Belated Blogaversary Giveaways

First off, thanks for your kind words about my dad's passing, I really appreciate your sympathies. He lived a wonderful life and was surrounded by those that loved him most so I think his passing was as peaceful as possible and for that I feel blessed.

Okay, I'm finally ready to post my blogaversary giveaways even though my anniversary was in August. The pile I had gathered was enough for three giveaways so if you are only interested in a particular giveaway, please note that in your comments. Otherwise I will pick three consecutive winners. Just leave me a comment that you'd like to be entered.

Giveaway #1
Trail Creek Farm Fun Sun Summer, HIH Herbert, June Grigg Designs Easter Egg kit, Bent Creek Waiting for Santa and Prairie Moon Chickens?

Giveaway #2
Lavendar Wings Planted Hearts, Trail Creek Farm Dearest Friends, complimentary chart from Rosewood Manor - Wild Tulip, The Victoria Sampler July birthday needleroll, a pc of 28ct 9x12 Silkweaver linen in Wisteria and assorted threads.

Giveaway #3
HIH Home Sweet Home, Erica Michaels Random Thoughts of Autumn, PS November, Assorted threads & a 9x12 pc of 32ct Lugana in Platinum

I will keep this open until October 3rd before picking a winner. I will probably keep going through my stash to add things in so don't be surprised if you get more than pictured!

Block 6

Sometime last week I finally finished up Block 6 of Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow. I love how it turned out but there was a LOT of stitching in this block! Here's the photo of my piece so far.


I've pulled the colors for Block 5 and might even start that this evening. I'm also working on the Plum Street Sampler ornament from the JCS Halloween ornie issue so I might pick that up instead. It's going to be very cute when it's finally finished.

Hope you enjoy a great weekend. I finally photographed the stash for my blogaversary giveaway and there was enough to split it into three packages so I will post the photos of them tomorrow. Off to stitch!

William A.Kasmarek

April 30, 1920 to September 19, 2010

We love you dad (also known as g-pop!)

My first Halloween finish this year

Smile, it's almost Halloween!

I finished my Halloween ornie on Tuesday evening and immediately started the Plum Street Samplers ornament. I love how quick these stitch up. I'm going to look for some tiny black pom-pom fringe to attach to the outside of this and turn it into a hanging pillow ornament. I hope I can find some around here. Thanks for stopping by! I plan to post about my giveaway on Saturday so please stop by again.

It's getting to be the most wonderful time of the year!

I love, love, love fall in New England and especially Halloween. It's taken a cooler turn and today was quite chilly after all the really hot summer weather we had. It's getting time to start putting away the summer things and get out the fall and winter wear.On Friday, I got my JCS Halloween issue and immediately dove into my stash to pull fabric and threads for several of the designs. This is my progress on the first one I started-Casey Buonaugurio's Jack O Lantern. Next after I finish this will be Plum Street Sampler's Halloween Greetings which you can see peeking out on the cover of the magazine in the photo. Such fun to be stitching Halloween things in the cooler weather.
Over the weekend I also received my JCS ornie issue from 123Stitch as well as this great new Plum Street Sampler design Olga and the Crescent Color threads to go with it. I do believe there will be another design coming from Paula at market this month to complement Olga. I hope so!

I hope you are enjoying some fallish weather and getting into the spirit of the season!

A birthday treasure

Is this not one of the cutest little stitching treasures you have ever seen? My sister gave it to me for my birthday this year. She found it at a client's house when she went to deliver some chairs. She said the lady had the most unbelievable collection of sewing related items she has ever seen and when she mentioned that I had started collecting things too, the lady sold her this little bird. My sister put in the scissors and I put on the thimble but the spools of thread came with the bird. The little puff on his back is for needles. You see it displayed with some of the other sewing treasures I was gifted with but I will save the details on those for later.
I would guess that maybe this was a homemade gift for another sewer but who knows. I just think it is so enchanting.

It's raining acorns... and stash!

It's the time of year when all of the acorns begin to fall from the trees. As you can see from the photo above, they come in all shapes, sizes and colors. When some of the big ones hit you, they can really hurt. I've been collecting them on my walks with the dog and plan to display them in either some glass jars or bowls for the next few months. I love the shapes, colors and textures of acorns. I think they are a much better by product of the oak trees than the leaves that will soon begin to fall in earnest and require raking and bagging.

In addition to raining acorns, it's been raining stash around here as a result of my "retail therapy" to try and distract me from my life these days and the clearance sale that ABC Stitch Therapy has been having. They bought the inventory of a shop that went out of business and have been marking the prices off to get rid of it. I have bought waaaay too much that will be coming in a few more lots but here's what I purchased the first time:

Blue Ribbon Designs Winter White Woodland, Autumn Leaves and Sunflower Seeds and Hugs and Kisses

Primitive Traditions Abigail Colby's Work Basket Accessories, PS December and June

And finally Trilogy's Summer Tree, BBD Loose Feathers #33 Keepsake Box and Pinkeep, My Heart is True, Loose Feathers #38 Summer Basket, Loose Feathers #35 Peacock Pinkeep and PS November which ended up being a duplicate and will be included in my upcoming blog giveaway.

Aye yay yay when do I ever think I'm going to stitch all this???? I'm a bit embarrassed at all I have purchased this past month. I truly need to go on a stash diet for at least another year but there are the remainder of the BBD Anniversaries of the Heart charts and the upcoming market stash that's sure to tempt me. Gotta go get me some will power!

Christmas Ornament Finished

Sorry for the lousy photo but I was too lazy to iron this when I got back to my house. This is finished ornament I mentioned in an earlier post - my only finish for August. It's the Midsummer Night Designs ornament from the 2007 JCS ornie issue. I used the called for DMC and some fabric out of my stash - I know it's 32 ct but I'm not sure of the color.

I got back home in time to mow my lawn and water my plants - am I the only one that is tired of watering every day? We haven't had much rain lately and after 3 months, I'm tired of dragging out the hose and winding it back on the holder. But I'm not sure I'm ready to rip everything out and put fall mums in - seems a bit too early for that although they are available in the stores and nurseries in the area. Maybe a few more weeks of watering.....

UFO Sunday

Today is UFO Sunday with an email stitching group I belong to. I pulled out Christmas at Hawk Run Hollow before I came down to NH to see if I could regain my interest in stitching on the piece. So that's the piece I'm using for UFO Sunday today. Here is where I was the last time I worked on it.

And here is where I am as of today - not bad for a few days. There's still a lot of fill left for the pond area and the snow under the sleigh but I think I will be able to continue working on this and get it done - at least by the end of the month.

The best of intentions

is not necessarily enough to get things done sometimes. I had planned to have a giveaway for my blog anniversary on the 21st of August but life got in the way. A lot has happened over the last month and a half, largely related to my father and his health and that has kept me from doing a lot of the things I intended to do this summer. I have driven back and forth to Pittsburgh 3 times in the last 6 weeks and hope to never have to make that trip again. We have moved my dad to my sister's house in NH and started hospice so it's likely I won't be doing any road trips other than back and forth from my house to her house. I will do the giveaway this month instead but I need to take a photo of the goodies for the giveaway first.

To try and catch up on a few things, I'm going to start with the wonderful birthday gifts I received from my partner in a private online stitching group I belong to. Since my birthday is in July and the 4th is also in July, I requested something patriotic that I could display in my house. I have nothing other than a small pin pillow from an exchange last year or the year before. This is the fantastic wall hanging I received from Jodi who does not have a blog.
Jodi also sent along some stitching related goodies in addition to the wonderful piece she stitched. She sent some great patriotic fabrics that will come in handy if I ever get around to stitching the patriotic items I have in my stash. She also sent the wonderful red strawberry emery which I have displayed with my other stitching related items and some great threads and a lovely heart tin finished by a lady she knows.
My family also surprised me with some wonderful stitching related items to add to my collection but I will show you those in another post. I did manage to get a little bit of stitching done and finished a birthday present that will be mailed out soon. Once it's been received I will show you the piece - I really like how it turned out. And here is a picture of the ornament I managed to start. I did finish it but need to take an updated photo. Can't remember which JCS issue it's out of at the moment and that's back in ME so I will try to confirm that when I get back up there.

Dog Days of Summer

It has been very warm here over the past few weeks and some of us are feeling kind of dragged down by the heat and humidity. I never thought this FL girl would mind it but I guess I've lost my heat tolerance living up here. And Beau's not such a big fan either. We've been taking extremely slooooow walks around the block and just hanging in the A/C.
As a result of the heat, I haven't felt like blogging much and there hasn't been an over abundance of stitching or other kinds of crafting either. I must confess I'm getting bored with working on my C@HRH and am contemplating putting it away for a month. Since there's no way I'd be done this piece in time for the Christmas holiday, I'm inclined to do that. Here is where I am on Block 4 at this point. I've really been trying to get it done but it just seems to go on for ever.
In the hopes of jump starting my stitching mojo, I'm going to start working on this - a birthday exchange piece using Valdani 3 strand floss - a first for me. This picture is really lousy because it was very cloudy tonight when I got home. I'm not sure what the fabric is but it's a 28 ct. from my stash - possibly mushroom lugana. The chart I'm stitching calls for using all three strands of the floss on nothing smaller than 28 count. This should prove to be a nice change from the 40ct of C@HRH - maybe I will be able to see it without using cheaters!

Hope you're staying cool where ever you are and thanks for stopping in.

June Recap

Well, as far as goals and stitching went, it was not a very productive month for me. While I did make a tremendous amount of progress on the fourth block of C@HRH, I was not able to finish it. I did make a bit more progress on filling in the ice but there's still a fair amount to go. I hope to get some work on it done this weekend and have a better photo to show. Blogger is being uncooperative at the moment.

I only had two June goals and unfortunately, neither of them was accomplished.

1. Stitch a Christmas ornament - already kitted up Midsummer Night's design from the 2007 JCS issue. NOT DONE
2. Stitch Block 4 of C@HRH - NOT DONE

July's goals are going to be very similar to June's with the hope of actually accomplishing at least one!

1. Finish Block 4 of C@HRH
2. Stitch Christmas ornament
3. Finish one pair of UFO socks

I'm at my sister's for 4th of July - lots of family, grilling, libations and dogs with some pool time and celebrating with family and good friends. Hope you are having a wonderful 4th of July weekend too!

Hard to put down the needle!

I uploaded my last paper for my last formal class on Saturday and picked up my needle that afternoon. I found it very hard to get used to not having to read anything for classes and felt guilty that I spent most of Sunday watching HGTV and stitching. But I'm sure I'll get over that soon! LOL
Here is my progress on C@HRH. There's a lot of fill in this block - at least at the top so I'm concentrating on getting that filled in and then it's on to the easier part at the bottom.

Hope your week is off to a good start! It's humpday tomorrow and then all downhill to the weekend.

Weekend Stitch#ss Results

This weekend I rebelled a bit and instead of reading for my class, I spent Saturday evening and most of yesterday stitching. A girl can stay away from the needle only so long before she has a breakdown and needs a fix I tell you! Here is the result of my stitch%ss - progress made on Block 4 (technically Block 6 if I were going in order left to right). The picture is pretty lousy because we've been without sun for the last three days. It broke through a little after a brisk burst of rain but disappeared quickly as the sun set. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny so I will try and get a better photo - maybe with a little progress to show too!


Thank you so much everyone for your nice comments on my finished ornament. I really like it too. I am way behind in blog visiting which I hope to rectify shortly as a week from tomorrow I am officially done with formal classes. It's a very good thing because I've got a serious case of scholastic burnout going. Hope you had a great Monday!

May Update

I am a little late posting my recap of my May goals but here they are:

1. Finish Block 3 of C@HRH - Done
2. Finish a Christmas ornament - Started but not finished
3. Start Block 4 of C@HRH - Not Done

I did finish the ornie I started over Memorial Day weekend today. It is Yule Rejoice by Primrose Needleworks from the 2008 JCS issue. I really, really love this ornament!
My goals for June are as follows:

1. Stitch a Christmas ornament - already kitted up Midsummer Night's design from the 2007 JCS issue.
2. Stitch Block 4 of C@HRH - I put a few stitches into that today.

I'm only doing two goals for the moment since I'm still trying to get my last formal class out of the way. It's legal issues and is taking a tremendous amount of time for reading and writing. But class will be done on 6/22 so maybe I will get both of my June goals realized this month. We shall see!

Block 3 Happy Dance

I would have had this to show yesterday however as I was getting ready to stitch the bottom border in, I realized that my pears were one stitch lower than they should have been. Did you hear my scream of frustration?

I spent last night picking them out and starting over. But it's done - woohoo! I think I may wait until June 1 before starting Block 4. It's a big one with a lot of fill (I'm going to work the block immediately below this one) so I'm thinking it might be good to take a little break from this piece. Three blocks down and only 9 more to go!

Somebody make me stop!

On Thursday, I traveled to NH for a graduate student luncheon prior to tomorrow's graduation ceremony. Even though I have a class to finish and my capstone project to write, I am able to walk in graduation tomorrow because I will have completed all my degree requirements before the end of this year.

In a happy coincidence, I got an email on Monday from ABC Stitch that an order I had place a while back was ready to be shipped as were two pieces of fabric I ordered last year. Since Grantham is only about 45 minutes from where the college is, I decided to pick up my order in person. First up is a photo of the two fabrics from last fall. One is 40ct Pear (I hope I can remember what design it was for!) and the other is a piece called R&R Bitty Betty Brew for Raise the Roof's Cackle chart.
I had received a $50 gift card for admin professionals day in April and decided to use it for stash. ABC had 20% off CHS charts so I took advantage of the sale and ordered Shores of HRH and Fredrika which turned out to be back ordered. And I've fallen in love with the new LK Green series of charts so I got those and some Trilogy trees that I think will be quick stitches.









And as if that weren't enough, Contocook Needlework Gallery was only about 15 minutes from the college so I stopped there on my way back to Maine. This was my first time at Contocook but it certainly won't be my last. The shop is quite small in size but its packed with a fairly decent selection of charts as well as a fabulous selection of fibers. There is also a small stitching area in back which the owner uses for stitch ins on Saturdays. If you're in the area, this shop is definitely worth a visit. I picked up a few charts, some fibers and I couldn't resist a piece of 30ct WDW Guacamole fabric. The photo definitely doesn't do the color justice - its a fabulous green in reality.






Someone really needs to make me stop buying stash PLEASE!

Moving along

Little by little, I am making forward progress on finishing Block 3 of my C@HRH piece. I need to finish up the peacock and the fruit that's to the left of the basket and then just complete the rest of the border and this block will be done. I am hopeful I might even be able to finish it up this weekend if I don't have too much work for class. I will find that out on Wednesday and then see what stitching I can fit in around reading and writing for my class.

Hope your Monday was a good one!

A wonderful way to spend a rainy day!

This morning I was thrilled to hear the patter of rain drops. It meant I wouldn't be able to do any yard work and had the whole day to spend as I liked since I'm between classes for a brief moment. I thought about spending it stitching but I had a manicure/pedicure scheduled for 9am so I knew I was going to be out of the house.
Instead of coming back and stitching, I headed to the coast and went bumming around in Wells. There are tons and tons of antique and consignment shops up and down Route 1 and since its early in the year, navigating Route 1 on a Saturday was not too bad. I headed south first where the first stop I made was to Annie's Book Stop which is a used bookstore where you can bring in your paperbacks for credit. I found 4 books there that I had been looking for. The next stop was to the Sweatshirt Outlet. I have been wearing one particular crew neck sweatshirt to threads and it was time to try and find some alternatives. I found a red and an orange sweatshirt on the $9.99 rack so I left happy.

By then my stomach was rumbling something fierce so it was time to make my way north on Route 1 to Maple Leaves for some sushi. A pot of hot tea, some yummy wonton soup and a spider and Philadelphia roll combo set me up with enough energy to hit my favorite antique/consignment places.
At Cattail Antiques, I found this great pair of embroidery scissors for $20 and a large roll of spring green grosgrain ribbon and a package of three spools. I wasn't especially interested in what was on the spools as much as the wooden spool form. I will pull the silver wire that's currently on there off and replace it with some trim or cording at some point. And I think the ribbon will work great for finishing purposes.


Next up was a thrift shop for an animal rescue group that I had never been in. I found an old Gregg typing manual that I just had to have for memory's sake. Did you learn to type as a freshman using this or a similar manual? I did! I also found the cookbook by Ina Garten and it was only $1.50! What a great deal. I also bought the David Sedaris book and two sleeves of buttons that will be for an exchange partner so no photo of them.


It was time to head home and on my way, I stopped in at the Country Mouse antique shop. This is a two story barn divided into many little mini shops and in one section, I found a shelf with 4 or 5 sewing baskets. One had a bunch of old Coats & Clarks embroidery threads that I really pondered. Another had a bunch of sewing items and was a neat square shape but I passed on that for this great round basket. Usually when you see these round baskets, they contain a bunch of stuff so if you've never opened the lid - better do it next time!

Mine had a great tomato pincushion with attached strawberry, a bunch of wooden spools of threads with some empty spools, and a bunch of finished crochet pieces like those show in the photo. I'm sure I can figure out a way to use them in finishing a project or too. I was really excited to find this basket - it was reasonably priced at $17.50 and well worth it to get the pincushion and the thread spools. Some of the other stuff I will not keep as it was more contemporary and not stitching related per se.

All in all, I came home quite content. Hope you had a great Saturday too!

Planning for more time

123 Stitch had a 20% off sale recently and I just couldn't resist. I bought the 3rd in the new BBD series, Cape Cod Boys to go with the Cape Cod Girls I already had and the new Lizzie Kate Dog Lessons.

I just finished my 2nd to the last class last night so I'm down to one more formal 7 week class and then its time to write my capstone project. I'm thinking once this last class is over, I should have a little more time for stitching and hence the continued shopping. I have been a bit out of control this year so I really need to stop browsing online shops and blogs because that's where I get sucked into buying more. Okay, I blame it all on you guys out there who are working on such wonderful projects. The temptation is too great! And Joanie posted a new BBD that has me drooling so I'm sure I'll be giving into temptation again really soon.

For all you wonderful mother's out there, I hope you are made to feel wonderfully special on Sunday! Happy stitching!