Saturday get-together....

Saturday was a fun day spent with Amy and Nicole! I met them in Sumter and we visited a couple of quilt stores and yes....it was trouble!!!! We spent about 3 hours in the second one and had the best time. I could have gotten in some serious trouble...thank goodness I don't quilt.

To borrow Nicole's phrase, I too commissioned Amy to make me one of her tote bags and had fun picking out the fabric. Amy share her totes she had made when we made it back to her house and they are gorgeous! We also got enough fabric to make a small pouch and Amy just whipped mine up when we got back....

This is one of the fabrics I picked out and I love it. Being of little sewing talent, it was amazing to watch Amy just cut and sew this as if it was nothing...and with a zipper too.

She gave me this cute charm too attach....what a sweet friend!

Sunday was a very productive day and I actually framed two recent finishes. I found two frames on sale at Hobby Lobby that I knew would be perfect.

Goode Huswife "Sheldon Hawkes House"

This actually matches are guest bathroom since it has black and rust colors so I believe it will take up residence in there once I get the hanger. Not exactly the type of print I would normally use in the bathroom, but at least it will be displayed!

BBD "Truly Thine"

Not really sure where this one will reside but I just love this frame and red mat, which I made from heavy duty cardstock.

Thanks for all of your wonderful comments and thanks for visiting again. Well...off to visit your blog now and then to stitch.....happy stitches.....

Goode Huswife "Sheldon Hawks House"....

My first finish this year....

Goode Huswife "Sheldon Hawks House"
32 ct coffee-dyed linen w/ recommended DMC

Started on New Year's Day, this is my first finish for 2010! ( Thank goodness for all of the college bowl games on this past weekend....made it easy to stitch all day and night!) I picked this up this oldie but goodie last week at a LNS and loved it at first sight! The colors were kind of odd once I pulled them but I love them now that it is finished. I have another older Goode Huswife sampler, 1797 Ship Sampler, and will have to add it to my To Do pile.

Year in Review......

The best part about blogging is it truly is a "journal" of your stitching endeavors and I spent Sunday afternoon going through my finishes this past year. I was amazed at how many I had forgotten about and quickly realized by framing budget needs to be quadrupled! After a quick tabulation, my 2009 finishes included 68 total finishes which included...

26 SOS challenge (stitch own stash challenge=50)
9 ornaments (big bummer...should have been more)
19 exchanges (what wonderful goodies I received)

I put myself on a "stash diet" last year and challenged myself to stitch 50 designs from my stash before making any new purchases. I fell off the wagon a few times, but did cut back on my purchasing considerably. I still have so much older stuff I want to stitch so I plan to continue on my "diet" again this year. It was fun going through everything and "rediscovering" some older stash so it would be a shame not to stitch some of them. My goal this year is to stitch at least 25 with the understanding, of course, that gift money and gift certificates used for new stash don't count !

Thanks for looking and all of your wonderful comments! Wishing all of you happy stitches.....