gingerbread cottage

This little cottage by Country Cottage Needleworks is all that managed to get stitched in November and December...
but it was a fun stitch!




I wasn't happy with the faces on the gingerbread men, so I left them off....



My plan is to have this made into a pillow...I'm picturing pink pom-pom trim and peppermint striped backing fabric :-)



Would anyone like to have the pattern for this? Since I'm done stitching it, I'd be happy to pass it along. Just leave a comment on this post and I'll pick a name next Sunday, Jan 4th....

Did you all have a nice holiday? Around here, we are gearing up for the new year....

feelin' stitchy

After a week and a half of being miserable with a cold bug, I can tell things are starting to get better...I can take a breath now without a cough attached to the end of it. AND! I'm feeling all "stitchy"! Besides working on my "for hire" piece, there are a few other things in the works...several in fact, I'm bee-bop and scattin' all over the place! What FUN!

Since this is the only thing with much progress on it, it's all I took a picture of..



You know, I'd sworn I wasn't going to cave into this one, but geesh, it's too perfect for me, don't you think?



The buttons haven't been sewn on yet, they'll go on last...

Meanwhile, other goings on include this:



which is quite the handful, as you can imagine.
He's already wrapped himself snugly around our hearts though :)

not french

The lighting was so awful on that last picture of my "Union Forever" finish. So I took one with a flash just to see if the real color of the linen would show, and it did....



I liked it because it was/is very golden.

Ever notice how those French gals take the best pictures of their stitching? How do they do that?

Anyhoo...so I finish up other things too, instead of working on that verse.

Like this one...



It's Cherry Hill by Country Cottage Needleworks.



Stitched on 29 count cream Glenshee with recommended threads.
(pictures taken by non-French gal, lol)



A fun stitch. Not at all pesky!

daisy sampler

All of my life daisies have been one of my favorite flowers.

Here is my Daisy Sampler, pictured here with it's fabric and pom-pom trim that will all come together as a pillow soon.



This little design by Country Cottage Needleworks was a lot of fun to stitch. I used 30 ct. Hog Wild Blue linen by R&R and only changed one of the colors, the daisies were supposed to be DMC white, but instead I used GA Oatmeal.



While I was sorting through some fabric for a quilt I'm making, one of the sqaures (from the charm pack), was this blue daisy fabric. I thought it was perfect for this piece. And I knew I wanted a pom-poms for the trim and found the perfect cream (not white) trim at Hancocks in the home decorating department where the trims, tassels, etc. are. They only had the white in the sewing trims area.



It's going to look perfect on top of my quilt, which is all from the Peas & Carrots line by Moda American Jane, such fun colors...can hardly wait to show you!

framing, part two

Here's my Ladybugs and Bumblebees all framed up:



If you scroll down and look at my previous post, you can see a framed model of this near my stitching at the LNS. It's not mine though, mine made it home with me. Anyway, the point is, I saw it framed there and the frame was so perfect and I loved it so much that it's what made me run home and stitch mine up so I could take it in while the model was still there so we'd know which frame it was. My picture doesn't even capture the true color of the frame that well, it's a very dusty light pink, very vintage looking. It's drop dead gorgeous in person.

Speaking of dropping dead. The frame on this cost about what a weeks worth of groceries would for my family, so thankfully we were already pretty well stocked up so none of us keel over from starvation. Hey, at least my walls look real purty, lol!

And here's this one, which for some reason, I could not get a good shot of without cutting off the top part of the frame...maybe it's because i had it propped in a bush and the wind was blowing pretty good and I was just *get the shot as fast as possible before it falls out of the bush and cracks the frame*

It's No Bees, No Honey, by BOAF:



So there you have it. All of my recent frame jobs! I was actually in a funk when I got home with these the other day because that visit was pretty costly! I am trying to take in stuff that's been in my stash for a while (notice the date on the No Bees No Honey...and there's some in there older than that), along with newer finishes, so most trips I am picking things up and dropping off others and so it sure does add up! Left my Quaker Garden there this time, found a pretty reasonably priced molding for it though. Wish framing things wasn't so dang expensive. Guess it's my upbringing, but I just feel downright guilty for spending the money, even though we can afford it and all. Of course I realize that I could just frame some of this stuff myself, which I've done before but it just frustrates me so much that the feelings of guilt are almost worth it, to not have to mess with it at all. The owner of the first shop I worked at was an absolute perfectionist when it came to framing, and she's the one that taught me how to do it. She always pinned and didn't lace. It's not that hard but she always got the lines on the linen to match up with the frame perfectly straight and that's the part that's the hardest for me. And if it's not straight, I can't stand it.

Oh well. Sorry for the ramble. Guess I need to just chill out about it all, sit back and enjoy the results of all those hours I've spent stitching and just NOT worry about it! Life is just too short, don't you think?

framed, part 1

Today my friend Patti and I went to the needlework store to pick up two things I'd taken in to be framed. While there, I asked the owner if I could please take a couple of pics of my other framed things, the ones they wanted to keep for a time as shop models. So here they are...

First, Their Song by BBD. I couldn't get as close to it as needed to get a good photo but here it is anyway (remember to click on image for close up view):



and I zoomed in on the Earth Angel by La D Da, in hopes to catch the frame, which I think is just perfect for it, the whole shot is pretty blurry, but you get the idea:



And here's a wider shot. You can see my Earth Angel hanging next to someones Glory Angel...see how much smaller mine is? That's because it was done on 40 ct. linen. I think Glory Angel must have been done on 28 ct.



When these babies come home with me in how many ever months it is, I will get better, close up shots to share.

This shop has soooooo many models all over the walls. Wish I could have photographed all of them but the owner didn't seem real "into" the whole thing so I didn't press it. The shop manager is really cool though, next time she's there, it's so happening!

Stay tuned for more pictures of framed things, coming over the weekend sometime. If you care about that sort of thing that is!

even when i'm bad, i'm good

LOL!

Went to my WW meeting today, fully expecting to have put back on a wee bit of weight or at least, to have not lost any at all. Because I wasn't so very "good" the past week...a trip (actually two) to Texas Roadhouse, the later visit involving a margarita and a cheese pepper ::::::gasp::::::

Imagine my surprise when I was down almost 2 pounds! Yeah me!!

Oh, and let me just say, the WW scales you can buy for home use are excellent!! I weighed myself right before getting in the car to go to the meeting, drove straight there, and weighed exactly the same on the scales there!

I was impressed! Our old scales sucked. And sucked hard. When I went to my first WW meeting, I was SIXTEEN pounds heavier than I thought I was, that's how "off" the crappy scales at home were. How depressing is that, to gain 16 pounds overnight?!

Are you bored out of your mind yet?

Well here then, some recent finishes I got back from the finisher  this week.

First, my Pray For Peace, by BOAF:



And this one is from Ewe & Eye & Friends, but I can't recall the name of the design. As you can see, I stitched it almost 4 years ago. It may be called Lady Liberty or something like that.



And here's my finished Ladybugs and Bumblebees, by Country Cottage Needleworks:



(my stitching is really not "wavy", I had to lay this on top of a bush outside, the ground was too wet, so it's the bush that's wavy, not the stitching)
What a fun stitch it was! And it's on it's way to the LNS with me tomorrow to be framed. They have a model of this there and the frame is to die for! While I'm there I'll be picking up three framed items, one of them the last Loose Feathers design, Their Song. Will try to get some decent pictures of them over the weekend and post maybe Sat. or Sun.

Aren't you just happy to see anything that isn't Peace related?

Oh my, almost forgot the Dazzle shot of the day: