2nd Day Giveaway

Hello Stitching Friends,
It is day 2 for Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe.  Enter and see if you can win a gc for your BFF. 
Happy Holidays!!

Giveaway over at Victorian Motto Sampler

Just wanted to let all my stitching friends know that Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe is having a 12 Days of Giveaways.  Pop over to their blog and check it out.
They have yummy colors of floss.  Hope to be one of the lucky winners.


Thomasina

Lovely Weather for Middle of November

NW Arkansas has had a beautiful fall.  We are just now starting to have crisp cold nights.  Day temps have ranged any where from 60-85 degrees.  And the other night I think we had our first frost warning of the season.   I brought in my Pineapple and Hibiscus plants so they will be roasty toasty for the winter.  I looked out my window in my sewing room and I had roses still blooming in November.  Wow. 

I have been stitching but it seems like I am jumping from one project to another and not really accomplishing anything.  Kinda feel like I am in a slump but not really as I really am stitching.  I think what it is, is that I have so much that I want to stitch on and finish and I get so overwhelmed as there is not enough time in the day.....that I just don't want to stitch at all, but look at everyone's else's finishes, wishing I had mine done. I need to get back onto a rotation and stick with the plan. 

May be this will help....or will it.  On Tuesday I am starting a Jackie du Plessis online class with the Shining Needle Society called "Pinks for Pearls".  I just love the soft pastel colors of this project.

I got my kit in the mail yesterday and can't wait to get started. 

Will post progress pictures.

I have taken several online classes with Jackie and 1 class in person.  It seems lately that I am on a Jackie stitching kick.  I won a retired project by Jackie called,  "Cotton Fields".  I had asked her when she was here in Arkansas in August if this was still available.  Sadly "No" she said.  Then I saw it on eBay and won.  It is so cute and all over one.  I have stitched the little tray and now am working on the scissor fob.  

I am also working on The Gifts' Presentation Tray of Jackie's'.  See what I mean about being on a Jackie kick.  I just love the color of this.   It is a pink hand dyed silk.  It will be gorgous once it is done. 

That's it.....once it is done.  I have several projects that needs the finishing done and it seems like I cannot get to the finishing.  I know I need to set aside time but it seems like the boys still need me for somethings.  I guess I shouldn't complain....one day they will not be here.  In less then 2 years B will be off to college and in another 2 years R will be following right behind him.  B won't be going to the University of Arkansas as they do not have a men's swim team, so he has set his sights on other colleges.  One being ASU in Tempe.  Oh that would be awesome as I can visit him and Jean Lea at The Attic.  B said he might even stay in the Phoenix area after college.  He loves the area and so do I.  R on the other hand wants to go to MIT.  So one kid on the east coast on a1 kid on the west and me in the middle.  I guess that will work. 

Anyways.....cross county season has ended for R and short course for swimming is beginning to hit full swing.  B is doing well coming off of his shoulder injury.  He is right on his times and getting stronger all the time.  Needs to drop about 5-8 more secs in his breast strokes and then he will be ready for a Div. 1 college.  He is ready right now for a Div. 2 college.  We will see who wants him. 

Well I guess that is about it for now.  Need to get back to stitching on something.

Have a great week fellow stitchers. 

A Year Gone by................................

Hello Friends,
Yes a year has gone by since I posted anything on my blog.  It doesn't mean that I was not reading other stitcher's blogs.  I had time to visit others, just not update mine.  Instead of telling you why I didn't blog.....lets just put it this way.  Life throws some curves at you that you didn't see coming. 
The curves were nothing major.  No surgery's or deaths or anything like that.  (Thank God for these blessings).  Just time consuming events.  So in general just "LIFE".


Anyways, among just life, I was able to go to the Attic in Mesa, AZ and take the Ophelia I and II from Merry Cox in June.  Lovely venue and class as well as getting to visit with very good friends.  Sadly my Ophelia is sitting naked in my curio cabinet.  I think she is going to stay that way for a while, as I have other projects in front of her.  Maybe she doesn't mind being a streaker for a bit longer.

We happened to do our family vacation at this time as well.
We stopped in Amarillo to spray paint the cars at the Cadillac Ranch then on to the 4 Corners in CO, NM, AZ, and UT.  Then down to Mesa to the retreat for the weekend.
From there made a quick 1 night stay in Vegas, then headed to Death Valley.  That was awesome.  The temperature reached 130 degrees on the thermometer outside the visitor center. Got the picture of 129 then it went to 130.  Then before we could take another one it went back down to 129.  Either way it's "Hot outside Baby".

Then on to Sequoia, Kingsland and Yosemite National Parks.  Just breathtaking.  Next was Lake Tahoe for a quick dip.  To cold for my toes.  Then headed west to the Bonneville Salt Flats.  Then the last stop before heading home was a stop in Cheyenne Wy to see my family.  My Mom had surgery on her shoulder 3 weeks before our trip, so I wanted to stop by to make sure she was doing well.  Which she was.    And then we were home on the 3rd of July.  I think this was the longest vacation we have taken.  I was ready to come home and so was the kids.  We were so tired that we did not even shoot off fireworks for the 4th.  We just relaxed and talked about all the things we saw...what we liked and didn't like, and what we wanted to see when we went back. But by far I think I liked Death Valley the most.



July was calm.  Usually it is met with a vengeance with swimming.  My oldest you know competes competitively.  He had hurt his shoulder during the open water swim during Memorial weekend.  So he had sat out this swim season.  So we loaded him up and took him to the doctor.  Needless to say it is the typical swimmer shoulder injury that you see.  Nothing that a athletic trainer and some strength training can't fix. 
He was so worried that they would tell him he couldn't swim anymore.  But that was not the case.  So there was a 3 week down time in August after the state meet.  Brandon on the other hand started to go in and swim a bit to see if his shoulder was getting better.
He was excited that there was not the pain anymore.  Just the soreness of the muscle.  WOOHOO!!!  Keep doing the strength training.  It is working. 

 

Next school started on the 15th of August.  That is early, and there were some schools that even started the week before that.  What happened to the days of school starting the day after Labor Day and getting out the Friday before Memorial Day. 
That doesn't happen anymore.  First day came and went without a hitch.   One in 11th grade and the other in 9th grade.  Both Boys have a good schedule.  I think it will be a great year.

 

Next on the agenda was Jackie Du Plessis coming to Arkansas to teach for the first time.  It was hosted by Cross Stitch Treasures out of Mountainburg.  Which is like 45 min away and so I didn't have to travel far or get a hotel.  She taught The Gift.  This is one of my favorites from her.  And this was the first time I got to take a class from Jackie.  Oh I have taken lots of on-line classes with her but not in person.  So I was thrilled to visit with her "fine-ally".  The weekend went great.  Way to fast though.  Isn't that the case.  It seems like forever for the class to get here and then it is over before you know it.  He is a picture of The Gift.

So we are into September.....what next on the agenda......................Well me and my BFF who I haven't done anything in ages with are planning a trip in January to the Attic for the 2017 January Symposium.  Merry will be teaching two new projects, along with an oldy on the Monday after the weekend, as teaching that weekend will be Vickie & Maegan Jennet of Needle Work Press and then a presentation on Motifs on the Move by Lynne Anderson of Sampler Consortium.  So excited for this weekend.  Love taking classes in Mesa. 

 

Now on to what I have been working on............besides the prestitching on The Gift,

Jackie gave us a little surprise in class, called Beads and Bauble Tray.  I hadn't stitched on my spangles yet and this would be perfect to hold them when the time came for me to stitch them on.  So I stitched and finished a little pincushion/pinkeep that goes in the middle of the tray.  It was so fun to stitch and went together pretty fast.  I just love this.  What a neat idea. 

I am also stitching on Thine is the Trick and the Treat from Prairie Moon.  I am stitching this on a piece that a friend had dyed years ago.  It is a soft orange color.  I bought it just for the color.  So a couple of months ago I was rummaging through my piles and came across this.  I said I need to stitch something Halloweenie on it.  Violia.....Thine is the Trick and the Treat.  All in black on Orange.  Love the Quaker like motifs.  I know I won't get this done before Halloween, but would like to get this done before the end of the year.  I have a little bit more done then what this picture shows.
I hope to do an update this weekend. 

 I am also doing the finishing part on Birds and Berries.  A class I took in Mesa back in 2005.  I am really good about stitching the piece, but when it comes to finishing I procrastinate real bad.  It is getting better as the boys are a lot more self sufficient now a days.  All I have left to do is the needle case which I am sewing on the lining.  Then I just need to add the pocket on the inside and then attach the linen pages and little pocket that goes under the pages.  It shouldn't take long at all, it is just trying to find time without interruptions. The pin and scissor keeps are done. 

I am stitching another project but can't show you right now and I want it to be a surprise.  Will show you once it is compete.  Hoping to get it done in October.

 

I also have started quilting my flannel quilt that has been in the making for over 16 years.  I started to quilt a bit before I had kids, and then it took a back seat.  I got it out the other day.....it is all sandwiched and basted together.  Just needed to be quilted and then the binding.  And there is nothing spectacular with the quilting.  It is just straight lines in the ditches and a diagonal both ways through the blocks.  I started quilting on it on Monday.  Got all the vertical lines stitched, and about 1/2 of the horizontal lines.  I am hoping on Sunday I can finish the quilting and start on the binding.  I will take a picture and update this weekend.  I can't wait to use it this winter and I don't think my little miniature dachshund can't wait either as she was trying to get on it when I was quilting it. 

 

Well work is going great.  Got a new supervisor that lets me stitch if we are not busy and all of the work is caught up.  Usually that is Thursday and Fridays.  What a way to wind down the work week. 

 

With that being said.  Happy Friday everyone.
And as 9/11 is approaching this Sunday.  Let us not forget!!!
Happy Stitching,
Thomasina