January Progress

Hey, Friends!

When Pixie and I went out this morning, I wondered why this beautiful “red sky in the morning” wasn’t bringing some snow – it surely is cold enough! 

Our Carolina Girls had a small group meeting last week, and it was such fun!  Some came with gifts – always a treat.  Faye brought us a little pin pillow from a kit from PALS stuffed with sawdust.  It’s the first one I know that I have. With sawdust.  She also included a dainty penny pin that she stitched up for us, and to make it even more special, a piece of her Nana’s needle work, too.  Linda brought us a sweet tissue cover pouch that her Mom made for us, and some cookies - no photo - they were delish!!  Macadamia with cranberry – yummy!

It looks like everyone is making some great progress with their 2014 stitching and finishing.  I’m enjoying taking my time with Miss Eliza. 

Maureen and I were talking about Orts ornaments, so here is a picture of them for her.  You can see that the box for the round ones is not marked Christmas, but the shaped ones are.  I have thought I’d change the shape for different years, but haven’t done that yet!

May 2014 be filled with Happy Stitching!

Peace♥Love♥Joy

Charlene♥SC

What’s up for 2013?

Hey, Friends!

Blogging friends are the best and RAoKs (Random Acts of Kindness) are SO special.  

I got an email from Cherie at 123 Stitch saying I had received a gift certificate, and after a little investigation discovered it was from Jackie of Scattered Threads.  A couple of Adam and Eve charts that were on my Wish List are now here with me! Again, thank you so much for your thoughtfulness, Jackie. 

Have you seen the project bags made by Faye, the Carolina Stitcher?  They are not only beautiful, but made so well with great quality and excellent details!  And her precious scissor fobs – don’t you just love, love ém?  I sure do.  Thank you so much, Faye.  I’m thrilled and delighted.  If you’re interested in getting Faye to make some for you, click the link above and check out her creative finishing, too.   

Lots of you start a new project on New Year’s Day, and I usually do, too. The old wives tale says that whatever you do on New Year’s Day will be what you do throughout the year, and I don’t want to be starting lots of new projects, but rather finishing them.  This year I've decided to work on WIPs, so on New Year’s Day I’ll continue stitching on Mary Gibson, and not a new start piece.  I have done an inventory of sorts, and decided which of my WIPs will be on the list.  There are several that I’ll hang onto for a while before getting rid of them, but that is likely!  I do plan to continue with Country Cottage Needleworks, Santa’s Village.  Santa’s House and Poinsettia Place are finished and awaiting North Pole Post Office.

Thanks for stopping by, today and always.  I appreciate your thoughts and comments!

May your 2013 be filled with PeaceëLoveëJoy

and Happy Stitching!

Charlene♥SC

and

May?

Hey, Friends!

So, what did I do over the days off?  Some stitching, some shopping, a bit of closet straightening.  When I got my car, DS was in need of a newer car, so he bought my Nissan Murano.  After only these few months, he decided it was bigger and used more gas that he wanted, so he sold it.  We spent Monday and Tuesday looking and shopping for another car for him.  He had been researching, and decided he wanted either a Toyota or Honda.  I’m glad I had the time off to go with him.  We spent Monday in Georgia, to no avail – well, for the car anyway.  I had done a little research of my own, and found a nice little cross stitch shop there in Marietta.  It is Abecedarius Cross Stitch and had lots of good online reviews.  It was a little difficult to find – in a strip mall, on a road with construction.  The most helpful clue was a huge sign overhead that said Needlework.  Their sign was quite small in comparison. She had lots and lots of beautiful stitched samples, a great selection of charts, and a couple of baskets of reduced price charts, too.  Of course I’m totally spoiled by my LNS, The Stitch and Frame, but it is a nice place if you’re in the area.  Back to the original story… We ended up finding a Honda Civic that someone had just traded, so we had to wait for them to clean, replace brakes, add tires, etc, but it was worth it, and a lot closer to home as well.  He seems tickled, plus he got to pay off a credit card.  Seems like a good deal all around.

Speaking of my LNS, I picked up my BBD Winter Wonderland that they framed for me.  I just LOVE, love it.  I’m so happy I let them do it.  Great job, Peggy!  Thanks so much.  Oh, and by the way, they now have a new Blog Site.

Do you believe that Bunny & Co. is finally finished being stitched?  Although I do adore the pattern, now I know what to expect when the pattern starts out as a punch needle design.  Of course I wasn’t stitching as much as I’d like, but it took about a month to finish it.  The stitched area is about 5 ½ by 9 inches, so I’m not sure how it will be finished – sort of thinking of a flat fold?  Brenda did hers as a little pillow.  What do you think? 

The next Anniversary of the Heart piece on my list is Pink Hill Manor. This will be in memory of my Dear Aunt who passed in January.  Her birthday would have been in May, and she dearly loved pink. I made a couple of floss changes to accentuate the pink even more! Haven’t gotten very far, but it is starting out nicely.

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day, and I’d like to wish you all a wonderful day!  DS had told me when we were together that he had to work and wouldn’t be able to come home on Sunday.  That’s fine since we had some ‘quality’ time in the car together – seemed like old times – running to this event and that! J We had discussed whether or not I need to continue watering a tree he gave me last year.  On Thursday when I got home there was a package on the porch.  It was a water timer to automatically turn the water on and off for the spigot.  How neat is that? 

 On Friday, there was a box on the porch… I’m trying to think of what I’ve ordered… Nope! It’s a box from Sheri’s Berries.  Yes, a delightful box of beautifully decorated strawberries – chocolate covered, some with nuts, some with lovely designs – and so yummy!  When I was on the phone with him I said they're almost as big as my fist.  He didn't want to believe me, but some of them really are! What a thoughtful and loving son I have.  Of course I always know this, and the gifts are such a small part of making that so, but they are sweet and I do appreciate the extra effort.

Well it’s time for me to go log my new stash and then come to see what you’ve been doing.  Thank you for stopping by today.  Leave a thought or a word if you like – they make the visit seem a bit more personal, don’t they?

* Reminder:  TuSAL is in the side bar this year à

PeaceëLoveëJoy
and Happy Stitching
Charlene♥SC

Spring Weather?

Hey, Friends!

It’s Saturday morning, and here I sit at my desk computer, with the thoughts of filing taxes at hand.  Do you think I’ve procrastinated just as long as possible?  Nah… I’ll sort through this stash and put it away, throw out some envelopes, shop a bit, pay a couple of bills, read your blogs, wash a load of towels.  I’d like to say Thank You, Mr. Lincoln!“Traditionally, Tax Day falls on April 15 unless that day happens to be on a Saturday, Sunday or federal holiday. In 2011, April 15 meets none of those criteria -- it falls on a Friday, and there's no federal holiday that day. You have Abraham Lincoln to thank for your extra couple of days. You see, in 2011, Washington, D.C., will celebrate Emancipation Day on April 15, a day earlier than normal, since April 16 falls on a Saturday. Emancipation Day marks the anniversary of the day that President Lincoln signed the Compensated Emancipation Act which freed 3,100 slaves in the District of Columbia. In observance of the DC holiday,Tax Day will be moved forward one business day, this year landing it on Monday, April 18.  OK - enough of the history lesson!“

I’m very proud to say that I won the drawing from Stitching Dreams, Carol’s beautiful blog, and want you to see that Spring came in from my mailbox last week!  The sweetest ornament is hanging on my ornie tree and so much more precious in person, as lovely artwork usually is! 

They’re forecasting another weekend like last, with storms and tornado possibilities.  I tried to get some shots of the hail.  We’ll have to see how those came out – not the greatest, but you’ll get an idea of how quickly it came down – mostly dime size, but some nickel and a few quarters.  I do hear a little rumble off in the distance, and the rain is coming down!

Stitching is continuing on Bunny & Co. and I’m enjoying it, but ready to get it finished and move on to the next.  With just a few threads each night, progress is slow.  Did I mention that this is the Spring Framing Special at my LNS, The Stitch and Frame Shop?  I took my BBD  'Winter Wonderland' yesterday and we spent nearly an hour looking at different choices.  Peggy has to be one of the most patient women!  I love the choice I made for this one, and have picked two frame pieces that I truly love, but didn’t suit as well for this project.  I think it will be perfect for Anniversaries of the Heart!

Thanks for stoppping by today, and I really do enjoy hearing whatever you have to say!  Hope to get by to see you soon, too! 

PeaceëLoveëJoy
and Happy Stitching
Charlene ♥ SC

Red White and Blue

Happy Independence Day, everyone!

I’ve only done a couple of pieces in Red, White, and Blue this year, but will probably do more in the future.  One was the Stitcherhood piece done for my dad, and this little quaker heart I’ve stitched in the last couple of days.  It will probably end up as a little ornie. 

A friend lost her home to fire earlier this year.  Although they lost everything materially, no one was at home so the family is safe.  She and her husband relocated and bought a new home in the last month or so.  I wanted to stitch something for them to have to hang on the walls of their new home, and this piece, Watchful Eye by La-D-Da just struck me as perfect.  I finished stitching and framed it this week while on staycation. 

Our family plan for the 4^th is to have a low-country boil including crab legs, shrimp, potatoes, and corn.  Yum, yum, I can hardly wait!  I hope you’re having a great weekend, staying cool, cooking out, swimming, or just generally doing things with the people you love most.

    Peace♥Love♥Joy
and Happy Stitching!

Charlene

What a week…

I haven’t taken time to read messages or even blog scan, much.  Doesn’t seem so overwhelming if I keep up and do a bit a day, but now there are over 500 unread messages from one of my yahoo groups this week, and several hundred in others.  That’s where I found many of your blogs that I love to keep up with, and where many of you found me, but unless I have time at work to read messages, I’m sorry to say they get behind.  I don’t mean to be so quiet, but guess I’m falling into the lurker category.  I will take time to catch up with blogs, but that may be on the slower side too.

This was the third Tuesday week, which means Stitch Night at my LNS, The Stitch and Frame Shop.  I do love my LNS, and the ladies who run it.  Carol, one of the sweethearts who works there, was finishing up her scissor bed.  It was precious, and I said, that may just be next in my list of to-do’s.  So when I got home I started looking for it, just SURE it was in my stash.  I remember not buying the ‘bed’ thinking I could make one, but “did” get the chart.  So I looked with no luck.  Then I said, I think it was about the time I got Quaker Diamonds… which I did find, but the other wasn’t there.  So again I looked, in the stack of various stages of finish; no… and looked, in the bag of linens; no… and looked, in and through the works in progress; no… Guess I decided not to get it at all. 

I did finish my He’s a Flake ornament stitching, and started another little project.  This is a tiny preview…

Remember last week there was a contest from Vintage Workshop?  If you posted the link on your blog, they offered to send a sample of indigo junction cards.  I did, they did, and aren’t they just precious?

Well, that’ about it for me this week.  Hope you’re all having a fun-tastic weekend!  Thank you for stopping by, and hope to see you again, really soon!!

    Peace~Love~Joy
and Happy Stitching!

Charlene

Back to Spring

After more than a week of summer weather ~ although nice after all the harshness of winter, it really is too soon~ it has returned to spring here in South Carolina!  We got the much needed rain to wash away some of the deep pollen on Thursday, then Friday followed with sunshine and cooler temps ~ about 50 now with expected highs of low 70s for the weekend.  Perfection!
Just found out, Edgar is having a Blogiversary give away over at his blog, Blacksheep's Bit of the Web.  Hop over for a chance to enter! 

I’ve done very little stitching since the retreat.  I did finish the Brooke’s Sewing Alphabet ‘D’ for Darning (with exception of beads) and the StitcherHood’s Scattering of Moments. 

Today I’m having a go at dying some linen and fabric.  It all started because I need some tie backs for the drapes in my LR.  I got these lined, deep red ones for blocking the icy winter winds we had, but now it’s time to let some sunshine in!  I had some faux toile in red and white left over from a pillow that I thought would be pretty, but it was just TOO white.  I’ve done a little dabbling with coffee/tea staining before, so that’s what I thought would work – and it’s drying now. 

SinceI had all that ‘dye’ I figured, Why not try the Twisted Stitcher, Vonna’s method?  So, I added a tea bag to the left-over coffee grounds and put in a couple of extra cups of water and let that drip into the remaining coffee.  Deep, dark, and rich.  Then I put two pieces of 18ct aida and three of 28ct evenweave in the bath.  I shifted them around, wadded them in different shapes, and left them for different amounts of time. 

Next they were piled onto the foil-lined cookie sheet.  I had preheated to about 225 since my gas oven gets a little hotter than some, and set it to 15 minutes.  Waiting for the first results now.  They were a bit dark in some places, so I sprinkled a bit more over each one, decreased the temp a little, and put it back in for 10 more minutes.  Next will be ironing to set the color, and then onto the clothesline for drying.

I'm very well pleased with how they turned out.

In today's mail I received a PIF from Audrone.  It's a very nice little covered notebook with a beautifully stitched fence with sunflowers growing over it.  I am so surprised to get this, and very appreciative!  Thank you, Audrone!   

   

Thank you so much for stopping by today!  I appreciate your visits and love to read your comments!  Hope you'll stop in again very soon!

 Peace~Love~Joy
and Happy Stitching!Charlene

Where'd November Go?

“As November dawns,” was the beginning of my last post, and here we are heading into Thanksgiving!!  

Where have I been, and what have I been doing?  What started as bronchitis, that I thought was over, turned into the flu.  I tried to battle it for several days, then went to the doctor.  He prescribed meds, fluids, rest  ~ I do believe the meds make you feel yucky so you don’t want to get out of bed!  So after all this time I am feeling human again, but I’ll be SO glad when all the nauseating (antibiotics?) meds are finished.

We know I was really sick because I didn’t feel like stitching (eating or reading either)!  The new mixer I ordered for myself came, and haven’t even taken her for a test drive!   For almost a week, not a stitch was sewn – and just about that much time from logging on to the computer.  There are SO many messages and blogs to read, but I’ll get through that slowly! 

As usual for the last few years, DS tries to make sure I don't forget - asking, Are we having Thanksgiving at our house this year?  No, he doesn't live here anymore, but I hope he will always think of it as "our" house!!  There's a whole lot to do to get ready since the house is a disaster and I've only bought the turkey, but that will wait until tomorrow.  THEN I'll get to test drive her.

DS Installed Windows 7 while visiting his sick mom, and after some adjustments for connecting to work it seemed to be working fine… Until I started to download pictures!  Ah, uninstall first... then choose the update! 

Remember a while back I won a giveaway from Sarah at her blog?  It was the JBW Alphabet Pumpkin.  I think it was Monday when it arrived, but when I felt like opening any mail was I ever tickled.  She included lovely threads and a beautiful, large piece of linen for the project.  She also sent along one of the most beautiful stitched Christmas cards I have ever received.  There’s a dainty little silver star charm at the top, and the tree is made up of the words Joy, Love, and Peace.  I just LOVE, Love, love it to pieces.  Thank you so much, Sarah, for the giveaway, and for the beautiful card that boosted my healing spirit!

I’m continuing to stitch the NovaLee Christmas Noel SAL, using DMC on Vikki Clayton’s 35ct linen in off white.  Ten parts have been issued, and I’m fairly well caught up.

I don’t think I showed you the finished Baby pillow, did I?  Here it is.

I started a new French project, Point de Croix (Sewing Box) by Fanny and Company, on Friday, November 20.  It’s on 30ct Alabaster linen using DMC variations 4210.

And last, but certainly not least, I want to say thank you to all who have wished me success in the quest to quit smoking.  My last cigarette was on November 13, 2009.  The Chantix really does work.  There are a couple of issues for me – nausea and a little problem going to sleep at bedtime, but I believe I can deal with it for a while more until I’m confident that the habit is totally broken.  I’ve only really thought about lighting up a few times.

I wish you all a lovely time of peace and that we will spend some time in thankfulness during this holiday season.

Thank you for coming by today, and I hope you will come again, soon.

Happy Stitching
Charlene in SC USA