A Great Giveaway!

Belinda from Blue Ribbon Designs is having a terrific giveaway!

I Did It!

I got all 7 grandchildren's ornaments finished ahead of my Thanksgiving goal. Now I will be able to give them to them Thanksgiving Day. These are the last two. Rudy looks a little lumpy at the bottom but he isn't really.

I decided I needed another little fall pillow for the bench in my hall and found this older Heart in Hand design in my stash. It stitched up quickly, and I think made a cute pillow.

I'm one that starts stitching series and then never manages to stitch the whole series. I'm bound and determined to finish the LHN Sampler series. I've completed Spring, Summer, and Autumn, and now I've started Winter. I think this one may be my favorite. This is my progress so far.

My youngest granddaughter, Greta, is a Halloween baby, so because Trick or Treat birthday sleepover  with friends interferes with birthday with family, we celebrated her birthday last weekend. I promised her I would post her picture here.

I'm looking forward to a stitchy weekend.
Happy Stitching,
Kathy

Greetings from the home of the germs....

My husband and I have spent the past 10 days coughing and blowing noses. After antibiotics didn't work, the doctor has decided that since so much of this sinus/bronchitis like stuff is going around that it is viral and has to run its course. He put us both on prednisone and said if it wasn't better in two weeks to come back. Two Weeks!!!! I don't have time for this. I was supposed to spend a long stitchy weekend at Jan's and had to cancel and, boy, was I bummed about that.
I haven't been doing much stitching but do have a few pieces to share. I finished LHN's Autumn Sampler that has been my Saturday night piece for a while.

I managed to stitch and finish into pin pillows two of La D Da's T'is Green from the JCS preview issue and another little freebie  piece from Aurelle's blog.

I finally got to work on doing the finishing on some of the ornaments I stitched for the grandkids. I've got five of them finished, so have two more to do. I think I need to get a fancy blade for my rotary cutter because it's too hard to cut straight with pinking shears.

Last fall I stitched JBW's A Very Merry Autumn but never got around to finishing it. I found some nice fall fat quarters at JoAnns and made it into a little pillow.

Thanks for all of your comments.
Until next time Happy Stitching!
Kathy

Goodnight Sun, Goodnight Moon

Goodnight scissors. I finally attached my LHN Needle and Thread piece to the bed. Now, of course, I wasn't going to buy this premade bed, I was going to make my own. I even bought some fat quarters to make it with. But then, in June, I went to Jan's and she had the bed in her ONS room and since I have no will power I had to buy it.

A couple of weeks ago I stitched up the new Homespun Elegance freebie and finished into a door hanger. I love the backing fabric I found.

I finally bought some crushed walnut shells (lizard litter) for stuffing and dug into my "need to finish" box to find something to try it out. Came up with Four Seasons by The Trilogy, that I had stitched several years ago, and finished it as a pin pillow.

This week is going to be finishing week. I have all 7 grandkids' ornaments and a few others to do the finishing on. Wish me luck!
Have a great week and happy stitching!
Kathy

Star Wars

A few weeks ago, I asked my second youngest grandson, Daniel, what he wanted for his birthday on Sept. 29. His reply surprised me. He wanted me to take him to the mall to the Build-a-Bear store and the Lego store. So last Sunday off we went and this is what we came home with. First of all meet Darth Panda(his mask is off for the picture).


Then after a pretzel at Aunt Annie's shop we were off to the Lego store where we found a StarWars Lego kit that he loved and a little Star Wars guy on a key chain.


I've been stitching some smalls and reading about ways to finish them in many wonderful blogs. After emailing Faye, who finishes such great smalls, I decided to get some crushed walnut shells to use instead of fiber fill or doll pellets. So off I headed to my local Pet Smart and told the young guy working there that I wanted some crushed walnut shells that were used for lizard or bird litter and he led me straight to the ----bird seed and that was the last I saw of him. I finally found the lizard litter and didn't realize there were so many to choose from, but finally found what I wanted.

This week I've been stitching on Raise the Roofs Libertyville and have almost finished part one.

Have a great weekend and happy stitching!

Kathy

It's About Time......

It's about taking the time to update my blog. I've been back from my six weeks in northern Michigan for over a month and haven't taken the time to post.
We had a wonderful six weeks at the lake, were blessed with beautiful weather, and had week long visits from both of our daughters and their families. We went on hikes, saw a bald eagle in the wild, took picnics to the shores of Lake Michigan's Little Traverse Bay. I even was able to talk my DH and brother into a day trip to Mackinac Island, one of my favorite places in the world. We won't talk about my non-boat driving husband helping my brother get the boat on the trailer and the $600 repair bill that resulted.

There is nothing better than drinking your morning coffee on the deck and watching the lake.
Unfortunately not much stitching resulted from these 6 weeks. I would love to stitch on the deck but after a scare with some seagull poop landing on my hand while I was stitching I gave that up. The lighting in the cottage is not good, so I had my Ott light but all the television watchers complained about it. So I only have a couple of things to share.
The first is Little House Needleworks Lakeside Lodge. The original plan was to have it finished, framed and hung on the cottage walls this summer, but that didn't happen.

My only other finish was an ornament. LHN's He's a Flake.

I'll be back soon I hope to share the little stitching I've completed since I've been home. In the mean time, happy stitching and thank you so much for your comments.

Good Grief!!!!

I haven't blogged forever. I've been reading blogs and not commenting much. I'll blame it all on the loss of my stitching mojo. I did stich, but not as much as I usually do and do have some finishes to share with you.
Earlier in the winter I finished Blue Ribbon Designs Proud and True. I mad some changes to the house and fretted over the over-one part and finally got out my q-snaps and survived it.


Then I finished My Quaker Lady. I used NPI silks for the first time on this and loved working with them.


Blackbird Designs Bluebird pincushion was a small fun finish. I put blue rick rack along the edges.
Spring found me busy with grandchildren and activities at their school. I hauled my sewing machine to the twin's 6th grade classroom one day and joined other grandmas and moms in making caftans for their international day. The kids had cut out the fabric themselves as part of their math class so the sewing was somewhat of a challenge. I went to a Grandparents Day at one school, a spring concert at another, a piano recital and to my oldest grandson's 8th grade graduation.

A couple of weeks ago I drove to south western Indiana to visit with my friend Jan. Spending a few days stitching with a friend was a great way to get my stitching mojo back. We talked, laughed, shopped, and stitched. And I brought home too much stash that I bought at her webshop. I stitched BBD's Bird in Hand as a little thank you for her.