December and finishes

Well it is halfway through December and i am finally posting. LOL I am so far behind on my posting that i don't know if i will remember everything i have finished recently.
First up are the two ornaments that I had stitched/finished for the Attic's annual Breast Cancer Silent Auction here in Arizona. This was the first year I was not sick and was able to attend. It was so amazing to see all of the beautiful pieces everyone submitted, etc. and to get caught up in the bidding as well. :)


I did bid on a few items and won 3 of them. I got a little pinkeep, a Russian doll ornament/scissor keep with Kelmscott gems scissors and a beautful Quaker Sampler finished and framed. I don't have a pic of the framed sampler yet, but will soon.




Finally, here is the piece that i had sent to Jen for our personal exchange. We chose to do a Blackbird Designs exchange. This design i stitched is from the Honeysuckle Manor book and the pin cushion is an alphabet i rec'd at the BBD retreat in July at the Silver Needle.

I also have my piece here that i rec'd from Sharlene from the LK exchange. She stitched Fall squared for me and it turned out gorgeous.

Also, here is my finished Fall exchange piece I stitched for the HOE Fall exchange for Lisette. It is by Twisted Threads and over 1 on gingham.
The following pictures are finishes that i stitched over the last couple years and have finally finished them into pillows. Simply Love (don't remember the designer) using a pretty paisley fabric, Believe by Sampler Girl and Dog Hair by My Big Toe designs

Happy Thanksgiving

Everyone have a wonderful Thanksgiving! I have one little finish just in time for turkey day. It is Bok Bok by Plum Street Samplers and was a freebie on their site. i love how he turned out.

Happy Bok Bok Day!

BBD exchange from Jen

Jen (serialstarter blog) and I had a private exchange stitching a BBD design. I rec'd Jen's exchange piece last week and finally got the pic uploaded. It is absolutely stunning! Jen stitched a beachy themed piece for me that she got from one of BBD's retreats. It is just gorgeous! the pics just do not do it justice. Jen also framed it herself and used some gorgeous matching paper on the back along with a little note. Thanks again so much Jen!

I also have a few other exchanges rec'd but wanted to post this one tonight real quick.

And the Winner is................................

KAT of flopsykittenstitchin blog! Congrats Kat! I will be emailing you soon. And since there were so many that commented and i appreciate it so much, I drew another name as well. so the 2nd winner is....................

TERRI! congrats to you as well Terri! I will be emailing you as well soon!

Again, thank you all for visiting me and making this so much fun to blog and share our passion of stitching, family, friends, etc. :)

Pals retreat take 2

Ok, so there was the christmas ornament exchange on Friday night and the grab bag exchange as well. Here are the two ornaments that i brought:



And here are the two ornaments that i chose from the many ornaments there. The Noel ornament was stitched by Amy SC (from downsunshinelane) but i never figured out who the other was by. I asked around but noone fessed up. Hopefully you will see this post and let me know who stitched it??????

Also, the grab bag exchange is always a blast, lots of stealing going on. LOL I totally forgot to take a pic of the grab bag i brought, but Linda said she really really liked it. :) I rec'd my grab bag from none other than Diane from IN (Juan - LOL). It was packed full with tons of goodies. I did take a pic of it. ;) All of this was in two cute little autumn boxes but i had WAY too much stuff in my suitcase and even just that little bit of paper would have pushed my suitcase weight over the 50lbs it weighed in at. LOL whew!

On Saturday night it was the stitched piece exchange with a twist. A very fun game Stephanie found and we all seemed to have fun with it. You didn't necessarily end up with the piece you originally picked up, but in the end if you and someone else wanted to trade, that was fine. :) I rec'd and got to keep :-) a little black box with stitched pansies on top, on black over 1 by Char from OH. it is beautiful! I love to stitch over 1 but never on black, Char is a brave soul! Thanks again Char!


Faye and I are in an exchange together that I run along with Michele from WA. Faye stitched me a little BBD pincushion for a thank you for running the exchagne, etc. It is beautiful and will always be cherished dear Faye! And, I had a surprise for Faye as well. I had read on her blog a week before going to Myrtle Beach that one of her closest friends was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and Faye was starting up a "pink basket" of smalls in honor of her. So i decided to stitch up Eat pray love, a free chart from the Sampler Girl in Strawberry Shake by Carrie's Creations and on the back Michele helped me string the beads (without them flying all over the place :) ) into a pink beaded ribbon and i stitched mine and Faye's names on it as well.



Well, that is about all for tonight.

3 year Blogoversary

Well, I missed my 3 year blogoversary the other day, and wanted to have a giveaway for it. So, if you just post a comment to this post I will draw a name on Nov. 15th and the winner will win something from me. It will be a little "goodie bag" with a little something stitched and whatever else i feel like adding. So if you are up for a surprise, comment here!

PALS retreat in Myrtle Beach!

I am home (for a few days now) from the PALS retreat in Myrtle Beach SC. What a blast it was! We had such a great time stitching, laughing, exchanging, laughing, a little more stitching and ALOT more laughing! :) Meeting up with old and new friends is just a wonderful time!
Michele and I were roomies again and can say we make great roomies! We had an adjoining room with Chris from NC and Michelle from KS and what a blast it was. A wonderful view from our rooms and the conference center we were all in for stitching and fun.
Michele and I decided to do a "little something" for some old & new friends. I made some pincushions and pins and Michele made the scissor fobs and we bagged them up all "beachy". Everyone really enjoyed them and it was fun to see them using them throughout the week. :)
On Thursday night it was the Halloween and Fall exchange and I participated in both. For the Autumn exchange I stitched the freebie Autumn from The Stitcherhood and made it into a pillow. For the Halloween exchange I stitched up a Homespun Elegance design into an ornament and also stitched Hallow's Eve (but can't remember the designer off teh top of my head right now). I rec'd in the exchanges, for autumn a beautiful flatfold finish by Tracy FL in a Brittercup kittie fall finish. I love it! and the Halloween exchange I rec'd the "pumpkin face" by casey bourgainu(sp) stitched by Michele and an un-published design by Cherished Stitches (louise henderson) in an ornament. Louise said this design should be ready by next fall in case you go looking for it. :) Diane got my Autumn pillow, here we are:

Here is the brittercup flatfold i got from Tracey for the Autumn exchange

The ornament i picked for the Halloween exchange, from Michele

and the ornament from Louise of Cherished Stitches

And here are the two i brought for the Halloween exchange
And here is my Homespun Elegance ornament

By the end of the week, we had laughed so hard and made so many great friends, Diane A. (aka Juan Cornholio Frijoles) for one. we laughed, snorted, laughed until we cried and our sides hurt, etc. This was Diane's first retreat with PALS and she fit right in from the moment she got there.
In this picture: back row: me, Michelle from KS, Toni, front row, Michele from WA, Chris and Diane laying across them. :)

One night Michele, Sharon, Chris, Jim, little Josh and I went to dinner on the pier and walked along the pier afterwards. Jim and Josh were both bent down watching the waves and it was just too cute of a pic to pass up.

Stitching portfolios

Hi! another quick post from me. Recently i purchased a couple different sized "stitching portfolios" from Joan (mama joan in my sidebar) and wanted to share pics of them with you. I believe Joan still has some left for sale along with some of her gorgeous mesh bags too. They are beautifully finished and i just love mine. go take a look at her blog.

Still summer here in AZ

Well, this heat is just not going away here in Arizona. They are saying this week (again) that it is going to start cooling down to the 90's, hopefully they are right this time. :)
I haven't been good about posting lately either. hanging head in shame....................... so there will be a few pics here from awhile ago this past month.
I rec'd my autumn exchange from Faye from the Friends Stitching through The Seasons exchange. Faye stitched a beautiful stocking from BBD and one of her famous pincushions along with her pins as well. She also included some wonderful yummy fabric. Thanks again Faye!!!

My exchange partner that i send to is Jill. I stitched SB Scatter Pumpkins and made it into a flatfold. i changed up the way i make the flat folds normally and attached the stitched piece to another piece with the backing fabric, etc. I really like how it turned out, and I believe Jill does as well. This is the first flat fold that Jill has. :)

I was asked by Patti if i could make a needlebook that she had seen on another blog. So i took a look at the picture and went ahead and made one with one of my finished pieces (that needed "finishing") for an example and really like how it turned out.
****Edited to give the blog post that Patti found this gorgeous needlebook done on that i used as a tutorial for mine, needlebook.


front:

inside

back

Halloween Giveaway all month

If you haven't found Annette and Missy's 31 Days of Halloween Giveaway, go check it out. click on the picture in my sidebar for the link.

Happy Haunting!

It's been a month since i last posted??

ok, so where did all the time go? I meant to post and just never did. LOL I have a few finishes for exchanges that have been rec'd.
I stitched "eek" by LK for Angela in the Lizzie Kate Exchange.It was a fun stitch, stitched it over 1 on 32ct tobacco linen, using the called for threads. I finished it into a pinkeep and attached braided "fun fur" around the edges.

Here is the pillow i received from Lisa in the LK exchange. it is just too cute. She looked at my blog and saw the pups and new i was a dog lover and made this really cute pillow. Thanks again Lisa, i love it!!

For the blackbird exchange i stitched "a stitchers companion" from the Honeysuckle Manor book for Jennifer. I used a teal thread by Victoria Motto and finished it as noted in the book. I found the wood pieces at HL and painted and waxed it. I can see more of these finishes in the future.

In the Blackbird exchange i rec'd a very pretty pillow from Laura. i really like the light pastel colors. Thanks Laura!!!

Searching on ebay and found and won a cross shaped (or x, whichever way you lay it down) floral frog. It won't hold normal embroidery scissors but the little kelmscott gems fit ok in it. it does have some chips on it but that's ok, means it has had some life. :)

While in Tulsa, Michele helped me with a helpful hint on sewing closed my pillows. Since i am really new to sewing i was just closing the pillow up on the outside and it was kind of distorted, well Michele showed me the blind stitch and love it! Here are the 2 pillows i finished while there.

Last of Retreat and Oklahoma City

Just a couple more pics from the retreat. I forgot to share my "bathroom" purchases from the Silver Needle. I got two snowman pieces, one pillow and one "box", my mantle is always decorated with snowman for the winter to try to cool it down and pretend there is snow here in AZ. :)


On Sunday, Michele, Chris & I took a drive to Ok City. We had 3 places to see, the ASA Softball hall of fame for me. I have always been a softball player, not that great but still and my daughter Caitie has been a softball player basically since she could hold a bat. Caitie really wants to go to the College World Series one of these years and I am hoping that the two of us can get there maybe next year or the year after for a couple games. So we took a couple pics just for her. :)
This is the main field that the college world series is played on and the USA softball team plays on.
Then of course a fun picture just for Caitie. :) I had a nice one with a smile as well, but had to give her a neener neener pic.

We then proceeded to the Banjo Hall of Fame for Chris. Chris plays banjo and is in a Dixieland band and a gentleman that she plays with was just inducted into the banjo hall of fame a couple months back. So we strolled around in there. All i can say is WOW! i never imagined the handiwork put into these banjos. They were just amazing to look at. Then we found his poster on the wall and got Chris's pics with it.


Then we all strolled over to the Oklahoma City Memorial. As Michele put it, it was a sobering and humbling experience, no other words. I will only post one pic of it and it is a statue from across the street. The memorial site is across the street behind the wall there. It is a wonderful memorial to those it affected, etc. And on the marble it said "and Jesus wept".