I promised that if you stopped back today I would have some pictures for you. Here you go!

First up, here's the floss tag I received from Patti - isn't it great? I'm not sure where the design is from, perhaps Blackbird Designs? As you can see, Patti included some gorgeous silk threads and ribbon. Thanks a bunch Patti!



Second up, here's a progress pic of my BOAF Friendship Sampler. This shows the additional stitching I did last weekend. Hope to get some stitching done on it tonight and tomorrow, then I'll try to post another update. I love this sampler. (Forgive me, I didn't take time to press out the wrinkles!)


Hope you are having a marvelous weekend wherever you are!

I'm a Putz

Well, I've been putzing around on the computer here most of the night. I should have been sitting in my chair stitching, right? Since I was gone most of the week I needed to get caught up on emails and other stuff. So here I am, three hours later, still putzing around.

Here's what I have for you tonight -- I stitched this Shepherd's Bush design "Land of the Free" and finished it off into a pillow for Goldie as part of a Patriotic Exchange that a small group of us participated in. You can't really tell from the picture, but the blue fabric has flags in it and the contrasting fabric also has tiny flags in it. Turned out pretty cute IMHO!

Check back tomorrow for more updates. I've got a floss tag to show you and promise to post an update on my BOAF Friendship Sampler progress. Until then, happy stitching!

Patriotic Exchange

Thanks everyone for your kind comments on my last post. I think I may have found the link to the Quaker freebie -- try clicking here. (I hope it works!)

Yesterday, I received a delightful exchange from Goldie. A small group of us decided to have a Patriotic themed exchange since we're approaching the July 4th holiday here in the U.S. Goldie stitched and finished a beautiful tin for me -- she did a great job; it is beautifully done! The design is a Victoria Sampler freebie entitled "Together We Shall Overcome" and it includes a little bit of hardanger along with the cross stitch!

Inside, there is a magnet for needles. Goldie included some buttons and a charm.

Here's a picture of the entire exchange. Thanks Goldie!

I didn't have much time for stitching last night, so no updated pictures for the BOAF Friendship Sampler.

I discovered a wonderful blog this morning as I was surfing the net. The blog is called The Painted Quilt. I need to go back and read Kaaren's older posts, but two of her recent posts caught my eye. First of all, she has a needlecase tutorial posted. I might just give this a try. Even cuter is the sewing box she put together - go to the June 8 post to see this one. Kaaren is offering a couple of giveaways for the 4th of July, so if you would like to play, do stop by. Even if you are not interested in her giveaway, do check out her blog - it's delightful!

Have you seen the new sampler from La D Da? This is going to be a must stitch for me! I think it will nicely complement La D Da's Quaker Alphabet that I stitched earlier this year.

And what about the new designs from Midsummer Night Designs? I better get stitching!

Greetings and Salutations!

I'm reminded of the father of one of my best friends from college when I hear "Greetings and Salutations!" Whenever I called over to her house, that's how her dad, we called him "Wif," answered the phone. He was one of the kindest, gentlest men I ever met. He died about two years ago; I still think about him every once in awhile.

It's been awhile since I posted, sorry about that. Life just gets in the way sometimes! I do have a few pictures to share though.

First up, is a floss tag that I made for Jeanie as part of the Tiny Treasures exchange. Many of you will recognize this design; just about everyone was stitching it about a year ago or so. It was a freebie online - I wish I could remember the site or the author's name so that I could give proper credit! Anyway, I stitched it on some white linen I had in my stash. The blue thread that I used is some thread that Aniza sent to me as part of an exchange some time ago; I think she dyed it herself. As you can see, the back of the tag is personalized!

(Jeanie, I hope you don't mind that I borrowed your pictures from your blog; they are so better than the one's that I took!)

Before I move on to another photo, I need to give credit to Mama Joan; she always puts the grommets in my floss tags for me. I know, I know, I should be able to do this myself, but she's so good at it! More about Mama Joan later in this post....

On Wednesday night, I took a class at a local quilt shop (for anyone who might be local, it was at Rosebud's Cottage in NSP). We made this felted wool strawberry needlebook. Cute, huh? The smaller pieces were already cut for us; we just had to cut the larger ones and then do the stitching to finish it. I really enjoy classes with smaller projects where when it's time to go home your project is finished! It was a relaxing evening!


Now, back to Mama Joan. She hasn't posted to her blog in awhile; she's been kind of busy. Mama Joan and her hubby moved to South Dakota last week; they both have new jobs there. I'm going to miss Mama Joan. A small group of us always stitched at her house on Friday nights. For now, our weekly stitching nights are over, but I'm sure we'll still get together from time to time. Since I wasn't at Mama Joan's last night, I had to do the next logical thing -- I went to Stitchville (our LNS) after work! I want you all to know that I exercised great restraint while I was there. I only purchased two cuts of fabric and some fibers.

Here's the project that I started when I got home - This is an oldie but a goodie from Birds of a Feather called Friendship Sampler. I'm stitching it on 36 count Picture This Plus "Legacy" and I'm using one strand of floss over two threads (two strands of floss looked too heavy to me). As you can see, I'm just getting started!

Terri at Chocolates for Breakfast is also stitching this one right now. Check out how vibrant the colors are!

Well, that's it for me. Today I will be working on finishing an exchange that needs to be mailed out. It's going to be really HOT here in MN so I won't mind being indoors at all! Have a great day!

What Have I Been Stitching?

Don't have too much to share, but I can show you an ornament that I recently stitched for BeckySC. This was the final exchange in our monthly year-long ornament exchange. It was great fun!


This design is from Plum Pudding Needlearts. The chart is called Candy Cane Wishes and includes three ornament designs. I stitched this on some miscellaneous 32 count fabric from my stash with mostly DMC. I used WDW Hazelnut for the Gingerbread man. The back is personalized with our initials.

I also stitched my patriotic exchange - still need to do the finishing on this one. Then, this past weekend I started stitching "Stripes" from Shepherds Bush. This is a kit that I have had in my stash for quite some time. It's about 1/3 of the way done. I might go back and re-do some of the words with the darker colored silk when I'm finished...

Not much else going on around here. It may be June here in Minnesota but we've had no summer to speak of yet - cold, rainy - granted, we do need the rain! We had the third dryest Spring on record.

That's it from me tonight!

A Most Wonderful Gift

Today I received a wonderful gift from one of my team members at work who just returned from a trip to Taiwan. It was sweet of her to think of me while on vacation. She knows that I am fond of cross stitch and other types of needlework and so she brought me this wonderful pincushion. Isn't it cute?


Now here's a little story for you -- about 6 years ago, I was in Tokyo for a business meeting. It was a short trip, but before leaving to come home I did a little shopping at a gift shop and found a pincushion exactly like this one. When I got home I gave it to my sister-in-law as a gift. Since that time, I have often thought about it and wished that I had purchased two of them. In February 2008, I had the opportunity to travel to Tokyo again and while it was also a short trip, I still had time for a little bit of shopping. I searched high and low for a pincushion like this one, but couldn't find one.

My team member at work didn't know this story, but I shared it with her today. Needless to say, I was thrilled with her gift - it is a most wonderful gift!

Is it June Already?

How can it be June? What happened to May? I don't know where the time goes.

I've been busy stitching exchanges that need to go out in June. Some of these will be mailed this weekend so once they are received I will have pictures to share. Once my commitment stitching is done then I'm going to stitch red, white, and blue projects until the 4th of July. Two weekends ago I went through my stash and found several patriotic projects all kitted up, so I'm ready to go!

Here's an exchange that was mailed in May and I just received word that Suzanne received it. The theme of this exchange was Blackbird Designs and I stitched this sweet design called Tulip & Star Pinkeep from the With Needle and Thread book. I used the WDW threads that the pattern called for; the fabric is one of my coffee dyed pieces (32 ct). The fabric in the background is from the Blackbird Design Chelsea Boutique line for Moda; I used it to finish the back of the pinkeep. I think it turned out quite nice - it was hard to part with it, but I know Suzanne will give it a good home!

Last weekend I decided to do some real sewing. I've had this fabric and pillow pattern for about 5 or 6 years. I went through a phase where I thought I was going to be a quilter and spent lots of time visiting quilt shops and buying fabric. I never really got around do doing any actual quilting but I've collected lots of nice fabric. Anyway, the fabric has a sewing theme. Here's the pillow and then a close-up of the fabric.


Well that's it from me. Hope you are all having a wonderful week. Chat with you more soon!