Summer House from Blackbird Designs framed!

I love how it turned out! If I would do the design again I would pick another fabric so it would stand out more. I have to find a wall to hang all my framed BBD designs, I have a bunch that lives in the closet in my guest room.

Thank you for visiting and for your sweet comments! They brightened my day when I was slaving over balance sheets!

Finshed finishes!

Ouch what a month! Major virus on the computer that took a week to figure out. Why does people do that? And my classes started, didn't know that my brain could hurt this bad. I'm a bit rusty after the summer too. But I finished this pillow before I started school. I think it's my favorite pillow finish ever! The kit was from Mill Hill.


I tried out this finish for my red Prairie Schooler santa's. I wasn't sure about it at first but it's growing on me. The the green straw were crumbling all over but I went over it with some clear glue and it's more sturdy now. Have 7 more I have to finish this way.



And I got some small stitching finishes, a dinosaur from a Simply Heritage kit and another little snow charmer for the EGA's tree.

Thank you for visiting and lovely comments!

Where did this summer go? Our July's are usually busy but they have never been this crazy. Both my girls have their birthdays in July,we wen't on vacation to Minnesota for one week and the county fair was in July too. I actually volunteered some time this year since my youngest are calming down a bit so I can trust her around breakables. My stitching has suffered, the only piece I worked on every week is The Sanctuary. Sorry Sally that I haven't posted any pictures, I did work on it though, promise. I half expected to find a irrate british lady on my front porch demanding to know what's up at one time.



My EGA group stitch ornaments for the Dodge house each year. They do a selection of trees that are decorated by various groups. Our theme this year are snowmen and victorian ornaments. I haven't done any ornaments for the last few years so I thought I would try to stitch some of the Mill Hill Snowmen ornaments, this is one of my first ones. I have other already stitched up that I have to dig out of the Christmas box. He's called the Holiday Tree Snow Charmer



Talking about the fair, my oldest daughter had to put her crafting into high gear before it. We had started and kitted up several projects this last year but put off actually doing anything. So I don't know how much crafting we ended up doing on July? She's not really doing anything unless I'm there helping out and just checking her efforts. Maybe she has hit that age when they are done with crafting for a while? I wanted her to at least finish up what we had gotten for her to do. And she did really good, quite a few purple ribbons and the owl ipod holder above was selected to go to State Fair.



These orange ink thumb paintings were one of my favorite's. Love the frames and the back ground paper worked out well.



This vodoo needle cushion was a lot of work. She's not going to be my embroiderer, that's for sure. I love it though, I might have to do one for me and the lady that are managing the 4 H club with me



I found this idea over at the Moda Bake Shop. They did Halloween ornaments of charm packs but we did patriotic ones instead. I think they turned out cute, styrofoam balls are hard to work with though. You end up with a lot of small styrofoam crumbs that attaches itself to everything.



We were dog sitting this cutie last weekend. She's an old lady and I think she was stressed out since she was sick for 3 days straight. So I have some rugs to clean this week.



When the dog showed up the cat was not impressed. Oh, well.

Sorry for all the pictures. Have to share some more of my handiwork next time. I did get some things finished before July hit and I actually have my computer back with kids going back to school late last week.

Wip's and a finish

During my blogging break I did finish Summer from Drawn Thread, I loved how it turned out. The frame is waiting for it already, just have to sit down and start a finishing frenzy.



I'm working on this Mill Hill turtle for my daughter.I have been trying to actually finish up things that I have started and this is one of then. I'm doing ok with it, could be better though.



My Sanctuary SAL has been neglected the last 2 weeks. It was so busy with my dad here and last Tuesday I only had 40 minutes to sit down and stitch so I didn't even bother to switch projects that night. To make up for it I brought Sanctuary with me to a SAL this Saturday and worked on it the whole time there so I got quite a bit done.

My dad left a week ago and I have been busy cleaning house since. I'm pretty much caught up on that now and I have gotten most of my carpets cleaned so another one of the big projects for this summer are checked off. So now I'm prepping to paint the older kids rooms. It's easier to do that in the summer when I can move them down to the guest room for a couple of days. I'm not looking forward to sorting through my sons room, lots of things going to goodwill and ready to be packed away.

Thank you for all your sweet comments on my last post!!

Hardanger bookmarks, SAL and dance!

A while back I promised to do a couple of Hardanger bookmarks for the boutique at the Scandinavian Midsummer Festival here in Omaha. Items are sold there to cover the cost of the festival. So after procastigating for quite a while I got these sewn up. I think I have done them in off white with the watercolors thread before but I could only find my green fabric. Hope they sell!



Progress on Sanctuary is slow, I have a hard time getting into how the pattern and instructions are done. I took me about 20 minutes the other day to find where the 4 sided stitch description was the othere day.I love the color of this new row of threes though.



Miss Alice has her dance show today and tomorrow so that's what I'm doing this weekend. Last night was dress rehearsal and she was pretty excited!



I think the tap number was pretty hard, the girls were doing good but you could all see that they had their eyes on Miss Nicole at all times just to make sure that they were getting it right.

My dad is here and making his best to raise the consumer condfidence numbers here in the US. Lots of good sales out there for gents just before Fathers Day and I think that he has a new spanking wardrobe. If anyone wonders what styles, colors and prices that Dillard's and Younkers men's departments carries this season I can give you a detailed description.

Thank you for the comments on the last post! I do appreciate them all!

DT SAL

I joined the Sanctuary SAL with Sally and Chris, thanks for having me ladies. This is how far I have gotten on it. I think it's been an UFO for 6 years, hopefully I can get it stitched up. It's so pretty, don't know why I stopped working on it.

I have kind of given up on this blog. It's been a busy year here with very active freshman, a pretty active middle schooler and of course my little first grader. My DS did the musical, the play, mock trial and show choir as his extra curricular activities so we have been driving a lot. DD has been doing chorus and bands so we have enjoyed a lot of concerts over at the middle school too.

And then I decided to take more classes this year so I have been going to school 75% of the time and taking care of kids and home the rest of the time. So it's not been a lot of time for me. But I'm taking the summer off to reload and hopefully I will have some more time to post now and then. I have some finishes that I have to take pictures of and share if it only could stop raining!

Huge finish for me!!

I'm so excited! I can't wait to get this lady framed and delivered to my friend. She will be really excited I'm sure, she has been talking about these angels a lot. I stitched the design with called for threads and beads on a 32 ct lugana, not sure which color name it was.



Love all the sparklies on her!



These beads almost looked too big for the skirt but were perfect for the necklace.

I'm thinking about doing a give away to celebrate this finish, watch this space. Thank you for visiting and for your sweet comments!

Busy days!

I don't know about you but if I'm in bad mood and have nothing fun to post about I don't care for blogging. Unfortunatly that's been my month. Doesn't happen to often but there it is. We have had some issues with adjusting to high school but it looks good now again and I have great hope for the future. I don't think that being superbusy with the musical, one act and mock trial has really helped my DS to concentrate on his school work enough but he has really, really fun. Oscar also got his black belt in Tae Kwon Do last week. That's him up there breaking a board. All the kids activities has a tendency to take over my life though. Doesn't help that my DH had to take off for a 16 day long business trip so I'm the only one carting kids around. But things are looking up!! Just to 2 days until hubbie comes home and the grades that are coming in at this point looks great!! Woohoo!


Needleroll from Lynne

Since I now have started to figure out how to use the new camera I can also start to share pictures from it! Here's the needleroll Lynne stitched for me in the exchange. Isn't it pretty?! It isn't easy being a techno phobe. This time I had to figure out how to upload pictures the way my DH likes to do it and he's a computer engineer. Sometimes I have problem just turning on the TV here because the set up is so complicated.


Angel of winter

And this is the lady that is sucking my stitching mojo away! She's my UFO challenge this year and I really, really, really want to finish her for a friend so I will persist. This picture was snapped a couple of weeks ago, I'm almost ready for beading now. So hopefully she will be out of my life next week.

The kids are off tomorrow and I can't wait to do some crafting and baking with the girls. My oldest have show choir rehearsels since they are starting to get ready to compete. That's what he loves to do anyways so what a great way to spend your day off with your buddies singing (and dancing or rather attempts to dance).

Thanks for visiting and for all your sweet comments!

Only one missing!

Spring from The Drawn Thread

This is the last batch of things that I did frame before vacation! I stitched up all the seasons except Summer a couple of years ago. I really have to get off my behind and get summer stitched up because I have a frame for it already.


Winter from The Drawn Thread

I picked up the frames at Walmart of all places. They were only $ 3 each and perfect sampler size so I didn't have a specific project in mind when I first bought them but it really worked out well with these.


Autumn from The Drawn Thread

I'm working on L and L's Angel of Winter at the moment and it's starting to get to me. Really boring but I want to finish it for my friend in in time for the UFO challenge deadline. I'll have to take a picture and share in a couple of days time. The new camera and I are starting to get along better.

Thank you for visiting and all your sweet comments

Nantucket basket from Lorri Birmingham Design

I made up this little basket as a gift for my MIL when we did go to Sweden. It has a little glass vase in it so can put flowers in it. She loves doing that and really liked the gift.


Acorn from Midnight Stitching

Mar designed a couple small acorns for our last retreat, I stitched up both of them but this is the only one finished. I forgot that there was 2 of them. I know, I'm a dingbat sometimes. The acorn shape came out kind of wonky, should I do something else with the other acorn?

It's another busy week here. My darn class is almost making me cry. I'm starting to see the end of the tunnel with it though. Some small things have to be tweaked but I have to ask DH about it. My son is in the high school musical and signed up for mock trial too so I'm going to drive a bit more from now on. There's lots of rehearsals and meetings. Good for him though! I love to see him getting active with different activities.

Weather is starting to turn to fall here. It's beautiful and I'm trying to do some last things in the garden before it gets really cold. I found a wasp nest in one of the bushes that I'm taking out and that has been a hassle. I did get stung bad when I first stumbled over it. Hopefully I have gotten on top of the problem so that bush can go this weekend.

Thank you for visiting and for all your sweet comments!

All boxed up!

Just Nan

I was able to save some of these last pictures from my poor dead camera. The week before we left for Sweden my DH went to Dublin on a business trip. I spent the whole evening and some of the nights finishing things and those boxes are a few of the things that I did get done.



I painted the boxes myself, don't know if it was the greatest idea but I'm going to try spray painting them next time.



I have started another class so I'm trying to keep up with that. But I'm slowly starting to visit my favorite blogs again.

Country Cottage Needleworks designs.


Thank you for visiting and for your sweet comments!

I think I'm ready to blog again!

I felt totally drained after our vacation and all the socializing. I really need some down time between dinner parties and such and it wasn't a lot of that. When I got back here I got really homesick and I realized that I didn't have time to do a lot of the more everyday things that I was so looking forward too. Next time I will try to stay a bit longer. I did suspect that something was going on with my camera during our stay and none of the pictures that I took came out. At least I had my husband take some pictures just as backups but they were not as many as the ones I thought I had taken. Sigh!

Anyways we were a bit more cultural this year, got to quite a few museums and such but this was my favorite! This is Läckö Castle, it's a well preserved barock castle with a lot of furniture and wall paintings from the 1600's. Isn't it pretty? There has been convents and forts on this little peninsula since the 1100's I think and I can understand why.



My son especially likes to pose with the canons, happens at every castle we do get too!



My DD loves checking out gardens and they had a wonderful vegetable and herb garden, authentic with plants they would have grown 400 years ago there.



Isn't this the prettiest view?



The kids had a great time with their cousins especially when my DH and BIL joined in the soccer games.



The weather was pretty good! I couldn't find any pictures from the beach house when we had a sunny day but the kids jumped into the water everyday anyways. It was kind of nice to have the beach to ourselves.



I did get some stitching done when I was there, this needleroll mostly, I really had to since this was for an exchange. I still have some pictures of finished pieces to share, I will get those up within a couple of days, promise!

Thank you for visiting and all your sweet comments!

Time out for summer!

I won't be here for a while since the kids and I are taking off for a visit home tomorrow. I have so many pictures to share but at the moment I'm really stressed out trying to finish everything before I leave! I can't wait to show you my finishes when I get back!

Thank you for visiting and for your sweet comments!

Needle and thread from Little House Needlework finish!

Here's my latest finish! It's Needle and thread from Little House Needleworks. I stitched it using the Crescent Colors that came with chart and the fabric is 32 ct Putty. The frustration level was high here last night, I ended up finishing this twice since I didn't like how it looked after the first time. So out came the scissors and I pulled the stitched part closer to the pillow and it looks so much better.

Thank you for visiting and for your sweet comments!

One finish and a new start!

Remember my mil's anniversery sampler? Well, I did finish it a while back and here's a picture. It's Just Nan's Peacock Cypher and I changed the verse to my in-laws names, their wedding date and the church's name. I can't say that the graphing of the names were my best work but it will do. I used some 32 count mystery linen and DMC.



Close up! Those beads were pretty!



And here's my new start! It's Papillions myster sampler, we are doing it with the guild this year. The other ladies started it in January, I'm on part 2!! Oh, well I guess it's better late then never.

And I did finish Needle and thread from LHN too. But I did get the little bed/pillow that went with it and I'm half way through the finishing with it (sweet) so I'll upload a picture of that finish tomorrow. It's kind of funny looking now. I did find the chart and the pillow at the new LNS I found and started it the same day. That's a first for me, usually I let the designs mature for a while when I'm obssesing over color/fabric choices.

I'm trying to catch up on commenting, I'm doing a lot of stuff with the kids so I only have 15 minutes here and there to enjoy my blog reading.

Thank you so much for visiting and your sweet comments!

Help me Rhonda!

Last week was one of those fun busy ones, the kids had a lot going on and I had to drive them everywhere. One my way to a piano lesson I spotted a great garage sale and this was what I ended up with. A lady had to move her FIL into a home and she sold some of the glassware and crystal that he had picked up at his travels in Europe.



This is my favorite bowl, my DD fell in love too!



The frames will be good for something eventually! I might repaint some of them. In all I spent $ 4.50 for everything! So I was happy!

In between golf camps, play dates, a visit to the water park and a garage sale where I sold some of my stuff (I didn't have it at my house though, just did a shift selling) I was lucky enough to find a new LNS in town. I'm so excited!! This lady is doing framing and shares the store space with a vaccum store so I have always had the impression that she didn't sell to much cross stitch supplies. I was pleased to see that she had quite a bit to sell and I will sure be back soon. One of the things I bought is almost finished since I hauled it along with me when I have been running kids around.

I have to take some pictures of my stitching, I have a couple more finishes, and I started a new wip so I'm updating again tomorrow!

Thank you for visiting and all your sweet comments!

Framing, finishing and more!

I'm happy to say that the mirror idea worked out perfectly to frame my dragonfly! It was so easy to take the mirror apart and the only snag was that the fit was really snug and I didn't think I would get the piece into it after all the lacing and pinning was done. It was a tense moment!! A bit more padding then I'm used too. But I was able to get it in finally, the fabric is really stretched out and tight and flat so I think in the end it worked in my favor.



Remember my daughter's butterfly? Well, this is how i finished it! She loves it and it hangs from the quilt rack over her bed.



Last year I had this santa in the car as my car project (I spend a lot of time waiting for my kids so I always have a project available). It's one of Mill Hill's Medieval santa's, this might be the Canterbury one. I don't do beading in the car though so the final beading was done last week.



Here's the back, I usually like to put some green felt on the back of these ornaments.



I'm thinking about using this frame for my Marjolein Bastin finish. But there is a bit more space on the sides then on the top and bottom so I have a hard time deciding what to do. What do you think? I can easily finish it to a pinkeep or something too.



I took the kids to Fort Atkinson this weekend. They had their historical enactment weekend, they do that every month from April through October I think. They did a really good job and we all really enjoyed it. My DD loved the lace makind demonstration and got to try her hand on it. I thinks she's hooked!



Here's all the kiddo's in front of the original ammunition storage house, the only original building. The fort was active from 1819 to 1827 so much of the wood buildings were rotted away but they built everything up again on the original foundations. Lewis and Clark stopped by before the 6th regiment moved down to Kansas. A lovely day trip if you live in this area, I can recommend it!

Thank you for visiting and all your sweet comments!