Stashing and a butterfly!

Recently I finished this little butterfly for my daughter. She has a serious butterfly obsession at the moment so she was mighty pleased. Debbie Mumm designed it for Mill Hill that sells it as one of their Button and Beads kits (I think, it's a little kit at least). I have been carrying it around with me looking for a fabric that might work for finishing it.



I have been a bit stressed out lately and the result is starting to show up in my mail box! I have a tendency to do a bit more shopping when stressed. And I haven't had time to stitch so I did the next best thing, getting more stash. Some of it came from JJ's Collectibles Easter sale.



Some of it came from Ebay. Since Kathy of Carriage House Samplings are retiring I mostly got charts from her. Just so I have all the charts from her that I love. Which is quite a few.

Thank you for visiting and for the sweet comments! I hope everyone has a warmer and dryer week then we do, it's freezing here!

Brazilian embroidery class and finish!

Last weekend I took a Brazilian embroidery class with the lovely Ms Jean Mann. I had a great time with our group and I realized that I like brazilian embroidery much better then stumpwork. I worked on the dragon fly class piece and I was able to finish it at the end of the class. It's so sparkly and pretty. I hope I can find a round frame for it.



Here it is as a work in progress!



Here's most of the ladies taking the class. Our EGA group in town organized it, Omaha Needle Artists. Jean is in the middle next to her husband.



Since we were a mix of beginners and more advanced brazilian embroiderer's 3 different class kits were offered. This is the advanced one, an autumn fan.



And these autumn leaves. This project was so pretty!



The retreat was held at the lodge at Mahoney State park. It's so pretty out there, close to the river and it has a lot of wild life.



Like these wild turkeys that munched away outside the window! We had lots of orioles and blue jays later in the day when I didn't have the camera ready!



A quick update on my WIP! I'm working on this exclusively at the moment since I want to finish it fairly soon. It's just nice to know that it's done before we leave for Sweden since I'm doing it for my in-laws.



More and more of my irises are coming in! This one smells like a freshly peeled orange, yum!

Thank you so much for visting and your sweet comments! I'm planning to catch up on my blogreading today. DH is in Japan so the kids treated me to breakfast in bed, aren't that sweet. But I plan to treat myself to some time visiting my favorite blogs today too.

Happy Mothers to all the wonderful moms out there!

So excited!

We got our tickets to go home to Sweden this summer! And we are going through Amsterdam's airport (Skiphol, I probably spelled that one wrong). Last time we went by there 6 years ago I bought a bag of tulips, a mixed variety one. As usual with tulips they looked great the first year and then most colors started to die off. Except for the yellow ones!! I think they are those self dividing ones and I'm just getting more and more of them. This is just one of the patches, I started out with ca 3-4 yellow ones here and look at them go.

So guess what I'm picking up on my way home? Yup, at least 2 more bags. We just have 1 hour or so at the airport so if I you see a small chubby swedish lady jog through the airport in July with a bag of tulips under each arm, that would be me!

I went to a retreat this weekend and took a brazilian embroidery class. I finished my piece so I have to take a picture of it and share it here. It's just been busy with field trips, fun and field day at school and lots of laundry since DH is leaving for Japan for a meeting tomorrow. It's easier for me if everything is clean since then he's doing his own packing. If it's not he tries to involve me in it, don't know why? And I really don't want that to happen..

Thank you so much for your sweet comments on my finishes!

Another BBD SAL finish!

This is Rite of Spring, another Loose Feather design from Blackbird designs. I stitched it with Suzanne over at Squazi and the Chicken (www.squaziandthechicken.blogspot.com/). It was a fun stitch but those circles were hard to line up, I did quite a bit of frogging.




This is my next WIP, Peacock Cypher from Just Nan. My MIL picked it up at Cecilia's Sampler in Branson during her last visit. She asked if I could stitch it up for her and change it into a wedding sampler for her and FIL. This is how far I have gotten on it. I want to finish it before we go home this summer!



Here's another Lilliput iris. It's really small and cute.

School has slowed down somewhat. We did get a longer time period to finish up that last 3 chapters so that feels kind of good. I was so stressed out there for a while due to short time lines we got and the fact that we had major hand ins and a big test every other week since the class started.

Thank you for visiting and all your sweet commments!

A finish!

I really hope this works! Blogspot has a problem downloading the pictures. Here's my BtSS finish that I did with Ranae http://crazyxstitcher.blogspot.com/ (my links are not working today, so this is as close as I will get to a link I guess).She finished hers a while back but now I'm finally done. The designs is one of Blackbird designs Loose Feathers.



My lilliput irises have started to bloom! This one is one of my favorites.

I don't even know if this will publish right so I'm doing another post tomorrow. Thank you all for visiting!

Thank you Sharon for the awards!!

Sunshine Blogger awards




Beautiful Blogger award

Sharon of Sharon's Cross Stitch Obsession (here's the link)

http://crossstitchobsession.blogspot.com/ was sweet enough to give me these awards. Thank you Sharon!!

And I have to list 10 interesting things about myself. Ouch, I'm pretty boring but I'll give it a try.

1. I'm a really fast reader, give me a couple of hours and I can finish a whole book.

2. I love gory crime series like Criminal Minds, The mentalist CSI, NCIS etc. I watch them all!

3. I can't watch a really brutal episode that involves children. It wasn't a problem for me until I had my kids but now I just can't do it.

4. I only stitch Monday through Thursday after DH put the home theater in. He needs it to be pitch dark in there for some reason.

5. I have lived in Germany, Portugal, and Canada before we moved to the US. And Sweden of course, I was born there.

6. My son were born in Canada, the 2 girls here and DH and I are not citizen's yet. The customs person always look a bit surprised when we put a Canadian, 2 US and 2 Swedish passports in front of him/her.

7. I like gardening but I don't put a lot of time into it. If the plants aren't sturdy enough to survive my gardening it was just not meant to be.

8. I love cooking and baking and I wish I had more time to do more fancy cooking.
9. I have a little herb garden spot in my flower bed.

10. I will have one kid in high school, one in middle school and one in 1st grade next year. I see lot of volunteering in my future.

There's so many blogs out there that I do love and I have a real problem getting links to work for me today when I'm posting so I'm just passing this along to all the beautiful blogs that I visit. You are all great!

My exchange from Molly!

Isn't this sweet? I love how she finished it! Sorry for the picture, it isn't that great. The class I'm taking is quite hard, I'm not quite sure that I'm smart enough to take it. More then 50 % off the class seems to have dropped out so at least I'm still hanging in there. Three more weeks and I'm done for the summer and I can get some fun time again. Thanks for visiting!!

My exchange arrived at Lavons!

Well it was a while ago but I thought I would share it with you anyways. We did a spring exchange and Lavon really like bunnies so hence the theme. The needle roll is Heart in Hands spring one, I changed all the colors since Lavon don't care for pinks and purples. That peach fabric was yummy, loved it! Thank you all for stopping by and your sweet comments!

Lovely gift from Mel!

Look what I got from my friend Mel! It was a belated birthday gift and it was so worth waiting for. I remember drooling over this kit when she bought it during one of our shopping excursions down in Kansas City. And now it's mine, all mine. Thank you Mel!

Blackbird SAL updates!

Man, is this new class that I'm taking hard. I thought I would flunk it for a while there but after the test I wrote yesterday I'm hoping that got my grades up! For while there I had to stay off the computer and (SOB) stay away from my stitching for a while. The stitching I missed soo much , it really keeps me sane (at least somewhat). So here are my dismal progress on my SAL's Rites of Spring from BBD with Suzanne.

And here's Beneath the Sunlit Sky, also from BBD that I'm stitching with Ranae. Pathetic isn't it? I'm making progress on my car project and hopefully I can finish that up this week. Thank you for all your sweet comments and visiting!

Finished and finishes! Lots of pictures!

This is a real picture heavy post, sorry about that! Here's my latest finish, Truly Thine from Blackbirds Designs. I think it might be Loose Feather number 6 maybe. I still want to stitch the heart from this design. I used called for threads and fabric. Wouldn't this look nice in a white frame?

Then I did finish the BOAF Valentine Holiday into a hanging pinkeep. It's quite small since it's done over one on 28 ct fabric. I think I did replace most threads in this designs so it would show up better on the fabric.

Here's where I'm at with the Loose Feather Wednesday SAL with Ranae. It's lucky that it's stitching up quick since I haven't stitched on it to much lately. But I'm trying to keep up with it.

This is Rites of Spring, also a Loose Feather that I'm stitching with Suzanne. I would have gotten further ahead if I would have gotten this counting thing down. That circle was a real pain and I had to frog I don't know how many times. I rather not recall actually, some things are better suppressed.

In January I finished this little ornament and I have tried to get a good picture of it since. The darn thing is cursed I tell you. I think I have a crisp picture and it's always blurry when I upload it. So this is how good it will get! It's from CCN and I think it was published in the 2007 ornament issue. Seriously, it doesn't really scream Christmas to me but I just love the colors, maybe I will just finish it for one of my girls and it can be out all year round.

Also, I couldn't resist sharing this picture. That is one relaxed kitty! She was just snoring away all afternoon (and believe me this one snores). So cute!

Things at home are starting to calm down a bit. It helps that I wrote my finals again this last week and don't have to stress about that and I can concentrate on the family. I'm off for almost 3 week so that is a blessing. Thank you for all your words of encouragement it means the world to me! And as always, thank you for visiting!

Hoping to get back into the swing soon!

It's been a pretty darn awful end of January and February here. I have been dealing with some pretty heart breaking family issues. So at the moment it's really hard for me even to sit down and stitch. But, we will overcome this too! It's not like we have a choice in the matter.

I have tried to start to finish some things again, this is my latest project. I'm going to try to finish it as a hanging pinkeep. I have been looking everywhere for pretty pins in different colors and I found a package yesterday - in my own stash. Guess that I forgot about that one. I'll try to take a picture when it's all finished this weekend. I believe this is Valentine Holiday from Birds of a Feather, I have to go through the stash trying to find the chart.

As always, thank you for visiting. Don't give up on me, it feels like I'm dealing better with this new situation now then I did 2 weeks ago so it can just get better!

Trying to survive!

A bad cold that is! I haven't stitched since last Friday when my sinuses started aching and I just had to lay down. I though that I would share this framed piece that I framed earlier last week. It's an older kit from Ewe and Eye and Friends and I used all the materials that came with the kit. It's called Autumn Urn I think. Thank you for all the sweet comments and for stopping by. Off to have another cup of hot tea!

All my new starts!

It feels like I have started something new every day lately. It's kind of fun! Here's what Ranae and I picked for our on going Loose Feather Wednesday SAL, Beneathe the Sunlit Sky. I love it! Then Suzanne (Squazi and the Chicken) and I started Spring Rites that I'm working on Mondays. I think Ranae will join in on that SAL too.

This is the third BD Loose Feather I started last week # 6 Truly Thine and I'm almost finished with the sampler already. I'm probably doing the pincushion too so that will take another week or two.

Then my youngest daughter has been asking me to start this butterfly for her so here's my small start. The color of this aida is great. I'm not really an aida girl but this aida is ok to work with.

Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I'm hoping to be back with more updates later in the week.

Blackbird Designs Sunflower House framed!

I love how this turned out. I lucked out and found this frame at Hobby Lobby before our last snowstorm. And it fit perfectly. It feels like I'm getting closer to my sampler wall.

I made this fleece blanket with my youngest daughter during the same snowstorm. I wish I could share my 3 new Loose Feather starts, Beneath the Sunlit Sky, Spring Rites and Truly Thine but all my pics are so fuzzy it's no point posting them. We have had fog and gloomy weather here for a week now. It's starting to get to me, feels like I'm living in a horror movie. I have 2 more framed pieces to take pictures off too so I'm hopefully posting more pictures this weekend. As always, thanks for visiting and your sweet comments!

Hope X 500 dress!

Our 4 H troop outreach project this year is to sew these reversible dresses for an orphanage south of the border. I can't remember if it was located in Haiti or Honduras or the mission might have orphanages in both places. Really, it doesn't matter where they are, there's a need and the girls were happy to help (I should remember though, I'm the organizational leader). I think we have close to 30 dresses at this point. Pray for the people in Haiti and if you have a possibility to help out a bit please do!

Thanks for visiting!

Two Blackbird Designs finishes and lots of snow!

I was finally able to get a decent picture of Blackbird Designs Loose Feather Evergreen. Every picture I took turned out blurry for the strangest reason. Ranae http://crazystitcher.blogspot.com and I are trying to decide on what Loose Feather to stitch next. There's so many pretty ones to pick from so this might be a long running SAL. I used the called for fabric for this design but I did change the thread colors to a greener palatte.

And I finally stitched up my youngest daughters birthsampler. Can't believe it took me 6 years to do it. The other kids had theirs within a year. It's Blackbird Designs Special Delivery and I didn't change a thing. Used all the called for threads and fabric.

This is my deck out back, we have so much snow at the moment I haven't seen anything like it since we moved from Canada down here.

Peeking out my front door. We got a bit more that day but it was only 2 inches which is like a drop in the ocean at this rate. Warmer temps are on their way though so I'm happy!!

Thank you for visiting and your sweet comments!

Finishing project # 2!

As I said, finishing is not something that I do often so it took me forever to get to these little guys. I stitched them up 2- 3 years ago and then they have been hanging out in the pile. But I'm pretty happy with this finishing, especially the pearl pins that I found. I love everything pearly (ist that a word??).

All the santa's is from The Prairie Schoolers St Nichola's II leaflet (that's from the top of my head so excuse me if I'm wrong).

This backing fabric is awesome! Love the design and the fabric itself is thick and easy to work with! My next finishing project is already started. We are getting another 6 inches of snow and near to blizzard conditions here today. So yesterdat I did whatever any sane stitched would do when facing the prospect of getting snowed in with their kids, I got milk and then 3 frames at Hobby Lobby so I could frame some of my stuff, hehe. Thanks for visiting and thanks for the sweet comments!

Finishing project # 1 and stashing!

I didn't stitch much this Christmas but I did get to finish a couple of things. I really need to start some finishing work again, I have a whole pile of things that I have to get to. This is Just Nan's Snow from her tin series. It comes with the little mitten needle book. I used DMC and Weeks linen.

The linen color looks really washed out in these pictures, in real life it's darker.

Before Christmas I made it to a stitching group down at Judi's shop, For the love of Stitching down in Plattsmouth, Nebraska. I found some lovely things I couldn't live without.

And she had gotten this series in too, I asked her to order them for me. It's the seasonal floral sampler's from Knotted Tree Designs. After I saw them stitched up in a shop down in Liberty I have been obsessing with them.

As always, thanks for visiting!