Pages

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Two Finishes

After stitching two of them for holiday gifts, I finally finished the "Friendship" pattern for myself. I made the letters on mine purple instead of blue and now I can't wait to get it framed and hang it in the hallway.



I also finished this birth announcement for my cousin, who is currently living in Germany - Samsarah's "Sweet, Sweet Babe." A couple of changes - I changed "babe" to "baby" and stitched the date in the European style, otherwise, stitched with the called for GAST and WDW flosses on 28 ct. fabric. I'm debating whether or not to buy the button pack that goes with the design - I have until June to decide, when my cousin and the new baby are coming to the US for a visit.




Wednesday, February 01, 2012

Presents

I can finally show you the presents I made for my two best friends, since we were able to exchange gifts this past weekend - The Trilogy's Friendship:


There is the slightest difference between the two - the sunflowers on the right are different colors. I thought it was a little too dark in the first version, so I made it a bit brighter in the second version. I still have one more of these to finish for myself.

I also received these lovelies as a birthday gift:

They include Christmas Tea and My Pretties by Plum Street Samplers, French Country Snowglobe by JBW Designs, Tribal Crab by White Willow Stitching, The Hamster Did It by Stitchy Kitty and Blackbird Sampler by Blackbird Designs.

Friday, January 06, 2012

2011 Finishes

Looking back, I finished more projects than I thought in 2011. Shortly after the New Year, since I didn't get them done in time for Christmas 2010, I finished these two Mill Hill beaded ornaments. I ended up using one of them as a hostess gift for a cookie exchange I went to in December.



In February, I also finished the second Octopus's Garden for my other sister's birthday, which was in December. I finally framed both of them in time to give them to my sisters on Easter. (UGH!)


A quick little finish from an old Fulmer Craft pattern -  Great Smoky Mountains from the National Park Needlework Collector Patches series. I have a square green frame for finishing.


Bent Creek's cROWS. I left out the words "a fine day" and replaced them with another star. Also, I didn't like the Dark Chocolate that came with the kit to stitch the birds (too brown), so I replaced it with some WDW Charcoal I had instead.


Mill Hill's Pink Sneaker kit. I replaced the heart charm with a pink ribbon and finished it as a pin to give this to my friend who was walking in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure race in DC back in the fall. I also stitched three of these in green with a green ribbon charm for my sisters and me to wear for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Light the Night Walk back in October (I never finished them as pins since we didn't participate in the walk after my grandmother passed away the same weekend). I hope to finish enough for our entire team for the 2012 walk.



Plum Pudding's Spellbinding Witch Hat. Stitched on a very old piece of 14-ct. black Aida that I could finally get rid of. I changed the ecru squares at the bottom to purple to match some of my other Halloween decorations. I saw this finished in a display at Salty Yarns back in October and it was adorable. I definitely need to finish it before Halloween.


Ireland Nutcracker - a birthday gift for my sister that I stitched in December from an Imaginating/Sandra Collozini leaflet. Stitched on brown perforated paper with the called for DMC. Finished as an ornament with a piece of stiff green felt.


It was a last-minute decision to stitch these "Sled Heads" as Christmas gifts for my aunts. I had seen the designs from Dixie Darlin' awhile back and loved them. I think the reason I liked them so much was that I had a bagful of these sleds leftover from my wedding (13 years ago) and knew I could use them to finish these designs. I hope to make some for myself using the Mrs. Claus and Rudolph designs that came with the Santa design.


Finally, I stitched two of The Trilogy's "Friendship" for my two best friends as holiday gifts. I haven't exchanged gifts with them yet, so I'll wait to post those later once the gifts have been received.

Sunday, January 01, 2012

2011 Reading List

Just under the wire, I finished book #25 last week when our books were due back at the library on the 27th, so I reached my goal of reading at least 25 books in 2011. My favorite was "The Last Child" by John Hart. I read it while we were on vacation and it made me cry while I was sitting by the pool with a crowd of people on a 100 degree day. Good thing I was wearing sunglasses! I also discovered author Julia Glass. I read her book "Three Junes" first and couldn't get my hands on her other books fast enough. I hope she has a new novel coming out in 2012.
  1. The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian
  2. Disordered Minds by Minette Walters
  3. It’s All Too Much by Peter Walsh
  4. Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner
  5. Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner
  6. Three Junes by Julia Glass
  7. The Whole World Over by Julia Glass
  8. Arcadia Falls by Carol Goodman
  9. I See You Everywhere by Julia Glass
  10. I’d Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman
  11. The Drowning Tree by Carol Goodman
  12. Unfinished Desires by Gail Godwin
  13. When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson
  14. One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson
  15. The Uses of Enchantment by Heidi Julavits
  16. Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen
  17. Bent Road by Lori Roy
  18. Christmas Mourning by Margaret Maron
  19. Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe
  20. The Last Child by John Hart
  21. Promise Not to Tell by Jennifer McMahon
  22. The Chameleon’s Shadow by Minette Walters
  23. The Widower’s Tale by Julia Glass
  24. The Ballad of Tom Dooley by Sharyn McCrumb
  25. Summer in the South by Cathy Holton