July's Smalls SAL Post

Today is our monthly Smalls posting date.  This is hosted by Heather of Stitching Lotus.  You can click on the icon above or on her blog name.

I have LOTS of little finishes but 5 of those I can not share a picture of yet.  I will this November after I give the gifts to the recipients in October.

But not to worry.....I still have a couple of ornaments I can share since they are for my mom and dad,  and they do not have a computer to see their annual ornament.

I have my dear friend Robin to thank for telling me about how quick and easy the Foxwood Crossing sleds are to stitch up and finish.  YEP....she was right!  I found a couple of charts that I wanted to make for my parent's annual Christmas ornament for this year.

This is my mom's gingerbread girl sled and this was an excellent choice as my mom LOVES to bake.

This barn one is my dad's sled this year.  This is PERFECT for him since he lives on a farm.

Here is another church sled that Istitched and gave to one of my best friends for her birthday.  Yes....a birthday gift.  Karen and I decided long ago since we both have birthdays in July and August, it would be nice to have our annual Christmas Ornament exchanged ON our birthdays so that we get to enjoy it the whole season at Christmas time.  Yes....this is the same design that Robin gave to me as a gift, but I loved it so much and I just knew Karen would too.

I also managed to get Just Nan Garden Maze stitched up and framed for myself!!!

That's all I can share for cross stitched finishes.  The other gifts will just have to shared later on in the year.

Now I'm back to the sewing room to finish up my DD annual birthday outfit.  I usually sew her a dress but this year she wanted a vest and skirt for her birthday outfit.   I will share her bday picture when I get it made this year.

Happy Stitching!

A new look and a donation!!!

I just have to say how wonderful it is that my daughter has always grown out her hair to donate to Locks of Love.  When she was 8 years old, she wanted to cut her hair short like her good friend.  I said that is fine, but that it would be even better if she could donate her hair to Locks of Love which is a non-profit organization that provides hairpieces or wigs to children that suffer from hair loss due to medical treatment.  You can read more about Locks of Love here at this LINK.

Every time my DD has gone to have her hair cut, I've always tried to take a before picture and after picture.  She had 11" cut off this time and the last time she donated, she had 14" cut off.  So here are her before haircut and after haircut pictures.  I'm so proud that she has always wanted to help with this organization!!!

I'm sorry it looks like she has a line going across her hair.  Silly me, I forgot to take the picture as soon as we got home that day and she had it pulled back into a ponytail which is what caused that line in her hair.

But she said it feels so much lighter on her and she loves it being shorter.....at least for now in the hot summer!

I'm back to my stitching.  I've been intending on doing this but one thing or another has gotten in the way of my posting this about DD.

Happy Stitching!

Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe contest!!!

Nancy at Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe is having another contest called Christmas in July Necessaire!!!  Oh how I would LOVE to win one of her necessaire!!  They look just fun to have!!!  And who doesn't love a Christmas in July sale or contest???  I know I do!!!!

So head on over to her blog at the highlighted link at the top or on my sidebar to be taken to her blog to enter to win.  You can't win if you don't enter!!!

Happy Stitching!

Happy Summer and a couple WIP......

I have to laugh at myself as I write Happy Summer.  It has gotten hot here and with some rain recently, we have been having humidity to go along with it.  UGH  Oh well.

But to make things a little more bearable, Kroger's had some WONDERFUL looking strawberries on sale so I thought chocolate covered strawberries would be PERFECT dessert!!!  I have my fruit with just a little bit of chocolate.  LOL  I used the Bakers Dipping Milk Chocolate that all you do is microwave to melt the chocolate.  It was SUPER EASY to do.  Just follow the directions on the container and the great thing is that if you don't use all the chocolate, it can be stored in the refridgerator up to 2 weeks after melting.

I know the top left strawberry doesn't look the greatest, but I had a small amount of chocolate left in the container so I was trying to spoon it out to cover up the missing "leaf" at the top.  If I could have had them all look perfect without the green leaf at the top, I would have covered them all in chocolate! LOL

Now to keep on the stitching news, I had started Plum Street Samplers Betsy Tart this past weekend and here is where I am at right now.  I am using 36ct Glacier Sassy Fabric.

I had also started JN Spring In the Air sampler using her silk conversion.  There are 4 pansies at the top of the sampler that are stitched over one thread with 1 strand of silk.  Yes....JN does give an enlarged graph for the pansies so you aren't having to strain your eyes to see the symbols when stitching that part.  I am LOVING this project and yes....it is for me.

Now back to stitching for today.  Or is it time for lunch so I can have my new dessert now!!!????!!!   Hmmmmmm

Happy Stitching!

July TUSAL report and a July 4 cake......

I know.....I am a day late for my July TUSAL report.  Sharon of It's Daffycat is our host of this SAL.  You can click the link on my sidebar or on It's Daffycat to be taken to her blog to see it all.

I was kinda busy yesterday with it being July 4 holiday.  However, I did remember to at least take my picture of my ORTs but just never got around to posting my ORTs picture.  I'm sorry.

Here is what little I have.  It seems like I don't have that many even though I've been stitching projects like crazy.  Perhaps I'm getting extremely frugal with my thread down the last little bit of it in my needle.  LOL

One of the reasons I was busy yesterday was that I was making our 4th of July cake!  I pull out this wonderful recipe that I got off the Betty Crocker website and thought how cool it would be to make this cake for us.  I go to pull out my bundt pan and CAN NOT find it anywhere.  So here I rush off to Walmart to buy a new bundt cake pan for this recipe.  It was not hard to make and was actually fun.  Word of caution though.  When heating the icing up to make it in the microwave, do NOT heat it for very long.  (I don't know where my head was yesterday when heating the white icing up first but just know that it only takes about 5 to 7 seconds in the microwaver and not 15 seconds or you ruin the icing.  LOL)

Here is my Firecracker Red, White and Blue Cake recipe taken from Betty Crocker's website.

Here is what my cake turned out like after I iced it.  It is NOT exactly like the picture on the recipe because when I tried to drizzle it with the spoon like it suggested, the icing just dropped onto the cake.  I had better luck for the most part drizzling it with a fork and trying to be patient doing it.  I don't think it turned out too bad looking but definitely not drizzled like the recipe photo.

Here is the inside of the cake which I thought turned out to be an excellent layering of the batter when baking it.

I think if I bake this recipe again, I will just fill an icing bag and drizzle the icing with the straight tip all over the cake to achieve the results like the recipe picture shows.  But it tasted just fine!!!  That's all that matters.

I'm off to cross stitch on something.  Most likely my Plum Street Sampler Betsy's Tart.

Happy Stitching!!!!

Happy 4th of July

I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy 4th of July!!  Dh is off but poor DD had to work today.  That's what happens when you work retail.  I remember those days when I worked retail.

We will be spending it together as a family celebrating this evening as well as tomorrow since DD and DH are both off.  DS has been out of high school for a while now so he's enjoying his summer as well.

I have started a new patriotic project with Janet, and we are doing the conversion for the Plum Street Sampler Betsy's Tart that is listed on the PSS Facebook page.  I hope to have it finished later this week to show you.

Have a great July 4 and Happy Stitching!

My dad's Father's Day present.....

I can't believe I had forgotten to take a picture of this before I had it framed.  I was hoping to find a ready made frame that I could stretch the stitched piece myself to frame for him, but sadly I couldn't.  I could have ordered the frame online from a company I have used recently, but it just worked out easier for me right now to have Hobby Lobby to frame it up for me.

I LOVE how it turned out.  This is LK As For Me and My House Inspiration Boxer kit all framed up.  I'm sorry if there is a slight glare on it but I had a hard time taking it without having a picture of myself reflecting on the picture.

Here is a close up picture of the corner part of the frame so you can see how nice the blue edging looks so close to the blue stitching in the project.

This project WOULD have been included with my Smalls post yeseterday, but it was finished yet.  I just love how it looks with this project!!!

Happy Stitching!