Easter surprise and a finish

There was a banging on the door (how about using the doorbell?) I dreaded having anyone drop by at that moment, but I looked out the window to get a clue and there was a flower delivery truck! Flowers were delivered to me. I was so touched and surprised. All I could think was "how sweet of Rich (my husband) to do this- he finally gets it!" (gets it meaning "what women love") So, I read the card and it had a very sweet message on it and no signature. I turned it over and it wasn't from him!! Double surprise!! It was from my very dearest cousin- we email every day and I consider her a sister! Here's a picture of my beautiful gift. It's clear she knows "what women love!"






Last night I finally took pictures of my Russian Spring Motif that I finished. It is a lovely and simple design to stitch, but took me a long time to finish. My wrist and shoulder were bothering me so I tried to rest them. All the pics look dark - I didn't take time to edit them but I see now I should have! Ooops!

Russian Motif- Spring
Designer: Olga Teague
28 ct Evenweave - white

You will see different pictures of my new stitching frame called "Grip-n-Stitch". Someone online recommended it and I ordered it all the way from England. I think I told you without the directions it took me forever to get it together properly. As soon as it was snapped together, I opened my binder and there sat the directions. At any rate, I had serious concerns about the holes it makes in the fabric, but the original blogger assured me that they come out by "just running your fingers down the fabric" when you remove it from the frame. Ok..... I was skeptical. I figured the holes are in the extra fabric so don't fret. Well, she was totally right! There was a line of holes, I ran my finger along them and they disappeared! I think I'm going to love this frame!!!

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you enjoy your weekend and that your days are blessed.
Hugs and stitches,
Jean

Here's the present!

Here's the finished present I sent to my daughter. Her birthday was yesterday and I told her to call me when she opened it. She really loved it. She asked "how many times did you start over?" (Once) We had a good laugh! She knows how I struggled through her Christmas present which looks incredibly simple, but went bad after a few "miscounts"!! Thank you, Sharon for sharing this wonderful design with us!


She is a cross stitcher and appreciated the "over one" stitches and all the work that goes into a cross stitch project.

I hope you are all enjoying your weekend. We are having a sunny "spring teaser" today. We are getting spring fever, but it will be cooled when the snow arrives on Monday. Ugh!

Thank you for stopping by!
Hugs and Stitches,
Jean

New piece to work show

Here is the little bit I have stitched on Olenka's Russian design which she was so generous to share. I have it on my new Grip-n-stitch frame and so far I am liking it. I wasn't sure if I would. I'll see when I do a larger piece. When I have the frame apart, I will take pictures of it. Once the fabric is stretched over it, you can't easily pop it off like a hoop or Q snaps. It's on for the duration!

Later I will post my daughter's gift that I made her. She should receive it today. Yeah!!

Thank goodness for cyberfriends. I have to thank Michelle B. for helping me to figure out a blog problem. I wanted to have my blog list with names instead of blog sites. She suggested something and Voile! I got it to work. Thanks Michelle!

Thank you for stopping by today! I hope you are all having fun stitching.
Hugs and Stitches.
Jean

I forgot to show you!

Here is a bag that started out as a gift, then I realized that every time I looked at it, I really liked it and decided to keep it for myself. Yup! A pressie for me! How often do we do that? I set the guilt aside and gave the recipient another well chosen (and ultimately loved) gift. So, I'm now using this bag and really like it because it has a zipper on top. My stuff doesn't topple out when my bag takes an untimely fall from the couch or the cats decide to explore.

I only used part of the pattern for the pocket. Sorry for the dark photo - I don't know what that is about!

Design: Bluebirds and Daisies

14 ct. Aida

Freebie: Blue Ribbon Designs

I haven't done much stitching since Sunday. I started a design that I'm not really feeling like doing and don't have something I'm interested in. Hmm.....

I bought a new stitching frame I saw someone recommend on someone's blog. It's called Grip-n-Stitch and can only be purchased outside the USA. I ordered one and during the power outage I tried figuring out how to put it together and to make it the right size. I didn't have the instructions at my husbands office and after 20 minutes (I'm not too bright!), I had it figured out. I opened my binder to find a pattern and the first thing I found was illustrated instructions! I am not sure how I like it. Does anyone use this particular frame? I'll post some pics in the future.

My cat Sasha is a bit skittish about being handled. HOWEVER, she has decided it is safe to sit on my lap while I'm at the computer. By "on my lap" I mean, lays across my arms and limits my hand movements. If I try to adjust her, she jumps off. It's a trade off - well, really it's her terms or not at all! I have to be careful what I wish for~

Thanks for stopping by. I have been enjoying all the lovely comments you have been leaving. Using Google reader has helped me stay on top of commenting on your posts, too!
Hugs and Stitches,
Jean

freebie search

I saw a freebie on the Freebie Gallery called "Shepherd's lambs" by Shepherd's bush. It's an old pattern. Does anyone have this pattern or know where I can find it? I can't seem to find it online. Thanks.

Now I can show you!

My PIF has been received by Shel in Ireland. It was a piece that I saw on her wish list. I really like the words- nice words to live by! ( It looks a little wrinkled - but I think it got ironed out ok in the end).

I'm almost done with my gift and will post it as soon as the recipient gets it. I have been doing the over one sitting next to a window and it made all the difference in the world, and I limited the amount of stitching I would do at one time. It's coming out really nice!

I hope you enjoyed your weekend!
Hugs and stitches,
Jean

making progress

I can't show any pictures for a bit. I'm making a gift (Daffy cat - you know what it is), but I don't want the recipient to see it! I will say this - I don't know how any of you work over 1! Do you have eyes like eagles? I'm struggling along! I work on it near a window. My magnifying glass that hangs around my neck makes me nuts (well, more nuts!) so I'm bumbling along. I'm surprised it is looking as nice as it is!

I don't know how it is that some people can return anything and the store will take it back, and I have had no luck lately! I was at Michaels and the woman in front of me was returning a bottle of gold leaf that was in an opened bubble pack on cardboard. She had it taped with BLUE masking tape (3 pieces!) and no receipt. The clerk starts ringing up the return (no questions asked). The woman didn't have a receipt and told the clerk - I used a coupon. The clerk says "when you return without a receipt, we take 20% off so I think you'll make out better." Duh! They are paying the woman money who is returning an unsaleable item money! Now fast forward to me at Joann's. I try to return a skein of yarn with a receipt and the woman looks aghast at me and says "We can't take this back!! It's too old!!" (meaning it was past 90 days.) Incredible! I won't even go into what I think the job requirements are to work there, but I will say I think one of them is "must be crabby". Enough said.

I hope you are all having a lovely week! Thanks so much for stopping by!
Hugs and stitches!
Jean

Ribbon ornament

I finished my breast cancer auction ornament. For this one time, I am going to accept how I did the work and not be so hard on myself criticizing every little flaw. All in all, I think it is pretty and will be appreciated. Now to the post office to get it in the mail and my PIF!

I will post my PIF once it has been received. I have noticed a number of people saying that no one is signing up for their PIF. I am guessing that many people are already involved in exchanges. One person said when no one signed up, she decided to just do RAK to fulfill her end of the bargain. I thought that was a really great solution.

I am still finishing my old pile of things that are awaiting the light of day. I am making good progress and hope to try a finish I've never done - perhaps a bourse. I think I have what I need for one. Wish me luck!

Happy weekend to everyone!!!
Love and stitches,
Jean

New Start

Have you ever made a mistake and just couldn't work around it? I can't believe that happened to me. I made a mistake on the ornament piece I am working on and it affected the whole look- it was lopsided. I was too far along to frog so I just started over. I started at a different point to make sure I wouldn't have the same problem. When I restarted this ornie, I was working in bad light (and complaining about it to no avail). I had agreed a few months ago to make an ornament for the breast cancer Christmas tree ornament auction. I would be almost finished if I hadn't made that error as I had started at the top the first time. Nevertheless, I will probably finish the stitching today.

I think it is interesting that I had agreed to make this ornie and then found out my cousin had breast cancer. I'm really glad I could help the cause. It's a small thing to do for such a worthy cause, that's for sure! If you are interested in seeing the site - the details are on Nov 4. http://stitchingforacure.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2009-01-15T15%3A49%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=20

Hugs and stitches!
Jean

Really Done !

Can I have an AMEN!!

I finished this today and am really happy with how it came out. I am using filler that is in little clusters (about the size of a pencil eraser) and they aren't fun to work with on small projects. It is a nice filler because it fills in nicely and doesn't leave lumpy spots or get matted down.

It seems like there hasn't been much activity in the blogging world. I imagine everyone is busy finishing things or are lurking!!

This is a freebie by Blue Ribbon Designs. I changed the lettering as I don't particularly care for words written in all Upper Case Fancy letters. I tried to make them a little less like first letters of a capitalized word. I'm pleased with how it turned out. I used most of the recommended floss, though a few might be different.

The backing was a problem. I just realized that I have no Christmas fabrics and Joann's doesn't have any! I was in a hurry to finish this and picked up the checked fabric at Walmart. We're lucky our Walmart still has fabric, though I hear it is being phased out.

Enjoy your day and thanks for stopping by!
Love and stitches,
Jean

Amen!!

Do you ever work on something and for some reason it's really hard for you to finish? That was me with this design. I started at the end of December. I think I was just "done" with Christmas and I didn't feel like finishing it and plugged along, then finally put it aside. I kept thinking - just finish it for heavens sake! But I couldn't do it. Finally, a few days ago, I dragged it out and oops! I couldn't find the floss I had been using! A reprieve. I persisted and then picked it up and begrudgingly finished it. I can't believe how it felt like torture, but I was determined to finish it. Today I will sew it up and hopefully adopt some positive feelings toward it!!! LOL! forgive the wrinkles. I ran out of steam (oh, funny pun..... not intended!)

My latest creation

The snuggler has been made! The fabric has been sitting in a bag for 2 weeks and the weather got warmer (above 20). I wasn't lulled into the false sense that spring was on it's way - I know better!! So, I stitched it up and my willing son modeled it for me. He doesn't look his best, but he was game to be photographed in it! I don't think he knows his picture is splashed across the web, though!

The fabric is Blizzard - as I said in an earlier post, it has a bit more static than other brand so fleece or it might be how extremely dry my house is with the heater constantly running.

Sasha

Here's Sasha enjoying the blankie! She's such a girl!!

A pressie

Here is a blankie I made to give to my cousin who just had a double mastectomy. I think she might like to have it during her chemo treatments. I bought a new rotary cutter with the wavy edge to finish the edges. In the past I have done different stitching on the edges but it seemed to come out a bit inconsistent as the fabric doesn't feed as evenly as woven fabrics. The fabric here is Blizzard polar fleece and happens to be on sale at Joann's. It has a lot more static than the other brand of fleece I buy so I'll give it a good spray of Static Guard. What did we do before Static Guard? I love it.

I hope all you friends keep up on your mammograms. I'm sorry to say that my cousin let it go for a few years and the cancer is quite advanced. I'm on my soap box because I know that she, like the rest of us, thought it couldn't happen to her. It happens to other people. It's safe to say if she had rescheduled her missed appointment years ago, they would have found it much earlier. We must be our own best care takers. I'm off my soap box (and I hope you listened!!)

Hugs and Stitches!
Jean

One more!

Here's my latest finish! I can hardly believe that I'm on this roll.... I'm sure you can't either. Anyone who has read my blog knows that I have a drawer full of pieces waiting to see the light of day! I did this cross stitch last fall so I'm doing pretty well! Future posts will show you a piece that is signed 1984, but we won't go there right now!



The color looks very pinkish, but it's only the lighting. It's actually an antique white. I originally made these with the intention of framing them and hanging them in my bedroom. Unfortunately, the cloth is slightly different colors and would look bad next to each other. I hastily grabbed the fabric on my way to a night shift and in the poor light, they looked the same.

Nevertheless, it forced me to try a new finishing technique which I have never done and I was quite pleased with it.



Pattern: Good morning Good Evening
Bright Needle
Aida 16 ct - antique white
The side view looks like the trim isn't centered but it is just the angle of the photo. It really looks pretty good in real life.

Thanks for stopping by! You've been a great support to me.
Hugs and Stitches!
Jean