What Happened?

Poof! All of a sudden May is over and gone. It sure flew by quickly. I can't believe tomorrow is June 1st.

I've been pretty much nonexistent in blogland the last month or two. Sorry about that. I've been stitching some; but haven't really had anything to share and would rather spend any extra time I have with needle and thread in hand rather than sitting on the computer!

With that said, I do have a finish this last day of May. It almost didn't happen though. I was so close. There was just one little motif left to go. What happened? I ran out of WDW Onyx! I needed two strands about 18 inches in length to finish that little motif. Two strands.....

I dug through my stash and through my kitted projects but could not find two strands of WDW Onyx. I pawed through my GAST and CC fibers - surely I could find something that would be a close enough match, right? Wrong...

So what does a stitcher do in a situation like this? Quite the dilemma; my LNS is about a 40 minute drive and I had to work today anyway.

What's that? Of course! Why didn't I think of it sooner? Mama Joan to the rescue; otherwise known as Joan's House of Stitching (and Joan's House of Lamps, and Joan's House of Fabric - I could go on and on.) But you all know her best as just "Joan" of Stitching Squad fame. Yes, she is my hero. Of course she had WDW Onyx in her stash; of course she would allow me to use two strands from her stash of WDW Onyx. Thanks Joan!

Without further ado, here is my BOAF Happy Hearts finish. I believe this is finish #8 from that Crazy Challenge I started in January!

Happy Hearts
Birds of a Feather
linen unknown - 36ct
WDW fibers

Don't you just love it? I've wanted to stitch this piece for so long and it's finally finished.

Thanks for stopping by. I'll try to post updates a little more often next month!

A Gift and Other Fun Things

Just had to share this photo with you...

...the pincushion in the middle was a gift from Wendy Jo. So sweet!
...the wooden thread bobbins at the top and the rusty bells in the bag were "finds" on our adventure to White Bear Lake, MN last Thursday.
...the woolen ball pincushions were purchases at the Shepherd's Harvest Festival on Saturday. I think I have a thing for shades of red and orange!



I'm going to be away for a few days...have a good week!

Some Framing

JoAnn's had a 60% off framing coupon last week and so I had to take advantage of it. I got these two pretties back today; I think you will remember them.

Quaker Stitches from Jeanette Douglas:



Scarlet's Christmas Sampler from Chessie and Me:



This week was quite enjoyable. I took Thursday off of work to meet up with Wendy Jo from Wen to Stitch at Stitchville. We were joined by my stitching bud Judy from Alexandria, and my sister-in-law, Janice -- the more the merrier in my book! We had a great time shopping and talking; we scoured through the sale boxes in the back room and each took home some treasures. After shopping at Stitchville, we had lunch at Old Chicago. Judy then headed home, but Wendy Jo, Janice, and I went to a couple quilt shops in White Bear Lake. We found some treasures at one of them -- felted wool, finishing trims and some rusty bells. After an afternoon treat, we took Wendy Jo back to her hotel and bid her farewell (until next time!)



Today, Janice and I met up again and we went to the Shepherd's Harvest Festival in nearby Lake Elmo, MN. Neither of us had ever gone before, so we didn't really know what to expect. What fun we had though and what a feast for the eyes. I never saw so much color! There were four buildings filled with vendors, mostly selling wool for spinning, yarns for knitting and crocheting, and felted wool for sewing and crafting. Oh my, we had fun!

After checking out all of the booths we strolled around outside and met up with a mother/daughter team who were demonstrating spinning. The showed us how to card wool and then spun some if it for us. We also saw some spinning done with small "spinners" - wish I had a picture of one of them.

Before leaving we stopped in to see the sheep and the goats, but the llamas and the alpacas won our hearts. Here are some pictures of these cute animals!







Happy Mother's Day all. Thanks for stopping by!

Quick Little Update

I seem to be in a funk lately; just not good about posting on my blog in a regular fashion. (I haven't been responding to email all that quickly either - sorry!) Those of you who have been around awhile know that I go through this every so often. Life just gets busy and there isn't time for the computer...or blogging. I'd rather spend any extra time I have stitching.

I've been working on an LHN project lately. Remember our little stitching group that gets together in August for a mini-retreat? We worked on a project together last year and decided to do one again this year. This year's project is these six blocks from LHN (I'm too lazy to pull the patterns out right now, but I think they were in the Dear Diary series.)

We're each stitching one of each square and then putting our initials in the top corners. In August we will swap squares so that we have one from each person. We are then planning to do a "cube" finish...we'll see how that turns out. Now there is a little twist to this project, but I think you will have to wait until August to see what it is! :)









I've also been working on some hardanger doilies. I am taking a trip in July and I need to bring gifts with me. These little pretties don't take up much space in the suitcase!



Last night I pulled out Happy Hearts again. I think that if I put my mind to it, I could finish that sampler by the end of May...we'll see.

Hope you are well in your little corner of the world wherever that might be. Happy stitching and thanks for stopping by!