Busy busy busy!

I know, I'm not doing so well at keeping my word, about blogging more often! I'm sorry! I haven't forgotten, it's just been a crazy month.  Rob was on a business trip to WI for a week, so I was on my own with the kids. I am so thankful for a great boss, who let me go get Hanna every day so I wouldn't have to pay the day care to keep her! The kids both had things at school that week too- Hanna had a chorus concert, and David was in a pirate play.
My stitching has been slim to none- I need to get my stitching mojo back! I did however assemble some ornaments to give the kids' teachers- their last day of school before Christmas break is tomorrow. We had an 'ice' day today- not much snow, just ice and sleet, so school was called off. So I got to stay home most of the day with the kids, and it was a blessing because I would have been up late tonight doing those ornaments otherwise! I shouldn't have waited til the last minute. I will confess that none of these were stitched recently- just assembled recently. :)

I am also a bit embarrassed about the wrinkledness( that a word?) of this last one, granted the light does highlight them a bit, but I ironed and ironed this.. I thought I had gotten them out, or at least pulled it tight enough to smooth them a bit, but I guess not. :( Well at least it doesn't look this bad in real life. I was just trying to remember the designs of all of these- the first Santa was from an older magazine or leaflet I think- not sure of the second designer either. :( The third is Homespun Elegance I believe and the last one is Lizzie Kate I think. :)
I am nowhere near ready for Christmas- have almost all my shopping to do yet-but I am trying not to stress out! I will post a picture of the Christmas tree soon. Oh and I almost forgot-every year our town has a 'town lighting' night.. I don't think I have posted any pics from this yet. I want to get some better ones of downtown when it's not so crowded because it really is pretty. But here are some for now.

The snow is not real, it's a snow machine! :)

my 99 cent sale on ebay and other stuff!

Long time no blog again, I am sorry.  Seems life keeps getting in the way.. that and I need to limit my time on other computer related things(facebook!) and put aside some time to read blogs and update my own. Today I listed (and re-listed) some old leaflets and magazines on ebay- a few Christmas Cross Country Stitching mags, some old Precious Moments books, and a few other things.. all starting bids at 99 cents or less.  I am going to list some more too but right now I need to take a break.  It takes a while to list things! Plus I have to get ready for zumba class soon. Oh - my ebay ID is hannasmom1198, if you're interested. ;-)

Last weekend my parents came to visit- we had a great time as always, but kept very busy as always. Mom and Dad were here all day Monday for a change- usually they leave on Monday- so I took them to Waynesborough Village, where I took the kids a couple of weeks ago- and got a few more snaps.

This is Kitty Boo-one of the resident cats- she followed us (or sometimes led us) from house to house.

Stitching progress has been slow-I need to buckle down and get some things finished. I may put projects for myself aside and get some Christmas ornaments/cards/gifts done.

Here is the Christmas ornament I've been working on-

and here is the hedgehog freebie- don't think I will have it done for this fall. lol

Thanks for your patience with me! I will try to post more soon. If I don't post before then- have a Happy Thanksgiving!

H is finished!

and H is for Happy Birthday and Hanna too! My dd will be 12 tomorrow! We had her party this weekend so she could have a sleepover.

A good time was had by all! Here is one of the two of us- your kid is never too old to sit on your lap, right?

Not the best picture of me but oh well.. :)

And last but not least, here is H!

Took me long enough, huh?  Now on to I! I will get it kitted up soon. :)

Look what I finished on my birthday!

Sorry for the crappy pic- now I am going to start a couple of new things- I need to start working on Christmas gifts, and also am going to work on a little hedgehog fall freebie.. more to come...

Progress on H, pretty clouds, etc..

Thought I'd post a little bit this evening.. I have been working hard on "H" the past couple of days so I thought I would share my progress.  This had been on the back burner for a little while so I thought I should get back on the ball.

Sorry it's a little blurry, I took three and they all looked the same. My auto-focus was not working so well this evening!

We had a cloudy day most of the day today-rain and storms off and on-and I saw the neatest clouds this morning- they looked almost painted. I tried to get some good shots- it was hard with all the power lines though.

You  may have to enlarge them to get the full effect-especially on the first one.

I had a nice weekend- didn't get much done in the way of stitching but took the kids and Hanna's friend to a local historical village.  We've lived here for years but have never been there. It's free and it was actually a nice little park.  It's made up of old homes, offices, and schools that have been re-located from different places in  the county. Here are a couple of snaps-

And the kids had fun clowning around in front of the old outhouse-

And just a few more- it was such beautiful weather that day!

Sorry this one's not so good, was hurrying to catch up with the kids! This is an old doctor's office.

Thought the view of the trail was pretty too. :) Well, that's about it for now.. I am close to finishing "Wishing Waiting Hoping", so hopefully I will have a finish to show you soon!

Some great stitchy giveaways!

There is one At Willow Tree Pond, and one at Dixie Samplar Designs. Both very generous! Be sure to check them out!

Ireland by Frank Delaney


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A great book full of Irish folklore and legend, with a lovely story right in with it. It was a bit long, but a surprise toward the end made it all worthwile.




View all my reviews

Didja miss me?

Ugh, I just can't seem to get back on track wih blogging! But in my defense, I do have something to show for my time away! Just finished "Cat-O-Lantern" tonight!

Not sure what I'm going to do with him yet..

And a couple of other pretty pictures to share- I see alot of sunrises taking my kids to school- here are a couple pictures of the beautiful sunrise yesterday-

Other than that, not much going on besides the usual.  After this weekend, our next few weekends will be busy- Halloween weekend, then Hanna's birthday party, then my parents' visit and my 2nd Premier Designs jewelry party! :)  Oh and my birthday is next week! :) No big plans for that though..

a fun weekend...

Well, it's been a fun but busy weekend here! Friday evening I went to our semi-annual library book sale- I was very self-controlled as compared to previous sales, but still ended up spending about the same amount of money, because the books Hanna wanted were hardcover, and they cost more. Oh well!  

Saturday was our annual church picnic- you may remember pics I posted from last year.  The family who hosts the picnic at their home has a lovely yard.  Here are some pictures-

A fun time was had by all, and everyone brought delicious food!  We also had a beautiful day weather-wise, as you can see!

Today Hanna and I went to another Premier Designs jewelry party, which was also a birthday celebration for my friend Cheryl, who is a breast cancer survivor and has been several years cancer free.  I stitched her a little pillow that I thought might be appropriate-

I think it turned out pretty well, but I really do wish I was more proficient with a sewing machine! I see so many ladies finishing their needlework in beautiful and creative ways but I just don't think I know my way around a sewing machine well enough to try.  Maybe someday..I guess sometime I need to practice on something that doesn't matter! lol   That's about it here.. sorry I had been so long in posting- I was working on this alot and didn't want to post any pics til I had given it to her. Now I'm trying to focus not only on my other WIP but maybe some Christmas gifts as well.. so much to stitch, so little time!

A beary cute giveaway!

Ginger at Bearbits is giving away another cutie pie!

Here's a close up.  Just click here or on the post title to check it out!

Giveaway winners!!

Good morning everyone! Just a quick post before zumba class to announce my giveaway winners. Please email me at angelrose1108@yahoo.com with your addresses. Thanks!

Bent Creek's "A Little Christmas"- Robin (of Crafting with the Stitch Witch)
Twisted Threads "Autumn Acorn"- Patty C. (of Hanning on by a Thread)
Sampler Girl's "Jane Austen on the Weather"- Catherine (no blog, aka catgerenser)

Congrats ladies! I love giving things away but always hate that I don't have enough for everyone to win. I will give more things away in the future, so keep an eye on this space!
And thank you so much for reading!

A finish and some giveaways!! Because I now have 101 followers! :)

Well, I finished "Jane Austen on the Weather" today- I took the majority advice and used a darker color.. however I didn't use the same color as the lettering, I went a shade darker.   I think the year was just too light without something to define it.  Excuse the wrinkles!  If anyone is interested- the colors I used were Gentle Art Forest Glade, Gentle Art Hyacinth(thanks again Babs!), WDW Concord, and WDW Lilac. It was stitched on 32 ct HCG Textiles (or is it MCG?That one they sell at Michael's. lol)

Now for the giveaways!! I am so excited that I have 101 followers that I thought I would give a little back. :) I wish it could be more.  Instead of giving the three charts away as a group, I thought that I'd do three separate giveaways. Please leave a comment on this post only- let me know which charts you'd like to be entered for, and your email if it's not in your blog profile.  If you post about the giveaway on your blog let me know that in your comment also and I will throw in an extra entry for the chart(s) you want! Thanks!

Jane Austen on the Weather by the Sampler Girl

Autumn Acorn by Twisted Threads

Little Christmas by Bent Creek

I'll draw a winner on Saturday Oct. 2nd. :) 

Need opinions please..

Ok, as some of you saw in a previous post- I am stitching "Jane Austen on the Weather" and changed the colors a bit.  I am almost finished-but the color I chose for the block surrounding the year doesn't look right(it was gray.)  So I stitched the year, but should I add the box around it in a different color, (suggestions please :) ) or leave it be? This is what it looks like right now.

Sorry for the crappy pic! Thanks for your opinions. :)

A quick finish and other odds and ends

First of all, wow! I have 101 followers! I can't believe it! I will try to have a little giveaway or something soon.. I'll see what I can come up with.  This week I found out my baby David has his first loose tooth!  And immediately I thought of this old Journey's End(aka Sampler Girl) freebie from 2002(?) That's when I printed it anyway.  So I stitched it up quick and finished it as to be ready for the big day.

I know it's not perfect.. it's only the 2nd time I've done a tin and the 1st time I didn't have Vonna's great tutorials! I will get better with practice. :) I would show you the inside too but I am having problems with this weird blogger uploader, it keeps turning my pictures sideways and I can't get it to turn them back.

Let me try a different way-

Oh, and it was stitched on ivory 28 ct monaco(I think) over one with one strand of DMC-

colors used are DMC 310, 817, 809, and 824. The pattern didn't have any recommended colors. I let David pick them.. except for the black for the wheels.. there is actually only three colors for this pattern but I added one more. :)

David liked that his tooth would have a 'bed' to lay on, he wanted to know if it could have a blanket too? lol

I forgot to mention last weekend I went to a clothing swap a church was sponsoring- you brought clothes you didn't want anymore, and you could look through clothes other people didn't want anymore. Or if you had nothing to donate but needed clothes, you could take some for free. I cleaned out my closet and brought a few things, and really got some nice things! I won't bore you with all of them but I did find a fabulous sweater (if it will EVER get cool enough here!) and it was so pretty I took an up close of it-since it was brown but had other threads woven into it-

It looks kind of light since it was under my Ott-lite, but it really is dark brown and has all those different colors in it too- it's so pretty!

I had to drive to a meeting in Raleigh on Thursday- my boss directed me this way I had never gone before- well my husband said we had but I didn't remember it-it was so nice! Hardly any traffic and the scenery was beautiful-

I think it will be especially pretty once the leaves start to turn! :) May have to take a trip that way again- to the Lazy Daizy maybe?

Friday my son's class and some others had a parents' picnic- moms and dads (or other loved ones) got to come eat lunch on the lawn with their kids.  I decided I would take a picture of David to commemorate the day. Well he figured out that when my camera on my phone makes the shutter sound that he could change his face just in time. So I kept thinking I got a picture of him smiling and instead I got this-

Then this-

Then this-

And finally this-

Hooray!!

And last but not least- progress on the ornament I've been working on- I haven't been stitching on this every week like I should. I need to get on the ball! But here it is so far.

I really like how the brick stitch looks on this!  Well that's it here- hope you didn't mind all the pictures! I will post again soon.