OMGOSH!

OMGosh where does the time go? On my last post I wished everyone a Happy Easter. I must have gotten lost on my egg hunt. Well not really. Now it is July. I have been busy like everyone else. Let me share with you a bit of what was going on in my little corner of the world.







First, I had a birthday. I was not to excited about being another year older but I received a beautiful cross stitched picture that I have wanted for a very long time. I believe that it is a La De Da pattern. I love it. Thanks Karrie.



I have had several pedi's and have enjoyed every one of them.

I have taken care of my roses.

I have planted my flowers.
Christmas is not sneaking up on me this year. I have been working away on my gifts. I can't show you the front side yet as I have some very nosey friends!! I am kidding guys. I am still not showing the front!

I have been working away on my BOM's. I have even started two more. I will show you those later. This one is from the http://temeculaquiltco.blogspot.com/ in CA. I love this one. Pieces are all done in wool and it will fit, when finished in a 18x24" ready made frame.

This one I joined at http://www.jjstitches.com/ last year when I was in WI for Boxwood and Berries.


I am way behind as usual. This is the second block. I have the third one started, but I am still waaaaay behind.

Some stitching with friends.

Eating and catching up with them too.

I went to a quilt show. What fun. Beautiful quilts and great vendors. More to follow soon.

This is some progress on a BBD cross stitch I started last year. Since I took this picture I have made even more progress. As you can see I have been busy. This has been the first week that schools here have been out so I also have my two grandchildren home all day. Heaven help me, it is going to be a long summer! I have been working on this picture sitting on the deck watching my grandchildren in the pool.

Our weather has been on the wet, windy, cloudy and chilly side here. This weekend, all four days, is going to be in the 90's. No happy medium here. I will be back soon with some shopping pictures. Till then...

Hugs and Stitches,

Pat

Happy Easter !

Happy Easter everyone. I hope you have a safe and wonderful day spent with family. May the Easter Bunny fill all your baskets with smiles, chocolates, and jelly beans. It is going to be a beautiful day here in upstate NY tomorrow, sunny and warm. I am going to find time to do a bit of stitching . I hope you do too.

Hugs and stitches,

Pat

My First Dye Job

I am so ready for Spring. I stitched up this cute little cross stitch in no time. When it was finished I thought that the colors were a bit bright for my taste sooooo I got out my walnut crystals and went to work. Note to self...you don't need very many crystals to achieve an aged look. Another note to self.... DO NOT leave unattended in the oven! It dried in a 200 degree oven very quickly. Unfortunately I did not take a picture before I started. I am very happy with the way it turned out. The pattern is a free e-pattern from Primitive Stitchin' by Shelly Auen. It is all framed and ready to be set out very soon I hope. I left some of the stitches out and left threads hanging as Shelly suggested to also make it look aged.

I have finished the first block of Settler's Pride by Maggie Bonanomi. This block worked up quickly too. I am very proud. I am only three blocks behind.

I am trying to find my next project. Which will it be? A project from this book by The Cricket Collection or

this new pattern from Country Stitches. Decisions decisions.

I will be back soon to show you some progress. Until then...

Hugs and Stitches

Pat

A Typical Tuesday!

This is what my typical Tuesday is like. It is my favorite day of the week. After a shower and dressing (very casually.... sometimes ....most times pajamas) it starts like this. Usually it is coffee and a muffin but last week it was hot chocolate from McDonald's. It is the best made with whole milk. Yummy! I haven't had that in quite some time. On to the rest of the day. If you follow my blog, the quilt below will look familiar. I received it from Stina last year for Easter. It is beautiful and I love it. So do my friends. I had the pattern before I received the quilt. I didn't have to make it thanks to Stina. Thanks again my friend!! Anyway my friends stitched the blocks and ordered the fabric that Stina used in my quilt. Last Tuesday we worked on their quilts on our stitching day.

We started after our hot chocolate and muffin.

The girls sewed away.

Progress was made before lunch.

Then we had lunch. Every week lunch is different. Last week it was snacks and they were great.

After lunch it was back at it again.

They sewed while I cut and ironed and.....

....we got really really thirsty.

That drink really pulled us through gave us strength to finish up two quilts.




Here's the first one and

the second. Both of these quilts are off being quilted.

We even had time to finish two other unfinished projects.





This is a FFF ( First Friday Freebie ) given to us by Kaaren.

I'd like you to meet Stanley. He is a pattern by Primitive Stitches. He is my new favorite snowman.

I am off to bed now because tomorrow is Tuesday and I am going to do it all over again. I wish that you could all come with me. We would have so much fun!

Hugs and Stitches,

Pat

What I've Been Up To

This crazy weather here in the East has me in a funk. Most people that live in upstate New York enjoy winter. I don't enjoy the cold but I do enjoy the snow. No snow this year though. We had some snow before Christmas and a few flurries since. It's gone and has been for a few weeks. All of the winter storms have gone just to the south of us and off the East coast. Now I don't want to be buried in it but I would like some snow to cover all of our dead grass. I am blaming my funk on the weather so come on snow or come on Spring! I have made some wool table runners. They are from a Whimsical 's book. I stitched some pincushions. It is a pattern from Shepherd's Bush. The kit came with a beautiful blue ric rac. I was unable to find any that even came close to what was in the kit.

I have enjoyed making journal covers. They fit over a composition notebook. It is a Stacy Nash pattern.

I love this pillow. It is from a Whimsical book also. It is wool applique on cotton fabric. I have two more started. One is even for me!! The other one I am not sure what I will do with it.

This pillow was fun to make also. It is wool applique on cotton again. I made this pillow for a friend who is very persnickety. (love her though) It took longer to pick the fabrics than it did to make the pillow. I was with her when she picked the fabrics. If I remember correctly there is fabric from at least four shops and a quilt show in that pillow! I am very happy with the way it turned out. So is my friend. She doesn't have a blog, but I know she will read this. Hmmm!

Below are pictures of gifts that I have received. This one came from Hawaii. I love birds and bird houses.

I love this one. I begged, pleaded, embarrassed, cried, kicked, screamed and threatened a friend to make this one for me. Finally wore her down. This is an old pattern that I have had for several years. I just never stitched it. I am not a fan of back stitching and there is a ton of it in this picture. Debbie did a great job. If you click on the picture you can see the detail.

I have it hanging over a knob rack in my kitchen. I think that they compliment each other.

A friend has this hanging in her kitchen and I have commented on it several times. Sooo now I have one too!

This now hangs in my entry way. It was from Karrie (no blog). It will look much nicer after this room is painted. I think I have out grown my pink stage.

This last picture will greet you as you enter my front door. It was stitched by another no blog friend. The frame is from Michaels and I love it!!

I changed the embellishments to charms that I had on hand and couldn't remember what I had purchased them for. Again a bird and a birdhouse. Sheep are among my favorite things too! I have a couple of other small projects that I will show you soon. I hope that everyone has a great Valentines Day tomorrow. Find lots of time to smell the roses, eat lots of chocolate and stitch the day away.

Hugs and Stitches,

Pat

More Christmas

I have more Christmas to show you. This package arrived a little after Christmas. I knew that it was going to be late. The wait was certainly worth it. The package was from Margaret in Spain. Margaret and I met shortly after I started blogging. I was having trouble with something(I forget now what) setting up my blog and she offered to help me. She talked me through the steps and I was able to complete the task at hand through e-mails. At the time I posted that she was my BFF (best friend forever). It was a popular saying from a television commercial at the time. Well Margaret has turned out to be a wonderful friend. I cherish our friendship. She is a lady of many talents. Everything that she does turns out absolutely beautiful including photography. So if you would like to see better pictures of my lovely gifts pop over and see Margaret. I am sure that her next post will include lovely pictures of the following gifts. See Margaret, It wasn't squished!

Here are my goodies.

A stitching bag, pincushion and a needle book. My favorite embellishments are buttons and ric rac. Just look at these buttons. I love them. I have put them all to good use already! Each side of the bag has a different design.

Here it is opened. All those pockets help me to keep organized. I love the fabric on the inside too. All sewing notions. The Fig Tree on the outside is one of my favorites. I really like the way that it closes. It is impossible for anything to fall out.

Here is the needle book. This little stitchery looks just like me...right down to my skinny little ankles!! She is soooo cute. Click on the picture to see the beautiful stitching.

Room for several needles.

Thank you so much Margaret. I am over the moon. I just love everything. Thank you for offering to help me way back when and being such a good friend. The biggest of hugs my friend.

Pat

Merry Christmas From Sweden

I received this lovely package from my friend Stina in Sweden just before Christmas. I have waited to post about it because Stina has been away spending the Holidays with her family. I wanted her to see how much I appreciated my wonderful gifts. First is a Swedish Goat or Ram. I was not familiar with this little guy so I had to Google him. As soon as I did I placed him under my Christmas Tree. He will be found there every year when my tree goes up.

If you look close you will see him on the wrapping paper.

Stina is such a sweetheart. She stitched this Snow Angel for me. I love the wings. She is beautiful. Thank you so much Stina. Stina wrote to tell me that in her haste to get the package mailed, before Christmas, she forgot to add the twig arms to the angel. I love her just as she is. I am not sure, but the Angel looks like a Country Stitches pattern to me. So cute.

What a clever girl that Stina is! She made this twisted wire angle with a wool heart. Isn't she cute? She looked lovely on my tree. She also made the wool strawberry scissor fob. Those little strawberries must have taken awhile to make. They are small and the french knots.... they look good enough to eat. Stina sent me this little note........ "The little scissor fob... is made with a childhood memory in mind... picking small strawberries...that we call "smultron" and dont taste like strawberries... we picked them ...putting them on a string of straw... and carried them home...an later sitting on the porch eating them sunwarm...yummy!!!" I will think of this story each time I use the fob and when I see the first little strawberries in summer.

Speaking of eating. She included a box of orange flavored chocolate. They are delish and I shared too!!

Thank you so much Stina. I love my Christmas from Sweden.

Hugs,

Pat