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. 

a surprise giveaway from Edgar!

Edgar is having his annual hobbit birthday giveaway (I think that's what he calls it-lol) - do pop by and check it out here. And do check out his blog while you are there, it is beautiful and a joy to read!

another completion

Here is a Sampler Girl freebie finally framed- I can't believe I stitched it in 2008! I thought it was last year.  Granted I did wait a while to get the frame from my dad, but I must have put off framing it longer than I thought. Anyway- here 'tis-

I was going to frame Bent Creek's "Blackbird House" yesterday- got it out and contemplated removing the button before I ironed it- but didn't- there was some really bad creases in it and I was having a hard time getting them out so I kind of forgot about the button, and when I flipped it over the little blackbird was all broken.  So now I have to wait to frame it - will have to order another button.   I really need to start rolling my projects up instead of folding them- the creases are so hard to get out after so long a time. That or I need to start finishing all my projects into whatever I plan to do with them, right after I finish stitching them.

Well I was sitting in the Sonic drive-thru the other morning (I love their jr. breakfast burritos and they are only 1.00!) and while I was waiting at the speaker I saw this- I hope you can make out the moth/butterfly- not sure which it was-I think a dark colored butterfly-

It's on the yellow flower in the front. I was so glad I had my camera with me, even if it didn't turn out that great!  The kids and I also saw some deer not far from our house the other day- and got pretty close- but as soon as I got the camera they ran and I just got a couple of blobs. Oh well.

And last but not least- a sign of fall-even though it continues to be in the 90's (ugh) here-

Blogfrog test

I hate to think that because of my sporadic posting I have lost some readers- and my blogfrog widget is showing no recent Blog frog readers- now I know not everyone belongs to BlogFrog, or may forget to sign in before reading blogs- but could someone who is a BlogFrog member sign in and read my blog? I want to see if my widget it working.  Thanks! I will post more later..

a finished finish!

I can now show you the gift I made for my friend Melissa for her birthday- I stitched this up last week and put it together today.  Here is a close-up or two and a picture of the birthday girl- hope she doesn't mind me posting it! :) (or her mom, as she took the picture!)

She thought it was really neat!

a finish and frustration

Well, "G" is finally finished!

I am so happy! It took me much too long to finish this.  I have already pulled threads for "H."

I was stitching "Jane Austen on the Weather" tonight-I am using GAST Hyacinth for the lettering, and ran out wth just a few letters to go! Argh! Does anyone know an online needlework store that only charges actual postage? I don't want to pay $2 in shipping for one skein of thread. lol I know I ordered from one once but I can't remember who it was.. Wyndham Needleworks maybe?

A blog before bed..

Finally some progress to show you.. I have worked on "G" tonight.. it's gotten somewhat put by the wayside due to gifts I was working on, etc..now it is all stitched and ready for beads, which I hope to do sometime this weekend.  Given what an easy stitch this was it took me wayyyy too long!

I have also been working on a little one by 4 My Boys called "Wishing Waiting Hoping"- here is how it looks as of right now-

and while I am posting pics here is my TU SAL update- I don't even think I posted one last month!

The other day I happened to look into my ort jar, and thought, this is kind of a pretty angle for a picture too, so just for fun I took one for my update like this:

It has been a relaxing evening- due to a rearranged work schedule Rob was not watching TV tonight, so I had it all to myself after David went to bed-I am watching "The Lord of the Rings-Two Towers". I love all the LOTR movies so much but they are so long I never have time to watch them- and I really like the ents and some of the parts in this one so I decided to watch it.  Though I forgot there wasn't much of the elves and Rivendell in this one and I love them too, so I may watch "Fellowship of the Ring" next time. :) I love them all though, really.

Hanna is at her first lock-in, at a local church.  She went with a friend and from the updates I've gotten it sounds like she is having a great time.  It was for middle school kids only. :)

Ohhhhh well it is really so late here, I guess I better get to bed as I have zumba class in the morning.  Plus there is a cricket hidden in my kitchen somewhere and his chirping is starting to bug me. Hopefully I will have time to finish watching my movie sometime this weekend.. 

This n' That

Hello everyone- I have been remiss in posting again and I apologize. In my defense I did try to post from my cell phone the other day but it wouldn't go thru. I used to be able to post from my phone with no problem, now all of a sudden it isn't working. 

I don't believe I've posted my progress on "Jane Austen on the Weather" ever- I picked this because it's been sooooo hot this summer, and ironically I may not even finish it before the cooler weather hits. But I am sure here in NC it will be hot next summer too. I changed the colors on this one-sorry it's a bit blurry- I took it with my phone at work. lol

I sent the kids of to school the past couple of weeks-David started kindergarten(sniff sniff) this past Monday and Hanna started on the 25th.  And I always take pics of the first day of school so here they are-

I also framed LK's "Count Your Blessings" and gave it to my friend Holly. This is the frame I originally used for my flip-its but I will just have Dad make me another one. :)

I have currently put my other projects on hold to work on something for someone- can't post pictures cause she might see it. :) but I will once it is given.

I am also going to be listing a ton of old stitching mags and leaflets on ebay in the next day or so. I started today but didn't get very far- I have listed a few Cross Country Stitching magazines from earlier in the decade. I plan on doing the rest tomorrow, before ebay's 'free listing' promo is done. lol My ebay ID is hannasmom1198- I may have a link in my sidebar- I don't remember!

Well that's about it here- please don't give up on me, I will really make an effort to post more often. Thanks for reading!