November/December Goals

November Goals

1. Start/finish Bourse Exchange-Yep
2. Start/finish Birthday Exchange-Yep
3. Start/Finish Lottery Exchange-Yep
4. Start/Finish Snowman Exchange-Yep
5. Work on Topaz Fairie-Nope :(
6. Work on Christmas ornaments and gifts-Yep
7. Start on a stocking-Yep, almost done, too:)

I completed 6 out of the 7 goals I had for myself this month. :)

December Goals

1. Mail Bourse Exchange
2. Mail Birthday Exchange
3. Finish Allie's Stocking
4. Start/Finish Mac's Stocking
5. Start/finish Christmas gifts
6. Mail Christmas cards & gifts
7. Work on Topaz Fairie

One Kitty Done

I made some good progress on Allie's stocking yesterday. That is, until I ran out of green for the tree! I should be able to pick up the floss needed either tomorrow or Saturday which means I should have the stitching finished this weekend.


I am planning on working on the stocking today but I am not expecting to get a lot done. I woke up this morning with a nasty cough and a stuffy head. I already took some cough medicine (yuck!) so I am planning on snuggling under a nice warm blanket with a hot cup of of hot chocolate!

Have a great day:)

A Small Start

I worked on Allie's stocking today. It is stitching up nicely. Of course, it isn't stitching up fast enough for Allie!

Nothing really exciting happened around here today. The highlight of my day today was I bought myself a new hot chocolate mug. I already broke it in and had a cup of hot chocolate this evening! :)

Have a great night!

2006 Snowman Box

I was beginning to think that I wasn't going to find any finishing fabric for Ursula Michael's 2006 Snowman. I have been looking for a couple of weeks and I hadn't found anything that came close to looking good with the snowman. My waiting finally paid off this morning when I came across this beautiful fabric! The fabric has silver sparklies which goes perfect with the opalscent fabric I stitched the snowman on.

As you can tell I haven't done a lot of stitching today. I did start Allie's stocking this morning but I only put in about hour's worth of stitching before I decided to finish the box. I am planning on working on it later tonight after the kids go to sleep. I do have one more piece to finish but it is for an exchange so no picture of it for now.

The only thing bad about stitching for the holidays is it takes stitching time away from my larger projects. Every year I keep telling myself I won't wait till November to start my gift stitching and every year here I am stitching away on gifts because I didn't do it through out the year. Someday I will learn......but when?!

Christmas Tree

For the past few days, I have been working on this ornament for my mom. I stitched it one over one on 32 count fabric. However, after seeing it finished it just may not arrive at my mom's house. It might just end up on my Christmas tree!

This one is a freebie from Janlynn called Christmas Tree by Sam Hawkins.

It has been a pretty good day around here. The weather is kind of yucky outside. Cold and wet. Good day for stitching! I am planning on starting Allie's stocking tonight after the kids have gone to bed. I still need to gather the floss up so while I am doing that I am going to gather the floss I need for the Frosty Friends Exchange. Which means I get to play in my stash for a little while! :)

Shopping Mess

The Thanksgiving rush is over and now the Christmas rush begins! We had a nice day yesterday. We had some turkey with friends and came home and had more turkey with just the kids and us. We cooked too much and ate way too much but it was all so good!

I wasn't planning on going to town today with it being the day after Thanksgiving but Krissy needed a book from the library for school on Monday. So I took a deep breath and made my way out in the mess of shoppers. First stop was at Hobby Lobby to pick up some finishing fabric for Allie's stocking, next was a Wal-mart for some sore throat medicine for Krissy and Mac, and then finally (or so I thought!) was stopping at the library. As I was pulling into the parking lot I thought it looked a little bare and immediately realized the library was closed! Grr....now I had to make a trip all the way across town to the bookstore to buy the book instead. After buying her book, we finally made it home only for me to realize I forgot to stop at the post office. Luckily the tiny town I live in (I'm serious if you blink you will miss it!!) does have a post office so I didn't have to run back to Rogers.

Stitching wise I don't have anything to show because I didn't even look in the direction of my stitching stuff yesterday. I can show you the fabric Allie picked out for her Christmas stocking.

I am planning on starting her stocking (Britty Kitty Christmas Stocking) sometime this weekend. It shouldn't take me too long to stitch it up as it is a rather quick pattern to stitch. Tonight I am hoping to finish a gift I have been working on this week.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Crazy Week

It has been been completely crazy around here this week! My week started off with me hitting a deer with my car. The bright side is no injuries to me but the down side is there are injuries to my car. That little glitch put in my plans as I was going to do my turkey shopping on Monday but instead I had to do it this morning. Since the kids are out for Thanksgiving Break they ended up coming with me shopping. *sigh* You guessed it...I forgot about half of what I needed. So I ended up making a last minute run back to the grocery store at 4 PM and let me say the store was a complete mess of shoppers!

However, in between grocery runs I did manage to finish Mac's box off today. It isn't one of my finest finishes as I was being rushed by a 9 year old but it made me him happy.

After that it was back to the kitchen for me. I managed to get a cheesecake baked, a pumpkin pie baked and 5 dozen peanut butter cookies baked. Tomorrow the good stuff gets to be made! :)

With the past few days being so crazy I haven't had a chance to read any blogs or answer some of the questions so here goes:

Stitchermommy-The name of the pattern is called Colorful Critters Tree Frog by Funk and Weber Designs.

Becky K- Yes, the fabric is hand dyed by me. I hand dye about 75 percent of the colored fabrics I use.

I hope every one has a great day tomorrow and to all my friends celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow.....Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Tree Frog

My hand is feeling much better today! Which means I had a pretty good stitching day. :) I finished up this little frog from Funk & Weber Designs. I stitched this little froggie one over one on some of my own hand dyed fabric. Mac totally loves it! He asked me if I would stay up extra late and finish it into his box. I told him I would have loved to but I didn't have the "perfect" fabric to line the box with yet. After he looked through my fabric stash he agreed that I didn't have anything that would look good with it. He did make me promise that he could go with to pick out the fabric.


Jen FW-I would be happy to send you a picture of the Tree Frog when I get him finished. :) I really enjoyed stitching this one up and I plan to stitch the other critters that go with him!

To answer some of your questions on my letter ordeal with Mac....Sadly, the school he goes to is a somewhat large school so the one school nurse for the hundreds of students doesn't get to know the children one on one. The paper that gets sent home has to be signed by a doctor/audiologist and returned to the school within 60 days. Since he has had a history of ear problems Dr. L and I both agree that it is best to have his hearing checked yearly just to be on the safe side. However, sometimes the school will test twice a year and that is when it gets messy because he has just had one a couple months previous and they usually want me to have another test ran to make sure. I know that they do this to make sure the child is receiving all the help they need but I don't see it necessary to have an ear exam twice a year when there are no hearing problems. I have asked his teachers repeatedly if he notices Mac not hearing things, etc. and his response has always been that he has no hearing problems in class. While no one notices any problems it does make me feel better to have him tested and no for sure that all is okay. While I complain about the running back and forth that it involves I have always been grateful that each time the result have came back normal.

As for my week it is gonna be a busy one! I still need to do my shopping for Thanksgiving dinner. Once that is over then it is time to start baking for Christmas. :) I love this time of year because of all the baking I get to do.

I hope everyone had a great day!

Elliot the Snowman

Last night I was able to give a little Christmas present to my friend, Mindi. I know it is early but Mindi loves the Christmas holiday so I knew she would really enjoy it and she did. The design is from Full Circle Designs and is a current freebie called Elliot. I stitched it one over one on 32 count Opalescent fabric. I finished it into a box for her to keep some little goodies in it for her kids. I enjoy spoiling her with my stitched things as she appreciates them and displays them. As I have said before (at least in my opinion) that is the best way of complimenting me. :)


I did attempt some stitching late last night and got a few stitches in but nothing major. I started a new little pattern from Funk & Weber Designs and is called Colorful Critters Tree Frog. This one is for my little guy. He is frog and bug crazy. He has loved them since he was about 2 years old and I kept thinking it is just a phase and he will outgrow it. Well, 7 years later he still loves them so I don't think it is a phase anymore. I will be finishing this one into a box for him. Since he is all boy I do tend to worry things I make for him will get destroyed so I tend to try and finish him things that are sturdy like pillows. I think the box will work for him as he likes to have boxes to put his money in and hide. Strange I know but he doesn't like to put his money in a piggy bank.

On a completely different note, Mac's school sent a note home this week saying he failed his hearing test. I get this letter EVERY single year from his school. Mac was born 10 weeks early (2 lbs 11 ounces) and has had problems with his ears from the day he was born. His ears produce too much ear wax causing him lots of ear problems. I really don't think that it is directly related to him being premature since his dad has the same ear troubles but the doctors insist that it is from his premature birth. Anyways, when his ears are wax free and his allergies are fine and he has no ear infections his hearing has been tested and his hearing is completely fine. I don't mind the letter coming home saying there is a problem but after 5 years......of me taking him to his regular doctor to get a referral to have a hearing test taken, then having that doctor fax papers to the school saying his hearing is perfect and did they bother to inquire before they test if the child had allergies or an ear infection at that time..... it is getting really annoying! Seriously, how hard is it to ask a 9 year old child if they have an ear problems before you attempt to test a child?!

So Monday morning I get to call and make an appointment with Dr. L to have his ears looked at again. He will wash his ears out, give him some ear drops to put in, and a date to to have a REAL hearing test taken. With Thanksgiving next week I am not sure how soon we will get an appointment to be seen.

I think I have bored you enough for today. :) I am off to go dig out my stitching stand!

One Snip Too Many

I want to thank everyone for their birthday wishes for me yesterday. It turned out to be a pretty good day. However, that wasn't the case this morning! I was cutting some cording when apparently my hand got in the way of the scissors. I managed to snip the fleshy part of my hand in between my thumb and finger. I can't repeat exactly what I said but it was quite colorful. The irony of the whole thing is on my scissors it says "ultra sharp". Boy, they were right on that one!!

As for cross stitching, I don't think that is going to happen anytime today. I can't even close my
hand to hold on to the hoop! Who would have thought that a hobby as quiet as cross stitching could be dangerous to your body! LOL

It looks like it is going to be a quiet night around here. Krissy is spending the night at a friend's house and Mike has to work late tonight so it will be just Allie, Mac, and me tonight. I think we will order a pizza and watch a movie. That is if Allie and Mac can agree on a movie to watch!

Have a great weekend!

Day of Leisure for Me

Well, I turned 33 years old this morning . I have no big plans for today. My biggest goal is to do nothing! No laundry, cleaning or cooking for me today. :) Looks like I should be able to get some gift stitching done today! Later this afternoon I might make a small trip to the LNS but other than that I have no big plans.

I am still working on a gift. I am hoping to finish the stitching and start on the finishing today.

I hope everyone has a great day today!!

Birthday Gift from Mylene

I got another birthday package in the mail today. This package is from Mylene for the birthday exchange on the Robin's Nest. She did a great job putting it together for me! :) She sent me some beautiful buttons (the green ones are my favorite :) ), some really sparkly ribbon, and CHOCOLATE!


The best part of the package is her stitched gifts! :) This one is so perfect for me! I love it!!

AND.....she stitched me a birthday card, too! I have admired many of her cards before and now I have one I can actually admire and touch! :)

Thank you, Mylene! I love the whole package!!

Since I have been working on exchanges and gifts I really don't have much to show right now. I am currently working on a gift and I think it is going to turn out really cute. That is, if I finish the stitching on it. One over one stitching on 32 count fabric.....need I say more?

Enjoy your evening!

Needleroll Finished

Like I said I did finish the freebie from Dragonfly Stitches into a needleroll. I really like how it turned out:)

It is cool and raining today. What a better day to curl up on the sofa and stitch! I am planning on finishing up the stitching on the design for the Snowman exchange. I have an idea on how to finish it but I am not sure if I have all the materials I need or not. But before I do that I think I will grab a cup of hot chocolate and catch up on some blogs!

Have a great day:)

Gift from Margaret

I didn't get a chance to sit down and post about the present I got yesterday from Margaret. She made me this gorgeous needelbook!! I love it!!!! The thread is a variegated blue-purple and is really pretty.


And she put my my first initial on the back :)

She also sent me a very lovely redwork pattern and I can't wait to stitch it. She included a postcard for my postcard collection, too. Thank you for everything Margaret!!! :)

Well, its Sunday so I am off to fight the battle with the laundry! Have a relaxing afternoon!

Birthday Gift from Carol

It was a pretty good day today. I went ahead and finished the finishing on the needle roll today. However, the mailman brought me a package today that I would rather show you tonight. :) Carol sent me a little birthday gift. My birthday isn't until Thursday but I couldn't wait that long....lol. She stitched this beautiful biscornu for me!! I love it!!! Thank you so much, Carol!


Isn't the beading stunning?!

Today's SBQ is:

When you have to frog out stitches, do you reuse that thread or do you start over with a new strand?

99.9 % of the time I do not reuse the threads. I have noticed that the thread has little fuzzies on it and looks frayed.

Have a great weekend!

In Need of Opinions

Today I worked on this freebie by Dragonfly Stitches. It called for threads I didn't have so I was left to pick my own colors. I used DMC 550, 701, 712, and 3805. I need your honest opinions! How does it look? Do you think I used too much green and not enough off white? I am planning on finishing it into a needleroll.

I think my Internet problems are fixed or at least I have been able to be online for more than 10 minutes at a time. So now I am off to try and catch up on my blog reading:)

Have a great night!

Quick Post

I have been busy this week working on exchanges and gifts. I have managed to get 2 exchanges done and 2 gifts done. Sorry no pictures until after they reach their destinations. Even if I wanted to share a picture I probably couldn't. For the past few days our Internet connection has been fouling up. Someone is supposed to be here later to hopefully fix it. This little problem has caused me to get severely behind in my blog reading (again).

Have a great day and I hope I will be able to get caught up on all the blogs soon:)

One Ornament Done

I have been working on exchanges and gifts for the past few days. Most of them I can't show as that will give away the surprise. :) I did finish this design by Blue Ribbon Designs into an ornament. As normal, I didn't get it centered perfectly but otherwise I like how it turned out. I forgot to take a picture of the fabric on the back. It is the same fabric I used on the other 2 BRD I finished. Holly leaves and berries.

Today I will be working on a a gift. I don't have much more to stitch so I might have time later to put in a few stitches on Topaz Fairie. It has been ages since I last worked on her and I miss have missed working on her.

October/November Goals

October Goals

1. Start/Finish Mac or Allie stocking-Nope, didn't even buy the linen for them yet.

2. Work on Woodland Faerie-YES!! I FINISHED HER!!

3. Work on Topaz Fairie-Nope

November Goals

1. Start/finish Bourse Exchange
2. Start/finish Birthday Exchange
3. Start/Finish Lottery Exchange
4. Start/Finish Snowman Exchange
5. Work on Topaz Fairie
6. Work on Christmas ornaments and gifts.
7. Start on a stocking

Well, I didn't do too well with my goals this month BUT I did have a major finish. Hopefully, this month I will do better with my goals.

Kitty in a Tree

I have to say Thank you for all of your wonderful remarks on finishing WF. I am still dancing today about it:)

I have 4 exchanges and several Christmas gifts to stitch up and finish so I started on one exchange and one gift. I actually started out working on the gift UNTIL I discovered the floss gremlins struck my house again! DMC 702 is missing. *Sigh* I was just at Hobby Lobby yesterday picking up floss I needed, too! So I ended up working on an exchange last night. It is a really cute design. I am pretty sure on how I want to finish it but I am lacking some ribbon to finish the finishing. Somewhere in between exchanges and gifts I plan to stitch on Topaz Fairie.

My kitties love to watch squirrels out the windows and today Bitsy decided she was going to escape from the house, run straight up a tree, and try to catch the squirrels. She didn't catch the squirrels! We had fun laughing and trying to coax her down out of the tree for the next few minutes. Now, after being scolded, she is still in the windows watching the squirrels!



Have a great evening!

Woodland Faerie Finished

I am proud to say that Woodland Faerie is completely done!! Whoo-hoo!!

This piece took me almost 2 years (Jan 06-Nov 07) to finish! Granted, I didn't work on it everyday and I even put it away for a couple of months but I finally finished it! :)

This design has been the hardest one I have done so far! I want to thank everyone for their words of encouragement because I probably wouldn't have finished it this year if it hadn't been for all your comments. :) Thank you!!!! As for this one, it is going to be framed and reside in my home. :)

Gift from Renee

It was a pretty good day today. I made more progress on Woodland Faerie and I am sooo close to having her finished. All I have left to do is to backstitch the leaves and I will be all done with her! I have to pick up some DMC 934 sometime this weekend and just maybe if no major disasters happen I might just have her done. :D

My good day didn't just stop there either! In the mail today there was a package for me. Renee made me this adorable fob! Isn't this too cute?! I love it so much! She was even kind enough to let me snag her picture as my batteries need to be charged. Thank you, Renee! :)