Awards ~ what an honor, thank you both (so very SWEET).

The first award is from Cindy:

As a recipient of this award, I must share ten things about myself that others do not know:

1) Graduated from college in 1982 with a degree in Business Management.
2) Am on Maternity leave…have been for 22 years!
3) Adore and miss my two sons (but everyone knows this).
4) Will be married 25 years this May.
5) I am a fan of the artist P. Buckley Moss.
6) Love Lancaster, PA ~ maybe as much as I love Vermont.
7) I was named after a Nun: Sister Marie Bernadette
8) Growing up I spent my summers on Cape Cod.
9) Dislike the beach (see #8) but love the mountains (see #6).
10) I am left handed.

The second award is from my dear friend Deb:

I am suppose to pass these award on to 10 people but I have such an extensive list of fabulous blogs that I enjoy reading, as is evident in my side bar, that I can’t select just 10 so I will not. My hope is that you all post 10 things about yourself, it is fun to read and can be so enlightening.


Hopefully my next post will highlight all of the fun I had at my very first Stitching Retreat in San Antonio! No time to do that right now but I will leave you with a picture of Lily, who will be two next month...she is just so CUTE!

Click HERE for a really cute Freebie design from Niky's Creations blog.

Wishing you a wonderful week!

Until next time...