She Was Too Busy ?????????

I recently learned from the moderator of the Prairie Schooler Fans, that my partner in the PS Halloween Exchange failed to send me an exchange piece because she was "too busy" ~ I am wondering how busy she must be that she could not even acknowledge or thank me for the exchange that I sent her. Fortunately, I am not too busy to post this:

As one person stated on the Prairie Schooler Fans Board: May you constantly be reminded of your poor behavior each time you look at the exchange piece that I sent you.

I honestly understand that things happen in a person's life and sometimes people are unable to meet an obligation. If you have a legitimate reason (and let's face it "too busy" is not an excuse) please just email the individual and let them know.

A number of people commented on my earlier post regarding MIA Stitchers stating that we should name names...I am naming names in hopes that people think twice about slighting another person and going MIA. For all the trustworthy stitchers and wonderful exchange group moderators, I hope this is of assistance to you ~ be on the lookout.

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...