WOO HOO or Another Type of Finish

Well, I did it and I finish off the month of posting on my blog every day for the month of November!! I hope I was able to supply interesting posts and not just a lot of filler. I was not sure I would make it, but thanks to my friend, Sandra, who sent pictures of things I have made her and just keeping my eyes and ears open I was able to come up with stuff. And surprisingly most posts had pictures!

Thanks for hanging in there with me this past month!

CMission Accomplished!J

Last Round of Christmas Ornaments - for now anyway!

Here are a couple of round ornaments I have made for Sandra. She made the mistake one year of telling me how she wanted to decorate her tree with handmade ornaments and was a little short. I have been helping to fill her tree ever since!

Again, not sure the years I did these, but I think I the top one was done a few years ago and the bottom one may be one of the first ornaments I made her, perhaps in the mid to late 1990s?

A Beaded Ornament

I learned to make this beaded ornament when I lived in Iowa. I made this one for my friend Sandra.

More Christmas Ornaments

Here are some ornaments I made for Sandra that are quilting related since I know she is a quilter.

Not sure what year I did these, but I do recall enjoying making them!

Getting in the mood for Christmas

Christmas ornaments I have made for Sandra that are trees.

I think you can figure out what year I did the top one! The bottom is a mill hill kit I did last year.

A House Divided – Nebraska vs. Iowa & TUSAL

Before we get to the main event, here is my TUSAL for the November new moon.



Today is a big college football day in the United States. Many rivalry and other important games are played today or this weekend. I went to graduate school at the University of Nebraska and my mom was a HUGE Nebraska fan, so my allegiance has always been for the Huskers. Well, 14 ½ years ago, I married a man from Iowa with strong University of Iowa roots and I started to root for Iowa too. As fate would have it this year Nebraska joined the Big Ten Conference, which is the conference Iowa is in and so we now have A HOUSE DIVIDED!   

I will still root for Iowa – just NOT today!!

GO BIG RED!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today here in the United States it is Thanksgiving Day. I have many things to be thankful for and hope you do too - where ever you live.

Turkey in a Bowl

Here is a Thanksgiving display I had on a table at our house in North Carolina. All are gifts from my sister-in-laws. The pretty crystal bowl was from my brother's wife and the turkey and towel are from my husband's sister.

This is a Pine Mountain Designs pillow I did in 2007 and this year it is on the entry table which I showed yesterday.

Enjoy your day!!

Entry table display for November

People who read my blog regularly know we moved in April and the new house had the perfect place in the entry way to put a table and create a seasonal display. Here is my November display.

These are my fall items with the turkey and pillow added for Thanksgiving. I posted a close up of the pillow here last year, if you are interested.

Cornucopias - oops now has pictures

I have been carrying these cornucopia baskets for years and so far they have not been crushed! Last year I did update the little one with new and different fruits and vegies.

I see the big horn of plenty below is not very plentiful this year!  I placed the small cornucopia on the kitchen table and may make the bigger one fuller and put it on the dining room table – just not sure about that yet.

Have a great stitching day!

A Little Help From My Friend

Earlier in the month I told you about my friend Sandra who lives in New York State and how I have made her gifts and ornaments over the years (she has made me things too, which gives me an idea for something to post about)!  Well she sent me some more pictures and I plan to share one with you today and some others later in the month.

Here is a picture she sent showing the entire collection of ornaments. Here is just a taste of what is to come.

Carbonated Beverage with Caffeine Day

Who knew??

But according to the Foodie Holiday Calendar, today’s the day! Don’t drink it all at one time!!

More Fortune Cookie Wisdom

You may be able to tell by now that we eat a lot of Chinese food. In fact, we have a restaurant we like about a mile and a half from our house that we visit at least once a week.

·         Good fortune is always on your side.

·         Your happiness is intertwined with your outlook on life.

·         Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.

·         Faith is knowing there is an ocean when you can only see the stream

·         A good way to keep healthy is to eat more Chinese food.

·         People who are late are often happier than those who have to wait for them.

Also, just found at my desk - Failing to plan is planning to fail.

Have a yummy day!

Fortune Cookie Wisdom

Some sayings I have liked:

· Your sweetheart may be too beautiful for words, but not for arguments.

· Learning is a treasure which accompanies us everywhere.

· You love Chinese food.

· You enjoy giving gifts of yourself to others, you will be rewarded.

· Pray for what you want, work for what you need.
· You are original and creative.

Miss Maddie and her menagerie!

Miss Maddie was funny Sunday. She ran down the stairs from the kitchen into the family room and picked up beaver. She then dropped it and ran a few steps to pick up rabbit. She then went to the back door and dropped rabbit and turned back to pick up duck.  Out she went with duck! Decisions, decisions!!

My Soul is Fed by Needle and Thread

Here is another finish finish. I first posted about this stitching last February.

I decided to sew some fabric around it so it would fit into a box I bought from DMC (in 2006 or 7). It came with fabric, linen floss and a chart to stitch a flowery insert with initials (along with some other nice DMC products). I was not too crazy about the insert and had trouble sizing my initials to fit. So when going through my box of finishes in need of finishing I thought this would be perfect for my sewing box!

I put felt feet on the bottom of the box so it would not scratch the end table and it sits next to me by my stitching chair. It holds various stitching supplies and some parts of stitching in progress. I can close the lid and the whole “mess” is hidden from view!  See the mess in the picture below.

The needlebook and cloth go inside too, but they covered up all the other stuff inside so I set them out.

Alphabet w/Hare Finish Finished

As promised in my post yesterday here is the stitching all done and attached (using heat and bond) to the notebook cover. It is the next to the last thing to finish from the Sampler Guild of the Rockies June Retreat.

Happy Stitching!!

Samplers

Today is the monthly meeting of the Sampler Guild of the Rockies (SGR) so I thought I would write a little bit about the Sampler Consortium which I learned about at one of the guild meetings last year. The consortium is based at the University of Oregon in Eugene and is a collection of experts, scholars and others who are interested in the study of historic samplers and girlhood embroideries.

The Consortium has three goals and I quote from the website:

1. "To advance the study of historic samplers and other girlhood embroideries;
2. To increase access to information and research relevant to the study of historic samplers and girlhood embroideries;
3. To design, develop, and support projects that advance the study of historic samplers and other girlhood embroideries."

Membership is open to anyone with an interest in samplers and girlhood embroideries and is currently free (an application form can be found on the website). Members also receive an email with information about samplers, books and exhibits.

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I will leave you with an alphabet sampler I am working on. It is a free-Bee from La D Da called Alphabet w/Hare and was one of the projects from the SGR June retreat. I stitched it on the supplied fabric which I only remember is NOT an evenweave. The stitch count of the design is square (89x89) but you can see here the outcome on the fabric is not square. I used some DMC variations floss (#4200) I had in my stash because the supplied floss was not overdyed and I liked the overdyed look on the sample shown at the retreat.  It is to be put on a notebook cover (that has pinkish flowers like the floss) supplied by the retreat as well. When it is finish finished I will post it. All the notebook covers and the fabric and floss to stitch the alphabet were different, so it will be fun to see all the different finishes at show and tell.

Happy Stitching!!

Happiness Is Cross Stitching

Earlier in the week I found this very cool blog by a lady in the UK called Happiness is Cross Stitching (and it is)!  She had 1725 followers on the day I found it and I can see why. Her pictures are great, showing nice details on the finishing and at the time there was some very cool Halloween stitching on her header. I am glad I found this blog, but wish I found it sooner. I guess that is what the archive is for!

I plan on checking back since she has a shop section and tutorial section (among others) on her blog too. I think you might like her blog too, so check it out (unless you are already one of those 1, 725).

Veterans Day in the U.S. of A.

Happy Veterans Day and THANKS to any of you (and your loved ones) out there who may be reading my blog.

We are FREE because of the BRAVE!!

Friends Part 3

This is a bag I made to hold thread or small fabric scraps. It is show flat. It has drawstrings to pull and hold the scraps, but travels flat.

I know my friend likes red, so when I saw this polka dot bag at the Sampler Guild Sale I bought it for her and then made the red pin cushion and put it in the bag.

Doesn't Sandra take good pictures!

Friends Part 2

This is a Pine Mountain Design Pillow I made for my friend Sandra not sure what year.

What Are Friends For?

I told Sandra, my college roommate and friend, in NY State about my quest to post every day for the month of November. So she sent me some photos of gifts I have made her to help fill the days. Today I give you a door hanger I stitched and finished myself. Sandra is a quilter, so I thought she would like it.

Sorry I do not recall the designer or when I stitched it. I want to say it is by Sue Hillis???

Christmas Stitching Preview

I thought I’d show you what I could of some Christmas Stitching recently completed. At top is my gift to my niece Emily and below that at left is my Foothills gift exchange item and to the right is my gift for niece Laura. The bottom is for Sampler Guild of the Rockies Ornament exchange.

Isn’t the stitching exquisite??

All to be revealed here on my blog at the proper time!

Snow is almost gone

I thought I would show you that the snow really does go away. Here is the picture out my studio window taken on Thursday followed by a picture out the same window taken yesterday.

Nov. 2, 2011

Nov. 5, 2011

Happy Sunday!

Daylight Savings Time Ends in the U.S.

For those of you that live in areas of the United States that have Daylight Savings Time it ends Sunday 11/6 at 2 am. We fall back and get an extra hour of sleep (which we lost last Spring - too bad we can't get sleep interest on that hour)!

Don’t forget to turn your clocks back an hour before you go to bed tonight!!!!
Also everyone take this time to change the batteries in your smoke detectors.

Christmas Stitching

Well I have begun to start stitching for Christmas. I have finished stitching a couple of things, but can’t post pictures because they are presents! I must try and do some stitching for myself that I can post about because pictures are so much fun for everyone!

I have also started my gift and ornament exchange items for a couple of guilds and can post about them after the December meetings.

Have you started your Christmas Stitching yet?

SNOW....agian.

November kicked off here in the Denver Metro with a snow storm yesterday. Here is the view out my studio window. We go about 6 inches and it was not as wet as last week. But the roads were cooler and it has been slicker and there have been LOTS of accidents and some school closures. I am lucky and can telework so I am safe at home. One 15 minute section of my commute was reported as being 1 hr and 15 minutes! November is our second snowiest month so here we go!

View out my studio window yesterday.

NaBloPoMo 2011

Ok, I am going to give it a try and participate in this year's National Blog Post everyday for a Month! As long as I am successful you will see the logo at top left (above Miss Maddie). November is an awfully busy month, but I decided to try it this year anyway. Wish me luck, and I will do my best to provide interesting posts, so check back often!!

Halloween Dog

I remembered I had this little black witch's hat and wondered if Miss Maddie would wear it. Well she did! She was such a little trooper and did not complain or try and get it off all night. Our first lab would have pawed if off right away. I gave here a couple of baby carrots as her treat for the evening.

You may notice she has her best friend duck with her!

Always safest to trick or treat in pairs you know ;)