A Finish, Sampler Guild Tea, and Giveaway!

2012 Crazy January Challenge Finish

Tree of Life Samplings Penny America

36ct Lakeside Linen Maple Sugar

Called for threads-WDW and DMC

Such a lovely and fun stitch!  If I could do it over, I would do it on a larger count fabric, as I think this design lends itself well to a larger format. Not sure how I'll finish this but leaning towards a flatfold finish.

Last Sunday my local sampler guild (Northwest Sampler Guild) held their annual tea.  Even though they have been holding this tea for many years it was the first time I ever attended. It was a delightful time and our speaker was Carolyn Standing-Webb on Needlework Tools and Toys.  Very interesting pics and info.

I wanted to share with all of you some of the show and tell and challenge pieces on display.  The challenge this year was to stitch something related to tea. What a wealth of inspiration! Feel free to click on the pics below for closeups.

What a great bunch of stitchers!  I feel so fortunate to be a part of this group!

Tomorrow  at midnight is the deadline for my second blogoversary giveaway!  Be sure to go enter by clicking here.

4 Week Birthday, Treasure Bags, & 2nd Blogoversary!

It is darling Amber's 4 week birthday!  Time really flies!  She will be dating soon, I'll bet.  DD#3 is a great mom-I'm proud of you!

In other news, on Superbowl Sunday  Attic Needlework had a sale.  I placed an order for 2 mystery treasure bags ($20 for $100 value).  I want to share with you the excitement of opening my package today.  Here is what came out of the box--wrapped in gorgeous red toile tissue paper. Hmmmm, wonder what's inside?

OK-here are the treasure bags-there is one below the top one-

Here is bag #1-with two of my favorite designers-Judy O'Dell and Belinda from Blue Ribbon Designs, then a selection of designers that I wasn't familiar with (except Cricket Collection), two beautiful samplers from Milady's Needle.   What a haul! 

Check out bag #2- another Judy O'Dell and Ellen Chester's Within My Heart Sewing Case, Rosewood Manor, The Workbasket & more, including a Wild Strawberry Fall Berry kit!  OK-I love mystery treasure bags!  Thanks, Attic Needlework!

 More news-it is my second blogoversary!   So it is time for a giveaway-see below-

Here is my giveaway-3 fat quarters of patriotic fabric, tokens & trifles, threads, 2 pieces of linen, a Mills Hills kit, 2 spools of ribbons, new cross-stitch towel, Christmas pillow,and pattern for Flutterby Garden for ipod or cell phone cover.

The rules are easy-

1. Please be a follower or become a follower.  Leave a comment on this post only. Yes, I will mail to international addresses.

2. If you post about this giveaway on your blog, please leave a second comment telling me so. You can have a total of 2 entries.

3. The drawing will close on February 29th at midnight PST.   The winner will be drawn by random number generator. 

4. If I reach 300 followers during this giveaway, I will draw a second number and that person will also get a surprise gift. It is a surprise because even I don't know what it will be yet. :)

Please be sure to leave your email address on your comment.  Especially if you are a no-reply commentor.

A Finish-Finish, New Stash & CJC Update

Yippee!  My finishing mood lastest long enough to get these two all beaded, backstitched and finished!

Just Nan Glow Tin and Humbug

It called for a dark green corded braid, but I like the white better. And this is my first ever humbug finish. I'm not counting this as a 2012 finish since the stitching was finished as part of the 2011 Crazy January Challenge.

I have also done some stash enhancing-

Northwest Sampler Guild Huswif-really lovely!

Stacey Nash-Country Sampler Love Pinkeep & Heart

Lizzie Kate-Winter Fob

Shakespeare's Peddler-Patience Pincushion

 

I also have given in to the lovely Winder's Keepers by Amy Mitten-greatly influenced by other bloggers (I won't name any names-you know who you are!)  I chose the Vierlande and hope to get started today. 

 

And here is Susan Kerndt's Holiday Patches.  I have it on the stretcher bars and the pattern drawn on.  We have a guild meeting on Tuesday where we will have a demonstration on how to attach the fabric pieces using iron-on interfacing and felt padding.  A new technique I have never done. The fabric at the bottom of the picture is the one I have chose to use. Looking forward to getting going on this one!

 

My annual spring Pacific Ocean retreat has been cancelled this year due to the regional EGA seminar in June (The lady who organizes the retreat is heading up the seminar this year).  So I signed up for two Betsy Morgan workshops in Spokane in May.  This is the prework to one of the classes.  Hope to get this one started today also.

 

Last, but certainly not least, here is an update on Tree of Life Samplings Penny America.

My second blogoversary is coming up next week!  Stay tuned for a celebration giveaway!

Super Bowl Finishing

I am not a sports fan. Growing up the only sports my dad ever watched was the World Series. I do remember watching Roberto Clemente and the Pittsburgh Pirates play. He died not long after that.

And I grew up in basketball crazy Indiana. That's about it for sports for me

But, I managed to stay busy on Super Bowl day with some finishing.

It is a little embarrassing to admit I finished stitching this project in 2010.  I had planned all this time to finish it as a pillow and even had some hot pink tassel trim for the edge. But I am running out of room for pillows!  

So, while at JoAnn's looking for a card box to finish the Istitch Mystery from 2011, I found this larger square box and it worked just fine! I painted the box black but it turned out to be more like a black stain than paint.

Jardin Prive My Lady's Quaker

WDW Romance & Onyx threads

Mystery linen

Here is the inside--fabric and ribbon is from my stash.

Next project was the needlepoint kit Fleur De Lys that I got at my ANG stash exchange in November. I picked up this box there too (from a different table). I substituted Vineyard Silks for the old wool threads in the kit.

I thought the two looked great together.  I'm taking it for show and tell to our next meeting and hopefully the original owners will like the repurposing I did!

Baby's Day Quilt Kit

Waltzing With Bears Design

Next project was my new granddaughter's baby quilt.  I have been working on the embroidery squares for a few months but finished the quilt top this weekend.  Click on the picture for a closer look. This is my first attempt at a quilt and I am going to a "help" class on Friday to get started on the quilting part.

There is still a big pile of finishing to do.  Hopefully I'll stay in the mood for a few more days.

Have a great week!

1st 2012 CJC Finish & BAP Update

Stitch N Zip Sewing Purse Kit

The local snow & ice storm made this the obvious choice to stitch as the large mesh is so easy to see.  Voila!  It is my first Crazy January Challenge finish for 2012.

Plum Street Samplers Paradise Lost

Becky's 2012 BAP Challenge

Progress Update-This one is so fun to stitch! What a great design!  Everytime I sit down it calls to me.  Still a lot to do though. Hopefully you can click on this picture. I am still getting used to the new inside blogger look.

Have a great weekend and fun Super Bowl!

A New Addition to the Family!

Welcome Baby Amber!

Thursday January 26, 2012

7 lbs. 8 oz.  18 1/2 inches

Mother and baby are both doing fine! 

For the first time ever I got to cut the cord--Dad wasn't quite feeling up to it :)

My daughter was a trooper and followed the midwife's instructions (much better than I ever did, but shhh.. don't tell her)

Do you think I could resist getting my first photo of both my grandkids together?

Well, OK, this is grandson letting his silliness out!  :)

This new little family is living in the apartment over my garage.

So as you can imagine, not much stitching is going on when I can rock little Amber. I did get a couple hours in on PSS Paradise Lost last night while watching Downton Abbey and Masterpiece Mystery Sherlock Holmes.

One more thing, my other daughter won a $100 giveaway on a coupon blog on Thursday.  I should have bought some lottery tickets that day!

Snow & Ice Storm/Power Outage & DD#1's Stitching

I'm still here! A snowstorm/ice storm came thru and we were 3 days without power!  And 4 days without cable or internet (I don't know which is worse! )

When things were back to normal, we left for Great Wolf Lodge -a waterpark south of Seattle.  It was a birthday present to my grandson who is turning 7 in Feb.

On the way home we stopped for lunch at Cabela's. Cabelas is a man-store with loads of stuffed animals as part of their displays.  Here is DH and grandson in front of the elephant, zebra, water buffalo, etc.

Here they are in front of the polar bear, brown bear, black bear, etc. Mountain goats & sheep are on the other side of these rocks.

DD #1 is still busy and here is the latest for her-

2010 JCS Christmas Ornie Issue-

Blackberry Lane Designs Frosty Blue

Mystery linen and DMC threads

Fabric from my stash

Finished by her using Vonna's flatfold tutorial

Samplerbird Stitchery

Holiday Spirit

Mystery linen

Crescent Colours Cupid thread

Yes, I'm still stitching but without power I can't use my lighted magnifier, so my stitching is whatever I can see without it :)  I will do a personal stitching update later this week.

Have a great hump day!

CJC Day #15 and BAP Challenge Update

CJC Day #15-Brightneedle Pretty in Pink

32 ct linen (from kit)

Various threads (from kit)

Now I have 15 new WIP's to work on, but guess what is calling my name?

See below-

Becky's 2012 BAP Challenge-

Plum Street Samplers Paradise Lost

36ct Edinburgh Linen

Vikki Clayton's HDF silk conversion

 I have used 3 DMC substitutions-one was for the color of the flesh for Adam & Eve. Don't you love the red fruit that is larger than Adam's head?  :)

CJC Days #13 & 14

CJC Day #13-L'Atelier Perdu Smell the Flowers

32 ct Ivory Lugana evenweave

Called for DMC threads

CJC Day #14-Sewing Chest Designs Porcelain Pincushion Doll

25 ct antique white linen

DMC threads

CJC Days #11 & 12

Little House Needleworks He Is Risen

32 ct Lakeside Linen Lt Exemplar

DMC threads

Stitch & Zip Sewing Purse

Kitted threads

This is a substitution in my CJC lineup.  I have several large projects that I want to work on this year. So I am replacing Miss Trenner's Academy with this little purse.  I have seen this one finished and it is adorable!