Mid Week Update

Grandkids........

My daughter finally sent me some more pictures of the new baby. This is Maddie with Gibby, my youngest grandson. He calls her his buddy and is very very protective of her. As you can see he is one happy big brother.

Maddie (2 weeks old) and Gibby (6 years old)

New Project......

"grow!" Tin and Pin Cushion by Just Nan

The next tin in this years series has been released and arrived here yesterday. I had cleaned up my stitching area a little since I knew this was on it's way and of course had to start it as soon as I got the box opened. Got it all kitted up and started stitching on it but not enough progress for a picture yet. The design is stitched on 28 count Platinum Cashel Linen (I just love Cashel) with DMC and a few beads here and there. The Pin Cushion is a new type of finish for me and I'm really looking forward to trying it.

Finishes.....

"Home, Tweet Home" Free design from The Needles Notions

Stitched on 28 count Lt Mocha Cashel with DMC 4210 and GAST

This is the second project for the May seasonal shelf. As you may have guessed the theme for May is Birdhouses. I have a needleroll I stitched last year with birdhouses that will go on the shelf along with some other cute things I've been working on. No more info about that now, want it to be a surprise.

"Cupcakes, Glorious Cupcakes" by The Cat's Whiskers

"I Love to Stitch" and "All Dressed Up"

On our last visit to Michael's I found the Bear cupcake holders and just couldn't wait to do these two designs. Not sure what I'm going to do with these but they will probably be going to someone as gifts or RAK's. Since they are so quick to stitch and make such a cute finish I know there will be lots more to come. Sorry about the quality of the picture but my camera just doesn't take good pictures of the little stitchy things.

That's it so far this week. I will be stitching on the Just Nan project until it's done since I have 2 of these sets to make.

Until Next Time....Happy Stitching

End of Week and Weekend Update

Since my last post I've been very busy. With the beautiful warm (almost HOT) weather it was hard to stay in and just stitch. I think Tracy has Spring Fever too since he was the one who wanted to venture out but more about that later. First my two finishes for the week.

Finishes....

"BOO Club" Double Flip by Lizzie Kate

The first of the Double Flips is now done (except for the buttons). This is really a fun one and much easier to stitch on the 32 count linen than the Christmas one on the opalescent fabric. I don't think I will frame this one but make it into a wall hanging if I can find the perfect fabric to back it.

"May Stamp" by Lizzie Kate

Guess you could call this week "Lizzie Kate Week" LOL. I just love this months stamp and have some really fun projects almost ready for the May Seasonal Shelf. Only one more stamp to do for June and I'll have them all finished.

Spring Fever.....

With the temps in the low to mid 90's it was almost more like Summer than Spring but still pleasant enough to be out and about. On Thursday afternoon Tracy got restless and wanted to know if I needed to go anywhere. I was not sure since I knew we were going out the next day for his doctor's appointment so I said I really didn't need to go anywhere. He then suggested we go ahead and go to Michael's to get the stiff I needed for the Seasonal Shelf and then have a early dinner. Who could refuse that, not me. I think we must have spent a hour and a half in Michael's with him wanting to go up and down all the aisles (what a shopper he is). We found some really neat stuff and had a really fun time.

Friday we had to be up early for his check up appointment. It was a little cooler but still a beautiful day. Being that we live in a small apartment with no yard we both miss planting and have flowers so we settle for looking at all the lovely landscaping at the resorts on the strip. Since the spring flowers are now in full bloom off to the strip we went. After a wonderful lunch at Outback we started walking to to Belliago and taking pictures along the way. You can see them in my webshots album (link in sidebar). The pictures below are a few from the conservatory at the Belliago. It was not as pretty as some of the displays but still nice. It was divided up into different types of gardens, French, Japanese, English and Italian with the Butterfly habitat in a potting shed.

Entrance to Conservatory.

This is the French garden and water is flowing on the outside of the ball

This is the butterfly habitat. It is a glass potting shed and is full of butterflies.

I just love these critters. The snail's shell is all done with rose buds.

Now that Tracy's days off are over I can again rest and sit and stitch. I have started my second stitched piece for the seasonal shelf and hope to have it finished tomorrow so I can get back to "Tea and Stitches" and maybe even put some stitches in "Celtic Spring". I also have had my arm twisted to teach a online Hardanger class for my ILCS Yahoo group so will start looking into charts and instructions for that. I haven't done much Hardanger in the past few years so need to brush up on it.

Until Next Time....Have a good week with lots of good stitching time.

Monopoly Monday SAL and new WIP

Monopoly Monday

I didn't get as much done on the board this week as I would have liked to. Still working on page 3 and have the first 3 properties done. Should be able to finish this page and start on page 4 next week. I have decided to wait to do the dreaded chests until the end and do all four of them at one time.

Page 3 Properties

NEW WIP....

"BOO Club Double Flip" Spooky by Lizzie Kate

I started the border on this earlier in the week and decided Sunday to get it started. I'm going to do this one all as one piece like I did the Christmas one but will probably finish it as a wall hanging.

Now I'm going to finish Step 3 of Meari's Mail Art Class. Will admit I did start on this a little ahead of time (Don't read that Meari). Because I don't really trust the mail here and I want to keep this first one I addressed it to myself and will keep it. This class is really fun and I'm sure I will get brave enough to actually make another one and mail it.

Hope you are having a great week. The weather has turned from Spring to the beginning of Summer here with the temps in the low 90's. I'm really not ready for Summer but Mother Nature will march on with the seasons. Tracy has another doctors check up on Friday so we will probably have another Date Night. Not sure where we will go but you can bet it will include some stash shopping since I need to replenish my basic fabric supplies.

Until Next Time....Happy Stitching

The Joy of being Granny

Manda and Maddie got home from the hospital on Wednesday just after noon and they both had a good nap. It is so hard to sleep in the hospital and they both were very tired. This is the first of many pictures I'll be boring you with I'm sure. Manda says she is a very good baby and only cries when she wants to eat. Much different from her brothers.

Maddie 4 day old.

I finished her "Hello Kitty" pillow and was really finally happy with the outcome. The first picture is a scan of the finished stitching and the second is the pillow I made with it (Sorry about the quality of the second picture but you can get the idea of what I did).

Manda also like Pooh (and so do I) so while looking for my book of Pooh stitching I found 3 more Hello Kitty charts that I found several years ago. I don't even remember where I found them, all I remember is they were free and I thought maybe someday I would have a GD so I printed them. I see lots more Granny stitching coming up real quick.

Today I doing some what I call "Brain Dead" stitching LOL. Doing the border on the Lizzie Kate BOO Club Double Flip. Only 3 colors and since it just repeats, no constant checking of the chart. I may even start the first design tonight while watching the NASCAR race.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend with lots of good weather and stitching time.

Until Next Time....Happy Stitching

Monopoly Monday SAL and a little more

THANK YOU!

I really want to thank each and everyone for their comments on our new Grand Baby Madalyn. She and my DD Amanda are both doing great and will go home from the hospital today (which will make Gibby very happy). I am going shopping later today for things she needs that she didn't get at her shower.....watch out WalMart's Baby Dept, Granny is on the hunt for baby things.

Monopoly Update....

My Monopoly Monday turned into part of Tuesday too. I finished stitching all the outlines of the blocks on page 3 and decided to finish the side by doing the ones on page 4 also. Next week I'll start filling in the properties and think I will finally attempt the dreaded Community Chest also. A couple of more weeks and I may be half done with the board.

Monopoly Board - Pages 1, 2, 3 and part of 4

New Project....

My daughter wanted to use "Hello Kitty" for Maddie so I thought it would make a fun stitch on a blanket. I was sooooo wrong. The design is too small and the blanket is just crap (excuse the language) to stitch on. So I will frog the stitches I've already done and do something else with the blanket. Still wanting to stitch the "Hello Kitty" baby I decided to do it on a white opalescent fabric (I just love the look of the opalescents) and am much happier with how it is coming out.

This is the outline and now I'll start filling her in. Manda doesn't like pink so I have decided to do it in lavender. I'm going to add Maddie's name and birthdate and then make it into a little pillow she can hang on the crib.

I was so frustrated that I also had to start another project. LOL Not much to show yet but the border on Lizzie Kate's BOO Club Double Flip is started. I think this one will be as much fun as the Christmas one so looking forward to spending time on it between the SAL's and "Tea".

That's what I'm up to.....how about you?

Until Next Time......Happy Stitching

Indroducing Madalyn Rose

This is the newest addition to our family. Madalyn Rose came into the world at 12:45 pm on April 13th. She is a 7 lbs 8 oz and 20 inches long. This is her debut picture.

My daughter was still really tired when I talked to her last night but she and Madalyn are both doing fine. My Grandsons got to meet their sister yesterday but she slept all the time they were there. Gibby (the youngest) was upset that he couldn't take his sister home with him.

I'm sure I'll have more pictures to share (or bore you with) later today. I also want to Thank everyone for their congratulation messages and well wishes while I was waiting to hear about the birth.

Until Next Time....Happy Stitching

Sitting on Pins and Needles

I'm sitting here waiting to hear from my Daughter about the new granddaughter. She went into the hospital early this morning to have labor induced. I'm sure everything is going OK since I haven't heard from her yet. Of course being a Mom 1500 miles away I'll be a nervous wreak until I know both Mom and Baby are fine.

Update on "Tea"....


The garden is planted and the table is built. Have some backstitching and French knot flowers in the tree to do and then the tea pot and cup to stitch over 1 before going on to the border. I'm really looking forward to the speciality stitching and Hardanger.

I did start on a couple of other things but not enough progress to show yet. One of the new projects is a blanket for the new baby (about time I started stitching for her) and I have some Onesies to stitch also.

Since it's Monday Monopoly SAL day I'm going to see how much progress I can make on Page 3. Since it's a easy stitch I should be able to concentrate and get a lot done. I'll just do the easy parts while waiting for that phone call.

Until Next Time.....Happy Stitching and Have a great week

Ornaments for April

The Swans are swimming and the Maids are Milking and I'm done with two more of "On The Twelfth Day..." ornaments. Still on track to get these finished in June or maybe even before.

I'm back on "Tea" now and hope to have all of Sarah's garden planted and her table done this weekend. Not sure how much stitching I'll get to do tonight since DH Tracy want to dye Easter Eggs. I think he'll still be doing eggs when he is 90 years old.

Until Next Time....Happy Easter hope you have a good stitching weekend

Needle Roll Finish

Don't you just love it when a plan works out! I wanted to get most of the stitching done on the "Stitcher's" Roll Tuesday and I did better than that....I finished it to my surprise. I love the Shepherds Bush kits, they contain only quality supplies and most of them are done on Linen which I love. They also use DMC floss and almost always have enough to do the project a second time.

The first picture is of the stitching.....


And this is the finished project. I added a Gold needle to go with the Gold Scissor charm.

My Needle Roll basket is getting really full and I think I'm going to have to either put some away or get another basket. Since I really enjoy looking at them I think another basket is what I'll have to do.

I have now started on Day 7 of the 12 Days by the Cats Whiskers and it will probably take a couple of days to finish this one. Will get back to "Tea" after the ornaments are done so Sarah can invite her friends over for a afternoon of stitching.

Until Next Time....Happy Stitching

Monopoly Monday Update

Monday is over and the Monopoly Board is put away for another week. I did manage to get a little done on Page 3. I'm looking forward to doing the Electric Company and another Railroad but not Community Chest LOL.

Monopoly Board Pages 1, 2 and part of 3

Going to work on the Shepherd's Bush "Stitcher's Roll" today and should be close to a finish on it. Wednesday Tracy has a doctors appointment in the afternoon so will probably take the 12 Days ornaments and start on Day 7.

Not much else to report from here so....

Until Next Time.....Happy Stitching

Weekend Stitching

Made some good progress on "Tea and Stitches". Now Sarah has a house and a village. She will have to wait to invite Abagail over for tea until I get her garden and table done. There is still some backstitching to be done on the little buildings and the branches for the tree but that will have to wait for a couple of days while I work on a couple other WIP's.




In between stitching the buildings I took a little break and finished this Easter dragon I stitched last year and just put away. Nancy M has talked about the finishing forms that can be used for ornaments and I decided to order one and try it. They really are easy to use and I think make for a very nice finish. I will be ordering more of them that's for sure.

"Easter Dragon" 2008 Free design by Dragon Dreams

stitched on Opalescent fabric with DMC

I also stitched up and finished another cupcake but since it too will be used for a B-day gift I can't share that yet. I can tell you that I did this one on a light tan fabric so it looks like it has milk chocolate frosting (another brain storm that came out as imagined).

Going to put some more x's and bs on "Stitcher's Roll" before it's time to work on Monopoly again tomorrow.

Until Next Time....Thank you for all the inspiring comments and have a Great Stitching week.

End of Week

Since my last Blog entry all I have worked on is "Tea and Stitches". It has been a very long time since I have done any Hardanger and took me a while to get the outside border Kloster blocks done and lined up. The frogs came out for a short visit but I chased them back into the bathroom and finally everything came out right. I then started on the little lady working on her stitching. If I ever win that BIG jackpot I will replace all my DMC with silk. I love working with the silk. So without anymore rambling here is my progress......

I'm going to be working on the houses in the background the rest of the weekend and see if I can at least get all the background done before moving on to another WIP next week.

Until Next Time....Happy Stitching and have a great Weekend

No April Fools Here

After a VERY bad night last night today turn into one of the best days of the year for me. A little after 9 last night I was trying to read email and look at Blogs and everything was just a little out of focus. Then I could make out half of the screen, then I knew what was coming. Yep a Migraine headache. I use to suffer with these all the time but since Menopause they have almost disappeared completely so of course I have no meds for them. The only cure I have now is to get into bed, turn on the fan (the sound sooths me for some reason) and try to sleep. Thankfully this worked and I didn't have to go to the ER for a shot of something. When I got up this morning there was still a little nagging pain but the vision had cleared up and it was nothing I couldn't deal with. Then cam the mail and talk about a cure. I received 3 packages...2 were orders that I had placed and the third was the best....

This is what I received from Kelly in our ILCS "Color the World" Exchange. Kelly knows me way to well and she sent me way too much but I LOVE it all. Her twins even helped her pick things for me. You really need to click on the picture to see a close up of everything. A few hi-lights are the Pen...it has a purple frog on it and it croaks and lights up (the twins picked that), a skein of the new DMC scented floss (can't wait to try that and see if it really does smell good), a great selection of Dragon Floss (if you have never used it you need to try it. It feels almost like silk). There is a story behind the Black Bag. Kelly and I were chatting and I told her I had seen a lady on the strip with a purse/bag that was a small backpack and I really wanted one for when Tracy and I go out but couldn't find one anywhere. She found one for me and put all the exchange goodies in it. Did I say I really love everything!!! Oh and I must not forget that Colin said she couldn't send me a package without a Frog, so Thank You too Colin.

A Finish and April Seasonal Shelf....

"April Stamp" by Lizzie Kate

Stitched on 28ct Lt Mocha Cashel

with WDW, GAST, and DMC

As you can see the shelf has a Easter theme and even a froggie got into the act by putting on bunny ears and carrying a carrot made of Jelly Beans.

New WIP's....

"Stitchers Roll" by Shepherds Bush

stitched on 32 count Linen

with DMC

I started this last night (before the headache hit) and then worked on it until the mail came this morning. I'm almost half done with it and will probably finish it this weekend. It will have lots of beads and a really cut scissor charm. I just love the Shepherds Bush kits, there is always a generous piece of fabric and DMC thread with Mill Hill beads. Makes it very easy to do the designs again as all the supplies are easy to get.

My next WIP is one I have been dying to start every since I got the chart on my trip to the LNS with Mary.

The fabric is 28 count Confederate Grey Cashel and the threads are silk. I didn't put the DMC Perle Cotton in the picture but will use a lot of it for the Hardanger part of the design.

After all that excitement Tracy thought I needed another shopping trip. He worked last night so after he got some sleep off we went to have a quick dinner out and then to Michael's. I won't bore you with the details of the b-day gift shopping for the exchange but I must say Tracy has missed his calling. That man would make a excellent "Personal Shopper". I'm to the point I just tell him what I want or need and believe me I can walk right by it and he will find it and more.

Enough Rambling for tonight....I'm sure I've probably put you to sleep so....

Until Next Time....Happy Stitching