Stiching Friends are Special!

It was a challenging week at work; I had worked many extra hours and was mentally and physically drained when I arrived home on Friday night. Lo and behold - there was a package waiting for me in my mailbox!

A package from Marie - I was excited to see what she had sent. Marie received my name for the USEBB Summer House exchange and WOW is the only word I can use to describe the piece she stitched and finished for me! The design is from Lizzie Kate and it's beautifully stitched, but check out the awesome finishing Marie did, turning this piece of stitching into a quilted wallhanging. It is really beautiful! Marie sent other goodies including a pattern from my wishlist - The Drawn Thread "Halloween Spot" - I look forward to stitching this one in the fall. The wallhanging will be hung in my sewing room very soon! Many thanks Marie, I will truly treasure this gift from you.



Today brought more surprises - another package in the mailbox; this one from Helen. I wasn't quite sure what it could be, but I must tell you that the contents nearly made me cry. Dear Helen felt badly that I hadn't received a package from my partner for the Trip Around the World exchange in April. Helen decided that she would stitch a replacement for me - what a dear friend! I must tell you though, she outdid herself with many goodies from the UK including a book of English Teatime Recipes, a pin with the British and US flags on it, a pen, a keychain that is fashioned after a red English mailbox, a towel with British wildlife pictured on it, and more! But the piece de resistance is a wee little needlecase with an English thatched cottage stitched on the front and the British flag and our initials on the back. Thank you Helen for being so thoughtful and kind - I will treasure this and remember your kindness forever!





I am so grateful to have so many stitching friends online. You mean a lot to me in more ways than you could ever possibly know. Thank you for sharing your talent with me, for visiting my blog and leaving words of encouragement, and for being such caring friends! Hugs to all!

Little Critters and Birthdays!

I was so excited to see a package waiting for me when I returned from the lake on Sunday evening. My Little Critters exchange from Svenja had arrived! Inside was this very cute pillow made with ladybug fabric and a cute ladybug stitched design. Svenja also sent more of the fabric, some ribbon, and some cute teenie weenie ladybug clothespins (for crafting). It's all wonderful - thank you Svenja!



Also, I was very late sending Vonna her birthday gift - too many other stitching commitments got in the way - but she received it on Monday. Just one of my hardanger doilies. This one is done on an apricot colored cashel with peach/orange colored threads (Leah's threads). Apparently, I forgot to take a picture, so please visit Vonna's blog if you are interested in seeing it!

Here's a puppy picture for this week - Zeta and Maggie:

Little Critters Exchange

Linda in Iceland received the pinkeep I stitched and finished for her as part of the Little Critters Exchange. Linda indicated that she liked bees and ladybugs; I went with a bee theme and stitched "Bee Happy" from Shepherd's Bush. The coordinating fabric on the back picked up the thread colors and also included some bees. You can see a picture of the entire package on Linda's blog. It was fun stitching this for Linda!

A Fob for a Friend

In May and June we had a little challenge going on the Friends Gather board to see how many LHN finishes we could collect during those two months. Each finish resulted in a chance to win something special from me. At the beginning of July we put the names in a hat and drew one name - Nicole was the lucky winner! I stitched this cute little fob for her; the design is taken from LHN's "A Stitcher's Prayer"

Maggie, our new puppy, is growing like crazy and is keeping us very busy. See how spoiled she is? She had a busy day playing.



I've been busy stitching more gifts and won't have pictures to share for awhile. There have been lots of new visitors to my blog lately - thanks for stopping by!

Hands to Work Retreat

Just last week I found the information on this year's Hands to Work Retreat - you can read more about it here. Just wondering if any of my regular blog readers are planning to attend this retreat? I've already made my plane reservations and sent my money in - I will be there! Can hardly wait until October!

Welcome to My Neighborhood!

My neighborhood RR is off in the mail today to Carol. I'm excited to be participating with the Group 3 stitchers in this, my first ever RR!

I am using 32 ct Vintage Light Examplar from Lakeside Linens. My blocks are 70 X 70 stitches. When it is returned to me, I'm planning to stitch a border in between the squares and around the piece (just didn't have time to do it before sending it off!)

My design is based on elements from LHN's Lakeside Lodge and Even Tide's Minnesota needleroll. I'm asking my neighbors to try and incorporate something in their designs that is significant to their area (city, state, or country). In my square, I stitched my house on a lake (Minnesota is the land of 10,000 lakes) and included a loon (our state bird).

I can't wait to decide what to stitch in Erin's neighborhood once I receive it!

Fair and Square Round One

The idea of a block exchange really interested me and the Fair and Square exchange organized by Vonna and Annemarie is going to be a lot of fun. (Thanks Vonna and Annemarie!) I received my first block this week from Yasmin in Malaysia.

Yasmin stitched Spot of Spring from The Drawn Thread. She obviously had been studying my blog and knew that I was rather partial to the Drawn Thread designs. Yasmin sent some other wonderful goodies including some overdyed fibers, a frogging needle, and a coin purse made from some Malaysian wedding fabric. It was truly fun receiving this first square from Yasmin! I think I'm going to eventually put mine together into a quilt of some sort.



I also learned that Yasmin just received the square that I sent to her. I used elements from the City Stitcher, Country Stitcher chart from Little House Needleworks. I felt that it symbolized our friendship!



I'm looking forward to the next round for Fair & Square.

Check out the wonderful package I received from Angi today -- a scissors fob (for the Friends Gather Scissors Fob exchange), a Kelmscott Putford scissors (really cool), some fabric and DMC floss. Isn't it great? Thanks Angi!

(For some reason Blogger won't let me add a title to this post. Is anyone else having trouble with this?)

Happy July!

Happy belated Canada Day (July 1) to my friends across the northern border. I've been traveling for a few days and that's why you haven't seen any updates from me.

Last week, Vonna received a biscornu from me as part of the USEBB exchange. You might recall that Vonna had my name for this same exchange. This was the very first biscornu finish I had ever completed, and while it wasn't elaborate, I thought it turned out quite nice. I alternated fabric and fiber colors on either side using a Debbie Draper freebie called Spring Flowers.




Earlier this spring, I moderated an ABC exchange and one of the participants did not receive her package. I stitched this design from the Workbasket for Nancy K using Crescent Colors Tartan Plaid on a piece of 36 ct white linen from my stash.



We've also been kind of busy around here lately - with a new puppy! We adopted her from a shelter. She's a yellow lab/golden retriever mix although we think she's mostly lab. Her name is Maggie and she will be eight weeks old on July 8.



You might recall that we already had a chocolate lab/Chesapeake Bay Retriever mix named Zeta. Zeta was also adopted from a shelter five years ago and we think that she's about six year's old. She loves to play with the puppy sometimes, but then she needs to take a long nap afterwards!


Zeta, Theresa (my daughter), and Maggie