The Day Before

I love buttons and have several jars full of all kinds! I enjoy pouring them out to admire my favorites as well as just running my fingers through them all. I decided it wasn't enough to just look through these jars occasionally for my favorites so I made several Button Samplers. I used a brown paper bag from the grocery store, cut down, as my backing on them. I used some everyday buttons as fillers and to give them a more primitive feel. For the shank buttons, I cut off the back shank to help them lie a little flatter. Now I can admire my favorites anytime I want with ease!

Today I begin getting things ready for all the cooking that will take place tomorrow! Lots and lots of cornbread to be made. Eggs to be hard boiled. Loaf bread to be cut and cubed. Pies to be cooked. Celery and onions to be chopped. Sausage balls and cheese cookies to be made. I am sure there is more that I am overlooking so I have my list made out and ready to check off as I do each thing!

Thank you for stopping by to see me! Have a wonderful and blessed day!

I am Thankful for memories that make me smile.

Stitching

Thank you to all my readers and friends who posted their sympathies about the passing of my aunt. I know it will take awhile to adjust but I also feel relief for her that she is no longer suffering. Thank you again for allowing me to use your shoulders for support during this time!

The mail man brought several goodie envelopes for me yesterday. The blog give a way prize from Mercy arrived which included the Be A Witch chart, fabric and buttons! Just too cute and I can't wait to begin working on it! Also I got a design from Country Stitches that I have been waiting on!

Thank you for stopping by! I hope you all have a wonderful day!

And The Winner Is..............

Good Morning, dear friends!

I am happy to annouce that the winner of my first blog give a way is Betty! You know how to get in touch with my Betty and I will need your address to send the chart on to you!

Today is an overcast day and I can't think of much on my to do list that I need to get done. Basically, I can stitch! Yea!

I hope everyone has a great day!

If It's Old

I have always loved country and especially primitive decor! Quilts, old baskets, stoneware, needlwork, ect. I have seen many items from our decor come and go over the years. The boys used to love to surprise with old railroad spikes, wooden toys and such. I once asked them how they always seemed to know exactly what to get me and Michael answered "if it looks old and ready for the trash then I know you will like it!" LOL! Smart child!

It only stands to reason that I would fall in love with all of the wonderful primitive cross stitch designs available now!

One of my collections is buttons. I have collected them for a long time - before I even realized it was a collection! I have several jars full to the brim of special buttons, ones I take off clothing, decorative shapes, others I just "need" and some passed down to me!

I hope you have a wonderful day and come back to see me real soon!

Another Tree

As Gomer Pyle would say - Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! I wanted to show off yet another table tree I bought at the weekend sale! The picture just doesn't do it justice! It looks to have ice cicles hanging all over it! Just lovely! Later today I may pick up another completed stitch to make into a pin cushion! I just love little pillows!

November is National Epilepsy Awareness Month! According to the Epilepsy Foundation, epilepsy and seizures affect 2.5 million Americans, with direct and indirect costs amounting to $12.5 billion annually. Each year, approximately 181,000 new cases of seizures and epilepsy occur, with incidence highest in those under the age of two and over the age of 65. In their lifetime, 10% of Americans will experience a seizure.

Epilepsy has always been one of my soapbox causes since I was diagnosed with it at the age of 5.

Some individuals believed or known to have had epilepsy include: Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Isaac Newton, Vincent Van Gogh and Charles Dickens. St. Valentine – more famous to the modern world for hearts, flowers, and candies every February 14 – has been the patron saint of epileptics since the Middle Ages.

Have a great day and thanks so much for stopping by! I do enjoy your visits!

Spring forward. Fall back. Daylight Savings Time has come to an end for yet another year! How I will miss it! I always enjoy it that extra bit of daylight! But it will return again in March!

Last week was a busy one so my blog suffered a bit. Halloween was a nice evening but we only got a handful of trick or treaters. We just don't get many anymore. Sad but still understandable!

I managed to get some more done on AAFG for the Halloween SAT at Let's Stitch. I have already signed up for the next SAT and this week's challenge.

Ours is one of the states allowing Early Voting this year and we were able to get out to take advantage of it over the weekend. We stood in a long line but I imagine it will be a lot longer on Tuesday!

Once again, it is time for monthly goals!

October Goals

1. Continue to work on quitting smoking - YES and doing good!
2. Stitch on WIPs - YES
3. Continue to build thread stash - YES
4. Start a new stitch - YES
5. Start some smalls - YES
6. Keep my blog current - YES
7. Exercise - YES
8. Continue to build fabric stash - YES
9. Place stitching order - YES and last one for awhile
10. Eat Healthy - YES
11. Finish up at least 1 WIP - YES
12. Join the challenges and SAT at Let's Stitch - YES

October Focus WIPs

1. And A Forest Grew
2. Little House Nieghborhood

NOVEMBER GOALS

1. Continue to build thread stash
2. Continue to remain smoke free
3. Stitch on WIPs
4. Keep my blog current
5. Exercise
6. Join challenges and SAT at Let's Stitch
7. Start a new stitch
8. Stitch on Primitives
9. Build fabric stash
10. Build thread stash
11. Get ready for Thanksgiving
12. work on some of my freebies

NOVEMBER FOCUS WIP
1. And A Forest Grew
2. Victoria's Quaker

Thanks for stopping by to visit with me again! Come back soon!

Birds and Stitches

It is almost time to make a trip to pick up some food for the birds! A lot of you know that I only feed the birds from the end of October through the first of June. This time table will feed them during the cold winter months and help them out during the busy nesting season of Spring. June through late October they are on their own with plenty of bugs and berries to feed on. It helps them and also my wallet! LOL. They are still around during the "off season" but not as centralized around the feeders all the time!

As I mentioned yesterday, I have had quite a time with VQ and all the darn frogs attacking! But I think I am finally on a smooth running course! All the color changes have been made so that won't be a problem any more!

I picked up a few new Christmas ornaments over the weekend! Nothing like some festive colors to make you feel good and they had some really cute ones just calling to me!

Thanks for stopping by to spend some time with me!

Photo Friday

It's Fall in our backyard!

Thanks for stopping by to spend some time with me!

Two More Days

Yesterday I stitched some more on Victoria's Quaker and I feel like I have enough stitched to share a picture now. I am stitching it on Vintage Mocha 18 count Aida. I only made one color change by switching out the blue for green. Now it goes with my decor!

I received Best of Blessings in the mail yesterday! I totally love this design and the quote! I see another new start in the future! I would really like to get to the half way mark (at least) on AAFG and Victoria's Quaker though before starting anything else new.

There isn't alot of news around here right now which is fine with me! The weekend is almost here again! Two more days to go!

Thanks for stopping by to spend some time with me today!

Needed Rest and Catching Up

Wow! Did I need to get some catch up rest after the past several days! I have been sleeping in longer than usual the past couple of mornings! I will never complain about life being dull again! LOL! I totally lost track of the days last week and forgot to post my usual Photo Friday! Oops! Now that DH is back home and life is resuming some normalcy around here, I hope to be less fuzzy brained! LOL!

I was able to get a little stitching done during the Let's Stitch challenge week but not as much as I would have liked. I did work on my stitching though for the Friday night SAT and have posted a picture of my current progress!

Over the weekend, I was able to print out a few freebie charts, get a little bit of grocery shopping taken care of, pick up some needed threads and do a few necessary errands. The biggest part of my remaining order arrived over the weekend (Happy Dance!). I was able to kit up some more charts. I am still waiting on Best of Blessing by Hands to Work to arrive but I have the threads and fabric ready to go when it gets here!

Never Say Dull!

I have been MIA because the past several days have been anything but dull! Early Wednesday morning the doctor sent DH to the ER immediately where doctors and nurses (and a bed) were waiting for him when we arrived! He spent the majority of Wednesday in the ER then was moved to room to await them to take more tests on into Thursday. I spent both days running back and forth and being exhausted at night. All of his test came back normal so whatever is happening to him is still a mystery.

Because of the excitement, I didn't have much stitching time the past several days. Hopefully I will be able to get more done over the weekend! I did get an email saying that part of my remaining order has been shipped. After this, I will still be waiting on one chart and one other piece of fabric!

Instead of stitching update picture which I don't have right now, I will share a photo of a bit of Halloween decor!

Dull Day

It always seems that once September rolls around, the remainder of the year just flies by! I used to think it was because of school starting back but my boys are no longer in school and these months still seem to speed by!

Not a lot of news to write about today. I stitched on AAFG again yesterday for a little while and then did some things around the house that had been waiting for my attention. After all the weekend stitching I did, it was time to give my eyes a rest.

I am getting really antsy waiting for the remainder part of my order to come in! Of course, I still have to make a trip to pick up threads before I can begin any of these!

I wanted to share a picture of one of my bushes changing into some beautiful Fall colors!

New Starts, Orders and Progress

I have been making some really good progress on AAFG thanks to the challenges and stitch a thons over at Let's Stitch! There are 14 sections in all. I plan to stitch on this piece some each week and get it finished up now that I have worked on it again!

My orders are beginning to slowly trickle in. Kind Fond Love by The Sampler Company arrived on Thursday and so did my JCS ornament issue! And yes, I see plenty of ornaments I want to stitch up! The four blueberry bushes I ordered on sale in the Spring (they were out of stock and would not ship again until Fall) finally came in and have been planted! Here's hoping for plenty of yummy blueberries next season! Saturday's mail delivered Old Shaker Tune, Quaker Seasons, Quilt Square blocks leaflet, Quakers and Quilts and some fabrics. About half of the fabrics I ordered were out of stock and are on backorder. I am hoping there isn't a long wait for them as there are several I need to start on some of new charts!

After making a list of my unstitched charts, I made a list of charts I am most interested in working on. There are quite a few but here is a list of the NEW STARTS I would like to begin before the end of the year (which really isn't very far away).

1. Quakers and Quilts - need to get threads
2. Quaker Seasons - need to get threads
3. Kind Fond Love - need to get threads
4. Best of Blessings - waiting for chart to arrive
5. Victoria's Quaker - still waiting on fabric needed

Photo Friday

Of course, we had to visit the Battleship North Carolina while in Wilmington. Once again, it was a very humbling experience to imagine the men that lived and died on these very decks during wartime.

Cooler Days a coming!

I am behind many other bloggers in acknowledging October as Breast Cancer Month. My aunt is a survivor of it and I have a friend who was diagnosed. Earlier this year, I was afraid I would join the ranks of women diagnosed every day when they found a lump. I went in my for my test (digital) and had the results before I left the building. I was fine but at that moment it hit home just how terribly important is to be tested each year! Please get checked!

I was so happy when I decided on my theme for the MM&I SAL. I wanted my neighborhood to just ooze folk art. I really have no worries that I will get what I need before the designated time but I am already working on LHN Little House Neighborhood and HOHRH and want to start on VOHRH in the future. Where in heaven's name would I put yet another neighborhood? After all, our house isn't all that big! We have a limited amount of wall space and I still have so many other goodies waiting to be stitched and framed to hang! Then I read about Lisa's theme! Basket houses! I was kicking myself for not thinking of this sooner! I am notorious for putting little pillows and other goodies in baskets or bowls to set around the house! She has given me the green light to use her idea and I feel as if a huge weight has been lifted! I can stitch each folk art house, make a tiny pillow out of it and display it all in a lovely basket if I choose to go this way!

I decided to count my unstitched charts last night. The grand total is 87 which includes the new ones coming in but doesn't include all the freebies, magazine charts or the mounds of Christmas ornament chart books I have accumulated! I know I won't be able to make much of a dent by the end of 2008, but my goal is to steadily see this number get lower! I have 30 of these on a list that I am really interested in working on first and foremost. As they say, slow and steady wins the race! So this will definitely mean that procrastinating must be a thing of the past!

Today I wanted to show off a bit of progress I am making on AAFG. It is coming along so much more smoothly now and I am really enjoying working on it again!

Goals. Past and Present.

I stitched on AAFG again yesterday and I am really starting to see some progress! Section two is coming along much more smoothly now.

Happy October to everyone! Time to recap my September goals and list my goals for October!

FINISHED
Good Things by Notforgotten Farm
JCS ornament

STARTED
Little House Neighborhood by LHN

Made Progress On
Little House Neighborhood
AAFG

September Goals

1. Work on WIPS - YES
2. Keep working on quitting smoking - YES
3. Christmas stitches - YES
4. Continue to build up my thread stash - YES
5. Begin a new stitch - YES
6. Keep my blog as current as possible - YES
7. Enjoy my stitching! Very important! - YES
8. Don't over stitch and irritate eye problems - YES
9. Choose 1 or 2 WIP for Monthly Focus stitches - YES
10. Eat healthier - YES
11. Work on fabric stash - NO
12. Walk more - Walking but not over doing it
13. Tea Dye fabrics - DID SOME
14. Work on pieces for wall of samplers - YES
15. Stay within stitching budget - LOL!
16. Work on designing my Neighborhood - SORT OF

September Focus WIPS

1. Good Things by Notforgotten Farms - FINISHED
2. Little House Neighborhood by LHN - YES

October Goals

1. Continue to work on quitting smoking
2. Stitch on WIPs
3. Continue to build thread stash
4. Start a new stitch
5. Start some smalls
6. Keep my blog current
7. Exercise
8. Continue to build fabric stash
9. Place stitching order
10. Eat Healthy
11. Finish up at least 1 WIP
12. Join the challenges and SAT at Let's Stitch

October Focus WIPs

1. And A Forest Grew
2. Little House Nieghborhood

No stitching pics today. Instead a cute tree frog we saw peaking out at us while in Wilmington!

A New Week, A New Start

Towards the first part of the weekend, we were having usually cool weather lately! It was more like very very chilly and windy March days instead of the unusual September days full of humid heat left over from the summer. But I liked it! For once, it really felt like Fall in the hot south! Now the hot days have returned along with that awful humidity we are so well known for!

Over the weekend was grocery shopping as usual. Ugh! I stopped by the fabric store and picked up some floss and Aida to have when I need it. Friday night was a stitch a thon over at Let's Stitch and I worked on Little House Neighborhood. I have really been enjoying this blog! It gives me exactly the encouragement for my stitching and in a fun way! This week a challenge was issued to stitch on our oldest UFO or WIP. I chose And A Forest Grew which has been sitting in my basket just gathering dust! To the side is a picture of where I left off. I hope to be able to post a picture showing lots of progress later in the week!

So many charts to work on. So little time to do it all in! I wish I could just blink my eyes and have my stitching "to do" list all finished! LOL! After this next order, I am putting myself on a chart diet. I can't just go cold turkey but I must cut back ALOT until I finish off a good bit of my list! Threads and fabrics are necessities so I won't include them in my stash diet! But I must place this next order before I begin! Sort of like having that last place of cheesecake before starting a strict food diet! LOL!

Photo Friday

Yes, I still have some pictures from our Wilmington trip left to show! LOL! I hope you aren't too bored yet!

Another Wednesday

In honor of the wonderful Fall days we have been having, yesterday I made a pot of my favorite flavored coffee for Autumn. Spiced Pumpkin! I don't know which I enjoy more - drinking it or smelling the wonderful aroma as it brews!

It is official! As of now, I have been smoke free for over a month! And this time I intend to keep it that way! I feel so much better!

I am debating about whether or not to add Family Reunion by Rosewood Manor to my upcoming order. What a beautiful piece and I do love family history! I guess I will just flip a coin to decide!

There really isn't a lot of news to post about right now so I will leave you with my progress on Little House Neighborhood.

Stitching and Sweaters

Ah, the cooler days of Autumn have arrived in our area of the south. At least for a little while and I am keeping my fingers crossed it sticks around! It is chilly enough in the mornings and evenings to put on a sweater! The leaves are beginning to change their colors and I see a lone leaf falling to the ground occasionally which means more will follow very soon!

Yesterday I stitched on Little House Neighborhood some more. I picked it up around lunch time and stitched for 20-30 minutes then last night after dinner I worked on it again for about 35 minutes. I was amazed at how much I actually accomplished on it during these short periods. Maybe I should work like this more often (in several short periods instead of one longer one). I seem to get more done by doing it this way.

DH went in yesterday to have the other tests that the doctor ordered for him. They had the results before he left but told him that his doctor could call him with those. They did tell him he could come home and they let him know that if had been anything to worry about, they would have kept him at the hospital. So that part is good news.

I worked on a new stitching order last night! LOL! Like I really need to get anything else right now! But there are a few (clearing my throat!) things I really want and I want to work on building up my fabric stash some more. I have the order ready but am waiting a while longer before placing it.

Everyone have a great day!