Exchange with a New Stitchy Friend

I recently had the pleasure of meeting a new stitchy friend in blogville.  Pat has been following my blog and leaving lots of encouraging comments.  We e-mail quite frequently and I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know her better.  We decided to do and exchange and look at the lovelies she sent me.  Two beautiful pin cushions, some lovely scented hand lotion and hand sanitizer and this . . .

It is a beautiful lace ruffled scarf that she knit especially for me.  My favorite color is blue and this picture just doesn't do it justice.  It is so soft and comforting to wear.  Thank you Pat for such a heartfelt exchange.  You are very talented and I look forward to years of friendship.

Here is a picture of what I stitched for Pat.  It is Spring Heart Hop by Island Cottage NeedleArts.  I stitched it on 32ct Natural linen and switch some of the colors.  Pat loves bunnies and the colors purple and lime green so I personalized it to her favorites.  Below is a pic of the other goodies I enclosed.  Everything in purples and greens.  I even found a purple tomato pincushion, how cool is that.  I really enjoyed our exchange and we plan to do another one in the fall.  I am already on the hunt for the perfect design.  Thanks again Pat.

Just wanted to remind you that if you missed my last post, I have a mystery giveaway going on in celebration of my blogiversary.  You still have time, the draw is on June 1st.  You must leave a comment on my previous post to be entered.  Good luck to all who have already entered.  Happy Stitching!

A New Mystery SAL and Blogiversary

I have joined a new Mystery SAL at Niky's Creations.  This is my part 1 finished and patiently awaiting Part 2.  I love the colors and I look forward to what it will become.

Today is my Blogiversary.  I have been blogging for 2 years.  I began this journey to stay in touch with ladies I met at my first retreat.  I wanted a way to share my stitching adventures.  Little did I know that I would have over 400 followers sharing the journey with me.  I appreciate each and every one of my new stitchy friends.  They have all been supportive and inspiring.  Nothing keeps the stitching mojo going like a visit to blogland.  Thank you to all of my followers.  In the spirit of celebration,  I am hosting a mystery giveaway.  Not quite sure what I will put together but I assure you it will be wonderful.  So if you are a follower, leave a comment if you are interested in a chance at my giveaway.  Also leave me your favorite designers name, favorite fabric and something on your wishlist.  I will draw on June 1st, another date of celebration.  Good Luck and Happy Stitching!

More Kitten news

All of these cutie pies are now in their forever homes. It sure is quiet around here.  Mommy kitty is doing well.  She has not been searching for them but does seem a bit lonely.  I have been trying to spend extra time with her to keep her socialized.  She will be going in for her spay next week and then we can start to look for her forever home.

Sparticus became an island kitty.  He now lives on Nantucket with two wonderful young girls.  They were squealing with delight when they picked him up to bring him home.  What joy that brings. They named him JoJo.

Penney and Marty went together and that warms my heart.  They always slept together and tussled so I think they will be wonderful in the same home.  They went to live locally with a family of 4 girls ages 11-17.  They are sure to get lots of attention, love and cuddles.  I spoke with the family a few days after they went home and mum said they are doing great.  They named them Rosie and Teddy.  Too cute!! 

Some tiny finishes

Last week I had time to fit in a couple of finishes.  The first was Flower Pot Sampler which was the selection for the Year of Smalls 2012.  It is stitched on 32 ct Limestone with CCT in Weeping willow.  I finished it as a simple pillow with CC Chenille Trim in Bean Sprout.

This is a Little House design that I stitched several years ago.  My son said I make pillows for everyone else, where was his.  So I took a UFO and made it into a small pillow.  He loves it and has it in his bed every night. Too Cute!!

Lastly, my very talented friend Ellen stitched the above designs and I finished them into pin pillows for her.  I used coordinating fabric and filled them with crushed walnut shells.  I kept the finish very simple because they are quaker designs. That's it for today.  I didn't make a lot of progress on the stitching front over the weekend, the weather was just too beautiful and my oldest son had his prom over the weekend so we were busy with photos and more.  I hope you had a lovely weekend.

Happy Stitching!

May WIPocalypse update

It's been a slow month on the WIP front.  I have been bored with my stitching lately so I have been jumping from project to project.  I think it has something to do with the sunny weather and wanting to be outside.  I finished two blocks on Read Between the Lines from Blue Ribbon Designs.  That's it!  In my defense it has been a busy, drizzley baseball season and there has been no stitching going on at the field and I have been working on 3 exchange projects which I can't share.  Add to that a broken washing machine and multiple trips to the laundromat that left little time for stitching.  I do plan to finish this particular WIP before the next WIP update.  Wish me luck!

Many Thanks!!

This post is filled with Thanks!!  First,  I received this very generous RAK from Lainey.  I love the blue birds and matching fabric she chose for this darling pillow.  It's adorable.  And if that wasn't enough she sent me DMC threads and the most darling pair of scissors.  Thank you so MUCH Lainey for the wonderful surprise.

Another delightful package made it to my mailbox.  I had mentioned in a post that I wanted to use a checked fabric in brown to accompany a cat sampler and Mouse sent me these three lovely choices.  I am floored by how generous fellow stitching bloggers are and I thank you Mouse from the bottom of my heart.  I now have to do the hemstitching on my sampler and finish it up!

Thank you for stopping by and visiting my little corner of the stitching world.  Happy Stitching!

Kitten Update

 Well, it feels like I just got these little guys and it's already adoption time.  The shelter had a waiting list for kittens so these little ones had homes before they had developed their little personalities.  Today, Pebbles and Oscar went to their forever homes.  I KNOW they will make the 2 families very happy!!  Pebbles, my curious little girl is a people person.  She loves everyone and loved to shower you with attention.  Oscar, my reserved little guy was a surprise birthday gift for a sweet little girl and I know he will be her buddy.  His temperament was so docile and he just loves a good lap to nap in.
Aren't they just precious! Good Luck my little friends, you will be missed.

I want to wish everyone a Happy Mother's Day!  Enjoy!

Stash from Celebrations

Well, there was plenty of shopping to do at Celebrations.  I wish I could have taken a picture of the Vendors booths but wasn't sure how that would be received.  It was a hustle and bustle of activity and there were a variety of vendors: Olde Colonial Designs, Rosewood Manor, JBW, Scandanavian Stitches, The Quilted Crow, Inspired Needle, Keslyns, Still Stitchin with Susan, Thread Express, Nifty Thrifty Dry Goods, BritStitch, Heart's Content, Jeannette Douglass Designs, DoveStitch/Fabric Flair, It's Fine-ally Finished,  Needle in a Haystack and Wood Turnings by Cynthia.  I think it had a great variety of things to see and purchase.  I had the best of intentions, armed with a list and was going to stick to the list but only found 2 items from my list.  So the more browsing, the more fun stuff I found.

These are the latest kits from The Purple Thread. A new to me designer but I couldn't resist.  A needlebook, a scissor fob and a strawberry pincushion. Delightful!

A stop at Nifty Thrifty Dry Goods produced lots of incentive for finishing some of my UFO's. This booth had everything you could want for a trim, and buttons, buttons, and more buttons.  It was very inspiring. I also found some wooden thread keeps and spools as well as itty bitty crocheted flowers. Too Cute!!

Needle in a Haystack offered lots of needlework necessities, high count linens, and lots of silk fibers and ribbons.  I got myself a new 8" hoop, a piece of 45 count Vintage Porcelain linen and some NPI silks.

Jeannette Douglas, one of my faves, had a wonderful booth with lots of new offerings.  I manage to find kits for her quaker pincushions whick I already had the chart for, and fell in love with the stitched model of Vintage Starts so I had to have that.  Great Booth Jeannette!!

Inspired Needle is always one of my favorite stops.  Cathy and her staff are AWESOME!!  Everything in her booth is well organized and kitted.  Isn't that convenient!!  I found some great charts, beautiful silks and a wee pair of storklette scissors. 

This is my next to stitch piece.  I did get it at Inspired Needle as you can see everything I need but the fabric.  I will go stash diving for that.  I'm not sure if this happens to you, but sometimes I see a chart online and ehhh doesn't really appeal to me.  Well that's the case with this one, I didn't really love it until I saw the Thread pack.  The colors are beautiful. I also love working with Dinky Dyes silk and was sold. Can't wait to see how it works up.

Jackie of It's Fine-ally Finished has a marvelous booth full of inspiration and thoughtful ideas.  This year she had great shadow boxes filled with sewing trinkets and stitchy items.  One of the girls in my stitching booth bought one and started right in with her stitching smalls to put in it.  It's darling.  I got two of her kits and just couldn't resist some Scrimshaw pieces designed by Marcy.  Can you believe, a hinged ruler made of scrim??  I couldn't that's why I bought it.  Oh soo happy with that!!

And finally, Olde Colonial Designs.  I picked up a Lavender Sachet kit designed by Pam Reed, 2 small frames for my silk gauze pieces and a lovely pincushion/thread holder stand.  Wonderful items as always.

As you can see, I got carried away, BUT it was sooooo much fun!!  Thanks for hanging in and taking this shopping journey with me.  I hope you have a wonderful day and Happy Stitching!

Classes from Celebrations

Well, that didn't go as planned.  I had every intention of posting while at Celebrations and giving you regular updates but my camera batteries died the first afternoon and I couldn't post from my Droid.  Still trying to learn the techie side of a smart phone.  I had a fabulous time meeting up with my stitching friends from all over the US.  I took 3 great classes and spent way too much time in the shopping mall.  I just couldn't resist.  Everyone had things set up so beautifully and I enjoy poking around each and every booth.

Today's post will be about the classes I took and tomorrow I will share some of the stash I got. Thursday I took a class with Donna Bayliss of By the Bay Needlearts.  It is a counted canvas piece with a decorated frame titled Nantucket Blue.  The class focused on the 3-D hydrangea flowers which will embellish the frame.  You can see the 4 flowers I made in class in the picture.

Here is the progress on the counted canvas portion of the piece.  I think this will be a quick finish and I will be able to display it in time for the summer.

On Saturday afternoon, I took a class with Jeannette Douglass.  One of my favorite designers and teachers.  She is an absolute Hoot and all of her pieces have specialty stitches and variations of those stitches.  That always keeps the ADD at bay since you are constantly changing stitches.  She hand painted these wonderful little suitcase trunks and shared with us some of her family's history.  The piece has a scissor keep, pincushion, fob and needlebook.  I LOVE it! I also got to take the class with 3 friends I met through retreats, 2 from Minnesota and one from Georgia.  I had a great time girls!!

On Friday, I took a class with my stitching twin Carol.  It was with Barbara Jackson and we spent a great deal of time basting.  Not my favorite thing to do because I prefer to jump right in.  The basting will definitely help in the end but not a lot of stitching accomplished.  It is a darling stitching tray with needlebook and strawberry emery.  Too Cute!!

Thanks for stopping by, stay tuned for more tomorrow!! Happy Stitching!!