Winter Exchanges

I am excited to be able to show you the wonderful exchange that I received in the mail today; it is from Goldie who had my name for the SBEBB Frosty & Friends Exchange. What an adorable snowman pinkeep! The design is a Lizzie Kate titled, Share the Season. Goldie also sent a bunch of extras, just look at how she spoiled me…

SBEBB: Frosty & Friends Exchange

Received from: Goldie

Thank you Goldie, I am so grateful for all that you sent and shall cherish the beautiful pinkeep.

I am able to share a few exchange pictures of items that I sent out. The first is a Winter Exchange that I participated in with the Friends Through Threads group. My partner for this exchange is a very talented stitcher named Brigitte. I selected a Mary Garry design titled, Ice-Skating Party and think it is just perfect for a Winter Exchange. I decided to finish it as a sewing caddy and am pleased with how it turned out.

• Designer: Mary Garry Sewing Cabin
• Design: Ice-Skating Party
• Finish: Sewing Caddy

Inside of sewing caddy

Friends Through Threads

Winter Seasonal Exchange

Sent to: Brigitte

Jane contacted me to let me know that she received the Fair & Square round #11 blocks that I sent.

Fair & Square round #11

Stitched for: Jane

I spent Friday traveling to Vermont for a ski weekend so I am sorry to say I was not able to stitch on my HAED Wintery Heirloom. I do plan to join the HEAD Friday SAL this week and hope that I can make some headway.

Okemo Mountain ~ Vermont

I had a great weekend skiing with my older son and his girlfriend. We had one slight mishap on the chair lift and all I can say is I am thankful that I did not break my leg! I have a huge bruise on my calf to remind me of how lucky I was. Overall, it was a great day, not as cold as I had thought it would be except at the very top of the mountain with the wind whipping violently around!

Snowboarding at Okemo

To make up for all the carbs I ate, in preparation for the long ski day (ya right), I "paid the piper" by spending 3 hours at the gym today working out 1 hour each on the Arc Trainer, Treadmill, and Elliptical. I do believe that I need to end this so I can creep slowly down the stairs and rest my weary body on the couch…time to stitch!

Have a great week and thanks for stopping by!

Until next time...

Do I Dare???

After reading Vonna’s post on her recent HAED project I quickly ventured over to the HAED website and fell in love with the Jane Wooster Scott Designs!

Oh my, do I dare???

My favorite is Witches and Crones, yes those Halloween designs get me every time. I also love scenes of winter and pondered whether to purchase Wintery Heirloom instead; decisions, decisions, should I purchase both? After giving it some thought I decided that it would be best if I purchased just one. Let’s face it these are not “quick stitch” projects and what is the likely hood that I will finish even one? After making my decision I emailed Vonna with a few questions and then placed Wintery Heirloom into my shopping cart. Yes, I decided against the Halloween design, for reasons I shall reveal in a later post.

HAED: Wintery Heirloom by Jane Wooster Scott

Seeing the massive, and I mean massive, pattern I was so thankful that I only purchased one! In a bit of a panic I emailed Vonna, (thank goodness for Vonna) to find out her “strategy” for completing the HAED. I am now doing as she does and stitching on Wintery Heirloom on Fridays. Without further ado, here is my first Friday SAL progress:

HAED Jan 16th SAL

Stitched on 25ct Lugana over 1

1,063 stitches completed

YIKES!!! I spent hours stitching a teeny tiny section of the sky. Do you see all those shades of blue for that one little section?

Did I mention there are 162,000 stitches in this design? I have completed a mere 1,063, only 160,937 to go. If I were lucky enough to stitch even 1,000 stitches each Friday (not going to happen) it would take me 162 Fridays. Well, there ya go ~can you say UFO? :)

Seriously, I do not give up that easily. This is a truly gorgeous design and I am confident that the Friday SAL will keep me motivated. Thanks Vonna for inviting me!

Well, I shall end so that I can spend just a few hours stitching on Wintery Heirloom.


Thanks so much for stopping by~

Until next time...

Unexpected Surprise

I received two very special birthday gifts from some truly special online stitching friends. The first arrived in my email inbox in the form of a gift certificate from Down Sunshine Lane given to me from my dear friend Vonna. Vonna was instrumental in helping me get my blog up and running many years ago and we have remained good friends. A huge thank you my friend, you have been a shining light in my life and I value our friendship more than you know. I will be sure to post a picture of my purchase from DSL.

The second “unexpected surprise” arrived on Monday from another special lady, and extremely talented stitcher, CathyB (yes, the same CathyB that surprised me with the heart ornament from the last post!). What a gorgeous pinkeep!!! Cathy and I share a passion for Mary Garry Designs and I must say I love this one. Cathy, I cannot thank you enough for this beautiful gift AND for the gift of your friendship; your thoughtfulness touched me deeply!

Gorgeous Birthday Surprise From CathyB

Thank you Cathy and Vonna for making my birthday extra special!

I have another M Design Word Tree Ornament to share with you: JOY. Boy, do I love these! I made this one for a friend in Texas, whose name happens to be Joy.

Have you visited Anita’s Little Stitches online shop lately? She just set up a new blog with a great tutorial for Floss Tags. Her instructions are excellent and she has included a number of pictures of her beautifully finished Floss Tags. Much like Anita, I like to mount my floss tag piece on cardboard but was struggling with how to get the eyelet through all of that bulk…I love what Anita does. Thanks Anita for sharing that on your new blog. You may also want to stop by her online shop; she has everything that you need for finishing those very popular floss rings! While there check out the Davo scissors: a good friend sent me a pair for Christmas and I love them! I did purchased the 4” Chanticleer (made in Italy) from Anita, these are wonderful as well.

Stay tuned as I shall be sharing some interesting news in the near future....

Thanks for visiting with me~

Until next time...