Kathy's Give Away

Kathy has two great give-aways on her blog. Check it out! http://kathystitchcomments.blogspot.com/

I had never stitched a BBD before this year so I'd love to win 'Awake The Dawing Day'. Alas, I never have much luck winning a drawing.

Happy Dance!

I have two finishes to show! I was so excited to complete Betsy--she was so fun to stitch and since on concentrated on getting her done I didn't get to work on anything else! Sorry the pic is so far away--I'm going to have to try and get better photos of my work. Oh Mother Dear was a quick stitch--I think that'll make a sweet pillow.

Will try to concentrate on LK's Boo Club for now although there are all those ornaments I want to stitch in the new JCS ornament edition!

Hope ya'll had a nice weekend--the weather here was beautiful--really nice for walking and shopping and just enjoying. We're going to get down to the 30's tonight which is too cold for me!

Born to Stitch

Greetings! It's always amazing to me how quickly the time passes, especially when I consider how long it's been since I posted to this blog. I saw a great cross stitch pattern that said "Born to Stitch, forced to Work." I'm not sure where I saw this and I don't know the designer, but it's exactly how I feel a lot of the time. The two hours of stitching time I have every evening is just not enough time for me to accomplish what I want to. I've been working on Betsy Monday-Friday and making great progress--I'm thinking I'll be able to finish her yet this week! On the weekends I've been working on the rest of my WIP's including Lizzie Kate's Boo Club, Crows, Corn and Cats by Goode Huswife, and Oh Mother Dear cupboard sampler by the Sampler Girl.

I also have a huge list of things kitted up and ready to start, as well as a long list of goodies to purchase from the St. Charles Market! I just love Primitive Needles' Witches Hollow, LHN's The Library, and several Plum Street Samplers offerings, not to mention Carriage House Sampling's Christmas at HRH. The Goode Huswife is also planning to release reprints of some OOP charts as well as another book. In order to afford all this, I'm definitely forced to work.

Oh, well, at least I have this creative outlet I enjoy so much. I'm so happy that we have so many talented designers out there offering their gorgeous designs to us. We've also got a great many fabric and fabric choices--it is mind boggling at times but I wouldn't want it any other way.

Michaela & Austin are Engaged!

Youngest daughter Michaela & boyfriend (now fiancee) became engaged a couple of weeks ago. These are pictures of the happy couple. I wish we lived closer so we could celebrate together.

Betsy Progress

One of My WIPs

This is a freebie from Midsummer Night Designs from last year, Love Bird. It has been a quick stitch so far. I hope to finish it this weekend. I really love how the colors go together. I don't have pictures of my WIPs but hope to get them this weekend. I have about half of Betsy completed and have started stitching on the peacock. I believe this is the first peacock I've ever stitched! Suddenly I've developed a fondness for everything peacock. Another WIP is Sheep in the Meadow, a freebie by Shepherd's Bush. It should be a quick stitch for me but the isolated stitches and backstitching have put me off. I am getting close to finishing and will love the finished design because of the colors. I also started Oh Mother Dear by The Sampler Girl and Bless This Home from CCN. Oh Mother Dear is a quick, fun stitch.

That's all for now--Have a good weekend!

Travels and Stitching

Brianne
This weekend we'll be travelling to Oklahoma to meet this handsome couple and my sweet granddaughter! Of course we have to make a stop at The Silver Needle in Tulsa!

The first cross stitch I ever did was a stamped cross stitch baby sampler in 1982. I remember a lady at my table during coffee break was stitching this sampler and I liked it so much I found out where she bought it and I got myself one to stitch for my 2nd daughter who was born in March. I was immediately hooked and stitched a pair of Hummel children for my mom (also stamped). Eventually I bought a counted cross stitch kit from Current magazine. It was a small design with a coffeepot and some fruit and stitched on Aida with DMC floss--very basic. I still have the piece but have never framed it. We had one craft store in town that sold kits, patterns, fabrics and floss. A few years later I discovered we had a very nice cross stitch store in town and I started stiching with linen and using sampler threads. Unfortunately, this store closed its doors in the 1990s. We started traveling to Omaha for soccer tournaments and I found a store there dedicated to cross stitch. I made sure to visit this store whenever I was in the area (much to the soccer player's dismay). We either stopped before or after the game and I got to spend some time and money there. This store also closed before too long and I had to content myself with a yearly excursion to Des Moines for the cross stitch festivals that were held there in the 1990s. Luckily for me the internet became available and it opened up a whole new chance for stash building!

I love to visit cross stitch stores when I'm traveling and have been able to visit quite a few in Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Texas and Colorado. I always check to see if teh shop is still open when I'm planning a trip. I'm always quite sad to hear that another shop has closed.

New Stash!

Here is some some stash I've purchased over the past week! Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament Preview, LHN's Heart & Home Sampler, Curly Q Ewe and the Busy Needle, and finally With Thy Needle's Flag Day. I finally broke down and ordered Flag Day from the website http://www.countrystitchesonline.com. They also have lots of cool jewelry and charts from other designers.

Betsy

Here's my progress on Betsy. It's kind of slow going over one but I love this piece! It's fun to stitc because you see results quickly--Love it!

Dip Diddly Designs is having a giveaway on her blog here http://dipdiddlydesigns.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-first-giveaway.html.

I've been working on 'Betsy' from Sheepish Designs. Stitching it on 40 ct Antique Cotton with DMC and using one thread over two. It's hard on the eyes to get used to the 40 ct but I think the end result will be worth it. I'll post a picture of my progress on 'Betsy' soon.

'Traveling Stitcher'

Little House Needleworks

32 ct Lambswool Linen

Started 6/10/09

Finished 7/8/09

I loved stitching this one. I'm new to LHN and I like how quickly Diane's designs stitch up. There are so many projects on my list right now, I'm not sure when I'll start the main part of Traveling Stitcher.

Setting Up My Blog

I think setting up my blog will be a slow process. I'll have to take some pictures to download this weekend of my stitchy projects and WIPs. Since I've spent hours reading other stitchy blogs I thought it was high time I started my own.

Updates will follow.