Christmas in July

I don't participate in enough exchanges (ha!) and so I signed up for another one! The Christmas in July exchange was organized by Simone. My partner was Amy and she emailed me tonight to let me know that she received the ornament I stitched for her. Isn't it cute? The pattern can be found in the 2007 JCS Ornament issue; it's from Scandinavian Stitches.

I received my ornament tonight too.....from Simone! Stop back tomorrow to see a picture!

For all of you neighborhood round robin stitchers out there, check out this beautiful finished neighborhood - go here.

As Promised ...

Here's what I've been working on all weekend - Katrina's Neighborhood RR. The house comes from a Chessie & Me chart, the sunflowers and the birds come from The Drawn Thread charts. I'm pleased with it - I hope Katrina likes it!


If you would like to take a look at some of the other neighborhoods under construction, visit the Hello Neighbor blog!

Have a good week!

Fair & Square Blocks from Vonna

Yes, Vonna and I were partnered up for Round 7 on the Fair & Square exchange. Check out the great blocks she sent to me. Vonna rounded out the exchange with some needles and some floss. Thanks Vonna!

I may have an additional post later today - I'm trying to finish up my square on Katrina's neighborhood as part of the Hello Neighbor RR group...

Catching Up - Long Post - Sorry!

I'm back! I was gone for a couple of days. Was fortunate to spend time in historic Red Wing, MN at the beautiful St. James Hotel located on the Mississippi River. Had a relaxing two days even though it was for work-related business.

While I was away, I received the Patriotic Exchange from Vonna! Vonna really spoiled me. Here's a picture of the whole exchange:

This basket will come in handy for displaying smalls. See the two fabric firecrackers that she made? Ribbon for finishing and a flag for decoration (Vonna antiqued it). Vonna included two lovely stitched pieces - the pillow is a design from Brightneedle (I've always wanted to stitch this, now I won't have to!) and the pinkeep is a freebie from Prairie Grove Peddler (cute, don't you think?) Both pieces were stitched on some of Vonna's hand-dyed fabric (the picture doesn't do it justice - the fabric color is really pretty!) Thanks much Vonna - I will enjoy displaying these pieces!



There were nine of us that participated in the Patriotic Exchange - here are pics of all of the designs that were sent out:

Cathy for Becky(page down to June 18 post)
Laurie for Vonna
Carol for Jill
Marie for Joan
Becky for Marie
Joan for Laurie
Jill for Nancy
One more exchange is enroute and should arrive in Carol's mailbox tomorrow! Thanks friends for participating; patriotic designs are some of my favorites!

Okay, on to our next exchange - two of my exchange packages were received while I was away:

Fair and Square #7 for Vonna. I'm sure many of you will recognize this Lizze Kate design!




Finally, Alison C posted that she received the SBEBB ABC exchange that I sent to her. The design is from Carriage House Samplings, it was in a 2005 issue of Just Cross Stitch.


Whew! I think that's everything for now! Thanks for stopping by. Have a great evening!

LHN RR

I am participating in a LHN RR with a group of stitchers on the Worldwide Round Robin board. In April you saw my contribution to Joan's LHN RR; this month I had the pleasure of stitching on Julianne's LHN RR. Julianne's theme is City Stitcher, Country Stitcher.

I chose a older design that Diane Williams published in the Leisure Arts book called Joy in the Journey. The design is called "The Lord is my Shepherd" - I only stitched the top two-thirds of the design. I thought it fit nicely with Julianne's theme. This will be heading off to Melissa today as she stitches on it next!



Joan stitches on the RR before me. Everytime I receive one of these LHN RR's from her it's in a beautiful traveling bag stitched by Joan!


Have a good day all!

Patriotic Exchange

A small group of us here in the US decided to exchange patriotic themed stitching gifts this summer. I stitched for BeckySC and my package arrived in her mailbox yesterday.

I love patriotic themed designs, so I had quite a number of them to choose from. But I settled on this design from Ewe & Eye & Friends called Liberty House. I stitched it on 32 count fabric (not sure of the color name) and used DMC fibers and GAST Raspberry Parfait. When finished it just seemed like the perfect size for a pinkeep! I was really happy with the finish!


Go to these blogs to see some of the other patriotic finishes: Marie, Vonna, Jill, Joan. A few more are still traveling - I'll post links to them once they arrive at their destinations!

ABC Exchange

A package arrived yesterday from Hazel and in it was not one, but two ABC pieces! She initially stitched La D Da's "A-Z and in between" - it's finished as a beautiful pinkeep. Hazel had also ordered a chart for me from my wishlist - Notforgotten Farms "Alphabet Pinpoke." When the chart arrived she couldn't resist stitching it for me. The pinpoke is stuffed with lavender and has the most heavenly smell to it! Hazel still sent the chart (I will enjoy stitching this as a gift for someone else I'm sure), some assorted ribbons, some fabric for finishing, and some pins for pinkeeps! A wonderful package all around.

I've got exchanges enroute -- should have more pictures for you later in the week! Thanks for stopping by!

Tickled Pink

Yes, I'm just "tickled pink" over what Melissa sent to me for my request on the Make a Wish board. My request was for anything LHN - exact design and finishing could be the stitcher's choice. Melissa offered to fulfill my wish and it arrived today.

Her design choice is perfect for me - I love patriotic designs. I got a bit of a bonus here - two pieces for the price of one! Both of the designs are from the LHN Heart of America pattern. One is a scissor keeper (I added my Glory scissors for the picture) and the other is floss ring tag. I've admired the scissor keeper finish on other blogs and now that I see Melissa's up close I am inspired to try this for an upcoming exchange. The floss ring tag is pretty cool too! (Sorry for the poor lighting; no natural light to be found - it just continues to rain here!)


Melissa -- many thanks, you made my day!

Off to stitch. Have a good evening everyone!

Spring Exchange from Carolyn

I have so enjoyed receiving a seasonal surprise from Carolyn over the past year - first for Summer, then Fall, Winter -- and now Spring! Carolyn has sent so many wonderful gifts and lovely stitched pieces that I will treasure. For Spring she stitched and finished this Spring pinkeep.

Sorry for the poor lighting. I've spent the past hour or so trying to locate my camera and once I finally did it was pretty dark to be taking a picture. I did my best, but the photo doesn't really do the piece justice!

Given the circumstances of the temporarily lost camera, I didn't photograph the other goodies - but it was a wonderful package. Some springy fat quarters of fabric (one with Ladybugs), some heart pins for pinkeep finishing, some Jobelan for stitching, an address book, a candle, some wonderful smelling soap, and a Spring rubber stamp (which my daughter will confiscate once she sees it!)

Carolyn, thanks for being such a wonderful seasonal exchange partner.

On Saturday, we visited some friends who were storing our boat over the winter. They live about 30 minutes south of us and they raise sheep. Look at the cute little lambs. Do you see the one that is all black? It was born Memorial Day weekend.


These two smart little lambs are on the loose - they found a way out of their fenced area!

Thanks for stopping by - Happy Stitching!

Sunday Night

It was a productive stitching weekend but I can't show any pictures yet - everything I worked on is for an exchange.

Check out the wonderful new designs I spied on Midsummer Night Musings! I especially like Patriotic Summer.

Okay, here's a question for you. Let's say you won a "grand prize" with which you could travel to any LNS in the U.S. Which LNS would you most like to visit? The Silver Needle? Shepherd's Bush? Elegant Stitch? I'm just curious as to which shop you would be most interested in visiting and shopping at. Let me know where you would travel to...

Hope your week is filled with lots of stitching!

A Sweet Gift

Last week, when I was busy with graduation preparations, I received a small, unexpected package from Simone. I wasn't quite sure why - I couldn't think of any exchanges that were due...Simone was my Seasonal Exchange partner in 2007-2008 and she sent me this cute little pinkeep as a thank you! It's adorable and very thoughtful of Simone. Thanks Simone!

It's a rainy, stormy evening here in Minnesota. I'm working on finishing my Fair & Square blocks for Round #7.

Thanks for stopping by!

Fair & Square Exchanges

Mary Kathryn and I exchanged Fair & Square blocks this week for the 4th of July round. Here are the squares that I received from Mary Kathryn:


Here's the whole package!

Here are the squares I sent to Mary Kathryn:


Thanks everyone for your congratulations and best wishes regarding Patrick's graduation!