My Jane Austen-inspired necklace and other stuff..

I found this locket with this lady on it at Michael's the other day- it was the last one on clearance and I knew I had to have it.. then I found this other pendant on clearance as well and picked it up too- originally I was going to hang them on a chain but couldn't find the right one, then I thought about ribbon and I found this today at Michael's when I went for some needles- and there you go!

Sometime I would like to try making my own pendants and charms- they have the supplies to do so- but this will do for now. :)

I have taken on a new project- (actually 3 but I am taking them one at a time).  A good friend of mine from church used to stitch and had started one or two projects, and had the supplies to start another, but found she could no longer stitch comfortably so she asked me to finish them, and being a stitcher offered to pay me, since she knows how much time goes into them! This is the first one I am working on-

It's from an old 80's leaflet- I'm not sure of the name cause the pages she gave me were torn out of it- but this particular pattern is called "Star Gazer." I just found some stitches I am going to have to frog but I did stitch a little on it- the only part I have stitched was the rose and some of the stitches around it.. the rest is all what she had done already.  This is the first time I will have finished a project someone else has started- it's kind of fun, especially since I like the design myself. :)

I have been working a little on my never-ending ornament "Decorating the House." This was my lunch time project but since I have been coming home most days to let Ginger out(until her bladder gets bigger- lol) I haven't gotten much done. I did finish the snowflakes though and only have the border and beads left to do.  I have also made a little more progress on "Beach House" so I'll post a picture of that soon.

Here is a picture of Ginger- she fell asleep on Rob last night and I thought it was so cute the way she had her paws curled up. ♥

For more pics visit my "Ginger blog" at http://gingereverday.blogspot.com. :)

a quick post at lunch..

Just a reminder to all my swagbucks peeps that today is Mega Swagbucks Day! Today if you search you are more likely to win large amounts of swagbucks than on a normal day.  They are also having a code extravaganza, keep an eye on my widget to the right. :) To check for codes, click the Code icon then the "check for swagbucks code"(or something like that) button.. it will tell you where to look. Once you get the code, type it in the gimme box on the swagbucks homepage. 
If you're not familiar with swagbucks, its a great reward site where you get virtual dollars, "swagbucks" for searching using their search engine, as well as other things, like surveys, games, polls, etc. It's completely free to sign up and you can use your swagbucks for great prizes l.ike Amazon and Starbucks gift cards,  toys, and lots of other things.  If you're interested simply click here .  Did I mention you cann also earn swagbucks through redeeming coupons? If you print coupons through the link on their site (under the "Earn" tab) and use them you will get 10 swagbucks for each coupon redeemed!
Well better go for now, will post later with stitchy stuff!

Happy New Year!

A bit late.. I know!  Hope everyone had a great New Year's- ours was quiet but nice.. just stayed home, the four of us. :)

I've made some more progress on Beach Cottage, but not last week :/ I was so lazy on the stitching front last week..may have put a couple stitches in, I don't even remember. But here's what I've done so far-oh and I think someone asked me if this is a Country Cottage Needleworks design- it is! :)

I've taken on some new projects too- a friend of mine asked me to finish some projects for her, so I am going to take a look at them tonight and see which one I want to do first.  She also gave me several British cross stitch mags(with the free gifts still in them!) They are awesome! I haven't even finished looking through them yet and have found so many future projects- there's even a little Corgi design in one of them! :)

OK, no takers on the last giveaway(if anyone changes their mind just let me know!) So here is a new one.. I will draw a name at the end of the week. :) Just leave a comment on this post and let me know in the comment you want to be entered in the giveaway.

August 2005 of Cross Country Stitching magazine :) Sorry for the fuzzy picture.

How is the weather where you are? It's been lovely here, perfect to take Ginger out and run around with her, but I admit I do miss the colder temperatures, and am starting to wonder if we'll get our annual snow..

Finally I can show you!

A finish! I stitched this for my mom quite some time ago but just finally sewed it up and sent it to her. She got it today(even though I sent it last week Wed. or Thurs. PRIORITY MAIL. ahem.) anyhoo.. here it is. She loves teddy bears. :)

I hope everyone had a merry Christmas! Ours was really nice. The kids and I went church after we opened gifts, and by the time we got home Rob had Christmas dinner/lunch just about ready. It was delicious! Then we just spent the rest of the day relaxing. :) Ginger had fun opening her first Christmas presents, but she didn't care much about the presents at first, she'd just keep the paper in her mouth and take off with it!

I am finally making some progress on Beach Cottage.. I haven't worked on it yet tonight, but here is my progress as of last night-

 

Please excuse the wrinkles!

I have another pattern to give away- this is the pattern-

Sorry the photo isn't so good-I had to find one online because the one I have has one of the houses cut out of the front?! (someone gave me the pattern) Anyway, all the patterns are intact.:) So if you are interested just comment on this post and mention that you want to be entered in the giveaway.. and please leave an email address. Thanks!

and you know I have to post a picture of Ginger- before Christmas she was into the presents under the tree quite often, and after she kept going under the tree and getting ornaments off the tree and chewing on them(if we didn't catch her right away), or just running around the tree.. anyway- here is one of the times she got caught. ;)

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Giveaway winner!

Sorry I am drawing late for the magazine giveaway- I am so scatterbrained sometimes! The winner is- Renee G!

I haven't had a chance to stitch yesterday, been running here, there, and everywhere.. hoping to get a ittle in tonight on Beach Cottage since I haven't worked on it for a while.  I am finally done with Christmas cards, most presents are wrapped, it's a good feeling!

Finally a finish, and some ornaments completed..

I finally finished "Autumn Side" by San Man Originals. :) Just before fall ends!

And here are some ornaments I had finished stitching a while back, but just made them into ornaments tonight, for David's teachers.

Prairie Schooler freebie

I believe this is a freebie also, but I can't remember who designed it!

Also, I have started another daily blog- maybe I can keep this one up, ha! It's pics of our new puppy, Ginger- I will still post pics of her here sometimes but started this blog since I know I will always be taking pics of her-

http://gingereveryday.blogspot.com

Maybe I can keep this one up better than my photo of the day blog- I may take another stab at that one first of the year. :)

A Christmas giveaway!

No, it's not my giveaway(mine is below)- Terri of DixieSamplar is having one! Click here to check it out!

Not much stitching-but another giveaway!

Well between Christmas preparations and getting Ginger, I haven't gotten any stitching done- hopefully soon- maybe after I get my Christmas cards finished.

You know I couldn't get a little dog without dressing it up at least a little bit- so we got Ginger some antlers tonight. :) I wanted to get this cute little collar with bells on it, but it was a little pricey and I knew she wouldn't leave it on, so didn't waste the money. The antlers were much cheaper- and she didn't mind them too much but they were a little loose and kept falling off.  We did keep them on long enough to get this picture-

She's such a good sport! :)

Here is the giveaway- an oldie but goodie-

It's got several nice patterns- including the one on the cover, a Christmas mug design, an angel design, a small wedding sampler, a design of a puppy(a yorkie or some other shaggy-ish dog) and some chicks, etc. Just comment on this post and I will draw a name on Sunday. If you'd like to see photos of any of the other completed designs just let me know via comment or email(email address link is on my blog profile.)

Our furbaby came home early!

I got a nice surprise today! The lady who sold Ginger to us called and thought she was okay to come live with us - she is only 7 weeks old but was weaned and doing well, very social etc.  So we brought her home today. :) Here are a couple of pics-

I will get some better ones soon, everyone wanted to play with her tonight so it was hard to get good photos.  Needless to say, I haven't gotten any stitching done tonight.. been having too much fun playing and snuggling Ginger!

Giveaway winner!

Well, I have never had just two people enter for a giveaway, and I didn't want to do "eenie meenie miney mo", so I wrote "G" on five slips of paper(for GoldenAngelsWorks) and "J" on five slips of paper (for Judith) crumpled them all up separately, shook them in my hand, and picked one without looking.  And the winner is.. Judith in Germany! Judith, please email me at angelrose1108@yahoo.com with your address and I will get it out to you soon! 
And don't be sad Golden Angel, I have another book you might be interested in- I will email you.  If you don't hear from me by Sunday, email me at the above email, I am having trouble emailing people via blogger links.  Thanks!
That's about it for now- have a busy weekend ahead- going to visit with my friend Mandy tomorrow, maybe work a little more on puppy-proofing the house, taking the kids to the city's Christmas parade, then Hanna and I are going to see her friend perform in "The Nutcracker" tomorrow night. :) Sunday is church, then Rob and I are going Christmas shopping! Early for a change! Hope to get a bit of stitching done here and there, and have something to show you on Monday!

Stitching progress and our Christmas tree..

I think I forgot to mention last time that we got our Christmas tree up.  :) This was a bit interesting as Ro has gotten a recliner since last Christmas and we have a small living room- it required a bit of rearranging and putting our rocking chair in another room for now.  Anyway, here it is!

And here is my progress on Beach Cottage and Autumn Side- hoping to finish Autumn Side this weekend. :)

Sorry the snaps aren't that good- for some reason my flash wouldn't go off when I took the one of Beach Cottage!

Only two more weeks til we get Ginger--- it is so hard waiting! I am so excited. We have pretty much gotten everything we need- just need to get a baby gate to keep her in the kitchen while we're at work(just until she is fully house-trained), and her harness and leash- but we want to wait til we get her to do that so we can get the right size.  I know she will be a bit bigger than when we saw her last! :)

an oldie giveaway

Hi all! Will post stitching pics soon, but wanted to go ahead and post this. I have quite a few older/books magazines I have laying around here and I will be giving them away on here over time.. would do them all at once but can't afford to mail them all out within a few weeks! So my first giveaway is for the Precious Moments book #3-Dear Jon.  Sorry the pic is not so good!  Scratch that- can't find my SD cad so here is a pic from the internet-

The booklet is in pretty good condition- a few bends here and there-all the patterns are in great condition.  I'll keep the giveaway open until Friday. Please comment on this post only if you are interested.  I know it's old so if no one wants it I won't be upset! :)  Feel free to share with someone you think would be interested. :)

Meet Ginger!

I am one happy lady today!! We are getting a Corgi puppy! Her name will be Ginger and here she is-

I am soooooo excited!!! We will get her in mid-December, when she is eight weeks old. We met her in person today and it was hard to let go!   She is my early Christmas present. :) I have to share with you the neat story of how we got her.  I have been interested in getting a Pembroke Welsh Corgi for a while now, but couldn't afford one.  One day I struck up a conversation with a lady who worked at the local pet store, and mentioned at some point how bad I wanted one, but couldn't afford what most breeders charge.   She then told me she had a Corgi, and would probably breed it eventually, and wouldn't charge an exorbitant amount for one.  So I gave her my business card and she put it in the pocket of her apron.  This was probably at least a year or so ago give or take a month or two.  Well at the pet store they have three different aprons they rotate for different times of year or something like that.  Her puppies were born in October a week or two ago it was back to the apron she was wearing when we met.. and there in the pocket was my card! So she called and left a message for me at work- I called her back and everything just seemed to fit into place from there- her price was very reasonable, my hubby said we could get one. :) , we really wanted a female and there was only one in the litter! :) She knew how long I wanted one so she said she would tell everyone the female was spoken for.   I am so thankful and feel so blessed.

On the stitching front, I've made a little progress here and there, I will post it soon..

Sorry I've been absent again..

It's been busy here lately- Mom and Dad came to visit on Friday and stayed til Monday.  We had an awesome time as always! Friday night we all went out to eat, to celebrate most of our birthdays- mine of course was Oct. 27, Dad's was Nov. 2, Hanna's was yesterday, and Mom's is on the 24th. Saturday Rob had to work and the rest of us did this and that- started the day at Starbucks♥, did a little shopping.. took Mom and Dad to the Thistle Bee Quilt Shop, and out to my somewhat-LNS to pick up the beads for Summer House- which ended up being too big... so I'm back to square one.  It was my own fault, I didn't bring the piece with me and forgot I had used the petite beads. Sunday we went to church in Raleigh- Mom and Dad are Greek Orthodox and we don't have any Orthodox churches for miles- so we went to All Saints Antiochian Orthodox Church.  They were dedicating their new sanctuary-which is just beautiful!

We also saw some nice fall colors on the way-

The photos really don't do them justice!

Here are a couple more I took near home-

And last but not least- some stitching progress on my Brightneedle ornament- I'm starting to think I should've put it on a slightly darker fabric, but oh well, live and learn! ;)

Oh, and my baby girl turned 13 yesterday- how time flies!!

Look- her hair matches my dad's car! hee hee..

Birthday goodies and other stuff..

Hello everyone! I don't think I ever posted this like I said I would- here is progress on my weekend project, as of tonight..didn't get too much done this weekend- been running here and there and everywhere..

It was my not-quite-fortieth birthday this week.. I had a good day.  Had to work but work wasn't too stressful, got a nice gift from my boss..then that night the family and I went out to Chili's for dinner; I had been craving it for a while.  I had margarita-grilled chicken, with black beans and rice.. it was delicious! Rob and the kids gave me a Starbucks gift card(always a favorite with me♥) and some gift cards for some shops so I can get some retail therapy. ;) I also got a surprise gift from my aunt- these beautiful thread caddies- to replace my plastic and velcro Lo-Ran ones. :P I LOVE these. Here are a few snaps-

They are so nice- you just take the rings out of the Lo-Ran ones and put them in the little slots in the cloth one.. easy peasy! And it's so nice to tie them shut- I know the velcro on one of my old caddies didn't work, even after I replaced it. I had a hair elastic around it for a while..this is so much better!

It has gotten much cooler here this past week and I am loving it.  I have actually been able to wear my sweaters! Yay!! I think it supposed to warm up later this week but only in the low 70's. :)

The kids are psyched for Halloween tomorrow-I was all set to take them trick-or-treating Friday night and then found out that trick-or-treating was actually on Halloween this year! Usually they have it on the closest Friday, so I was surprised! I was also kind of glad because the semi-annual library book sale started Friday night. :) Five paperbacks for 1.00! And I found a couple of real treasures(in my opinion)- Romance of the Forest by Ann Radcliffe(as mentioned in Jane Austen's Emma), and The Watsons/Emma Watson by Jane Austen- I don't believe she finished this one but I believe the edition I got was finished by someone else- we'll see how it is!

Well, I better be going, it's late and in addition to work this week I also have to do some cleaning as Mom and Dad will be visiting us this coming weekend! Woohoo! :) I can't wait. :)

A nice day...

I had a pretty nice day today with (and without) my kids. :) Started the day out by taking the kids to Krispy Kreme for some doughnuts- LOVE their pumpkin spice doughnuts!  Hanna wanted me to take her picture in a Krispy Kreme hat(so did David) so when I tried to take the picture of Hanna, this is what I got-

What a ham!

After Krispy Kreme we ran to Target and picked up a few (non)-essentials.. then I took the kids home and went to The Thistle Bee Quilt Shoppe.  I mentioned them in a previous post I think, quite some time ago.. they carry beautiful fabrics and some Weeks Dye Works thread too, so I pop in there from time to time.  Well the last time I was in there, I found out they are having a monthly get-together for stitchers, to just bring whatever we are working on, and stitch and talk, a chance for us stitchers to meet other stitchers! So I went today and had such a nice time.  I had to leave after an hour/hour and a half to get the kids fed,etc.. but I am hoping to stay a bit longer next time. :) I did make a little progress on "Beach Cottage" at the get-together, I now have some beach for my not-yet-stitched cottage-

I probably would have more done, but sometimes I just talked instead of stitching and talking at the same time. :)

I also stopped by the local farm stand today and picked up some mums- every year I say I am going to get some and I never do- so I finally did! At 3 for $10 how could I resist? here are the ones I picked up:

I also have some more zinnia coming up in my garden- I love the way these buds look- they almost look painted!

I won a giveaway at Tickled Pink In Stitches ! I would post a pic of what I won but I am going to make it for my mom- so Mom if you are reading this, don't go peek! ;)

I have also worked a bit on "Autumn Side" by San Man Originals today- I'll post progress on that tomorrow night or next week, since that is my weekend project and I hope to work on it some more tomorrow! :)

Well, I guess I better be off to bed- have church tomorrow and then some major house cleaning to do.. :P Hope y'all's Sunday will be more relaxing than mine! :D

Just a quick post..

It's been a busy week here and not much on the stitching front- I did start a project last weekend- it's my weekend project- and I got a little stitching done on it yesterday on the way to Raleigh.  It's "Autumn Side" by San Man Originals- I think this was an exclusive chart for message board members- I have had it a while- here it is so far..

And I am a proud mom- last weekend and the weekend before was our county fair, and Hanna won some ribbons for her artwork!

She was disappointed she didn't get 1st place/best in show, but I am excited and proud no matter what ribbon she won. :)  That's about it-  hopefully things will be a little slower in the evenings here and I will have time for a better post.

a Beach Cottage update..

Well, Hanna found my camera! It was in Rob's car- it must've fallen out of my purse when we went grocery shopping on Sunday. Phew!!  And here is a picture of my Beach Cottage so far, as promised- not much longer until I can start working on the top half! :) 


Yesterday evening I went out to check on my garden and look what I found-

I just love when I'm able to get shots like this, as they are so rare! Some of the seeds I bought were supposed to be a butterfly mix I think so this must be from them! :)

The weather here has been slowly cooling off.. I've been happy to wear a sweater or poncho in the morning. The weather really has been lovely but I would like it just a bit cooler..I'm ready to wear long sleeves!

I've been trying to catch up on my blog reading and I am so glad I've been reading everyone's blogs; they are inspiring and getting me to put down the laptop and get stitching again! And reminding me there are so many projects out there I still want to do. :) Thanks everyone for the inspiration! 

A giveaway and update..

Sorry again I have taken so long in posting..it had been a while already and then my laptop cord died and I had to get a new one.. ahhh you don't want to hear my excuses.. ;) But my laptop cord really did die. And we no longer have a desktop computer.

Been doing a little stitching- working some on my lunch hour on "Decorating the House" (some progress pics on my photo blog) and also on "Beach Cottage." Arrghh just realized I have misplaced my camera! I think it's in my car and it's cold out there.. plus I'm in my pj's.. so pics tomorrow.

Here is a photo of a pink flower that turned up in my garden- I buy mixed seeds cause I like "never knowing what I'm gonna get" so these were a beautiful surprise! I have two so far and it looks like another one is going to bloom soon.. This one is saved on my computer so I can share it with you.

And since this is pink.. let me mention a great "pink" giveaway over at Tickled Pink in Stitches and a great post about breast cancer detection.  DJ is an inspiration and a survivor!

I did just come across a picture of "Decorating the House" - got a little more done today that isn't showing in the picture- the upper window is finished. Now on to the roof!

Well I better go- will remember my camera tomorrow and try to remember to post those photos! I also have a new start- "Autumn Side" by San Man Originals. :)