Friday, April 29, 2011

Royal Wedding

Oohhhhh  the EXCITEMENT of the Royal Wedding today!  Yes.....I was one of those people who LOVE all this and yes I did get up at 12:50a.m. Friday April 29 to make sure I had the TV on and ready to watch all the wedding festivities!!!  I watched it all from beginning til the end and all the news coverage after that.  I did fall asleep at one point I realized later on when William had kissed Catherine but I woke up in time to see the kiss.  However, the kiss I saw was the 2nd kiss that he gave her on the balcony!  Oh well.  I did see both kisses on CNN Headline News later on so now I don't feel left out of really seeing it all. 

I did start on my Kelmscott Designs Wedding Wishes pincushion.  Here is a pic of the kit I got in the mail the other day and yes......I DID START IT THAT DAY!!!



I have the crown and "C" all stitched in and I'm xstitching in the "W" now.  I hope to finish xstitching it today so I can do the actual finishing work on Sat.

I wish the happy couple a very LONG and happy life.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

New linen and a new kit!!!!

OOOOOOO  what a great day today is!!!  I got in the mail some 45ct Florence Italian linen given to me by KB who was sooooo gracious enough to send not one but 2 pieces of this linen for me to try.  I was wanting to try the 45ct (which is tiny for those of you who don't xstitch) and I didn't want to order a huge piece in case I couldn't see to xstitch on it.  It is soooo soft yet firm enough to the touch.  Now to find a special project for each of these pieces of fabric.  I've only taken a picture of one of the pieces though.


I also got from Shepherd's Bush today a kit they had on their blog.  It was the new Kelmscott Designs William & Catherine Wedding Wishes.  I got the chart, fabric, Elizabeth I Kelmscott scissors, and the royal crown Kelmscott needleminder!!!  I just LOVE stitchy mail....even if I have to pay for it myself.


No....I'm not British but my best friend Karen is and I have a very dear designer friend Carol of iStitch that is British also!  I wanted to do this pincushion to put in my pincushion basket.   So oh darn.......I have to start this new wonderful project to hopefully have done by Friday when the Royal Wedding takes place.  Even if I have to do the finishing work on Friday that will be fine with me.  So I have a goal now.....to start this new project!   haha  Twist my arm to have to start something new!  lol 

I'm off to start this now!!! 
Have a great day!

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Easter.....



"HE LIVES"

I serve a risen Saviour; He's in the world today.
I know that He is living, whatever men may say.
I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer,
And just the time I need Him He's always near.



Chorus:
He lives! He lives! Christ Jesus lives today!
He walks with me and talks with me along life's narrow way.
He lives! He lives! Salvation to impart!
You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart.



Stanza 2:
In all the world around me I see His loving care,
And though my heart grows weary I never will despair.
I know that He is leading, thro' all the stormy blast;
The day of His appearing will come at last.


Chorus:



Stanza 3:
Rejoice, rejoice, O Christian! Lift up your voice and sing
Eternal hallelujahs to Jesus Christ, the King!
The Hope of all who seek Him, the Help of all who find,
None other is so loving, so good and kind.

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Empty Tomb Rolls

I saw this on another person's blog long ago.  This is sooooo wonderful here at Easter time. 


Baked some empty tomb rolls, an Easter tradition started by Amber (who is in Portland this weekend).  Empty tomb rolls are made by wrapping a large marshmallow in Pillsbury Crescent Roll dough - I leave 2 ‘triangles’ of dough together to form a large rectangle for wrapping each marshmallow.  Bake according to instructions on can.  When they come out of the oven the marshmallow has melted away leaving an empty cavity.  Lightly glaze if desired.






May you all have a very Blessed Easter!  

Bunny Big Ears

This is my all time favorite Easter candy.......a Bunny Big Ears!!!!

Friday, April 22, 2011

New Stash, New Starts, and some WIPs

Don't we all love to get stitching supplies in the mail??  I think it's just as great as shopping for them in the actual cross stitch stores.  I had to shop online all the time in Germany except for those few wonderful times I could hunt them out in different countries that we may have been traveling to.
Here is some new Hand Dyed Fibers I got in the mail this past week.  I know .... I know.... I meant to post them the day I got them but I'm busy with my kids and their activies after school which I don't mind because I still xstitch while waiting on them. 


The colors are as follows L to R:  3 Bitterbloom 4451 mini spools, Embers, Grasses, Pastel Rainbow, Wisteria, Mountain Shadow, Lemon Creme, Plumage, Lavender & Roses, Russian Sage and Hibiscus all in premium thread.

 

Other new stash that I got this week was a new pair of scissors I had been eyeing at Anita's Little Stitches online shop.  I also got the BBD Breath of Spring chart and some more Bohin needles.  If you've never tried Bohen needles, they are definitely a worthy investment.  I LOVE THEM!  As for the scissors, they don't cut as well as I would have thought.  That's the only bad thing about buying scissors online ..... you don't get to try them first.  But they ARE pretty with the cross on them.


 


Now a new start that I would do while waiting at Daniel's baseball games.  He would have to show up 30min before the games for them to practice so that gives me plenty of time to get a few stitches in here and there.  The WIP is from iStitch called Sew a Brown Bunny.  You can click on her blog on the side of my blog.  I love this little chart soooo much it will most likely be stitched many times.  I just grabbed a green and brown HDF from my stash and luckily I found this piece of 32ct natural Belfast linen already cut to the perfect size as I will make this little cutie into a pincushion.


I don't have much started on this one as it was very windy the night I was at the baseball game and trying to hold the chart in my lap and finding the right place to start was a bit challenging.

Next start was just last night.  I have been DYING to start BBD Tulip House Stitching Companion from their new book A Stitcher's Journey!  If you don't have this book by BBD, it is a worthy investment!  SO MANY WONDERFUL PROJECTS included in this book and well worth the money spent on it.   I didn't like the peach/orange looking colors that were called for the flower in this design so of course......I changed it!  This is being stitched on 30ct Legacy Linen that was cream but I coffee dyed it to make it look a little more aged.  As I said, I changed the flower to more of a pink color like is in the photo in the book.  Plus you all know what a huge pink color fan I am.



And last.....I leave you with my WIP on The Scarlet Letter's Jane Rees.  It is being stitched on 38ct White Gander linen and this project is HUGE!!!   It will be THE LARGEST project I have ever done second only to my huge Resurrection project.  But I am loving stitching on her.  I am using a HDF single strand regular silk in Perfect Red 6215. 



I believe that is all for now.  We are going to have a family day this afternoon and go see that movie Rango.  I hope  you have a wonderful weekend.

Happy Stitching!!!

Friday, April 15, 2011

Stitchy mail day!!!!

Ooooohhhh  I just LOVE to get stitching supplies through the mail as much as I love going shopping for them at needlework stores.  Today I got some very pretty Hand Dyed Fibers in premium.  These will hopefully work for an upcoming project in mind. 



Now it makes me want to start it .....today.... but I will be patient and wait.  Now I need to get back to xstitching.  I hope you have a great weekend!!!

Thursday, April 7, 2011

A Birthday and Blog Candy.....

I've seen this blog before and browse on it but saw on another blog that she was having a birthday and a Blog Candy giveaway. It is for The Primitive Hare blog which can be seen here at the The Primitive Hare blog:





http://theprimitivehare.blogspot.com/
 Just read about it to see how to enter!  You never know what you just might win!  Plus she has a sale going on right now....don't forget about that!

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Sewing Easter dresses.....

Yes....today would be that day. I really wanted to get started first thing this a.m. because I love to sew in the mornings before my sewing room gets hot on the second floor of my house.

Unfortunately I'm getting started a little late because I had to go run an errand this morning that took longer than planned. So here is what I had started to do last week.....take progress pics of my cutting process. Yes both dresses are all cut out. Today was to be only the sewing day which I could have one completed by dinner time tonight (if only I'd get off this computer). haha

Here was my preparation pic I took when getting ready to cut out the dresses. I forgot to take pictures WHILE I was cutting them out. I got so excited about just getting them all pinned down that I just went ahead and cut them w/o remembering to take pictures. I always make matching mom/daughter dresses and on occasion I have made ties for my husband and son. Although this a.m. Daniel tells me under his breath that he hates to wear a tie. LOL I think it's funny because I actually do have the say so in that matter but we'll see if I have any fabric left. I did not plan to make matching ties so we'll see.

I know I have some of that light green fabric left but I had bought extra because Grace wanted to make a dress herself and start learning to sew. We have the pattern for that also. It's just the T-I-M-E factor for her between school, band practice after school, and she also volunteers to tutor other students in math after school. So she's really busy right now too. I will keep you posted on how and when she does get started. That will be SO MUCH FUN teaching her how to sew!!! Yes....I do have patience in that area.

Now.....I'm off to work and maybe I'll take some sewing WIP pics to show. Have a great day!

Monday, April 4, 2011

A lunch date, shopping, and other wonderful things.....

I went to Michael's first thing this morning to buy more of the Sugar & Cream yarn to make some more of those cotton washcloths and dishcloths. Now I want to try making a dishtowel and see how that comes out. You can see the pretty colors I got today! I couldn't decide on just one or two different colors this time so I thought I might get a variety....especially when they were only $1 a skein of yarn!

Daniel only went to school for a half day so I like to do fun things with them when they get out early on those days. I picked Daniel up from school and headed out to lunch at Burger King. Now mind you, we had already written down different food places to go to this morning before going to school and we drew out Burger King. You can see here Daniel was ready to eat when we got there.


After lunch, we went to Walmart to buy a hummingbird feeder and food because we've been having a hummingbird hang out at the front door a lot lately.



Now we know why she's been hanging out by the front porch area. She has built a nest in the hanging front porch light.


And here she is.....it was the best I could do to get this close. I LOVE my digital camera zoom!

So after our fun project with the hummingbird feeder, Daniel and I played Sorry Sliders! I won 1 out of 7 games.

Now here is Daniel BEATING mom .....again and again!

I finally said...ENOUGH! You win! I want to open my mail. So here is a picture of my new stitchy stash that came in the mail today! Down Sunshine Lane was having a 20% off sale on any chart or kit that did not have NEW on it so I got me a few things to add to my stash!
Granted the My Big Toe He Holds Tomorrow chart will be stitched up for Ted's office. He keeps saying he has all this empty space on his walls and needs me to xstitch new things to display there. I guess I could have picked something from my own stash without buying more but WHAT FUN WOULD THAT BE? Not to mention most of the charts and kits in my stash wouldn't really go in his office. Ok....at least that's what I keep telling myself ... and HIM!

Now time.....if ONLY we xstitchers would be able to buy that TIME IN A BOTTLE we might get all those charts and kits stitched up.

Speaking of xstitching, I'm off to make a quick dinner so I can spend the rest of the night xstitching!