An Ornament Finish

Tonight I finished the finishing on a Christmas ornament I had stitched earlier in the month...

A Christmas Wish
The Cricket Collection
32 ct Natural Pearl Linen, DMC Floss

That's it for today... I spent most of the night working away on the Spring House and Garden Exchange while enjoying the Red Sox and the Bruins (at the same time again tonight - the Bruins survived another game and did not get eliminated tonight in the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs - nice!)

Yay - this is the start of a four day weekend, and our niece Nicole texted me today that she wants to come up for the weekend. Fun!

**Oh, does anyone know when Philippa Gregory's next novel, The Other Queen, will be due out? Her website says 2008, but I bet someone out there knows more?? I am anxious for this one - just love Mary Queen of Scots!!

Stitched on today: Spring House and Garden Exchange, and finished A Christmas Wish

Here's To Ewe Exchange from Paula

I received a really lovely Here's To Ewe Exchange from Paula today. I was really excited to receive it, as I have never been paired with Paula in an SBEBB exchange before. She stitched this beautiful ornament for me using Lamb's Egg by Shepherd's Bush. It is on 40 ct and is perfectly stitched and perfectly finished. She also sent a piece of a neat fabric to try out on a small, a spool of pretty ribbon and several variegated fibers - I love them! Her card is also adorable - the little lamb's eyes wiggle :-) Thanks so much Paula! Now, I really am starting to worry a little about the exchange I sent out for the group. I really thought it would have been received by now.
For my own stitching, tonight I plugged away some more on A Quaker Christmas. I finished the large star motif and some other bits...

Stitched on today: A Quaker Christmas

HoE Scissor Fob Exchange for Kate

I heard from Kate earlier today that she received the HoE Scissor Fob Exchange that I sent to her. I wasn't her partner, but chose to send her an exchange to thank her for her patience. Her original partner sent her an exchange and it was lost... for a while. Fortunately, it arrived back to the sender and now has been re-sent. I didn't want Kate to have to wait forever and sent her a little exchange to hold her over until the original arrives (which will be any day now!)...
Floral Freebie Fob
M Designs
Silkweaver 36 ct Forest Haven Edinburgh Linen, Crescent Colours Floss

And... the rest of the little goodies I thought she might enjoy... thanks again, Kate, for your patience!

I hope all of my US friends are feeling OK today... I did my duty and sent out 3 1/2 months' worth of my hard earned income to the federal government today... :-( We aren't eligible for those stimulus checks either :-( Ugh.

I am now off to work on my SBEBB Spring House and Garden Exchange... not many days left now before that needs to be mailed out!

Stitched on today: SBEBB Spring House and Garden Exchange

HoE Pinkeep Exchange from Veronica

I received a lovely HoE Pinkeep Exchange from Veronica today. She stitched me a super pretty pinkeep using Pretty in Pink by Brightneedle. As many know, I just adore Brightneedle! And, she totally spoiled me with a lovely piece of Silkweaver belfast linen, Prairie Birds by Prairie Schooler, Garden Roll by Shepherd' s Bush, some pretty cuts of fabric for finishing smalls, two skeins of Needle Necessities floss, and a large packet of sunflower seeds for the garden (Mike's favorites!). Wow, thank you Veronica. I adore it all and was blessed to have you as my partner :-)
As for my own stitching, I remembered tonight that I wanted to keep busy with Houses of Hawk Run Hollow - and I feel that I made good progress tonight. The house I am working on actually now looks like a house!

Stitched on today: Started SBEBB Spring House and Garden Exchange, and stitched on Houses of Hawk Run Hollow **Mailed Wendy's Neighborhood Round Robin to Nicole, and mailed out a gift today

Past the halfway point

I should have been working on Spring Ride again tonight, but I wanted something smaller to hold tonight since I was busy watching hockey and baseball at the same time :-) I decided it had been a while since I worked on House Samplings, and now tonight I made it past the halfway point. I am still loving this one. The colors are so fantastic, even if they are not photographing all that well.

Stitched on today: Finished a gift, and stitched on House Samplings

Finished Wendy's Neighborhood Round Robin

Today I finished up my square on Wendy's Neighborhood Round Robin, and I really am quite pleased with how it turned out. I used Cherry Hill by Country Cottage Needleworks, and I modified it a bit to accommodate the round robin. I removed the lettering on the hills and I did not stitch the big cluster of cherries in the upper right corner. And, well, as you know, I only stitched 1/4 of the border and feel this really flows with the rest of her sampler now. Then I added a pair of birds from Houses of Hawk Run Hollow to fill the block. I chose them because Wendy and I are both stitching on HOHRH at the moment and thought she would enjoy that little touch :-) Here is how her stunning round robin looks now. As I wrote to her in the RR blog, if she does not care much for this when it comes home, she can send it on to me - I am sure I have space on a wall for this beauty! Wouldn't we all??

OK, off to stitch on a gift - an important birthday is fast approaching!

Stitched on today: Finished Wendy's Neighborhood Round Robin, and started a gift

Heard it through the grapevine

I heard it through the grapevine this afternoon that my Stitching Bloggers Birthday Club gift finally arrived in Canada. Well... it sort of did. My second gift packet did, but the first one I sent on Jan 14th is still lost in postal purgatory. I have not heard directly from the recipient, so I have no idea at all if she likes her gifts, but I hope she does. I am relieved that at least one package did arrive. It was really stressful waiting on the first package, putting together a second one, and then waiting a long time for it to arrive too (even though I used Priority Mail).

Nature's Alphabet "S" Fob
Elizabeth's Designs
Silkweaver 32 ct Solo Belfast Linen, DMC Floss

Above are the rest of the gifts that I sent to her - I tried to work off of her wish list - she wanted hand dyed aida fabrics, vanilla scented items, Brightneedle charts...

I will also show the first (and currently lost) stitched item that I sent to her. I loved this little fob so much! She noted that she wanted Brightneedle's Under the Sea. I couldn't get my hands on that chart, despite trying a few places. So I chose to stitch her a fob using Brightneedle's little freebie that eventually led to their designing Under the Sea... I sure hope she eventually gets this! I won't show the rest of that gift package, just in case she does receive it someday. I actually don't think she reads my blog... but to be safe, I will leave a little mystery still for her...


Blue Moon Fob
Brightneedle
32 ct Antique White Belfast Linen, DMC Floss, Weeks Dye Works Floss
Stitched 1-over-1

Today I received my biscornu exchange from Vanessa. This is from the exchange I participated in that was run by Laura. I think it is just adorable. Vanessa used one of my favorite little Casey Buonaugurio freebies, and she stitched it on a really pretty hand dyed linen (my photo does not reflect its beauty) - it is put together beautifully :-)
Above you can see the backside of the biscornu too - I love the little extras, thanks Vanessa. I posted over on Laura's blog too, as I don't think Vanessa reads my blog either.

As for my own stitching tonight, I stuck with Wendy's Neighborhood Round Robin, and it looks like I am well on track to get this done and be able to mail it off to Nicole on Monday.

Anouk decided she really likes the envelope that Karen used to mail Wendy's round robin to me - she has made a bit of a bed out of it. As usual, she is so hard to photograph. As you can see in this photo, Anouk has severe stenosis - her nose is ultra tiny and she has virtually no nostrils. As a result, she always has some drippage on her face. Sadly, the vet also thinks she might have an iris melanoma on the upper portion of her right eye. Either that, or the dark ring around her iris is just darker in that area. We found that out a few days ago and I am still trying to absorb it. Anouk will be six years old in June...

Stitched on today: Wendy's Neighborhood Round Robin

PIF for Harmien

I heard this morning that Harmien has received my PIF for her. She is my gardening buddy from across the ocean, so my package for her had a gardening theme, including this little bee biscornu to help to symbolically fertilize her garden:

Buzzing Around Biscornu
Barbara Ana Designs
Dyeing4U 28 ct Manhattan Myst Lugana, DMC Floss

...and more progress on Wendy's RR. I should be able to mail this out to Nicole in just a couple of days and get it right back on track in the mailing cycle!

Stitched on today: Stitched on a Crazy Exchange, and Wendy's Neighborhood Round Robin

Changes to Wendy's RR

I couldn't stand it. Even though Wendy gave me positive feedback about having the full pink border around my house, I did tonight what I really wanted to do last night... but it was too late at night to do it. I removed 3/4 of the border. I like it much better and feel the whole neighborhood is going to flow properly this way. OK with you Wendy?? The hills will come down to almost the pink border at the bottom. I just haven't gotten there yet. OK, now I feel better, and wonder what possessed me to stitch the border in the first place?? (I think it was because I was distracted watching the Red Sox home opener when I started this yesterday).

Stitched on today: Wendy's Neighborhood Round Robin

Wendy's RR is Here!

Yay! I received Wendy's Neighborhood Round Robin today :-) I haven't had one for Group One since I mailed the last one along on Halloween. It is fair to say that I was feeling a bit out of the loop with the group. Now I need to hurry this one along as it is already running late. This is one GORGEOUS neighborhood. My design is of a little bit of a different format from the others - I am stitching Cherry Hill by Country Cottage Needleworks, but plan to omit the words on the hills and the cherry motif in the upper right corner. My design has a border on all four sides, as you can see. I put it at the top center figuring that it is less likely to throw the rest of the neighborhood off balance. Is this OK Wendy? I can pull out some border if you prefer - just let me know :-) (Part of me thinks I should just leave the bottom row - it looked better in the Q-Snap than it looks to me now... anyhow, it is up to you).

Stitched on today: Started Wendy's Neighborhood Round Robin **Mailed out a HoE Scissor Fob Exchange replacement exchange to Kate today

Serenity

OK, another day of having not so much worth showing. I spent the afternoon making a scissor fob for a dear stitcher who did not receive her HoE Scissor Fob Exchange. I gave up on waiting for her partner to replace it. It was great fun to do for her, and I loved it. But did have only a couple of hours left for Serenity. I like how the larger motif on the left is taking shape now.

Stitched on today: Stitched a replacement scissor fob for HoE Scissor Fob Exchange, stitched on a Christmas ornament, and Serenity **Mailed SBEBB Here's To Ewe Exchange today

Spring Ride Sunday

I am sticking to Spring Ride on Sundays again, but I didn't stitch a whole lot on it tonight. It is so springy and cheerful, but here it is very cold and rainy. I just couldn't get into it. Some days are like that... :-)

Stitched on today: Started a Christmas ornament, and stitched on Spring Ride

Crazy Exchange from Wendy Jo

Lucky me! I received this really lovely return exchange from Wendy Jo today. She stitched this pretty pinkeep using one of my favorite Shepherd's Bush freebies - and it is so perfectly stitched and assembled :-) On top of that, she totally spoiled me! Wendy Jo sent me one of the Lizzie Kate Double Flips from my wish list (I would love to stitch this entire sampler and hang it in my psychotherapy office - makes sense, right?) and she sent me two skeins of floss that are needed for the chart. Thank you so much Wendy Jo - you went above and beyond, and I appreciate all of it.

I finished (finally) my Here's To Ewe exchange today, but since I can't show it yet, I can show the bit of A Quaker Christmas that I was able to do tonight. I am almost done now with the huge star motif.

Stitched on today: Finished Here's To Ewe exchange, and stitched on a Crazy Exchange and A Quaker Christmas

A tiny neighborhood grows...

I can't show you the Here's To Ewe exchange that I busily stitched on today... but I can show you that my little House Samplings neighborhood is growing again :-)

Thanks for all of the concern about the exchanges and trying to keep them in line. I didn't mean to imply that I was worried or stressed, but rather, I kept getting pulled away yesterday to deal with a lot of the issues and couldn't really stitch. I have tons of offers from angels - thank you! So far, I think all are being sent, but we'll see... and I might be calling on you ;-)

Thanks for the birthday wishes for Beau! I can't believe he is 11 now... he is in bed, so no photo... I will get one this weekend though :-)

Stitched on today: Stitched on Here's To Ewe Exchange, and House Samplings

Disorganized Mind

What a day. My mind has been everywhere, and spending little time at any place. I really tried to stitch today. I did stitch today... on three different things, and had no focus. I would stitch for a few minutes, put it down and do something else. I think my biggest distraction is, by far, trying to get the HoE exchanges cleaned up. There are still scissor fobs that have not been received, and now I am having problems reaching some of the biscornu exchangers.... decisions need to be made in order to get these finished and have everyone be happy. I may need to call on some of my stitching angels...

In the meantime, here is a bit more of A Quaker Christmas to show. I am working away on a really pretty star shaped large motif.

Yay, I have tomorrow off, and now I need to stop blogging, because Beau wants to be in my lap very badly. And since it is his 11th birthday tomorrow, I guess I will let him boss me around.

Stitched on today: Started a Crazy Exchange, stitched on Here's To Ewe Exchange, and stitched on A Quaker Christmas

Thank you Myrna :-)

Aw, sweet Myrna sent me a package of wonderful gifts, "just because..." She knitted me this lovely scarf, which will surely get a lot of use... hopefully next winter - LOL! And she knitted me a dishcloth... stitched me a gorgeous fob... and sent some pretty marking pins. All in purple - fantastic! Thank you, Myrna!!

I picked up House Samplings again for a little while tonight. I didn't have much time for stitching tonight. But, one house is done, and now the border for a second one is done... just loving it :-)

Thanks for the sweet comments on the the biscornu I posted yesterday. Yes, the colors are fantastic - but all credit goes to Outi of Periphaeria Designs, as I stitched this as she charted it. Her biscornus are gorgeous!

Oh - we appear to maybe, just maybe, have a snow free week here... did I just jinx it? I see I have a purple crocus too! It was not open still when I got home today, but I will surely get a photo if I can. Any sign of spring is needed, for sure!

Stitched on today: House Samplings

Biscornu Exchange for Rita

I heard from Rita this afternoon that she has received the exchange I sent to her for the HoE Biscornu Exchange. I was getting pretty worried, as I had sent it by Priority Mail to Hungary back on March 17th, but no need to worry any longer :-) Mike and I both tried hard to get a good photo of this biscornu, to no avail. The camera did not want to focus on the colorful stitches (they are very colorful) against the black background, and we tried several kinds of light too... this was the best of the bunch:

Sampler Flowers #2 Biscornu
Periphaeria Designs
28 ct Black Jobelan, DMC Floss

The rest of the exchange for Rita is shown above. The chart was on her wishlist. Ther rest I just had fun with, and she sent a sweet note to let me know she is pleased. Enjoy Rita!!

Also, as I had mentioned last night, I did finish up another ornament for the Christmas Ornament SAL pretty late last night. I did take a photo of it this morning:

Christmas Surprise 2005 Ornament
Dragon Dreams - retired freebie
Silkweaver 28 ct Moon Dust Opalescent Lugana, DMC Floss

Goal Review Time:
March Goals:
1. Continue to work on Serenity - yes
2. Continue to work on A Quaker Christmas - yes
3. Continue to work on Houses of Hawk Run Hollow - yes
4. Continue to work on Dawn, Fairy Spirit of Grace - yes
5. Stitch and send Winter Exchange to Myrna - yes, and Myrna has received it
6. Stitch and send Judith’s Neighborhood Round Robin to Annemarie by 3/15 - yes, and Annemarie has received it
7. Stitch at least one PIF - yes, and it is on its way
8. Continue to work on Spring Ride SAL - yes
9. Stitch two ornaments - yes, I stitched two
10. Finish and mail SBEBB Tea Time Exchange by 3/8 - yes, and Su has received it
11. Continue to work on Memories - yes, and I finished it
12. Stitch and send SBEBB Spring Quaker Exchange by 3/21 - yes, and Becky K. has received it
13. Stitch and send HoE Biscornu Exchange by 3/21 -yes, ended up doing two – Rita has received hers, and Sharon C. has received hers
14. Stitch and send out Crazy Exchange - yes, and Wendy Jo has received it
15. Stitch some gifts - yes, I stitched two gifts this month


April Goals:
1. Continue to work on Serenity
2. Continue to work on A Quaker Christmas
3. Continue to work on Houses of Hawk Run Hollow
4. Continue to work on Dawn, Fairy Spirit of Grace
5. Stitch and send Wendy’s Neighborhood Round Robin to Nicole ASAP (am waiting to receive it still)
6. Stitch at least one PIF
7. Continue to work on Spring Ride SAL
8. Stitch one or two ornaments
9. Finish and mail SBEBB Here’s To Ewe Exchange by 4/8
10. Finish and mail HoE Pinkeep Exchange by 4/5 - yes, and Valerie received it on 3/31
11. Stitch and send out a Crazy Exchange
12. Stitch some gifts
13. Stitch and send out SBEBB Spring House and Garden Exchange by 4/20
14. Stitch and be ready to send out SBEBB Garden Exchange for 5/1
15. Continue to stitch on House Samplings
16. Meet the Finishing Challenge – Needle Roll


I wonder what is up with The Gift of Stitching... it is April 1, but no new issue yet... I hope it arrives soon!! (**Edited: Ah, there it is!)

Thanks for the sweet words from so many of you regarding the incoming and outgoing mail yesterday - and for the additional fabric purchases too! I appreciate it all (there are still two linens left.. last time I mention it).

I am off to work on my Here's To Ewe Exchange - I have a long way to go still on that one!

Stitched on today: Here's To Ewe Exchange