Short and Sweet

 What a week! Too many doctor appointments, too many errands and the week was topped off with another ambulance visit for the Grumpy Ol Gazer. Luckily this time, they were able to treat him without taking him to the hospital!

I needed something different to work on after all this!  I looked through my WIPs but I am keeping them for weekends. Then I went through my other stash. Plenty to choose from but nothing grabbed my attention right this moment. I wanted something sweet, simple and not too big so I started hunting through online stores. Bingo! Hannah Jenkinson Sampler by Stacy Nash was absolutely perfect! I ordered it and can't wait for it to come in so I can start on her.

 

I still hope to get at least 6 pieces stitched and ready to take to the next framing sale. I have a few ideas but I always change my mind. Soooo.........

 

Until next time may you have simple days and an uncluttered heart.

Welcome September! Long Post

The first part of September is usually a busy time for us. We celebrated our 44th anniversary! I remember when I was in first grade we had a class on promises. Promises we made to other people, to God and even to ourselves. I was very moved by this lesson and  I made some promises to myself about my life. Over the years I have honored these promises and tried to live my life based on them. I have even added a few over the years. So far, I have not broken one promise. Pretty good for a first grader, huh? One of them was about marriage. We had a nice day and went out for a special dinner.

 

I recently got a phone call about the kidney transplant program!  There are 3-5 steps to be fully accepted. I have passed step 1. I answered the phone! LOL. Talk about being surprised and overwhelmed at the same time. I attended my first class. Very strict rules. I don't know how long I would have to wait for the organ ( or if I will ever get one) but for now I am not worried about it. I am just really honored to be considered. I will probably find out around the end of this month if I have been accepted.

 

Several days later, the Grumpy Ol Gazer will have a birthday (it falls on Labor Day this year). I used to always make him two German Chocolate cakes for his special day. One for home and one to take to work. I stopped making his cakes for several years (because of health reason and life in general)  but I redeemed myself by making one for him this year and it turned out good! He will still get two GC cakes though. He finally quit smoking while he was in the hospital several months ago. I promised him I would make a GC cake for him on his quit anniversary each year if he stuck with it!

 

It has always seemed as though once Labor Day makes it's appearance on the calendar, the rest of the year just flies by! That is fine with me this year!

 

I did not get much stitching done this week because of everything I mentioned above! We have several more appointments this month but nothing back to back. I did go through my stash again. I had fewer WIPs than I thought. That is always a nice surprise!  I decided to work on another WIP as well. I had to dig it out of the WIP pile then I wanted to order some threads. What piece am I talking about? And A Forest Grew by Rosewood Manor. I have been working on this piece for OVER ten years! Time to finish it up!

 

While going through my WIP drawer, I found so many suprises! Fabrics, threads, patterns and other stitching supplies, all unopened! It was better than a Happy Mail day because I was not expecting it! 

 

I also picked up my framing! I had taken it all in on June 16th which was the last day of the sale. Her sale was such a big success this year with everyone staying home due to the Covid virus and stitching more. I will share a few this post and some more next time!

 

It has been hard for me to do much the past few weeks (stitching, cooking, taking out trash) because of my shoulder. I don't know if it is just a persistent case of bursitis or a torn rotator cuff in my shoulder. I am rooting for bursitis so I can just get an injection instead of out patient surgery. I could not get an appointment with him until the 15th of this month!

 

Until next time may you have simple days, an uncluttered heart and stay well.

Happy Father's Day!

I am starting to have second thoughts about my infusion project! I still want to stitch The Fall by Barbara Anna Designs but I am just not sure if I want to take such a big piece of fabric to infusion each week but I WILL get to it! For now,I will have go through my stash and see what I can find.

We had a nice weekend and treated ourselves to some ice cream at the local ice cream shop here. A lemon shake for the Grumpy Ol Gazer and a hot fudge nut sundae for me! We also made another grocery trip. Lots and lots of fresh fruit this time of year! Peaches, sweet black plums, cherries, blueberries, strawberries and of course,watermelons! I always pick up a watermelon when they are in season.

Did you know that there are male and female watermelons? The males are the big oblong melon and are extra juicy. The female is round, has a sweeter taste but is still juicy enough. I usually buy the female. They are in the stores earlier plus they are a little bit easier to carry!

I was going to share my current stitch but decided I wanted to wait until I was a little farther along on it before doing that. I did not finish it up in time to take in for framing but it will go to the next sale in October! The Grumpy Ol Gazer had a follow up dr. appointment and I wanted to ride along (no one other than  patients allowed in dr. offices right now) so I took it along to stitch on while I waited in the car.

I took 6 pieces in to the framing sale this week. I am thrilled with the frames we picked out and can't wait to get them back! I have an empty wall in my dining area. After painting I never put anything back up on that wall so I have a blank canvas to work with! I am thinking I would like a nature wall (birds and other critters that wander into my backyard). I may have to intermingle a few other designs with it for the sake of space. It will be fun to work on pieces and watch that wall grow!

Thanks to everyone who sent get well wishes for the Grumpy Ol Gazer. He is actually doing better than before he went in the hospital! It's good to have him back home!

Until next time may you have simple days, an uncluttered heart and stay well.

Getting Back to Normal

What a terrible wonky week it was around here! Last Wednesday the Grumpy Ol Gazer was not feeling his best. He just got worse as the day went on. Around midnight he woke me up because he felt he needed to go to the hospital. I jumped out of bed and into action, getting dressed and calling an ambulance. We followed the ambulance to the hospital and the nurses proceeded to chase me out and told me no visitors! He finally was able to come home yesterday. It was scary for me but also for him because he has ditched a few bad habits so this hopefully doesn't happen again!

We still do the majority of our shopping as pick up but the walk in store usually has the best supply of ice cream and this is an ice cream junkie household! Ice cream for milkshakes, ice cream in a bowl, ice cream sundaes, ice cream with cobblers!

Speaking of cobblers.....  I made another blueberry cobbler last week. They get eaten up as soon as they come out of the oven! I am taking full advantage of fresh blueberry season with this delicious cobbler! Next on my list is a strawberry cobbler. This one uses frozen strawberries but the brand I buy taste like they were just picked!

We have had too much rain lately! Along with some mighty loud storms! Those rainy days do make for good stitching days but I am ready for the sun to come out for a while!

I ordered this cute design as my reward for having so many dr. appointments over the next few months. I have at least one appt. a week through the middle of August. Sometimes more than one. So I decided to spoil myself a little with this sweet design by Heart in Hand Designs.

I have my appointment for the framing sale next week! I can't wait! I have several new starts. One small that I hope to finish before the framing appointment and a larger one that I work on during the weekends. I will save them for show at a later date. I just know if I show them now, I will jinx them and set them aside!

Until next time may you have simple days, an uncluttered heart and stay well!

Life is Good!

Life is Good! I finally got my hair trimmed up. The threads for Lizzie Kate's Things Unseen sampler finally arrived. The baby bluebirds have hatched!

Our hair salons are still closed but  we live almost on the state line and the hair salons in our neighboring state were allowed to open (with restrictions) so we hopped in the car to go get our hair cut! I feel like a person again!

It's that time of year again and daisies are in the store which means they are also on my table! I usually get them in time for Mother's Day but they were late coming in this year. As long as I get them, I am happy!

I have (almost) definitely decided on The Fall by Barbara Ana as my infusion project! I usually start on them about a week before infusions begin to get everything set up and started so I can just continue at infusion!

I spent a day sorting out my pattern stash. The ones I am interested in stitching were put in a special place that is easily accessible for me while the others that will probably not get stitched any time soon were put away where I can get to them but they don't clutter up the rest of the stash.

I ordered some more fabrics from My Vintage Needlearts over at Etsy. She had been out of the Beige (which I loved) and she got more in so I had to get some more of it! I would describe it as a light to medium pecan color.

I made my appointment at my LNS for their framing sale. I hope to have one or two more finished to take in by then. I will probably have between 6-9 to frame. I am looking to have at least 4 finishes for the Fall framing sale so I had better get busy! Whatever doesn't finished for this sale will be rolled over to the Fall framing sale! A lot better than last year when I only got 1 finish the entire year! LOL.

Until next time may you have simple days, an uncluttered heart and stay well.

Just Words

I have good news and I have bad news this post.

I have been waiting on my threads so that I can start on Lizzie Kate's Things Unseen Mystery Sampler. Bad News - it is taking forever for them arrive! So I am going to start on another piece for now. The threads will probably show up as soon as I get started on a different piece! UPDATE - the threads arrived the day after I started the new stitch!

Good News. I have a new weekend stitch to work on.  Never Enough Thyme by The Goode Huswife! I have loved this design since I first saw it but it has been OOP and impossible to find! A sweet friend shared her pattern with me so that I could finally work on this! I used 18 count Aida in Khaki by My Vintage Needlearts and I used DMC threads from my stash. And no hand cramps yet with this one! I will share a picture next post!

Good News. My LNS is having their Spring framing sale between May 23 and June 16. It is by appointment only. I am hoping I can get one or two more pieces finished up to take in. They usually have a framing sale in the Fall too so any leftovers can be saved for that one.

Good News. My next round of infusions come up in late July through early August. I have been thinking about what my infusion project should be. I have The Fall by Barbara Ana Designs kitted and ready. I also have Faith by Heartstring Samplery kitted up. Or I have several other Adam and Eve designs kitted up and ready to stitch. I like the idea of The Fall. I know I would not finish it by the end of infusions but I would get a good start.

I hope everyone had a nice Mothers Day. We are still not able to go to dine in restaurants but the guys got some good take out so I would not have to cook and I got several charts and some threads.

Until next time may you have simple days, an uncluttered heart and stay well!

It Happened Again!

Once again we had a beautiful week with warm Spring temperatures. My chickadees and blue birds loved the weather! The very next day we woke up to SNOW!! What the.... My blue bird couple was ever vigulant and kept working on their nest. My chickadees have left again. I keep watching and hoping they come back.Yes, the weather was back to Spring the very next day! I hope that is over.

Unfortunately I was not able to work on Mother's Tree again. It was just a busy busy week. My LNS started their framing sale so I took in six pieces. I can't wait to get them back. She knows what type of frames I like and she always does a wonderful job!They also had their charts on sale so I picked up a few. Like I really need more! 

I got Together by Heart in Hand. A very sweet and simple piece.

I  also picked up Quakers and Quilts by Rosewood Manor. It is an alphabet sampler with quilt blocks! Need I say more!

And last but not least, I got Heart & Hand by Brenda Gervais. This chart included multiple favorites of mine. I have always like the saying "Hands to work. Hearts to God"  It included 2 of my favorite trees. Dogwood blossoms around the top border and a Weeping Willow by the house. And the Heart to Hands symbol is always a classic!

Until next time may you have simple days and an uncluttered heart.

Framing!

I have been away from my blog for awhile but not from reading all the others that I enjoy so much. I wish I could post of exciting travels, wonderful finds and bargains and other such things but none of that has been going on lately. Just life as usual which is fine with me!

We have talked about painting the exterior of the house for some time and this weekend we made the first big step towards it. Picking out the colors. We went to the store and brought home color samples galore! DH joked around about using Hot Pink for the house, purple for the trim and orange for the accents. OMG! We finally ended up agreeing on something a little less subtle which I am sure the neighbors would be grateful to know! lol. A pale ivory called Marshmellow for the house, white for trim and a brown called Hot Chocolate for the accents (shutters and doors). Doesn't that sound yummy? Hot chocolate and marshmellows!

I picked up my framing over the weekend. I am always thrilled with her work. Now to hang it all plus last years framing! That's right. A whole year went by and I never got around to hanging up last years framed pieces! In my defense, I have a good reason. I have been playing with the idea of changing out the walls or just doing something different so I didn't want to grab my hammer and nails until I was sure of what and how I wanted to arrange it all.

I just love the frame on Good Maidens by PSS. The detail looks like a row of standing trees.

A Weary World Rejoices by Shakespeare Peddler. I used 18ct Aida.

And last of all, I sew'd my heart by Heartstring Samplery. Sorry for the shadow on the picture. The morning light was a bit hard to work with.


I am still looking for my next new start! Since I have been working on small to medium pieces lately, I am debating on a larger piece. Hmmm, but I do seem to work more diligently on the previous size designs. But, gee whiz and gosh darn it, there are so many I like and not all of them are those sizes! Start one of each?

Thanks so much for stopping by! Until next time, may you have simple days and an uncluttered heart.

Frames, Frames, Frames

Hi everyone! We had a nice but busy Spring weekend with beautiful weather and the birds were singing their hearts out in celebration of the end (hopefully) of cold days. No real stitching updates to post this time as I took a break from it for a few days.

I needed to get a new frame for Good Things by NNF but kept forgetting. When I finally remembered and went to look for one, I wasn't happy with any that I saw. I guess I'm too picky. After getting home, I saw one peeking out of the stack of frames I have waiting to be used. It's a much older frame but I have always loved it and have been saving it for just the perfect thing. Bingo! Problem solved! Of course I had to clean up but I just love old knotty wood. It has so much character!




I picked up my pieces from the framers and I am love with them! She did such a wonderful job on the framing and I couldn't help but think "did I really do this work?" because of her wonderful touch and they look so much better in the frames than I ever thought my work could be! When she brought them out for my approval, I was jumping up and down and clapping in glee like a small child! Even Harold was impressed. They are special to my heart since they were both stitched in memory of loved ones. I have a list of more designs I would like to work up in memory of other loved ones. Personalizing them like this just makes the pieces much more special and keeps my heart warm.

My father was a gadget nut! He wanted (and usually bought) every new techno play toy that came out. He especially loved making CDs of his favorite music. Once when I called him, he told me that he had just finished a CD of his favorite gospel songs and hymns.He asked me what my favorite hymn was and I promptly replied "Oh, that's easy. His Eye is on the Sparrow." He said "Oh my gosh! I love that one and forgot all about it!" I laughed and told him he would have to make another CD now so he could include it. When he passed away, I chose the songs for the service and this was the first one I picked because of that special conversation and laughter we shared about it. This piece by Tree of Life of Samplings was a must to stitch when I saw it. I wanted a simple yet striking frame to bring out the colors of the design.


A Mind Independent and Free by CHS was stitched in memory of my aunt. She was a very special person in my life. Many times she told me that she wanted to live a good long life but if her mind ever started to go, she hoped the Good Lord would go ahead and take her home so this verse was more than perfect to do in her memory. I think she would be pleased. I picked a simple yet darker frame for this piece and the woman at my LNS was even in awe over the finished outcome.




My aunt had been working on our family history for years before she passed away. This past year we have all have received many CDs and other files with her pictures, a box of the history ready to put into binders and much more. This past week I was surprised with a another huge file with more history that I had not expected. I haven't looked at it yet because of the size and I know I will want a lot of time to look through it. I have been wanting to find more information on my Grandma's side of the family so that I can work on the Mother's Tree by Lavender and Lace. I have enough information right now to do it with 5 women but I have seen it finished off with 8 or 9 and it is beautiful! The more the better so my fingers are crossed! I would especially like to thank my cousins for helping to pull all this history together because they all did a lot of work on it.

Thanks for stopping by again! Your visits and comments always make my day brighter.

Adding to my Dream

For years my decorating dream has been to have a home with piles of quilts on the beds and oodles of stitched samplers adorning every wall. Just the thought of picturing this in my mind makes me go weak in the knees! With my last framed pieces, I began to see part of this dream taking shape. And now I have another framed piece to hang! Thankful Wheeler came home to stay yesterday!



Look at the detail on this frame. It has a very old, wood eaten look to eat. Just perfect for this piece!



I am working on Independent Mind right now. I finished up the divider and I am loving stitching on it now! I will have a progress photo next post for you all to see.

Thanks so much for stopping by to see me! Your comments always mean so much to me! Once again, have a wonderful Easter weekend!

Ready or Not!

It's almost the weekend and it's almost officially Spring! I am ready for both!

After seeing AAFG framed and hanging on the wall at my LNS, Harold has taken an interest in my progress on this WIP! I know I will be thrilled once it is done and out of my WIP pile but now his interest gives me even more incentive to get it finished up. I have just finished up Section 6 and have a small start on Section 7 (which is the last section of the top half). Sorry for the messy look but I took the picture right out of the hoop!

Every now and then (just for fun) I will take a look to see how many followers my blog has. I checked this morning and I have 90! I know of many other blogs with so many more followers than this but it totally thrilled me and (at the same time) bowled me over that 90 people actually enjoy reading what I have to say! How neat is that!

Thanks to everyone for the good vibes about the dryer repairman. He came out yesterday morning and was really nice. He showed me some things and even explained it so I could understand. Our dryer is now fixed and since it was nothing major he didn't even charge us!

Thank you all for such a fun week. I enjoyed sharing my framed pieces with you and your comments really brightened my days! Until next time, may you have simple days and an uncluttered heart! Have a wonderful weekend!

Show and Tell #4

Last but not least (for now) is Lauren's Voice by La D Da. This was my first stitch of 2009. I liked the message and decided to use it as my own reminder through out the year. I am sorry the picture is a tad blurry but the light in the room was playing some funny tricks on the camera. I chose a frame with some inner beading that really plays well with the border around the design.

There will be more framing to show off soon when I get Thankful Wheeler back so just hang on to the edge of your seats! lol. I know I am! While I am waiting to get the rest of it back home where it belongs I will be searching for wall space! Goodbye old pictures. Hello samplers!

Yesterday was one of those "I wasn't expecting this to happen" days. Our dryer is on the fritz. The repairman came out and I told him what we thought it was. He was certain it was something else (without even checking the problem we mentioned). He did some work, charged us a nice chunk and left. When I put a load of clothes in the dryer - boom - the same problem was still there! We called him and he is coming out sometime today. I sure hope he listens to me this time!

Have a great day and thanks so much for stopping by to see me again!

Show and Tell #3

I got a phone call that Margaret was ready early so I picked her up before I had planned to. I am very happy with the framing on this piece - even though they had to re-do it. That's right! The first time around was just awful. Even Harold said it looked sloppy. I took a close up shot of the frame to show it off also.



I appreciate all the wonderful comments about the framing I have shared so far. These are the first in-store framing I have had done since I was able to pick back up on my stitching after a long absence from it because of migrains! Cross stitch was always my favorite hobby and it broke my heart when I had to put it down for years. I was always picking it up again just to see if maybe - just maybe - I could stitch again without a sad ending but it wasn't until around 5 years (or so) ago and the discovery of a new type of magnifier that I was able to make cross stitch a part of my life again! I was thrilled! When I got back into stitching, I was shocked to see how much it all had changed but I was determined to adapt. I was so happy when Harold told me to get all these finished designs framed!

I have found a new love! Usually when we go to the steakhouse, I get steak and the works but since I have been cutting back that just seems like more than I really want. DH and I usually go up there around lunch time sometime over the weekend while doing errands and I have been ordering a special salad on the menu that is too good to describe! Lettuce, tomato, grilled chicken bites, crumbled blue cheese, walnuts, dried cranberries, deviled eggs and more! I could make it but in a house full of "gotta have meat" guys, I don't think anyone would appreciate it as much as I do!

Thanks so much for stopping by again and putting a smile on my face! Have a wonderful day!

Show and Tell #2

Next up on my framed list is Blessed are all the Needleworkers. This was a design in The Gift of Stitching online magazine but I just can't remember which issue without pulling them all out and digging through them! Actually, I liked this piece but was a bit disappointed because I felt it didn't turn out as good as I had thought it would. But now that it is framed, I am completely happy with it! It is everything I wanted it to be and more! I chose a simple frame with a thin gold band around it to pull out the yellows in the design.

I am already getting the itchies for a new start (no matter what I may have said in past posts)! lol. Until I decide what it will be, I have been working on AAFG for awhile. I kitted up several more designs yesterday. I have plenty to choose from, that's for sure!

There really isn't much news right now. I'll be back tomorrow with another framed goodie! Have a good day and thanks for stopping by again!

Show and Tell

I have been watching Who Do You Think You Are on Friday Nights. It's a collaboration between NBC and ancestry.com. It is a journey for well known celebrities to find their family roots. So far, Sarah Jessica Parker and Emmit Smith have studied their family histories. Very interesting and I couldn't help but feel excited and a bit apprehensive for them since I am an on again off again minor league genealogist . This week Lisa Kudrow will take her family history journey. If you don't get a chance to watch or record it, you can go to NBC.com and watch all the full episodes there.

Daylight Savings Time started over the weekend. It will take a couple of days for me to adjust to the change but I do like the longer days once in a while.

Wow! What a great weekend. I picked up three framed designs! I can't wait to share them all with you! This meant a trip to the LNS. I am totally thrilled with them! I told Harold that with the cost of framing, I better be jumping up and down in glee at the results! He agreed since he is paying! lol. One piece was not ready and will be picked up this coming weekend. Oh, I took Thankful Wheeler in for framing as well. This is it for awhile unless I frame it.

I will be sharing one a day so that I can stretch out the anticipation a little more! First up is My Home is Built in Glory. As you recall, I started this right before my Dad got ill and decided to finish it in his memory. I picked it up on the 7 month anniversary of his death. Very fitting, I think. I am 100% thrilled with this framing job! I picked out a nice heavy frame. No frills. Just something good and substantial to bring out the beauty of the design!

One of the charts the LNS ordered for me was in. I ordered the new chart Parting Hour by Beth Twist and an older one, Mary Corey by Threads of Gold. Mary Corey has not arrived yet but I told them to just set it aside for me when it comes. And by the way, these were already ordered before I said I would be good on my stash buying until next Market! I had to stick that bit of FYI in there mainly for my own benefit!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Until next time, may you have simple days and uncluttered heart!

Excited Jabber

Busy weekend! Sunny Days! Cold weekend! We stayed on the go with our usual errands plus a few extras. It felt good to get back into our regular habits since this was really the first weekend Harold was back out running around with me full force since his hospital episode. The temps stayed on the chilly side and the wind that accompanied it was one to cut right through you. Brrrrrr. Thank goodness that wonderful sunshine knocked off some of the chill.

Last Christmas, Harold found an LNS to buy part of my gifts at. I was thrilled to find out there was a shop within a decent range of us and have been wanting to go ever since. He finally took me down there this weekend! I was one happy gal. The ladies there are wonderful and the shop is perfect with everything I could dream of wanting and more. Their framing section was a dream come true. The prices didn't make my mouth drop open in shock and the selection of mouldings was too good to be true! They are framing up some of my pieces and I hope to get back in several weeks! I even let them order several charts for me. Gives me a good reason to go back again! I can definitely see this LNS becoming a regular part of my life and I couldn't be happier! By no means do I intend to abandon my online shops but for now I am basking in the happiness of being able to fondle and wallow among all the goodies of a real life LNS.

While at the LNS, I noticed they had a wonderful selection of scisssors and as a lot of you know, I have wanted to add these to my collections of sewing items so I took the plunge and came home with these! I always say that once I have 3 of something, I have a collection so I went the full mile on starting this collection! I can't wait to add to it! In case you can't see, I got the Owl, Witch and Tudor Rose all by Kelmscott.

At the LNS, I noticed they had a framed sample of AAFG on their wall. I showed it to Harold and he thought I wanted it. I just laughed (because I would have loved to have taken theirs home with me) and told him that I was working on that piece. He was sort of taken back by the size of it! Wow, so was I when I saw their finished and framed piece!

I told Harold how much I appreciated being able to get all that framing done since this was the first framing I have had done in a long long time but I wouldn't be doing that all the time. I would continue to frame some of my things and then take certain things to the shop for framing. He liked the idea and I think I saw him secretly pat his wallet as if to reassure it all would be ok. lol.

While we were out, I saw a frame for Independent Mind but didn't get it. I should have gotten it but I think I will wait until it is complete since I am bad about setting things aside for long periods.

Thanks so much for stopping by to see me again! Your visits and comments always brighten my day! Until next time, may you have simple days and an uncluttered heart.

Being Productive!

I didn't get a lot of stitching done yesterday but I pulled out my basket of finished (but unframed) pieces and decided to start working on them again! I got Glad Tidings by BBD framed. I took several pictures and unfortunately, the only one that wasn't fuzzy had a glare! I hope to get at least one more framed over the weekend!

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

I did pretty good!

I worked on Good Things yesterday and got it framed. I automatically see several things I will need to do differently next time but overall, I am pretty pleased! Practice makes perfect and I think I will get better as I continue to do alot of my own framing! Now to look for frames I can use!

I just love the frame. It is sort of a brownish gold color but the design is what really caught my eye and made me get it! This is such a simple piece so I felt it needed a little something extra!






Thank you all for the sweet birthday wishes yesterday! It was a nice day. I made a trip to the fabric store and picked up some very nice Aida along with some fat quarters for my Delectable Mountain quilt stash! I may go back after Christmas and pick up a few more FQs!
The Owl

According to Celtic legend, the owl symbolizes wisdom and helpfulness. Owls were also thought to have the powers of prophecy and were held in high prestige in nature ceremonies. Today, owls are still thought to be “wise”. Hanging an owl on your tree is thought to help you deal effectively with the challenges of the year ahead.

*I would love to find some frames to use for my stitching in my stocking!* (my stocking just keeps getting bigger and bigger!)

Remember to sign up on the post below for my give a way! Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas is Getting Closer!

This was my story and picture that was in the Deare Ladyes of Threade newsletter this month. I was thrilled that Lori liked it enough to share with everyone else!

"A friend of mine told me (in passing) about a needlework piece she had acquired years ago. I was genuinely interested in knowing some more about it and she informed me that she intended to toss it out. She never liked it very much and it just didn't mesh with her decor. I told her to send it to me instead. I would be glad to give it a good home and show it off as I was sure it deserved.

When I look at it, I wonder about the person who made it. How old was she? Was she married? Where did she live? There is a connection among women who work with fibers (such as needleworking and quilting) that is as strong as the fibers they work with. Our work tells a story written with needles and threads instead of pen and ink to pass on and live through the years. A story of our lives, our loves, our passions. I am proud to be connected to these women from the past and the present. May our stories from the needles we use inspire someone in the future to join our ranks...."

After my soapbox rant yesterday about framing costs, I decided to make a few phone calls. I found a woman not far from me who seems to have very, very reasonable prices! She just may be my new framer! I am still going to try my hand at framing since I bought all the supplies but I am sure I will start taking some things to this new framer after the first of the year!

In keeping with my no obligation stitching rule for 2009, I have decided on several different types of PIF's for the New Year (which I will announce shortly after Christmas) and I will still have my occasional give a ways. I like the feeling of giving back to a community that has given me so much and with the economy how it is right now, it makes it even nicer to know I could help in a small way. Afterall, who says I can't start my own PIF? LOL! Keep checking back so you don't miss these!

Remember to check back often for my special birthday give a way that will be coming up very, very soon! *double wink*

The Legend of the Mouse

Long ago there lived a mouse in the forest. The mouse was very clever and was able to hide from a sly fox that was always trying to catch him. One day the fox was very close and the mouse knew he could not run away so he decided to hide in a Douglas-Fir cone. Unfortunately, the cone was too small. That is why - even today – you can still see the hind legs and the tail of the mouse sticking out from the Douglas-Fir cone!

*I would love to find some white chocolate candy in my stocking* (I didn't say I needed it though! LOL)

Thank you for stopping by to see me during this busy holiday season! I hope you come back again real soon!

I was Framed!

I went out this weekend to take a finished piece to the framers for the first time in many years. Oh my gosh! I almost had a heart attack when they gave me the price and that price included the 50% off coupon I had!

The gal that frames it all was real nice and showed me what they use and how they do the framing so I could buy what I need and hopefully do it myself. If I can do it like I am hoping, that will be a big money saver. I know there will be a few pieces I will want professionally framed which is fine but I will be looking for another framer in my area to do the job! I am not looking for super cheap. Just reasonable.
On one of the yahoo groups I am a member of, there was a discussion about the price of framing. Everyone was pretty much disgusted with the rates these days!

I love a nice pillow or ornament but nothing says "homey warmth" to me more than a wall full of framed needlework!

I did get to stitch on AAFG some on Friday for the weekly Let's Stitch SAT. I think everyone is a bit behind on their SAT, SAL and challenge stitching this month with all the busy-ness in the air! I know I am but as long as I can keep stitching on these a little, I won't feel that I have totally neglected them!

I have been making my 2009 stitching list complete with a few quilting goals. I am being fairly easy on myself this month so that I can get rested up and ready for the New Year! I have quite a few cross stitching and quilting projects I would like to get done this coming year. The actual list will be for my eyes only since it is fairly long but I will post progress on projects and also a list of finished pieces!

I am also thinking that 2009 just might be the year I learn to knit! I have thought about for a long time. Even as a child. I would love to make some yummy soft afghans to snuggle up with on a cold evening!

The Legend of the Carrot
A long time ago, the carrot ornament was very popular in Germany as a traditional gift for new brides. The carrot was believed to bring the bride luck in the kitchen when she would cook meals for her family, and when she was entertaining company.

*I would love to find a woodpecker birdhouse in my stocking!* (I will need a much bigger stocking this year! LOL)