Penguin Tin

I hope everyone is having a GREAT day! We have had a pretty great day here. The kids woke up and opened presents and immediately headed off their separate ways to try out the new gifts. Krissy took over the bathroom with her new flat iron and make up. Allie spread out on the floor with her new markers and velvet poster and Mac is lounging in the chair playing his new GBA game. Now we are just waiting for Christmas lunch to be ready! :)

Renee (and her kitties) got here late Saturday evening. She hand delivered Egyptian Sampler to me! I can't wait to start on it. I am going to try and hold off till Jan 1 to start it but if it keeps calling me I might end up starting it sooner than Jan 1. My plan is to work on Topaz Fairie to keep me distracted. :)

Since Renee came to visit I was able to give her Christmas gift in person. I made her this cute little tin. It is stitched one over one on 32 count fabric. If you remember a few weeks ago when i cut my hand I was working on a gift. This is the one that I was working on so blood, sweat and tears really went into making this one!



I modeled the inside like a tin I received from Vonna with a magnetic strip. I really love the strip as I use it to keep track of needles.

I hope everyone is having a very Merry Christmas!!

Thrift Store Shopping

In less than 8 hours my bestest friend since I was in elementary will be here until the first of the year! Whoo-h00!! I am terribly excited so much I hardly slept a wink last night.

Sadly, I didn't work on ANY stitching yesterday but I did do something stitching related. I stopped at a local thrift shop that I have had good luck with finding cross stitch magazine and yesterday was no different. :) I came home with 4 Cross Stitch & Country Samplers from 1987-1992, 2 JCS issues from 1995, and 2 Alma Lynne Designs leaflets. All that for 2 dollars! I have already found one pattern in the JCS March/April 95 issue that is a must stitch for me. It's called A Child's Prayer by Linda Connors (Calico Crossroads). This one has a beautiful verse on it for any mother.

I was noticing today that it has been 3 years since I started blogging. It isn't my blogiversay as I started off with just a blog about my daily life and then a few months later is when Crafter's Creations came about. I deleted my first blog a long time ago as I couldn't keep up with 2 blogs. Anyways, I think I have only had one picture of me up and I know how it is nice to associate a face with a blog so here is Mike and I at last night's Christmas party.

Front: Dawn & Mike

From our home to yours I want to wish everyone and their families a very Merry Christmas!!

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!!

Happy Halloween!!

Today, I actually buckled down and worked on WF and even though I thought it was going to kill me I made it through the one over one backstitching. I managed to finish all the backstitching on the fairy and her wings, the acorns, and the mouse. The mouse is even cuter now! I am planning on working on her again tomorrow so hopefully I will knock out the mushrooms and violets.

I probably would have gotten further tonight but as we all know it is Halloween and my two youngest ones were ready to hit the road as soon as it started getting dark. Mac and Allie made out like bandits this year! Mac went as an alien. He loved his mask...it glowed in the dark. Allie went as Chucky. That mess of curls is all natural! I am terribly jealous of her hair. Overall, they had a great time so that is all that matters.

Happy Halloween to everyone!!

SBQ of the Week

Today's SBQ is:

Do you consider yourself a "floss miser?"

First of all, it depends on what kind of floss we are talking about. DMC or Specialty threads. I have to say I am not a miser when it comes to DMC flosses because it only costs me 24 cents a skein. However, when I am using Kreiniks and other special threads I tend to be more conservative.

I have been trying to get a rotation going for myself for the last few weeks and this morning I came to a realization that I am not a rotation stitcher. I give up! No more rotations for me...just what is screaming at me. With that being decided, Mine all Mine was screaming the loudest today.

I want to wish all my American friends a Happy 4th of July!

I finished the backstitching on the exchange piece last night but I didn't start the finishing. I think I will wait a little bit before I attempt the finishing. This morning I cut and zig zagged the edges of the fabric I will be using for Krissy's stocking. She wanted the Britty Puppy Stocking. I'm not sure when I will start on it. Maybe this weekend.

Speaking of this weekend, this Sunday (June 24) is our 14 year anniversary! I am not sure what we are going to so since it falls on a Sunday. One thing, I know for sure, we will be doing is going to the park we got married at and ring the bell that is there. Quirky I know, but after we said our "I do's" the bell was rung so we have kept up the tradition and have gone back every year and to ring it. Whatever we do I am sure we will have a good time.

Before I forget, Jenna asked where the freebie was that I stitched for the biscornu fob. Here is the link. It is from Kitty T. There are a lot of cutie freebies there!

Floral Fantasy

I worked on Jeweled Ornament but I ran short on beads. Thanks to my clumsiness! Anyways I have set it aside until I can make a trip to my LNS later next week.

I started and finished the stitching on this piece called Floral Fantasy from Ozark Sampler. I used the DMC colors 99 and 221. I am going to finish this one into a biscornu.

We're not doing much this weekend. Tomorrow we are going to FIL's house and the girls are going to stay the night with him and help him with some cleaning. We are going to do our grilling out with FIL tomorrow so we can hopefully just hang around the house on Monday.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

No Stitching Again :(

I have said it before and I will say it again.....every time I make plans something always goes awry! I had planned for some mega stitching this weekend but as of right now I still haven't picked up a needle. Last night I played in my stash and found 4 patterns that I have all kitted and ready to go. Since I had everything out, I figured I might as well and go ahead and kit up some more patterns. I ended up kitting up another 6 patterns! Those 6 aren't fully kitted up, they all need some fabric yet. Now, my problem is deciding which one to stitch next!

It has been a pretty good day for me. We went and seen FIL this afternoon. The kids and Grandpa cooked a nice lunch for me today. They made roast, potatoes & gravy, corn on the cob, and green beans. Yummy! and the best part was I didn't have to cook or clean up the mess. Tonight Mike is making italian sausage, macaroni and cheese, and a salad. Another Yummy! Yes, I admit I LOVE to eat.



On the kitty side of things, Zoey has decided Claudia isn't so bad to have around. I still have to keep an eye on Zoey because she does get a little too rough sometimes. Girly helps me out because once the kitten cries she is instantly right in Zoey's face barking at her. I find it funny when Zoey cries, Girly doesn't do a thing!

Lastly, I want to wish all the mother's a Happy Mother's Day...enjoy what is left of this day :)

Presents for Me

I haven't had a chance to do any stitching today. That is okay. Mike took my shopping for a Mother's Day gift. What did I want? Stitching stuff, of course! :) I was a good girl and only picked up some 32 count Cashel linen and a butt load of DMC floss. Mike even managed to sneak in a surprise for me....a new stitching bag!



I just love my new stitching bag. It is very "me". My favorite colors are greens, blues and purples which all of them happen to be present. He is such a sweet man!

Mac gave me 2 toe rings, 3 sets of earrings, and a coupon promising me one month of chores. They had small sale going on at his school and he was so proud to pick them out and buy them all by himself. The girls have volunteered to do all the housework and laundry tomorrow. I feel pretty lucky to be blessed with my kids and husband. :)

Even though I had hoped to do nothing tomorrow it looks like we will be heading over to FIL's place. We will probably make a quick run to the cemetery to visit MIL while we are down there. It sounds bad but i don't like to visit cemeteries, even to visit love ones. I just get really creeped out. I have my Dad to thank for that quirk about me. Once, when I was about 4 years old, we visited my grandfathers grave and I accidentally walked across some one's grave. My Dad then told me that was disrespectful and they might get mad and reach up, grab me, and pull me into the grave. The things that children believe!

Enough of my ramblings :) I hope all mother's have a wonderful day tomorrow.

Happy Mother's Day!

SBQ of the Week

Today's SBQ was suggested by Ish and is:

How do you choose a project for an exchange? Do you pick solely on what you know of the taste of the recipient or are there other reasons you pick the piece you do?

I take forever deciding on what to stitch for an exchange! When I look for a pattern to stitch for someone, I start off with solely their tastes in mind but when I find something that the person would like I have to ask myself if this is something I would enjoy stitching. If I can't enjoy stitching the piece I feel like I don't do my best work and I would never want to send someone something that I didn't feel was my best work.

I worked on GK some more today. I know big surprise..lol. I am really hoping to be able to finish it this weekend.



Since it is Mother's Day weekend I am planning on not doing a lot but stitching. I guess you could call it a Mother's Day weekend stitch-a-thon for me:)

Holiday Weekend

It looks like it is going to be a busy weekend for me. Mike has to work overtime tomorrow and I have to take the kids down to FIL's because it is his birthday. We are also going to visit on Sunday for Easter. Good thing it is only 1/2 hour trip to his house. Hopefully somewhere amongst all the chaos I hope to find some stitching time.



Today I worked on Seasons in the Snow (SITS) again today. My efforts resulted in a full snowman. Isn't he adorable?


Have a great Easter weekend!!

Happy Valentine's Day

Things didn't start off great for me yesterday when I sat down to work on the ATFE SAL with Becky. Immediately, I realized that I didn't have a few colors with me I needed so I couldn't finish the back stitching and lazy daisies on the Spring scarecrow. That is when I discovered I didn't have the colors for the kitty that is supposed to be next to the birdhouse. Grrr....I KNOW I had all the colors together in the bag. I wonder if my little stitchers at the house robbed me. :) Anyways, I finally decided to start on the frame around the Winter scarecrow.



We have no big plans for tonight. We are going to stay at the house and try to stay warm! It has been cold here! Mike and I don't exchange gifts with each other so we didn't have to deal with the rush of the Valentine's crowds. Instead we give the kids presents. I don't know if this is normal or not but that is how my parents were with me on Valentine's. The girls each got a pair of fur lined boots and Mac got an outfit plus they all got a chocolate heart from me.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Happy Birthday, Mac!

I actually got a lot of stitching done on Footprints yesterday. You really can't tell in the picture because a lot of it was the satin stitches and back stitching.



I want to thank everybody for their wonderful comments on Footprints. They really help me stay motivated. :)

Today is Mac's 9th birthday. I always get a little sentimental today because of it. One reason is he is my "baby" our last child. But, the main reason is because both he and I had to go through a lot for him to be here today alive, healthy and completely normal.

He was born 11 weeks early weighing 2 pounds 11 ounces. He was so tiny! My thumb was as wide as his leg! I won't bore you with the details but he had to deal with a lot of problems for the first years of his life. Now, he is 9 years old and hasn't been to the Dr for being sick in at least a year or more. Actually, he has seen the doctor for more accidents than illnesses. LOL!! He is all boy. :)

We aren't doing a big celebration tonight. We are having cake and ice cream with some of the neighbor kids. Mac just had to have a '57 Chevy Route 66 birthday cake. We also bought him a new game for his game boy and a new outfit. He was even surprised with the presents this year. He thought I forgot to get his presents because I had them hid good this year. :)

Happy Birthday, Mac!

A Good Christmas

We had a pretty good Christmas this year. Mike was supposed to have a 3 day weekend but at the last minute (again!) they decided that they needed him to work on Saturday.

Christmas Eve was spent rushing around all day to get things done. I had to drop off presents for some friends. Then we had to go to my FIL's to give presents and to see if he was coming over for dinner on Christmas. After that I was one of the thousands of last minute shoppers trying to pick up the last minute things. It was a mess!

When I got home I still had to finish up the present wrapping and try and keep nosey kids out of my room. I got as much as I could get done with the kids awake so we went and made banana bread for Santa this year.

Finally around 9:00 pm the kids went to bed. The last one didn't fall asleep till around an hour later. It was around midnight before we actually got to bed. At 3:00 am Christmas morning, Mac woke us up because Santa had been there. The kids had a good Christmas. They each got what they really wanted for Christmas this year. I even got presents for the pets. Zoey got a fur mouse filled with catnip and Girly got a new squeak toy shaped like a cheeseburger. I thought Zoey lost her mouse until last night when I took the Christmas tree down. It was in the tree! Grrr...ornery cat!

With all of that going on I did get some time to work on Woodland Faerie. I am now at officially 50 percent done! Whoo-hoo! I probably will work on her for the rest of the week.

Merry Christmas

I wanted to take a quick minute to wish each and everyone a Safe and Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

On To Christmas

We had a nice Thanksgiving at my FIL's house. I still wasn't feeling great but I took some cough medicine and had a nice day. We all ate too much and now can't stand the sight of turkey at least until next Thanksgiving. Now we have to get ready for Christmas!

I didn't do any shopping the day after Thanksgiving mainly because I didn't feel great. I haven't been really sick in about 3 years and so when I do get sick I had to make sure that it was bronchitis. Yuck! I am starting to feel a little better but no where close to normal.

I did finish the beading on Cottege Garden Fairy over the weekend. I am pleased with how it turned out. I also worked on some finishing this weekend. I finished the Britty Kitty and Puppy into ornaments. I also made LOVE into an ornament. I had originally planned on making it into a pillow but I changed my mind at the last minute. I am currently working on finishing Jeweled Ornament from Ozark Sampler. I really like how this one is turning out.

Happy Thanksgiving

I haven't done much stitching the past few days because I have been feeling miserable. I am hoping to feel somewhat better tomorrow since we are going to FIL's house for Thanksgiving.

I wanted to wish all my US friends a Happy Thanksgiving!

Bugs Everywhere!

I managed to get my bugs done earlier this week. Unfortunately, I have been so busy that I had not even sat down to my computer until this morning. I still have to clean and press the bugs but they are pretty much ready to be sewn into a pillow. I have to take my son to the fabric shop to let him pick out his favorite color (his favorite color changes daily!). I did have one small mistake that I just left and that was there is supposed to be 19 rows space in between the bugs on the top right one I miscounted and had 18 rows space. I don't think that it is that noticeable.

My boss has decided that he wants me to work everyday(M-F) in the mornings so I was able to get some good stitching time in on my cherub angel. I got to work on the angel for 17 hours this week. When I say it like that and look at my progress it seems so little. I have worked on my little angel for a grand total of 18 hours and 5 minutes so far and I am not even a quarter of the way done! I am stitching with 2 strands(loop method) on 28 count eavenweave. So far I have one pumpkins finished and another pumpkins half way done. I have also stitched the left leg and both of the feet, however I ran out of 3770 so I had to make a resupply run yesterday and I am ready to work on the rest of the legs today if I can. ( I had 2 kids spending the night with us last evening and do not know when they will be going home).

One another thing is I would like to wish my blog mother and best friend happy birthday. So.....

Happy Birthday Renee!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Today's "Stitching Blogger's Question," is: On *average*, how many hours a week (7 days) do you think that you spend cross-stitching?

Stitching is something that I am good at and I am pretty good at it. Since it is something that I like to do I tend to stitch pretty regularly. I stitch just about everyday but the times vary. Sometimes I only stitch for 45 minutes( waiting in car pool line) and there are other days that I will stitch for 6 hours straight. I have been known to stay up till three o'clock in the morning stitching and not wanting to go to bed. On the average I would say I stitch about 3 hours a day everyday. A rough guess would be that I spend at least 21 hours stitching!

HAPPY SAINT PATRICK"S DAY TO ALL