Finishes and WIP!!!

I am so pleased to announce that I have two finishes for my Crazy January Challenge!! First up is Simple Joys by LHN, stitched on 28 ct antique white evenweave with the called for CC and WDW threads.

This was a fun one to stitch but I did run out of Bean Sprout and had to purchase another skein which made matching dye lots difficult but I think it turned out ok.

Next up is Bluebird by BBD stitched on the called for Cafe Kona by R&R Reproductions and GA Uniform Blue thread. An easy and quick stitch.

That makes finishes number 3 and 4 of my challenge pieces!! I am so far behind but that's ok...I am enjoying working on these pieces and that's really all that counts!

Here is the my progress on Challenge piece # 5, My Ways by La-D-Da

and #6, The Totin' Hare by La-D-Da

I hope to be able to finish both of these by the middle of August. They are both easy stitches! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can make this happen!

This week is Vacation Bible School at church and I will be the Storyteller each day! It promises to be a fun and busy week with all the children of the church! Our theme this year is on cooking, it's called Shake It Up Cafe. Tomorrow the kids will make unleavened bread as part of their storytime and during the science lab time they will make butter. Should be so fun for them and of course they get to eat the bread and butter they make for snack time!

Hope you have enjoyed your weekend and for those in this heat wave, kept cool!!

Blessings and Happy Stitching!!

Well, I didn't keep my word now, did I?

I have been a very bad blogger of late. Three weeks between posts and I have no real excuse except that I am a procrastinator (hangs head in shame). I promised you more timely posts in my last post and well, it did not happen. Please forgive me I will try to do better...

When last we met I was heading off for a long family weekend. We drove a couple of hours west to Massenutten Resort where we have a timeshare. The men golfed and we women, well we had two babies with us that kept us in line! Let's just say that a lot of time was spent feeding, holding, playing with and changing those little darlings!

It is amazing how two such small people can control a room full of adults and keep us hopping!

We did pay a visit to the Green Valley Book Fair while on route to our weekend destination. A great place to stop and peruse thousands of discounted books! It is out in the middle of the country on a farm, a huge two story warehouse just brimming with books of every kind...luckily I am trying to downsize my book collection so I was very good while there and only bought one book, a slow cooker cookbook that has some very nice recipes and it only cost $3.00 so my hubby was pleased! The new parents bought lots of children's books at great prices!

On Sunday afternoon we watched the Women's World Cup Soccer match up between the US and Brazil. What a tense game it was and when the US scored to tie things up we all let out a yell which scared the bejebbers out of one of the babies. From then on we remembered to use our inside voices! lol Told you those babies were in controll of the adults!!

There was a mama deer hanging out around our condo with her 3 babies! Don't know if she birthed all three or if she adopted an orphan but they were all with her!

The deer are so friendly on the mountain that they just seem to ignore us humans. They are so pretty but this mama doe was very skinny.

Well the weekend came to a too fast end and it was time for us all to leave. Here is a picture of my family before we left.

If you are wondering why we are all making a 'V' sign, it was in tribute to my youngest daughter....she always made this sign for pictures...it was just one of her quirks...it was our way of including her in the family vacation picture.

We had a great weekend just being together with good conversation, lots of food and just catching up with each others lives.


Until next time, Blessings to You and Happy Stitching!

A Stitchy Post!!

I know it has been ages since I posted any stitching updates. Sorry I am so bad about getting out the camera and taking those pictures, but I promise to be better about it in the future. Sorry also about the quality of the pictures I am posting today, the sun is not cooperating with me.

I have been stitching quite a bit but I have also been a very lucky stitcher!! I won two giveaways in the last weeks and now that my prizes have arrived, I thought I would share!

My first win was from Belinda of Blue Ribbon Designs! Belinda has a new facebook page which I joined last month. She had a giveaway of a chart of your choosing, you just had to "Like" her page and comment about the chart you would wish to receive. She chose 3 winners and I was one of the lucky three! I chose Liberty Stitchery as my chart! I had been wanting it since it was released!

Belinda even autographed the chart for me! Wasn't that so nice of her!! I have gotten it all kitted up with DMC threads and the suggested 40 ct. Fawn linen and have managed to put in a few stitches. This is my first time working on 40 ct. I love only having to use one strand of floss but it is slow going on such a small count linen. I think I will adapt to it though with more stitching as long as I have very good lighting. Thank you Belinda for sending me this beautiful chart!!

Next I won Terri's Blogversary Giveaway at Dixie Samplar Designs! My Package arrived today and I am totally blown away by Terri's generosity!! Just look at all my goodies!!

Can you believe all the things she sent?! The little bunny scissor fob and pin pillow are so beautifully stitched and so cute! I just love bunnies!

I love all of the charts she sent and am overwhelmed by the number of them! And I don't have a single one of them already in my stash!

There was 32 ct., 36 ct., and 40 ct. linen included, along with overdyed threads, needles, notecards, a floss keeper for me to stitch, gold beads, some ribbon and some chocolate for me to enjoy!

Thank you so much Terri for my winnings! I love everything!!

Now on to the stitching progress I have made! First up is a finish!!

As The Crow Flies by Prairie Schooler
stitched on 28 count lambswool linen with DMC threads

This was so much fun to stitch and I just love the colors, especially the red barns!

Next is one of my January Challenge pieces...

Simple Joys by LHN,
stitched on antique white evenweave using the suggested CC and WDW threads

This one is also fun to stitch! I do have to order more Bean Sprout thread, one 5 yd package was not enough. Wish the quantity needed had been posted with the design. This is the third of my Challenge pieces.

My next WIP is a start my first biscornu.

Frogscornu by Barbara Ana Designs
stitched on 32 count linen from my stash with DMC theads

Isn't that frog cute? I have been visited by the frogs so much lately that I just had to start this piece!

I want to send out thanks to all that have visited my blog and left comments. I love reading your comments and appreciate the time you take to make them! Also, welcome to my new followers!

My family and I are going to the mountains this weekend for a mini vacation together! It is going to be so much fun having my two new granddaughters together for their first getaway!! I can't wait!!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Blessings and Happy Stitching!!!

Life Giving Water ...

Anna's soccer coach and 3 of her friends and teammates at the dedication of the well in Gulu, Uganda. The soccer jersey was her goalie jersey from her college team.

"Celebrate we will 'cause life is short but sweet for certain"

It Was A Nice 4th of July....

I have had a nice quiet holiday weekend! Got some stitching done, some housework done and did a little celebrating. Today was the day for celebrating. My oldest son and his wife and new baby girl came over to the house late morning and we all went into town to the 4th of July celebration!

We saw Patrick Henry...

We saw Uncle Sam....

There was a pet parade, an apple pie contest and of course a band playing patriotic songs!

A nice day was had by all! And Grandpa held his little baby granddaughter throughout her 1st July 4th celebration!

Priceless!