Friends and gifts.....

Here is my friend Beth who was my neighbor when I lived in VA.  I gave her the JBW French Country Rooster pillow as a departing gift from me before I moved to Germany.  Then I gave her the French Country Hen pillow when I came for an early visit before my retreat this year.  It was a birthday gift to her.  She loved it!  I was hoping so because she also raises chickens.

But Beth now has the two pillows displayed nicely on her living room couch!  They look so nicely displayed here!

Now seeing them all done up and displayed so nicely makes me want to stitch a set for myself!!!

But here is a picture of both of us before I leave for retreat:

I will try to get the rest of my retreat pictures uploaded, named and posted here in the next few days.  The retreat was awesome but I'm soooo thankful that Beth and her family let me visit them for a few days before my retreat!

Time with friends ALWAYS seems to go soooooo fast!

My new YARN BOWL!!!!

Oh my stars!!!!  I've just been blessed by dear friends of mine!!!  Sandy is an avid cross stitcher and knitter and Sandy's husband made her a bowl to hold her yarn in to keep it clean while knitting.  Wellll, I had a fit over how wonderfully made the bowl was but what an EXCELLENT CONCEPT too!!!  Her husband, Larry, handmakes these bowls and I've been the lucky recipient of one of his handcrafted bowls in the past among other wonderful wooden things as well.  Sandy and I have exchanged mailart, ornaments and other stitching items but when she showed me the bowl that Larry made her, I was just speechless.  One because of her fabulous knitting but also because of the bowl.   So without me rambling on and on about this bowl, you can see it here:

You can see in the lower right area where the yarn feeds through the hole while the yarn sits neatly inside the bowl and off the floor or couch.  Each piece of the bowl is handcut and shaped into making this bowl!!! 

All I can say is......I'm sooo amazed at his craftmanship!!!! 

THANK YOU SANDY AND LARRY!!!!

Happy Veteran's Day

Today I want to say a special Thank You to all those people who have served in our military and are serving now!!!  Thank you for your service, sacrifice and let us not forget those who have gone before us and are not here today.  I want you to know that you are not forgotten!  Being a military wife, I understand! 

iStitch Mystery SAL Completed!!!

Yeah me!!!!  I got the last of the chart and was able to complete my iStitch Mystery SAL, photographed and sent off to Carol to have.  Now.....I have to sand down my box and stain it this week in hopes of doing the "finishing work" for this project.  But here is my piece stitched as a whole:

I am thinking I will finish this one up and display it in my master bedroom somewhere but I'm thinking I might stitch this again in another color of Hand Dyed Fibers called Winterberry 1423 and display that one in my sewing room.  And who knows.....I might even stitch this again as a gift to someone at some point in time.  We'll see about that later on.

I've returned from my retreat last week but I will write about that this coming week and include pics to show.  I had a blast though and it was great to get away from the things that I do every day.  I'm already looking forward to my retreat get away next year!!!

I'm off to do some finishing work for some Christmas presents.

Have a great day everyone!