Completion of the Neighborhood

My new Texas neighborhood is under construction with houses being built all around me and I have no idea when all this construction will be complete. The completed neighborhood that I am referring to is my Halloween Neighborhood.

Back in January 2008, Carol asked me if I would be interested in being a replacement stitcher in the Hello Neighbor Round Robin and I jumped at the opportunity to join in. I rushed to the LNS to select a large piece of 32 ct R & R linen, rushed home to baste the grid, and finally rushed to stitch in the first three gridded blocks (I had missed the first three stitching rotations). On February 1, 2008, I happily sent my Halloween theme neighborhood off looking like this:

However, I was even happier when it returned looking like this:

Hello Neighbor Round Robin

Fabric: 32ct R&R Linen

Who would have guessed it would look this awesome??? I am so very pleased with my newly constructed neighborhood and must thank the builders:

Bine, Carol, Deb, Glenna, Karen, Leslie, Nicole, and Wendy

You all selected such great designs and stitched them so beautifully; you are the reason that my neighborhood looks amazing. I have not yet decided how I will stitch your names into the neighborhood but they will be added! I also would like to include a Halloween verse at the very top, but I have yet to find the right one.

Carol I cannot thank you enough for inviting me to step in and join this talented group of stitchers. It was truly a rewarding experience and I have such a wonderfully stitched neighborhood that I will forever treasure.

Now that I am somewhat settled, I had the opportunity to do a bit of online shopping. I used the Down Sunshine Lane (great online shop!) gift certificate that sweet Vonna gave to me for my birthday and I purchased two patterns that I wanted SO much: LHN - Traveling Stitcher with thread chart pack, and Plum Street - My Pretties.

The "Traveling Stitcher" was newly released at the Nashville Needlework Market. What a great project keeper and needlebook design. I have wanted the “My Pretties” leaflet for quite some time and will almost certainly use this for a Halloween exchange ~ I just love the tin topper!

I am anxious to put needle to fabric on both of these…let me see, which one shall I start first? Knowing how I operate I will almost certainly have both of these on my WIP list very soon.

Thank you so much Vonna for the birthday gift and for your valued friendship.

I learned that Nic received the Drawn Thread Exchange that I sent her so I am free to share pictures with you. I stitched a section from the pattern titled: Brown Ranch Sampler and mounted it onto a photo book.

Friends Through Threads

Drawn Thread Exchange

Finish: Photo Book

Stitched for: Nic

It is late and I have spent much of the day organizing and opening a few picture boxes so I did not get any stitching done today…or yesterday for that matter. I believe I hear the couch beckoning me to come sit and stitch for a while ~ music to my ears.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by it is always fun to hear from you. I hope you have a wonderful week, and that you find time to sit, stitch, and relax.

Until next time...

Oh Happy Day!!!

And that it was…Yesterday I opened my mailbox and found two packages tucked inside. The first is a beautiful gift from my very dear friend Vonna. Before I share a picture there is a bit of a story behind this:

While trying, like so many others, to sell our home during such a depressed housing market I had mentioned to Vonna our difficult struggle. She shared with me information on St. Joseph, the patron saint of home and family, and told me that some people who are in need of a faithful helper purchase St. Joseph statues. I was surprised at what I read online and it convinced me to purchase a small statue, not long after this we sold our house. Since he is a patron saint of homes and family, it was nice to have the St. Joseph statue in my house but recently I handed him over to an individual that I knew could truly use him. I shared this with Vonna but was quick to tell her that I would most certainly be purchasing a new one. To my surprise, Vonna sent me this beautiful St. Joseph statue along with a prayer card:

St. Joseph
Patron Saint of Home and Family

I am so happy to have this in my new home, even happier that it was given to me by such a wonderful friend! I shall treasure it for so many reasons, thank you dear Vonna!

My first exchange while in my new house came from Gabi, and what an amazing exchange piece it is. I participated in a Winter Quaker Exchange with the HOE group and this is what I received, feast your eyes on this gorgeous scissor pocket:

HOE: Winter Quaker
Scissor Pocket
Beautifully stitched by: Gabi

Fabric: Belfast Linen ~ Country Cream
Threads: Threadwork ~ Blue Navy

Are you drooling? :D I am speechless; this is beautifully stitched and finished! It just astounds me and I am so very grateful to Gabi for all the time she spent creating this. The pattern is by Barbara Bernard who designed it to honor the 10th anniversary of the Loudoun Sampler Guild; Gabi did however make a few minor changes. She also treated me to some very nice extras: A wonderful pair of stork scissor, a bag of decorative buttons, and some great braided trim. Thank you again Gabi for such a wonderful exchange!

HOE: Winter Quaker
Received from Gabi

Yes, I am still unpacking boxes. Some days I spend hours unpacking and arranging and then the next few days I will not even look at a box. Thankfully, all unpacked boxes are now upstairs so it is easy to avoid them. I will leave you with an updated picture of my sewing room. I wish that I could say that it was all done, but it is not. I decided that I must concentrate on putting away everything that was in there before I would haul in another box…yes, there are more boxes!

Thank you for all of your well wishes and for taking the time to stop by ~ Come back again soon!

Until next time...

I Have Arrived…

Well, my move has ended (for that, I am grateful!) and I am setting up home in the wonderful state of:

Thanks to all that participated in my “guess the state” contest. A number of you did guess correctly, so I put these names in a hat and pulled the winning name out:

CONGRATULATIONS TO: Annemiek

You are the winner of the TEXAS Needleroll ~ Please email me with your address and I will send this out to you.

All 30,000 pounds of our personal belongings arrived at my doorstep on Feb. 26th. I am drowning in boxes and dreading opening each one. Here in Texas, there are no basements and storage space is limited. With each open box, I struggle with where to put all of this “STUFF” ~ my sewing room is maxed out and I still have oodles of boxes to unpack:

Given all of the unopened boxes in the media room, I am not certain when we will be able to properly set up this room:

I have walked this path before and can take comfort in knowing that with time this chaos shall turn into an organized home!

Okay, on to some wonderful stitching pictures….

I received two wonderful exchanges; the first is from Brigitte who was my partner in the Friends through Threads Seasonal Exchange. I was overjoyed when I laid eyes on this gorgeous Stitcher’s Bag:

Stitcher's Pocket from Brigitte

Beautifully stitched and finished! I just love the design it makes me smile. :D

Brigitte spoiled me with so many wonderful extras:

Friends Through Threads

Seasonal Stitcher's Exchange - Winter

Received from Brigitte

Many thanks Brigitte for making this a truly wonderful exchange!

I received the second exchange from Stephanie who stitched for me in the Prairie Schooler Exchange:

Prairie Schooler All Year Long

Received from Stephanie

What a real treat, I got not one but two exchange pieces a beautiful Pinkeep and an adorable Scissor FOB. Stephanie you did an amazing job on these treasures and I cannot thank you enough for your time and generosity!

I can no longer sit at this computer so I will share pics of the Fair & Square blocks that I received in my next post. Must run...I hear boxes calling my name. Grrr!

Thanks for stopping by and I do look forward to your return.

Until next time...