Some Hardanger for Christmas

All good things must come to an end - after being on vacation all of last week, I return to work today. It was nice to be off. I was able to prepare for our Thanksgiving celebration at a relaxed pace, did a little bit of Christmas shopping, and got quite a bit of Christmas stitching done.

In addition to all the "merry" ornaments (previous post) I had the supplies at home to whip up a couple of these hardanger ornaments. The design from the Nordic Needle can be found in the 2010 JCS Ornament magazine.

(Wish the picture was better, but hey - I live in Minnesota and we're having another overcast, dreary day. More snow is coming!)



I also want to show you a couple of spools I picked up at a craft boutique that I visited on Saturday. I couldn't pass them up - they were in great condition. I especially like the one in the middle with the holes running up the middle.



On my last post, Annemiek asked where I found the little red bells - I found mine at Michael's Arts & Crafts but I think you would also be able to find them at JoAnn's. Any craft store should have them - they were in with the other Christmas decorations. Sharon asked about the wire - it's a 20 gauge black colored copper wire; found it in the beading supply section at JoAnn's.

Gotta run - work is calling! Thanks for stopping by!

Rejoice and Be Merry!

Lots of "merry" going on here today and believe me, I am rejoicing! I've been on a finishing frenzy the past few days, and today, I put the finishing touches on these ornaments.

The design is from Miss Crescent's Crown and can be found in the 2010 JCS Ornament issue.



I did not put bells on all of them, only one pictured here. I still have more to finish and will put bells on the remaining ones.



One more day left in the holiday weekend...

It's a Green Jello Day!

Happy Thanksgiving dear friends in the U.S. My family will be gathering later today to share in a feast of turkey, dressing, wild rice, sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts, broccoli, pumpkin pie.... and green jello!

When I was in high school, I worked part time at a local butcher shop/grocery store. It was only 8 blocks from my house so I could easily walk to and from work. Technically, I was the cashier, but it was such a small business that everyone pretty much did everything. I stocked shelves and learned how to package produce in addition to my cashiering duties.

The customers were all "neighborhood" people; people who had shopped at this butcher shop their entire lives. Since I worked there all through high school and on weekends and summers during college, I got to know the customers pretty well.

There was one little old lady who frequently shopped there for her groceries and her meat. Her name was Lauretta Reilly. Now, I have no idea how we got on the topic of jello, but one day Lauretta walked in with a yellow index card and written on it was her "Lime Jell-o Salad" recipe. She wanted to make sure that I had a copy of it I guess.

Those who have known me for quite some time know that I am not much of a cook - oh, I can cook when I want to, but I'd much rather be stitching than cooking, so I don't cook any more than I have to. My family knows this and so over the years, when we've had family gatherings, they don't trust me with the important things, they only trust me with the jello. Of course the jello that I make each and every time --- Lauretta Reilly's Lime Jell-o Salad! (It's kind of become a joke in our family; believe me though, when there's no green jello they are disappointed!) So, today, being one of those important days when our family gathers, it's important that we have green jello.




Lauretta Reilly's Lime Jell-o Salad

1 large or 2 small packages of lime Jell-o
1 cup boiling water
1 pint cottage cheese
1 small can crushed pineapple
1/2 pint whipping cream (I use 8oz Cool Whip)
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup diced maraschino cherries (I use more!)

Dissolve Jell-o in boling water. Chill until it begins to thicken. Then whip until light and frothy. Add cottage cheese, pineapple, nuts and cherries. Mix well. Fold in whipped cream. Pour into bowl or mold and chill until set.

Happy Thanksgiving all!

Re-Visiting an Old Friend...

Yes, Sampler Game Board from The Drawn Thread is my old friend. Lelia and I started stitching it together on January 1, 2006. I originally planned to stitch it on 25ct Dublin (as called for in the design.) After stitching a fare amount of it, I made the decision in April of the same year to stitch it on a larger count fabric - so I started over! This time on 35 ct Ivory. I've stitched quite a bit on it since that time (as you can see) but grew tired of it and moved on to other projects. I pulled it out the other night and realized that I really don't have too much more to go - maybe three rows plus the rest of the border. I've stitched 5 or 6 new blocks since pulling it out on Sunday night and plan to keep going - maybe I could have this one finished by the end of the year? :)

I'm also still finishing Merry ornaments - these two are finished without the bells; I still need to add a hanger.

Thanks for stopping by!

The Fruits of My Labor

I spent a good portion of my day on some finishing. One of the designs in this year's JCS Ornament magazine caught my eye - it's from Miss Crescent's Crowne and the picture can be found on page 60.

Here's my version of this sweet, oh-so-quick-to-stitch design:



It's stitched on the recommended WDW 30 ct Scuppernog with CC Red Currant and CC Snowball. I substituted a snowflake button in place of the snowman button. It's finished as a flat ornament with ruched ribbon on all four sides. The red jingle bells seemed like the perfect compliment for this design! Whatcha think?

It took me a few hours to finish...I have nine more of these stitched up. Ugh! But they will be so gosh darn cute!

It's Finally Finished!

This is the Day

Tracy Riffle/Hands to Work

Just CrossStitch - February 2009

35 ct WDW Cappucino

GAST/CC/WDW Fibers

Will you dance with me? I never thought I would get this one finished, but it's done. Woot! Isn't she gorgeous?

And the Winner Is....

#12 Veronica!

My trusty assistant (my daughter) ran the numbers through Random Integer Generator and #12 came out on top! The three ornaments will go to Veronica! Veronica, if you are reading this, please contact me with your address information.

Now, since the response was overwhelming, we decided to pick two more winners; they will each receive a tatted item of our choice from my mother's stash.

#23 Melody
#9 Jeanne

Melody and Jeanne, please contact me with your address information.

Congratulations all!

Check This Out

I hate to share this with you; it's such a fabulous giveaway (I'd rather not share so that the odds are better that I might win!) But I promised to post about it.

Please check out Belinda's giveaway here.

Because You Are All so Nice....

Because you are all so nice, my mom sent three of her tatted ornaments home with me today from the boutique so that we can have a giveaway. All three will be given to one lucky winner. If you would like to be included in this giveaway, please leave a comment on this post only.

If you have a blog and it includes a link to your email - you're all set. If you don't have a blog and/or your email link is not included on your blog, then please include your email address so that I am able to contact you if you are the lucky winner. U.S., Canada, International - all are welcome to participate.

We will draw a name on Friday, November 19 - keep your fingers crossed, the winner could be you!

Stitching and Stashing with Friends....Priceless

Still trying to stay warm in Minnesota...our weather made the national news this morning!

On Friday (the day before the snow came!) I had the opportunity to spend the afternoon with Joan and one of our blogging friends, Pam. Pam doesn't have a blog, but many of you know her because she probably has visited your blog and left a comment. Joan and I met Pam in Tulsa at the Silver Needle retreat and we agreed to meet up at Stitchville next time Pam was in town. It just so happened that this was the weekend - Pam and her non-stitching sister, Cheryl drove up for shopping and stashing at the Mall of America and Stitchville!

Pam is so sweet - she gifted Joan and I with some cotton knit washcloths. And they were packaged so nice! Pam's birthday is next Tuesday, and I gave her a package of Minnesota wild rice, some Pearson's Salted Nut Rolls (made in Minnestoa), and a Hardanger ornament for her tree. We had lunch at Old Chicago and then spent a significant amount of time stashing at Stitchville.

Cute packaging!



Here' a picture of the three of us (L to r: Joan, Pam, Cathy):



I made some purchases (can't go to Stitchville and not buy something!). The new LK Winter fob kit and the Blue House Primer from With My Needle:



And look what I found in the clearance bins! BOAF My Betrothed (half price), another old BOAF charf (50 cents!) and M Designs Sampler Girls (half price). You can't imagine how excited I was to find those BOAF charts!



We had a great time on Friday! Well, I need to get moving - the boutique sale today opens up at 9am and I need to be there to help my mom set things up!

That Dirty Little "S" Word

"SNOW"

Mother Nature is busy again. On Wednesday, the high was 65 degrees and the sun was shining. Today, we've had somewhere in the neighborhood of about 10 inches of snow dumped on us. The first snowfall of the year and it is quite a doozy. The snow is wet and heavy; the kind that makes shoveling the driveway quite a chore. Navigating the roads earlier today weren't much fun either. It seems like even diehard Minnesotans forget how to drive in this stuff from one winter to the next. Well, I'm home for the evening and I'm planning to stay put!

Here are some winter pictures for you of the area in which we live. The last picture I took through my windshield as I was coming home this afternoon. Counting the months until Spring arrives!




Despite the snow, this morning I was out and about. My mother had signed up to participate in a church boutique not too far from where I live. I had offered to help her today and tomorrow morning. Those of you who follow my blog know that my mother is a tatter. She has been tatting since eight grade; her eighth grade teacher (a benedictine nun) taught her how to do it and she has been tatting ever since (she's 78 years young.)

Here's a picture of her at her table. She has two small Christmas trees on either end of the table filled with white tatted ornaments. On the table, we had more ornaments, some tatted bookmarks and some tatted crosses.




Wouldn't it be cool to have a tree adorned with just white tatted ornaments?




We had a few other little handmade things that we sold too. Unfortunately, the weather took it's toll on the boutique -- since the driving was so bad, very few people ventured out today. There weren't very many shoppers! Maybe tomorrow morning will be better.

Well, I have more to share but will save my other stories for tomorrow! Happy Stitching!

It's Ornament Season!

Greetings friends! Just a quick midweek post for you -- while watching the CMA awards tonight (or maybe I should say "listening to" the CMA awards tonight), I finished up a couple of ornaments.

This little cutie from Country Cottage Needleworks can be found in the 2007 issue of the JCS Ornament magazine. Now, I'm not a fan of "big" ornaments, so I did not stitch the outside border, just the design inside. As you can see, I then finished it up with a little ruched ribbon around the outside. It's really cute. (Now don't get the idea that I am a speed stitcher, I actually starting stitching this one last year and never finished it.) Stitched on miscellaneous 28 ct linen from my stash with DMC threads.



I also finished up these cute little hardanger angels. They aren't very big, maybe 2.5 inches tall and not more than two inches wide. I will be making more of these for Christmas gifts.



Well, I wish I had more to share with you. If only I had more time for stitching. Maybe this weekend. A girl can dream, right? :)

Have a great evening!

A Purple Peacock for the Purple Peacock

Hello friends! Just a quickie post as I need to get moving and off to work!

Last Friday was Jill's birthday! My package was a bit late in getting to her, but it did eventually arrive and in it was this purple peacock that I had stitched for her! The pattern is in this year's JCS ornament magazine (page 23). It is from the Courtney Collection and it is called Holiday Peacock. I stitched mine on Picture This Plus "Shale" (36 ct I think) using Belle Soie Plush Plum. I ruched a coordinating colored ribbon along the outside with small purple sead beeds. Jill can use it as an ornament or a pinkeep - whatever she likes! Hope you had a great birthday Jill!



Not much else to share - I've been traveling some, so that means that I am reading. Here are two more books for you to consider. The first book is new needlework mystery (similar to the Monica Ferris series). It was an easy read - The Quick and The Thread by Amanda Lee. Sounds like she has book two coming out early next year.



I also read the third book in the series from Marie Bostwick. This is not a mystery, just fiction and the story centers around the people associated with Cobble Court Quilts in the small town of New Bern, CT. If you like the Jennifer Chiaverini books, you would enjoy reading this series.



That's it for me - I gotta run! Have a great day - do some stitching!