Across the Finish Line

Happy Monday!  What a great week it has been.  Today hopefully will start another great one off, and end with a great picnic and some fireworks :)  I wanted to share something I finished before Bramble and the Rose a few weeks back.  This was a secret project that my friend suggested we do with some of the Fibers to Dye For that we acquired several of these fabulous silks back in November.   She came up with the great idea to stitch up a project using colors from Amy Mitten. 
I actually chose a project in my Crazy January Start to do because I had wanted to stitch this piece and then it helped in my starts as well, and now, another finish.  Yesterday we did the unveiling of the projects we chose to stitch.  She chose fabulous Jane Withers from Plum Street Samplers and I chose Threads of Gold- Mary Corey.  Both pieces turned out amazing and I am so excited to show you Mary today.

I do know is that the color I used for the letters is called Evil.  Nice right?  Other colors used were Autopsy, Morbid, Old Lace, etc., etc.,  I dont have the list in front of me now, otherwise I would list those also.  I just had a great time using these silks, and again, if you havent tried them, they are worth hunting down to add them to your stash.  I chose 45ct V. Luna for Mary and I look forward to finding a super cute little frame for her this week.  I will have to share that with you too :)

I have also put in a few more stitches into the border of Isabella Johnston

and then I remembered about the other project I was working on with another friend, Fruit of the Spirit also from Plum Street Samplers.  I dug it out and added a few more stitches to that one as well. 

This is one of 3 houses in this pattern, the furthest one right, and I added in some of the over one into the houses window and door.   There are soo many colors in this tiny little project, I am forever switching out the threads.  I have chosen a 45ct V. Lakeside for this along with most of the threads called for with a few improvements :)  I hope to get more stitched on it this week.
I am almost ready to put some stithes into Dorothy W. the colors have been chosen, and the linen selected from the stash.  She is going to be exquisite. 
With some small talk, the last few days have been spent (amongst other things!!) putting together another great project-- locating all the pieces to the puzzle, that alot of you have started, and almost finished.  I cant give you to much more details just yet, it is only a matter of days before the colors are put to bed and I show you the next beauty.
Enjoy the week :)

One Blue Bird

Excellent news......another WIP is done :)  Well, it was done 2 days ago and my brain was literally all over the place yesterday.

Along with the variety of silk in brown tones, yes, there is One Blue Bird.  I used Ltd. Edition Gloriana for the special bird, along with Belle Soie and Florimell on 40ct Vintage Pearled Barley Lakeside.   Nice and easy, and another one checked off of the January Crazy Challenge!!!!

You know from alot of my past posts, that we like a good old fashion baked item.  Well, whether we bake it or if we buy it, we always like it.  So, as promised, I wanted to share this cake I baked on Saturday morning for the picnic we had. 

This is the pan from William Sonoma that is in the shape of an 'oreo' cookie, however, I switched it up a bit and made it a vanilla creme cookie cake.  WOW!!!!!!!!!!!  Was it good.  It was gone in no time.  It is pretty big the cookie cake, about 12 inches so we all could have a taste or 2 :)  I love baking, and to make cakes and things in different shapes is always great fun.

So digging back into the challenge bin, I came up with a few others that I want to work on, and again, these WIPs might be sidetracked by new starts (i.e. Dorothy Walpole) until then.....this is what I had in my hands last night:

Isabella Johnstone from SANQ Summer 2010 using 45ct vintage lentil (I think), along with the called for Belle Soie silks.  Laying next to one of my gorgeous new project bags (I will have to take some more pics of those later).  Interesting enough the finished size of my Isabella is going to just be a smidge larger in length/width then One Blue Bird on 40ct.  I cant get enough of this 45ct, it all just looks so cute in this size!  If you have never tried it, it is worth it.  I know a friend of mine has started her first piece on 45ct (the new one in the SANQ Summer 2011 ?? magazine with all the great color-- I forget the name right now) she is doing a FANTASTIC job on it, and actually admits to liking it alot!!!!  Not as bad as she thought that is for sure.  I cant wait to see her progress on it.  It doesnt take long to get adjusted to it. 

Summer is here and the heat is on.  No complaints-- just crack open a nice refreshing beverage and pick up your stitching.  What could be better??!!!!

Classic :)

So this past weekend my Sister and Husband were over and we were chatting about some great items on youtube that were fun to see.  Some of my favs that I mentioned to them were the best of Justin Timberlake, Will Farrel (of course!!) SNL skits, that no matter how many times I watch them, I laugh.  Good right?  I think so :)

My sister mentioned one that I thought I would share with all of you, normally I dont do these things, but this one is Classic.  Make sure that you have your sound ON :)

The Bramble and The Rose

Happy Fathers Day to all of you great Dads-- I spent yesterday with my Dad, and later in the evening, went and saw his Dad who is 89.   Simply amazing right?!  We had a picnic on Saturday with my Sister and her Husband and as usual, had a blast.   It was great to see them, and share a few hours together out of all our busy schedules.  I will have to share some of the good eats tomorrow with all of you :)

I am proud to say I finally finished The Bramble and The Rose by Ink Circles.  What a difference a few weeks make.  Well, and putting in stitches when ever there was a pause.  I was so desperate to get this one finished, I was even stitching on the way to work in the car, and late into the night.  I finished it on Friday night and couldnt be more excited!!!!  I think this one has been over 2 years in the making :)

So this beauty is stitched on 40ct Meadow Rue Lakeside with overdyed silk from a Friend.  Isnt it GORGEOUS!!!!!!!  Very different from my usual sampler routine, but a fabulous addition.  Tracy did a great job designing this one :)  I am looking forward to the frame this summer for sure.
I completed another piece over a week ago, but that one will have to make its blog debut next week or so.  My friend and I decided to stitch a design using Fibers to Dye for, and I am positive they are both great.  We havent shown each other the finished pieces yet, nor do we know what they look like but it is only a matter of days.............I hope!!!  I cant wait :)

I did pick up from the January Crazy challenge One Blue Bird by Goode Huswife, and I should have this one wrapped up later today.

I think the finished size on 40ct is somewhere near 5 x 7 size, but I am not sure.  A nice easy one.  I am fired up about these finishes, and looking forward to a few more this summer..... But it all depends, on how many starts there are too!!!!!!  LOL there are always summer starts.

My parents have a family of deer that travels through the yard every night, and it was fun to capture this one last night.  I think there are usually 6 or 7 of them, along with a gorgeous red fox.  Good luck catching him in pics, he doesnt usually last that long for you to run and grab the camera.  You never know though right?

It is my Mothers Birthday today---Happy Birthday Mom!!!  Also, another friend of mine-- her birthday is today as well-- Happy Birthday to you too!!!!!

Until next time!

So many things

Thanks for being so patient!!!!  I know I have not posted in nearly a month, but you know what happens.....LIFE!  So many busy days at work, a few birthdays-- and so many parties! First up, no, I have not finished my Bramble and the Rose, however, she is getting closer :)

I also got my Mermaid and the Sea by Examplars of the Heart framed up.  So many options for a frame, but I just stuck with the basics, (what else is new!) and I think it turned out great.

I have been having a hard time resisting all the new goodies at the LNS......

Belle Soie, Florimel, new SANQ, of course linen!!!!  Also, see the 3 thread balls in the pic?  On Friday, my friend asked me if I had tried out the new Valdani silk, I told her I never heard of it before.  So, I had to take some home.  I am anxious to try it out, there are some great colors available.  All silk is not created equal, but I am always happy to give a newbie a try :)

On Friday night, after a few amusing texts, I pulled out my Sanctuary project from the Drawn Thread.  I finished up the letters on the bottom left, and powered out some trees.  Of course, the color in the pic is awful, but I am stitching this on 40ct V. Pear Lakeside along with a variety of silks.  In person, the colors are exquisite.

My Husband and I picked up a set of tennis rackets at goodwill and some tennis balls this weekend, and decided to start playing tennis again.  It has been a long time since we have played, but no time like the present to start exercising again.  We went down to the local school, and made use of the courts for an hour.  It was great fun-- and we are going to go again today.

After coming home yesterday and finishing up odds and ends, the laundry, the dishes, the cleaning out, I decided a great way to reward ourselves for doing such a great job with our new exercise program, and the chores.......

that cupcakes were an order :)

Enjoy your day, and thanks again for all of you who stick with this blog-- even though I have been away for sooooo long.

Happy Monday

I hope that all of you Mothers had a super day yesterday!!  From what I have read from some of my favorite blogs, there was great fun to be had!!  Excellent :)  I know that my Mother had a great time, my Sister and her Husband went over to the house and brought her- her favorite pie......Chocolate Mousse. 

I was out of town this week and was able to spend some time with my Father & Mother-in-Law, which is always great fun.  We had a big family party early on in the week, with about 45 of our brother and sister in laws, and all the nieces and nephews, and their kids too.  Wow, amazing how many there were of us, and that wasnt even all of them!!!  Huge family my Husband has.....so nice, everyone just loves getting together, enjoying each other and visiting for a few hours, and they all live in the area and visit often.  Still, they get excited to get together again.  How can you complain about that?!

On Saturday I was invited to my nieces bridal shower, who is getting married this coming week.  I was excited to go shopping and check out all of the goodies she had registered for at Target.  You gotta love Target, they have a great selection of household items.  I bought her plates, glasses and silverware.  On the way home I was talking about the wrapping to my MIL and decided I was going to wrap it like a wedding cake.  Now, unfortunately Target nor Box-mart had wedding paper.  Can you imagine?  White is not wedding paper to me...... wedding paper has bells, brides, or beautiful tone on tone flowers.  Very elegant.  They had tons of birthday paper, and tons of baby shower paper, (lets not get ahead of ourselves!!!! LOL) With no time to spare, we chose some fun paper that would work. 

 I was so excited to wrap these up, the men were out on errands, and we had papered the entire family room.  Paper and ribbons and tulle everywhere.  How fun right?  I was thrilled the way it turned out.  The downfall was that it was super heavy, and doing my best to keep them all together was pretty interesting.  The morning of the shower the men loaded up the goodies in to the backseat of the car, and I put a seatbelt on mine!!!!!  LOL.  My MIL bought her a microwave and mixer, so you know the back seat was filled up.  Off we went to the shower and it was an open house sort of bridal shower, people came and went.  Gifts were opened and goodies were had.  Lots of laughing, which I always love to hear.  For me, there isnt much laughter going on, I wish there was more, but I am always so involved with work, and definitely enjoyed all of it this week.

I got in some stitching time this weekend too.  Amazing right?  Here is my Bramble and the Rose......

Alot of progress was made, I am keeping my fingers crossed for this week, but I am back at work so I am not going to hold my breath!!!  LOL.  It sure is beautiful, my Sister-in-Law suggested I make a pillow out of it, while that is a great idea, I am not sure I will go that route.  I am usually a 'frame' type of gal.

Almost 2 years ago, I posted about some cookie cutters that my Grandmother had on her wall, ever since I can remember and was desperate for information.  2009 cookie cutters if you want to see the original post.  But my Husband was in the middle of now-where (center of Kansas) a few weeks back at an antique store and found this for me:

We have been on the hunt for these gems for 7 years.  Looking and looking.   They are solid aluminum, weigh about 3 pounds and they are replicas of old gingerbread cookie cutters from the Virgina Metalcrafters in Williamsburg VA.  This is simply amazing.  Apparently the woman at the antique shop, said that just the night before my Husband had come in, she found it tucked away, like someone had hid it to come back for it.  She found it and hung it front and center.  Sure enough, it was meant to be. When he came back, he said "I bought you something.......oh yeah?.........yes, one of those aluminum molds we have been looking for, like Grandmas"  I had 1 of the 2 I was looking for.  I AM SO EXCITED to have this, it even came with the original gingerbread recipe they sold with it on the back.  I immediately googled to find more information on the item (It is the same one at grandmas, but you dont dare take it off the wall to inspect.......) and sure enough, I found the mate I needed online.  I couldnt believe the luck.  Within 3 weeks, I had both of these Gingerbread cookie cutters, just like Grandma, my Fathers mother.  (A few posts back, I visited my other Grandmother, my Mothers mom) 

There are a handful of things that stick out in her home, that grab me and I have fond memories everytime I see them.  With 7 children in her family, I am not sure my name is on any of these items, so I went ahead and got them myself.  Just as good.  Her home is so classic and timeless, and when I see these treats, I remember visits at her house like it was yesterday.  M & M's in the candy jar, samplers on the wall, baking every week-- a fresh baked cake or pie would always be there on Sunday afternoons, waiting for us to visit. Homemade applesauce, canned jam.  To run in the yard, to chase bunny rabbits, to view the gorgeous azaleas blooming in the spring. Grandma is 83 now, and just as young as she was years ago.  She is a classic woman, one who could have easily gone to the royal wedding, and fit in like a glove.  I look forward to seeing her again soon :)

Thanks again to all of you who read my blog-- who leave comments and those who just enjoy reading it, it means the world to me.  I love connecting with all of you.

Have a wonderful week!