Some Exchanges Received

I know, I know I've been a bad blogger ~hanging head in shame~
I've been in a weird mood all Summer and really don't feel like being on my computer. I really haven't been doing much else either for that matter. Well except for walking on my treadmill everyday ;) I've lost 20 lbs since the middle of June! I am up to 1 mile & 1/2 in 30 minutes. My goal for August is 2 miles. Im actually at the point where I am enjoying it. I put in my ear buds and have my iphone and get in "the zone". I have a terrible singing voice but when I am in the zone I sing like no one is listening lol My son said he can't wait to go back to school LOL

 I have some exchanges I have received since the last time I posted. I feel bad that it has taken me this long to take the pictures of them and post them on my blog. But all the senders did hear from me Thanking Them :) I received beautiful treasures!

First up is From The Stitched With Love Exchange and April was my partner. April sent me this wonderful BBD stocking (I LOVE these stockings) and all of the wonderful goodies you see in the picture! I LOVE everything April! Thanks so much!

The next 2 are from the HOE perpetual Ornament Exchange.

First up is the wonderful Ornament I received from Becky K. The round was for any design by BBD. Becky stitched The House on Holly Hill" for me out of their Peppermint & Holly book. She used 28ct vintage smokey white cashel and the WDW & DMC threads called for in the design. She used wire for the hanger and bent it up a little. It looks so cool!!
Thank You for this wonderful treasure Becky!! I always LOVE what you stitch for me :)

I received this one today from Carol S For the Bird Round which was the round before the BBD one. Apparently my partner turned out to be a flake and never sent my exchange nor acknowledged  receiving the one from her partner. Funny thing is this woman is blogging daily about other stitching....sigh
 So Carol was an Angel and stitched this adorable ornament for me. It is called "Noel" by Balades et Broderies par Carmela. Carol used 32ct Smokey Pearl Belfast and CC floss. I LOVE how she finished it. Carol also sent me a few little goodies which I forgot to add in the picture.   I cannot Thank You enough for this little treasure Carol and for righting someone else's wrong.

Lastly but certainly not least is the exchange I received from Lisa V for the Stitching Between Friends Group. Our theme was birds so Lisa stitched this cutie by Aliola whcih she said is an online freebie. She used lilac linen and GAST & CC threads and finished it off as a tin topper! Lisa knows  that purple is my favorite color! I love love love this my friend!! Thank You so VERY Much!!

So those are the recent exchanges I have received! I love each and every one of them!
I will post what I have sent tomorrow.

I hope you are all enjoying your summer so far!
Thanks so much for stopping by! I truly appreciate it :)

Birthday Gift For Lisa V

As promised here is a picture of the gift I made for my Dear Friend Lisa V for her recent birthday.
 I stitched BBD's Morning Star. I used 40ct white linen and the CC floss called for in the design. I also finished it according to the directions using a paper mache "spice box" which I was able to find online at Sunshine Discount Crafts . I was VERY pleased not only with their prices but by how fast I received my order. Ok so they are only about a 45 minute drive from my house but they do not have an outlet store or anything. I ordered it and the very next day it was at my door! In the BBD leaflet they mentioned getting this box at Hobby Lobby but unfortunately they no longer carry it. So I was thrilled to find it at SDC.
 This was the very first time I stitched on 40ct anything and I was a bit hesitant at first. After stitching on it though I think I prefer 40ct over any other count! I love the look of it.
  This was definitely one of those pieces that were hard to give away but I did order 2 of those boxes so I am definitely going to stitch and make another for myself!
 I was happy to hear that Lisa loved it. Funny thing was she said she was just admiring this very design a day or so before she received it! So I chose well!
 I am so glad you loved it my friend as I really enjoyed making it for you!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I truly appreciate your visits and comments.

PS Exchange From Sarah

I received this wonderful exchange from Sarah M the other day. She was my partner for the HOE perpetual ornament exchange. The round was for any PS design. Sarah stitched PS 1993 Garden Santa for me and added some cute bee buttons onto it. I love it Sarah!
 She also sent me a whole big envelope of goodies because she was late in sending my exchange. Sarah's medical dog had gone to Rainbow Bridge around the time the exchange was due, so needless to say she was having a hard time with it which I truly understand.
 I really love everything you sent me Sarah (although you really didn't have to send the extras) and I can sure put them all to use!

 I love the tag on the back too!

I just finished stitching another exchange and am taking a couple of days to work on my BAP LHN neighborhood. I will take a picture of my progress and post it in a day or so. I also sent out a birthday gift to a Dear friend and she has received it but I will leave that to post tomorrow.

 So school is officially out for my DS. It ended last Wednesday. So far I've managed to sleep late a couple of days. Getting up at 5:45 am every morning is not for me,but I do it. Now I have 70 days  until I have to do that again ;)
 In my last post I mentioned that my son was getting a lot of awards at his moving up ceremony but wasn't sure what they were for. Here is what he received:

1.Perfect Attendance award-this one was his goal after seeing only 1 kid get it last year. He told me at the beginning of this year he was going to try for it this year. And he made it!
 2. Outstanding Academic Achievement Award
3.Outstanding performance Award in Success Maker
4.Principals List
5.Chorus Award
6.Outstanding Achievement in Science Club
7.President's Education Awards Outstanding Academic Excellence-Signed by President Obama

He did excellent the entire school year and my DH & I are very proud of him!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Stitching,Reading & Moving Up

Those 3 words above sum up what I've been up to since I last posted.
 First I want to show you the exchange piece I made for Alison in the Seasonal Exchange Blog Spring Round.
 I stitched April Quaker by The Workbasket using evenweave and a purple floss from ThreadWorx. That was the first time I used Threadworx Floss and I really liked it! I changed up the design a bit by stitching the word Spring instead of April. I also used a butterfly spacer bead that they use in making jewelry for the middle of the piece. I was in Jo-Ann's and just wanted to find a butterfly charm. Well they had none. So this nice lady was looking for supplies for her jewelry making and we started talking. She suggested the spacer bead and I cannot Thank her enough as it was perfect for what I needed it for.

Jen was my partner in the Seasonal Exchange Spring round  She  stitched a design from LK  called "Garden Patch" and made this adorable pillow for me! I love the backing fabric she used and I adore the little bow and where she placed it. Jen also recently stitched for me in the Stitched With Love Exchange Easter round (see the post below)
Thank you so very much for this wonderful treasure Jen!

As for stitching I am working on exchanges which I can't show right now. I haven't worked on my LHN neighborhood either but will once the exchanges are finished.

Reading..
  I use to be an avid reader. When I was around 12 a friend and I use to go to the Library once a week and take out a bunch of Nancy Drew Mysteries. Once we read what we took out we would switch and would read what the other took out. And then go back to the Library and take out a bunch more. I think we read all of the books in that series! As I got older I didn't read as much but every once in awhile when I found something interesting to me I would read.
 I am sure most of you have heard all of the commotion about the book "Fifty Shades Of Grey". I was reading in the local newspaper how 4 counties here in Florida had banned it from the Public Library. So I wondered what could be so bad that a library would ban a book? I remember reading a few years back that a few books that were required reading when I was in school were also banned. I never could understand why. So I was discussing it with my MIL and my DD (who is 27) and we all said we wanted to read it just to see what all the hoopla was about.
 I have to say that is the first book in a long ,long time that truly captured my interest!  I couldn't put it down and honestly was sad when I finished all 3 books in the series(within 1 week) as I really enjoyed reading them. There really wasn't anything in them that was new to me nor that I found offensive. My MIL on the other hand found one part "disturbing" (that was the word she used lol) and quit reading it. But she is 72 and did not understand a few things. I won't go into detail here but I did discuss it with her. She also had wanted to know how the rest of the story went so I told her. My DD loved it as much as I did and we had a discussion about it yesterday morning.
Should this book have been banned?? In my opinion NO. I feel everyone has the right to read or do what they choose. Just because I would choose not to do something doesn't make it wrong or should take away from those who like it.
Just my 2 cents :)

 Tomorrow my DS is having his moving up ceremony from 5th grade to 6th grade. I cannot believe "my baby" is going into middle school!

 I am looking forward to tomorrow as his teacher told him he will be getting a few awards. One I know for sure he is getting is for Perfect Attendance. His goal at the beginning of the year was to not miss any school and he did it! I was happy as he wasn't sick at all this past school year :) And I am very proud he made his goal!

Today I joined him at an orientation at his new school. It is in walking distance from our house where as his elementary school was clear across town. So I am happy about that. He seemed excited about the electives he has to choose from.

Well if you read this far I Thank You!
Thanks so much for stopping by! I truly appreciate it :)

BAP For Becky's Challenge

Yeah!! I made it back lol I figured I better post this morning before the time slips away from me ;)
The weather is nice this morning here. We had a cool front come in last night and the humidity is down quite a bit. It will still be near 90 F today but with lower humidity. I really should be out weeding my flowerbed but...whatever! LOL I just don't feel like it today. We lost one of our palm trees out front this winter. We did have 3 in that spot and every year we loose one. This is the last one. Not sure if we are going to replace it or not. It has been there for 9 years (that I know of) so even though they were well established they croaked. Oh well! I still have 3 large ones in my backyard.....that's if the darn Woody Woodpecker doesn't kill them. You would not believe the big holes it has pecked in them! I'll have to take a picture and show you all.

 Ok on to my BAP. So I mentioned BeckySC  was having a 2012 BAP Stitching Challenge.  Some of the basic info on it:


The challenge:
Start and FINISH at least 1 large sampler (it doesn't have to be a sampler but MUST meet specifics required for challenge)in 2012.

The Design size must be at least 10 x 12 (that will roughly be in the neighborhood of 175 x 200 stitch count. The design can be larger but must meet the minimum requirement of 10 x 12. (if size differs due to stitching it over 1 but still meets the stitch count requirement that is acceptable)

The design MUST NOT be started prior to January 1, 2012 and MUST be completed by December 31 2012.


I chose to do LHN's Little House Neighborhood. I've always loved this design. I had it on a wish list and Bonnie from the 123MB  kindly sent it to me.  I thought this challenge would give me that kick in the butt to get it done :)
 I started it a week or so ago and this is how far I came in a couple of days. I had to stop working on it due to some exchange stitching and "other" stitching but that is almost done so I will get back to it.
 I am stitching it on 28ct antique white evenweave with the DMC threads called for.

This is the middle section. I have a long way to go for sure but I think I can get it done by December 31st.


Thanks so much for all of your wonderful comments on my last post. I truly appreciate them and for you taking the time to stop by.

Have a great day!

Some Exchanges Sent & Received

Ok So I never made it back the day after my last post to show you all the wonderful exchange I received from Jen in the Stitched With Love exchange.  Sorry about that!
The theme was Easter and Jen sent me a wonderful package!
Jen stitched Heart In Hand's Easter Bird for me and made it into a wonderful pinkeep. I love the color fabric she used and the backing fabric which was perfect for it!
 She also sent me a bunch of wonderful goodies that I love!! She sent me 3 of the most adorable Easter print fabrics, some 2 pretty pastel colored ric rac  spools, some pastel DMC,  a package of Easter themed buttons, a wooden Easter plaque and an M & M guy with bunny ears on which was filled with M &M candies!! She definitely spoiled me!
 Thank you so very much Jen for a fabulous exchange!!

My partner for the Stitched with Love Exchange was Christina. I stitched a part of LK Easter sampler for her and made it into a small pin pillow which she said she loved.  Here is what I sent her:

I added in a couple of little goodies for Christina's 2 little ones. I feel like I know them from reading her blog and they are just adorable :) I was happy to hear that she loved what I sent her.


The other day I received my exchange for the Seasonal Exchange blogs Spring Round. And Jen  had my name for that one too! LOL I bet Jen is tired of stitching for me :)
 I received this adorable pin pillow from her. She stitched a little freebie from LK called Garden Patch for me. Jen said it reminded her more of "Spring Patch" to her and I agree. I love what she chose to stitch for me and I love the fabric she chose for the finishing! That little bow is adorable too and I love how she attached it to the front of the pillow. I have it in a basket on my coffee table in my living room so I can enjoy it all of the time ;) Thank you so much for another fabulous exchange Jen!

Only one of the exchanges I sent has made it to it's new owner so I can only show you that. I was in the Hooked On Exchanging Perpetual Ornament round and the theme was Prairie Schooler. I chose this freebie angel to stitch for my partner Diana. I was so happy to hear that she loved it!

I started working on LHN Neighborhood which I chose to stitch for BeckySC's  2012 BAP challenge. But I will post that picture tomorrow...I promise :)

Thanks so very much for stopping by!

It's Been Awhile Hasn't It??

Wow! I can't believe I haven't posted to my blog in over a month! It doesn't seem that long. These day's time is just flying by for me. Before you know it school will be out for the summer and my DS will be a 6th grader!!

 Well I have been stitching in my abscence so that is a good thing! Mostly for exchanges but I did manage to stitch a couple of things for myself, so I can show you at least 1 of them. the other I still have to finish. I ran out of poly fill and will pick it up this weekend.

I made this adorable little bunny by Danybrod . I love her designs and she always has such wonderful finishing ideas!

Lapin Primitif

Designer:Danielle Chevallier

Danybrod Creations

32ct antique white linen

DMC threads

Now  I really surprised myself on this one. I actually used my sewing machine to sew it up and could not believe it actually came out how I wanted! I guess I am getting the hang of sewing finally! 

 The other design I stitched for myself is Lucky Tree by The Trilogy. I am thinking of finishing it off as a small pillow. That may change ....who knows :)

I also participated in the Stitched With Love exchange and I can now show what I received from my partner. But I will leave that for tomorrow's post!

I hope you are all well :)

Thank you so much for stopping by!