Stitching, thank you, New Moon

I haven't gotten to stitch a whole lot lately. The evenings and weekends have been busy, and it has really cut into my stitching time. And as for blogging and reading/commenting on blogs, my husband has taken over my computer a lot of evenings and that has cut into my computer/blog time. Mind you, he has his own laptop. I just have a newer, faster Mac that we both love. It appears that if mine sits idle for very long, it automatically springs into his lap for the evening. However, I have worked on a few things...

I started Block 1 of Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow. I couldn't stand it any longer. As soon as my threads came in the mail, I put in some stitches. (excuse my wrinkly pictures...I didn't take time to iron today).

I also started Jenny Bean Christmas. Not a lot of progress to show yet on this one.

I also put some stitches in Quakers and Quilts.

And I want to say a big public thank you to Jolene for the prize I won in one of her recent giveaways! I was thrilled!! I later told her that I was secretly hoping this would be the one of four prizes that would show up in my mailbox. I am hoping to stitch that gorgeous cardinal design in this one soon.

In non-stitching news, (and for my fellow Twilighters) I went with a group of twelve girlfriends to see New Moon Friday night. Oh. My. Goodness. I loved it! I loved the first one too, but thought this one was even better. New Moon was my least favorite of all the books, but I just thought the movie was spectacular. I have always been "Team Edward" but I am starting to see the appeal of the Jacob followers. LOL! I will be going back to the theater again to see this soon. I wanted to stay and see it again as soon as our showing ended, and I think I could have talked the eleven others into staying if there was a ticket left to be had in the tri-state area! Good times!

That's it for me...I am off to stitch and catch up on my DVR.

Have a good one.

Kellie

Christmas Finish!

I just put in the last stitches and attached the buttons to All in a Sleigh by Miss Crescent's Crowne.

I am thinking I will either frame this in a shiny red frame that I saw at Michael's recently or maybe make it into a pinkeep. It is a lot smaller than I thought it would be. I am leaning more toward framing. I think it will fit into a standard 5x7 easily.

I am not sure which one I will pick up next. Maybe my Yule mangy cow. LOL! Good night of TV to stitch with...Survivor, Fast Forward, The Office, Grey's Anatomy, and Private Practice (which I will record for later).... I love Thursday night TV.

Happy Weekend ahead!!!

Kellie

Christmas Stitching Galore

The Christmas spirit hit me about 10 minutes after Halloween ended. And I know that here in the U.S., Thanksgiving is the next holiday, and I am in Thanksgiving mode as well (hence the new blog layout), but the two holidays seem to kind of blend together for me. (I think this is because my Christmas crazy MIL treats Thanksgiving as a prelude to Christmas...but I digress).

I love holiday stitching. So I promptly pulled out all of my Christmas WIPs, kitted Christmas projects, and Christmas charts and began organizing them in a Christmas tote. I also filled almost every project bag I own with Christmas stitching.

And then the craziness began.... and my stitching ADD kicked in....

I finished stitching Eloquent Christmas but still need to add beads (this one may go to my sister-in-law who has been eyeing it the minute I put needle to thread, but I will have to stitch another one for me because I absolutely love this design)....

I started Ewe and Eye and Friends' Yule.... (yes it looks like a bunch of crazy geometric shapes gone wild or a funky cow with mange, but it will eventually turn into a cute reindeer, I promise)

I started Lizzie Kate's ABC Christmas....

I started Prairie Schooler's Christmas Eve...

I started Shepherd's Bush's Glad Tidings...

And I put a few stitches in Paradise Lost (you didn't think it was going to be all Christmas, did you? LOL!)

And the sad thing is, I am wildly eyeing Miss Crescent's Crown's All in a Sleigh and Shakepeare's Peddler's Jenny Bean Christmas, wanting to grab them and start them as well. Not to mention Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow which is begging to put in an appearance but I don't have all the NPIs I need yet. (And then there is Vonna's ornament SAL that I need to get working on...)

Sick, I tell ya...

And yes, I do plan to finish some of them. Some of them are going to be really quick stitches (I think).

I have a feeling we will be decking the halls and trimming the tree a lot earlier this year. I usually wait until the weekend after Thanksgiving day, but the last couple of years we have been so busy with family functions (which I love... not complaining a bit!), that I have ended up decorating the first week of December, which is just not enough time for me to enjoy it all. So this year, I am going to get a jump start and make the season and joy last as long as possible.

In other news, hubby's varsity team won their first round of playoffs last night and will advance to the next round on Friday. Go Hawks! And Jake's little league flag football team won their playoff game this afternoon and will play in the Little League Super Bowl tomorrow afternoon. Go Vikings! All kinds of football fun going on around here. :)

And I want to say a big Thank You to everyone who left a comment on my last post. I had 19 wonderful comments (the most ever!) and I loved each and every one of them and have read them several times. You all sure know how to make a girl feel good. :)

Hope you are having a happy, stitchy, fun day in your neck of the woods (that's southern for "where you live" LOL!). I am thinking I may make a cup of hot chocolate and turn on the Christmas carols for my afternoon of stitching. :)

Finished!!

I put the last stitch in Midnight Watch Thursday night. I am so pleased with how it turned out. Now to get it framed and ready to display next Halloween...

Midnight Watch

Blackbird Designs

30 ct. 18th Century Brown by R & R Reproductions

recommended Crescent Colors, Gentle Arts, and Weeks Dye Works threads

Started Thursday, October 8 , 2009

Finished Thursday, October 29, 2009

As soon as I placed the final stitch, I promptly started Paradise Lost. I have been wanting to stitch this since I saw the first sneak peeks on Paulette's blog months ago. I don't have much to show yet, but I have a four day weekend this weekend, and this baby is going to get lots of face time. :)

Paradise Lost

Plum Street Samplers

Started Thursday, October 29, 2009

Recommended fabric and fibers

Thank you all for your kind comments regarding my mom's and Jake's birthday. Both enjoyed their days.

Have you seen the LHN monthly ornament series? I am excited about these. Vonna is hosting a stitch a long blog for these here if you are interested. I am signed up for a monthly auto and looking forward to participating in the blog. I am hoping this will keep me motivated to work on these all year. I enjoy quick stitches in between bigger projects.

Today is Halloween here (not sure if this is just a US holiday or not...). Michael will take Jake trick or treating around our neighborhood later this evening while I stay home to pass out candy. Where we live, we get slammed with trick or treaters. It seems like people drop them off by the van-loads. It is a lot of fun but it's hectic. Jake is going to be a skeleton this year that has blood pumping through it's chest. Ick. Usually he is some character from Star Wars, but he wanted to be something "scary" this year. After trick or treating, my next door neighbors a.k. a. my brother-in-law and sister-in-law have an annual Halloween party where a bunch of our friends and their families gather to eat chili. We always have a great time. It is definitely chili weather. It has been cold and rainy here most of October, and today is no exception, although I think maybe the rain is over for the rest of today at least.

School is out until next Wednesday!!! Yippee!!! Monday is technically a "work day" for parent teacher conferences, but since most parents work during the day, we have two evenings where we stay late to meet with parents which allows us to have Monday off. Tuesday is an election day, so we have that day off as well. Love these kind of weekends. :) I plan to stitch as much as I can in between Halloween festivities, church, and football. Sounds like a great weekend. Hope you have a great one wherever you are! :)

Happy Stitching,

Kellie

Happy Birthday Mom!

Just wanted to wish my sweet Mama a very happy birthday! :) She reads my blog from time to time. I have the sweetest mother in the world. So kind and so loving. She has always been and continues to be the best mom ever (yes, I know I am biased). While I don't post a lot of personal pictures here on my blog, I thought I would honor her in another way. I have shown you things that my dad has made for me. Tonight is Mom's turn. She has learned to quilt (self taught) in the last year or so and makes some gorgeous quilts. I have been lucky to be a recipient of one of her quilts as well as a tabletop ort bag. However, I don't use it for orts. I use the pincushion for needles occasionally and the bag part to hold my scissors (in the cute inside pocket) and my ring of threads for whichever project I am working on at the moment. This has been quite a useful little addition as it keeps me and the husband from fighting over the limited table space between our two recliners. LOL!

(Actually I guess Dad gets a little credit on this post after all...he made the quilt rack that it is hanging on in the foyer. :) The wall looks pink but it is more of a rose-ish brown and I don't know why my husband's foot is in the bottom corner. LOL!)

No stitching pictures to show today. I am on a little hiatus from Midnight Watch as I am waiting for threads (maybe tomorrow, I hope). I have been stitching on some random projects--Shores, Quakers and Quilts, My Lady's Quaker, etc. but not really enough progress on any one thing to show.

Jake's 8th birthday is this weekend. He is looking so forward to his party and counting down the days.

Right now the dog is begging to go outside and Jake is wanting me to look up his reading log online and help him with his math homework, so I guess that is it for this post.

Have a happy Friday!

Awesome giveaway

Here's an awesome giveaway...

http://pumpkinpatchprimitivequiltshoppe.blogspot.com/

27 very cute fat quarters that would be awesome for finishing needlework or making a quilt. :)

Enjoy!

New Trinkets

I have been diligently stitching on Midnight Watch. I love this project, but I am ready to finish it and move on to something else. I love the color of the fabric and I really think this design looks fabulous on it, but it is rough textured. I stitch in hand most of the time using the sewing method, and my finger is starting to get a sore spot from pushing the needle through the fabric. I have never found a thimble that I like, but a bandaid seems to do the trick. :)

I don't know if I am going to have this one finished by my self-imposed Halloween deadline or not. I kind of doubt it. I have run out of a couple of threads that I have ordered. I plan to stitch as much as I can with the threads that I have. This design is taking a lot more of threads of certain colors than I thought it would. But I didn't start out with full skeins of some threads.

I have a few new trinkets to show...

My dad made me this beautiful needle holder out of ebony. I know I am biased, but I think it is absolutely fabulous. My dad is a woodworker. His particular passion is wood turning. I think he does beautiful work. I love how this one stands on a table top. I immediately filled it with my favorite needles--Bohin #26. Love those!!

And speaking of Bohin, they also make scissors! I had no idea until I saw these on Anita's Little Stitches site...

Fabulous!! They snip threads perfectly and have a great feel. Two thumbs up for Anita's customer service and super fast shipping! :)

Hoping to stitch some tonight. I would love to get the house almost finished while watching all my Sunday night shows. :)

I am also listening to Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon. I have read all of the books before, but I am trying to re-read/listen to them again before delving into Echo in the Bone. It has been so long since I read the last one that I feel compelled to read again and remember the details. This is one of my absolute favorite series ever... I also recently downloaded Audrey Niffenegger's new one "Her Fearful Symmetry." I loved Time Traveler's Wife, so I am hoping that this one will be a big hit with me as well. It will be awhile before I get to it though.

Hope you are have had a great weekend!

Kellie