Not a lot.....

I still have not had much time, or inclination, to stitch too much of late, with my craft room still not complete, but I did manage to find some time to put a few stitches in Elizabeth Savilles. I absolutely love the colors in this and, although they don't coordinate with anything in my house (especially in the lower level), I had to do her (I mean it, I had to do IT)!!! ;-) Elizabeth will likely end up in our bedroom when all is said and done. I wonder how Rob's going to feel about her joining us in the bedroom? No - don't answer that - we all know the answer to that! Okay, before this post gets too out of hand, here are some pics I took of Elizabeth a short while ago on a beautiful, sunny Friday morning!



Also, thank you all so much for the wonderful comments on my post about my craft room but especially about Matt. We are so pleased and proud that he has been able to stick this out and finally make (well not yet, but almost) Eagle. I have found a pattern that I think I'd like to stitch to honor his achievement - it will have to be altered slightly but I think it'll work. I am going to have to get going on that soon though if I want to have it done and framed in time. I know Matt could care less about a stitching piece to commemorate getting Eagle Scout but I hope one day he'll appreciate it. Here's hoping, anyway. I am also hoping that we can have his court of honor the same week he graduates so that my parents can be here for both events. Won't that be a fun week!?

Thanks for stopping by and for taking a minute to leave a comment - I get such a kick out of them and so appreciate you taking the time. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!!

Peace,
Terri

Awards!!!

I feel like Sally Field when she, with great surprise and joy, announced as she accepted her first Academy Award ~ "You like me, you really like me!" and guess what? I feel the same way! I'm surprised and overjoyed to have made so many friends thru this blogging world. There are many things you can have too many of - calories come to mind, and did I mention calories? There are the bad things in the world that we can all do without and for which you can have way too many: people that are mean (I love a bumper sticker I saw once that said "Mean people suck!"), jealous people, greedy people, povetry and hatred but there is no way you can have too many friendships, impossible to have too much laughter or too many hugs, or too many diamonds (oh, wait, my greedy side just exposed itself). Of the good things in life, it's almost impossible to have too much (oh wait, a red wine hangover just came to mind - too much of a good thing can be bad, on occasion) but the point is, you can't have too many friends - cyber or real life - just doesn't matter. Not possible to have too many. So to my friend Carin who gave me this award a few days ago, thank you!
I am so glad I'm getting to know you better Carin! I really enjoy reading about your beautiful stitching AND your beautiful daughters!

Then, much to my surprise I got another award from Lynda, Deb and Jan! Can you imagine that?! I think you all are just so sweet to pass this to me! Honestly, each and every one of your blogs offers up so much inspiration, beauty and so much enabling that it makes my head spin. See why I feel like Sally Field? I know this little award is making it's way around and how lucky do I feel to have received it multiple times? Very, that's how! Now, the rules of this award are that I am to pass it on to 8 bloggers whom inspire me and whose blogging I admire. Well shucks, I guess I get to pass it on to what? 32 of you, right? Yep, that's right, 8x4 =32 (I did work in a budget office at one time by some odd miracle - math is not where I excel)! Do you know how hard it will be for me to cut, paste, write in the names of your blogs and get it all to post accurately? Really, I'm not that good at this yet. My friend Lisa once told us that we must all learn to be gracious receivers. When someone offers a compliment or a kindness, don't rebuff them, be gracious and say simply, thank you. The truth is, we're all pretty good at giving but we're not always very good at receiving. With that little caveat, I'd like to be a gracious receiver and say simply, thank you. If I've ever read your blog, whether I commented or not, I offer this to you as well. Please do accept it and pass it on to others who may not yet have received it. Even though I'm not going to send this out individually, I do give it to every one of you that visits me here. Really!!!

In Friendship and Peace,
Terri

Me, spoiled????

I've hit a wall or a floor.... I am in a serious stitching slump and have done almost nothing for two weeks. Work is too busy; I just don't have time to stitch at lunch. Home is busy - nothing more than normal, just busy and I'm walking around feeling a bit lost. Here's the problem.... I have a favorite spot in my house. It's referred to as my craft room, the cave, or the sanctuary and I LOVE it. When Rob and I had the basement finished a few years ago, I got a spot all my own. it has a small t.v., a tiny but functional closet, lots of cabinets and two work surfaces with desks. It is where I go and do "my thing", where I chill out, where I reflect and where I do all my stitching. I'm spoiled. My sweet Rob always knocks before coming in and I always respond with entrer, s'il vous plaît (no, I don't speak french, so wish I did though) but that is always our little ritual. If I don't respond, he'll always ask again.
This is what my sanctuary looked like a week and a half ago:



It was a warm, cozy place. Well, it doesn't look like that anymore. We have had so much rain, melting snow and wet weather that the carpet got wet. It's gotten wet a couple of times and I've always successfully dried it out but this last time, there were minerals on the carpet that I had a hard time cleaning up. Because this room is in the basement, I was worried it would start to smell stinky. I don't know about you but I prefer to not have my sanctuary be stinky! Being the brilliant person that I am, I thought it would be best to pull up the carpet and simply paint the floor. Oh brother! First I had to cut the carpet and pull out all the tack strips that went all around the room. Oh, I didn't think about that - pulling those out left big holes in the concrete which wouldn't look very pretty when painted. Off to the home improvement store to buy patch, caulk and all the tools to go along with that. That was easy enough until it dried and each little hole I'd tried to fill looked like a raised molehill. Now I have to sand about 25 of these dumb things to get the floor smooth enough to paint. Did I mention that I'm brilliant??? My plan is to paint a red and white (more off-white than white) checkerboard pattern on the floor and then just put an area rug down to cozy the place up a bit. This is what it looks like now, pay particular attention to the cold, concrete floors - not exactly inviting!



Not the cozy spot it once was, for sure. It will be really cute, (I hope) when I finally get all the work done. The reason I'm spoiled is because I just don't like to stitch anywhere else in the house. I get too distracted, I make mistakes (more than normal) and it's just too "busy" for me. Kids are running in and out, doggies want to sit on my lap, everything has to be lugged upstairs, it's just not fun. Yeah, I know, I sound like a whiner but I can't help it. I love my quiet, little spot and have gotten so used to it that without it, I've lost my mojo. It'll come back when the room is done but I don't think it'll be this week. We have a wrestling banquet to go to one night and a scout meeting another, we'll be delivering my son Matt's Eagle Scout project during the week and there are a few other things going on as well.

Matt is on the way to finishing up all his requirements to earn his Eagle Scout award. It has been a long, really long, journey and not one I'm sure we'd have finished had it not been for my father, his Poppa Jim. Matt wanted to quit scouts more times than I can tell you and would have, had it not been for my dad. When we lived in Korea, my father, in addition to all his other duties, was the Director for Scouting for the Far East Council. I can't recall his exact title but he became very involved and really loved what it taught and the lessons boys got from it. He really encouraged my boys to participate in scouting and long after all their friends had dropped out - they kept at it because they wanted to make Poppa Jim proud. Believe me, Matt hasn't done this for me or Rob, or even himself really. Nope, he's done it for Poppa. I know that one day, Matt will be very proud of this achievement and will look back on all he did with great fondness. For now, we just gotta make that last push to the finish line. His project was to build a recycling center for the church. He and Tyler and two of their best pals Eric and Alex, along with a master wood worker, put it together this weekend. Here are a couple of pics of their day. Here's Alex (one of Ty's best friends):


This is his brother, Eric (one of Matt's best friends):

Here's my Tyler (Matt's brother and future Eagle Scout, I hope):

Here's Matt and the gang, including Mr. B

Matt giving some pointers:

I don't think texting was supposed to be the rule of the day but can a kid go a day without texting????


That's it, my friends. No stitching for a while but I hope to be back at it soon. In the meantime, I'm going to get ABC Hornbook on scroll rods so I can finally start that next week. I'll be stitching it as an incentive stitch with the gals on a YUKU board. Hopefully by the time the Incentive starts, my room will be done and ready for stitching. I know I'll be ready!!! Have a great week and thank you so much for all the comments on my last post. I so appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment.

Peace,
Terri

Hodge Podge

I am a collector. And, I'm not a person who likes to collect slowly, over time. Nope, I am one of those people, who wants a big collection, and I want it now! One of anything just isn't good enough. My mom had a lovely collection of bells, so I had to have bells, too. Yeah, I'm still not sure what made me think I needed bells. Maybe, I thought, I could use them when I'm sick and need Robbie to bring me some tea. Or maybe, when we're having an oh so elegant dinner party, I can ring one of them when it's time to eat. So, off on an ebay hunt I went and within a few short weeks, I had quite the collection going. Uh yeah, I've never used a single one of those bells for anything but they sure are pretty! Thada also had a couple of beautiful antique cake plates she was using one day and so I had to have those too. Yep, I went in search of and now have quite the extensive collection of antique cake plates - all sizes, all shapes, all clear glass. I always say I'll use them for dinner parties (remember the bells?) so the food, deserts and other items are all at different heights and the table will be lovely. Yeah, I've done that maybe twice! Oh, lets see. I discovered Longaberger baskets a few years ago (16 to be exact) and had to have a collection. Because they were so pricey, I decided to sell them. Not the best timing in the world because Tyler was only 3 months old at the time and I was going back to work full time. Didn't matter. I had to have 'em so I started selling. Turned out, I was pretty good at it and before I knew it, I was so busy with it I just had to quit in order to have any family time at all. However, I did have quite the collection by that time so I was okay with the decision. Now I've got baskets stored in closets, under the bed, in boxes, literally everywhere! I tease my BFF Julie all the time because she's really the same way (well, with some things, with other things she can be quite restrained). One year, Tyler (she and her DH are Ty's godparents) gave her a very pretty Santa for Christmas. I was thinking that if she liked it, he could give her one from this same designer every year. She liked it alright - went out the next week and bought a whole collection so she could fill her mantle the next year. For some of us, with some things, one just isn't enough - and waiting a while to build a collection (especially on fairly inexpensive things) just doesn't work for us, does it? Which leads me to my first picture.

When I first got back into cross stitch, I discovered that a lot of people collect scissors. Oh! And some of those scissors are "LIMITED EDITIONS! Two of my favorite words in the english language (besides free and chocolate). Anyway, I started to collect scissors. Never-mind that I don't think the Gingher scissors I've collected are that great for cross stitch (I like a much finer point). Nope, that didn't matter - everyone else had 'em; I had to have 'em, too. So, with every 40% off coupon I got from Joann's I bought a pair of scissors. Then, I started seeing scissor fobs. Who wants a pair of naked scissors when everyone else's scissors are dressed so elegantly? I knew I'd never get that many scissor fobs stitched and then finished (not my strong suite especially when I first started this little collection). But..... I had learned how to make a puffy heart pendant using 72 Swarovski crystals with three bigger beads inside to keep the heart from collapsing. I made these to wear on a short silver cord but hmmm.... wouldn't they make great scissor fobs? I added a length of beads to make a holder for the heart and clipped them on the scissors and WHALA! Scissor fobs (I do still wear the hearts too, though)! Two of the fobs in the pic were gifts, the biscournu from Julie and the one with the "T" is from Robin. The rest...... I made. I found the flower frog at the antique mall last weekend - perfect for holding scissors. I've been looking for one ever since I saw them on someone's blog but I've long forgotten whom that was. I had to make a wool pad to place under the frog because it's a tad bit short so I am on the hunt for a taller frog! Uh-oh, do you see a trend here? The multi-colored heart was the first one I did - you do them in multiple colors so you can figure out the pattern.

The little table my fobs are sitting on is one I found at the same antique mall last weekend. The top has been stripped but that's okay, I'll fix it. I thought this was perfect for my craft room because it's small enough but also utilitarian with the little shelf to hold some stitching books.

I haven't gotten much stitching time lately - work has been busy so not too much stitching during lunch this week. I did manage to finish the third virtue from the BOAF collection though and have started the fourth. I love these little samplers and can't wait to get them framed. I'm going to hand them over the archway between our family room and kitchen table area. I think they'll look really cute. I'm using my initials on one (I get Love) and Tyler's, Rob's and Matt's on the others. I didn't decide to do this till after I stitched the first two but it worked out okay. Tyler is honest - brutally so sometimes. Matt is very Loyal to his friends and family and Rob will get "Patience". Truthfully he deserves one that says Saint but Patience is what he's getting. To put up with the three of us and not blow his stack continuously, really does take some major control, patience or drugs. I'm pretty sure he's not taking anything and he's not dead (thank God) so he can't get Sainthood so it has to be patience.




I finished the March block for my PS "A Praire Year" stitch-a-long with Julie and I'm really lovin' how this is turning out. It's very small - but it's going to be a really sweet piece when finished, I think.I did notice a stitch boo-boo on one of the blocks after I took the picture that I have to fix but nothing that can't be adjusted. Nope, not telling!








My favorite and last pic of the day is The Goode Huswife's Noah's Garden sampler framed. I really like the way it turned out and now just have to figure out where to hang it. I also picked up another piece of framing I had done for a friend and it is gorgeous. The gals in the shop were drooling all over it - don't worry, R - I cleaned it up! It is a gift for a friend of hers and while I don't know that she reads this blog, you never know and I'd hate for her not to be surprised. All I can say is, it's a good thing those aren't my initials in the piece or it might not get mailed out tomorrow. It is really pretty and I hope you love it!

That's it for now. If you've made it to the end of this long, hopefully not too boring post, I thank you!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend wherever you may be! Thanks for stopping by! Peace, Terri

Sunday Fun and Sweet Surprises!

Today was the KSS (Kindred Spirits Sampler) Guild's annual Auction. This is always a much anticipated and fun event which helps raise money to pay for the teachers we have visit.

This morning, as I'm getting ready to go, DH-Rob asked if I'd like breakfast? Huh? Do I ever turn down a meal? Especially when someone else is cooking? "Yes, hon' I'd love breakfast!". A few minutes into eating and my lower lip starts to itch and swell. Not sure what I could possibly be reacting to - maybe Rob's trying to poison me slowly and it's finally working - he has been making a lot of weekend breakfasts lately..... Anyway, the darn lip kept growing and getting further and further away from my face. I could see my lower lip sticking out! I looked like Bubba Gump on steroids. Quick! Pop some Benadryl 'cause I'm starting to panic. I've had a severe allergic reaction before and trust me, not fun. I called Julie and Deb to tell them I couldn't make it. But then, a bright idea hit. I'd have Rob drive me to Deb's (a good 30 minutes away), and I'd ride to the guild meeting with her. Thankfully, by the time we got to Deb's house the swelling had gone down so I was able to attend without looking like Bubba! We had a great time and Deb and Julie both came away with some auction wins. I got zip. One rotten lady outbid me at the very last second on a bunch of sampler charts I was watching... bummer! A fun day all in all and here are some pics of the days offerings. I had a pic taken of the 3 of us but there wasn't one shot where we ALL looked stunning so it'll have to wait for another day.

After the meeting, I was going to have Matt (DS) meet me at Deb's so she wouldn't have to go so far out of her way to take me home. But... she insisted that she didn't mind at all so she drove me home and we had a nice chat all the way! I really did feel bad though, the freeway was closed for construction (even though there was no constructing going on) so it took longer than it should have. Thanks, Deb!

Here are some random pictures of some of the things at auction. Deb won a SB kit for $10 and Julie got the sweet cherry fob stitched on 40 count, over one with a pair of red scissors to go along! It was stunning and not quite the deal that Deb's was but still, worth every penny!

























The last two pics are what made my day so sweet..... I got home and look what I found.... Rob and Matt working over a pot of chilli for dinner - I didn't have to do a thing tonight - Rob knows I'm not feeling well so he took care of everything!!! So, I decided to use my time to make this post and now it's off to stitch or sleep - not sure which....




Have a great week and thanks for stopping by and for all the comments you leave, I really appreciate them!
Peace,
Terri

Mother's and Daughters on Mother's Day

Forty-nine years and nine month's ago, I became a daughter and this beautiful woman became a mother for the first time. How lucky I was to be the first born to this special lady!!! She was beautiful then and she is still today. And, as beautiful as she is on the outside, she's more beautiful on the inside. She would, and has, done anything for me and I know that I can always count on her support, guidance and love. My mom lives in Virginia and I live in Michigan so I don't get to see her nearly as often as I'd like. We always have a great time together because we like the same things - antiques, shopping, crafting (she's an amazing sewer but I did not inherit that talent), we think the same, find the same things funny and now, many of my friends say we look a lot alike. I'll let you decide that for yourself. This picture was taken this past Christmas when she and my dad were visiting us for the holidays. I love spending time with this beautiful woman and I so wish we could spend the day together today. I miss you, Mom and wish you a very, very Happy Mother's Day! I love you with all my heart!!!

I wish each and every one of you, whether a mother in the traditional sense or not, a most blessed Mother's Day!

Peace,
Terri

Framing is Funtastic!

Oh what a beautiful morning, Oh what a beautiful day. I've got a wonderful feeling, every-thing's going my way!

What a beautiful day we had here in SE Michigan today! The sun was shining, the temps were warm (near 50F, I think) and I got to do one of my favorite things ~ pick up framing! Yeah, kind of sad that it's not mine but I do love picking out frames and picking up the finished product ~ even if it isn't mine. I have to admit I always hold my breath when Sue peels back the paper for me to inspect her work. I'm always nervous that what I picked may not actually look very good at all. I have this anxious moment with my own framing so you can imagine the anxiety I feel picking a frame for someone else. That's
tricky. I have to assume they asked me to do it for them 'cause they like the type of frames I generally select for myself. But, when I do pick something for someone, I generally begin second guessing myself...... will they like this? Is this like anything I've seen them use before? Oooh, what a bout the cost? I try to put those thoughts out of my head and in the end, pick for them what I would pick for myself. Im sorry to tell my friend "R" that her framing is not ready today. The frame came in but it wasn't at all what I had ordered (although the manufacturer tried to say it was). Sue knew I wouldn't like it so she hadn't popped it into the frame but she had it for me to look at. If i did like it, she could still have it ready in short order. But, I didn't like it, so, I had to pick something else. Which, by the way, means I had to pick something else for Noah's Garden too, because I was using the same frame. Oh well.... in the end, I think I actually like what I picked today, even better. It will probably be ready next week "R"! I'll let you know.

What was ready, was Julie's framing. She had stitched one of the Loose Feather's patterns (I don't recall the name of it) but she altered it slightly. BFF-J wasn't crazy about the verse at the bottom so she left that off and added her initials and date. Also, she wasn't overly crazy about the purple so rather than trying to play up that color, I tried to tone it down a bit for her. I think I found the perfect frame to compliment her beautiful stitching! I so hope you'll like it Julie. It looks better in person than it does in this picture so don't panic if you see it and think... "What was she thinking?"



That's it for today! We're having pizza for dinner and then both boys are headed back up to the high school for a dodge ball tournament! The teachers even have teams so it's their chance to put some serious hurt on the kids that bug them. Of course, there are probably some kids that think the same thing about the teachers (not my sweet, angelic boys of course, but some might think that)! Matt and Ty are on different teams so it may be their opportunity to put the big hurt on each other! Oh boy, sounds like a recipe for disaster if you ask me.I hope there are no hard thrown balls to the mouths of kids with braces!

Thanks so much for stopping by and for all your comments! I so appreciate you taking the time to do that but I also appreciate those of you who may just pop in for a fly-by visit. Have a great day/evening wherever you are!

Peace,
Terri

Fabric Heaven!

Do you know what it feels like to lie in wait
for the mailman to come but he hesitates?
To bring to my mailbox the thing I adore
Fabric, floss, patterns and oh so much more!

I've been waiting patiently 'cause I so want to do
a special design and I know you will too
Her patterns are darling and she's a delight
Lisa's Primitive Needle is way outta sight!

The ABC Hornbook has been calling my name
I thought it would be my big claim to fame!
I want to stitch it - it really was calling
But behind Siobhan, Carol and others I'm falling.

They stitch way faster and better, it's true
But I'll get on this as soon as I'm through
with this silly poem that should let you know
that out of Dr. Seuss poems I never did grow!





The green fabric is Highland, Edinburgh 36 ct linen for Cape Cod Girls and the other is called Earthen, also Edinburgh 36 count, both by Picture this Plus. Aren't they gorgeous?

I got a bit stitched on my March PS block last night and will post a pic when that's done. And, I am supposed to pick up some framing tomorrow! Unfortunately they're not my pieces ~ a couple of friends were just crazy enough to entrust me to pick out frames for them..... crazy, right? With their permission, I'll show you pics of those tomorrow but may have to block initials on one as I know it is a gift for another friend (who is oh so lucky to be getting this piece but she has no idea!).

Thanks for all the nice comments about my angel doll. After posting the picture I realized I hadn't picked her wings out very well so went back and corrected that and now they have a nice sharp point. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Peace,
Terri

Sunday Angel

Happy Sunday! Just a quick post to show you what I worked on this weekend. This is from a With thy Needle and Thread pattern called Simply Angelic. I loved this when I first saw it and thought the primitive looking checked fabric I had on hand would be perfect for it. Initially I started this over two - ( who reads pattern instructions?) when I realized it was going to be rather large. A quick look at the directions and the ripping began. Because I never make just a little boo-boo this was no exception. I stitched the center diamond, several of the letters, the bunny and a flower before it dawned on me that it didn't look quite right. I know what you're thinking.... not the sharpest knife in the drawer, right? Well, you may be right but I was smart enough to stop the ripping and just get a new piece of fabric; I'll save the ripping for another night. After I finished stitching it, i had to pull out the dreaded sewing machine to finish it. ARGH!
My mom is a sewer but I did not inherit her talent. It took me almost as long to sew this little gal together than it did to stitch her body. The pattern said to glue the wings on (once I started reading the pattern I decided to go all the way), but that's not what I did. I'll get to that... I stuffed her with rice, cloves and cinnamon and she smells very sweet but when I got ready to attach her wings, I noticed her head kept falling over. Who wants a fallen angel? So, I sewed the wings to her head to help her hold her head up high.I think she turned out pretty well. Oh, instead of french knots for her hair, I just used a little floss to make her have stand-up hair. I think she's rather cute. I don't know why the date on the picture says January.... I guess I never updated the date stamp in the camera. Just one more techno thing for which I am not very adept!

The no chocolate eating continues..... it is painful and tomorrow morning will not be fun because it is going to be really cold here and hot chocolate would taste sooooo good.

Have a great rest of the day (or evening) and have a great week!

Peace,
Terri