2006 Finishes

It's is hard to believe that in a few days it will be 2007. I didn't do too bad this year in my stitching considering I had a 500 mile move last April.

2006 Finishes

1. You're Special-birthday exchange
2. Itching to Stitch-lottery exchange
3. Leaves-RR
4. Winter Arches-RR
5. Unicorn and Fairy Magic-large piece
6. Dance of the Bumblebee-Adopt A Stitcher exchange
7. Teapots-RR
8. Happy Easter-Easter exchange
9. Special Stitcher-birthday exchange
10. Our Days-large piece
11. Night Garden-RR
12. Herbs and Spices-large piece
13. Elemental Dragons-RR
14. Seasonal Chairs-RR
15. You'll Always Be My Best Friend-birthday exchange
16. Deepest Love-large piece
17. (The) Fortunate Traveler-large piece
18. O' Christmas Tree-gift

19. Santa's Unexpected Gift-gift
20. Jeweled Ornament-gift
21. Britty Christmas Kitty-gift
22. Britty Christmas Puppy-gift
23. Love-gift
24. Christmas Mosaic Ornament-gift
25. Paws Off-gift
26. Health and Happiness-gift
27. Forget Love-gift
28. Cottege Garden Fairy-large piece

Right now we don't have any big plans for New Year's Eve. First of all, we live in a dry county which means you can not buy ANY alcohol anywhere within the county lines. If you would like a beer or have a drink at a bar you have to drive at least 40-45 minutes one way!

I had been considering starting a new rotation at the first of the year but I have decided against it. So I will be stitching whatever screams at me to stitch. I have decided that I am not going to start any new large pieces until I have finished Woodland Faerie, Footprints, and A Time For Everything. Right now, I am focused on Woodland Faerie.

Of course, this doesn't mean I won't be participating in a few exchanges. I received my person's name for the Winter Wonderland Exchange on the SBEBB. I am looking forward to doing this exchange. I haven't really done one since the move. At least it gives me a reason to go stash shopping. :)

This will be my last post for 2006 so I would like to wish everyone a safe and happy New Years.

Happy New Year's!!

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!

Chrismas Party

I survived my hubby's Christmas party for work last night. It was held at a local steakhouse. The food wasn't anything to brag about. First of all, why is it in my salads do I always get a big chunk of the core in my salad? I was looking forward to the steak I had ordered so the salad thing didn't bother me too much. I had ordered a drink when to my amazement I was informed that they were out of daiquiri mix and was there something else I would like? Nope, water would be fine.

So far up to this point I have had a sucky salad and no daiquiri (which I had been looking forward too!). As my side I had ordered french fries to be safe and it was a good thing because the steak wasn't very good. They had used way too much pepper on it and it was too pink for me. The only thing I can say after almost an hour wait at least it was warm when it was served.

The rest of the evening went fine. They did their grab bag. It was left up to you if you wanted to get a gag gift or something useful. We bought a sausage and cheese gift box. We ended up with a bottle of rum! Will most definitely find a use for that. LOL

After 3:45 pm today my world becomes all children. My kids get out for winter break today. I had thought they got out yesterday but that was for the little boy and his sister that I babysit. Of course, that isn't mentioning my daughter's friends that will be coming over for visits and sleep overs. I have one word....HELP!

As a matter of fact, I bet that one of the girls either ask to stay with a friend or wants to have them spend tonight. So I am already prepared, we will do some more holiday baking tonight and possible get a DVD to watch tonight. If the choice is left up to me it will be the original "It's A Wonderful Life" but I probably will be out voted.

Only 6 More Days..

till my kids can quit driving me nuts about presents!! Since I actually got started early on shopping this year I managed to get just about everything the kids wanted this year. We aren't going anywhere for Christmas this year so it will be nice to relax on a holiday. We will be going to see my FIL but that is only about a 30 minute drive.

I didn't make a fabric run again last weekend. I had 2 extra kids staying the night on Saturday so I didn't go anywhere. Which means I didn't get a lot of time to stitch.

I did stitch a bit on Woodland Faerie last night. I have been working on this one for almost a year now and I'm only about 40 percent done! I really like the pattern but I have to admit that this is a pattern I don't foresee myself re-stitching anytime soon.

I signed up for the Winter Wonderland Exchange on the SBEBB. I have a pretty good idea of what I want to stitch but I have to check with my local LNS to see if they have everything I need first. I'm looking forward to getting back into the exchanges. I haven't participated in one since we moved last April. I was trying to wait till things calmed down but I think things are as calm as they are going to be with a teenager in the house.

Today's SBQ was suggested by Carol and is:

Do you have any good Internet links to tutorials for your favorite finishing techniques that you would like to share?

I do use some tutorials but then again I don't. Doesn't make a lot of sense does it? I will read how to make something but I seldom stick to the tutorial.

I have been working on Woodland Faerie this week. I have made some progress but nothing to get to excited about. I didn't make my fabric run last week so I haven't worked on anymore ornaments. I have enough finished now for my family(mom and brother), friends, and teachers.

I'm not sure how much stitching or baking I will get done for the next few days. Tonight I have to go to a concert for the one of the kids I babysit, Monday night is Mac's Christmas concert, Tuesday night is Mike's Christmas party, and the kids get out for winter break on Tuesday! Somewhere in there I have to finish up the Christmas shopping, too!

I didn't do any ornie stitching this weekend because I didn't get a chance to go to the LNS. I did work on Woodland Faerie last night and have started stitching the mouse. I am going to work on it later today, too.

Saturday was pretty much devoted to cleaning and doing the laundry. I got it all finished in time for Allie to have a friend spend the night and Krissy went to spend the night with her friend.

After Allie's friend arrived we went to town to do some grocery shopping. After dinner I started on Christmas baking. I made another 3 pound batch of fudge. I let the girls make chocolate covered pretzels. Which of course might have been a mistake since it looks like they ate more than they made. LOL

Sunday was my big baking day. I (with on and off assistance from Mac) started around 11 am and finished around 5 pm. I made

3 dzn peanut butter balls
4 dzn snickerdoodles
4 dzn peanut butter cookies
4 dzn chocolate chip
11x9 pan of rice krispy bars

but that isn't what is left! If I have enough time tonight I am going to try a new recipe for Russian Tea Cakes and make some carmel popcorn.

Cooking vs Baking

Here is are the ornies/gifts I have stitched so far for Christmas this year:

O Christmas Tree-Angel Stitchin 2005 JCS
Santa's Unexpected Gift-Dragon Dreams 2006 JCS
Britty Christmas Kitty-Brittercup Designs 2005 JCS
Britty Christmas Puppy-Brittercup Designs 2006 JCS
Jeweled Ornament-Ozark Sampler
Christmas Mosaic-Ornament-M Designs
Paws Off-Dragon-Dreams 2005 JCS
Health/Happiness-Blue Ribbon Designs
Forget Love-Sue Hillis Designs
LOVE-

I have a few more that I want to stitch but I desperately need to make a fabric run to the LNS. Which I have planned for Saturday. :)

I didn't do any stitching last night because we attended Krissy winter band concert. Then after we got home I made some fudge with my son's assistance. It turned out great! Tonight we are making chocolate covered peanut butter balls. They taste like Reese's. Yummy! I find it funny that while I am an okay cook and nothing to brag about but when it comes to baking I do great. What is even funnier is when I was first married I couldn't bake a cookie and could use it for a paperweight but now my cookies disappear before they can even get to the cookie jar.

Have a great weekend everyone!

I got to see snow last week. We got a couple of inches of rain followed by a couple of inches of ice and topped off by a couple of inches of snow. It was a winter wonderland Friday morning. It was bad enough to call of school and hubby's work was closed. The main roads are fine now but the secondary roads are still icy.

Since we were iced in for a couple of days I did get some stitching done. I started and finished Paws Off by Dragon Dreams from the 2005 JCS Ornament issue. I made it into a cute ornament for my brother. I also started working on Christmas Mosaic Ornament from M Designs.

Since we moved I haven't stuck with my rotation and I can tell because it seems like I haven't had as many finishes this year as I normally do. I have 3 large WIP (Woodland Faerie, Footprints, and A Time For Everything) that I need to finish before I start up a new rotation. I do know that I am going to try and get my Christmas ornaments done before December next year instead of waiting until the last minute.