Christmas House Exchange pics!!

I received the coolest box design from Karin in NY for the Christmas House Exchange on the Legacy BB. It's the neatest thing!

Here's the pics!

Been thinkin'...

and as my husband says..."That's NOT a good thing! LOL!!!

I've been thinking about next year's stitching. Now mind you, I am a list maker but not everything gets done on my list. So, I guess in the spirit of *Pirates of the Carribean*, the list is just a 'guideline". At work, we call *guidelines* weasel instructions cause *guidelines* are *suggestions* and not RULES. In my job, I live by RULES, so my stitching plans are "guidelines*. *AHEM*...here's my um-m-m-m *List for 2006 Stitching*.

After much consternation and pulling of patterns, current wips and just going back and forth with desires, wants and need to do's, I've listed the following that I want to work on in 2006. Notice, I didn't say finish...cause that would be a RULE.

1. SAL - Prairie Year - Prairie Schooler
2. SAL - Prairie Birds - Prairie Schooler
3. Bent Creek - Snappers
4. Lizzie Kate - Flip it's for the year
5. My Quaker RR
6. Time & Seasons - Moira Blackburn
7. A Drawn Thread pattern - probably nothing too big cause I have BAP wips now.
8. Something from my current Wips (that number 28!)
9. SAL - Sarah Tatum - The Scarlet Letter
10. SAL - Miss Mary Mack - to be made into a pin
11. An anything else that comes down the pike that strikes my fancy (weasel, weasel)

There. I feel like I should have all the legal disclaimers, void where prohibited, Do not remove this tag under penalty of death, the surgeon general's health warning and no shoes, no shirt, no service...LOL!!!!

And then there are 2 things that I must do - my Garden exchange and my *blush* very delinquent Autumn exchange...(yes, I am ashamed but when it's finished it's going to be spectacular!!!)

So, that's the list, um plan, um-m-m-m hope(?) for 2006.

What's YOUR stitching plan for the coming year???

No stitching tonight :-(

Whew, what a busy, crazy day! Woke up to 6 inches of snow, yucky roads and many, many accidents, including a fatality. Got to work ok but late cause of traffic and the road conditions. Work was busy but the day went fast. I walked to the LNS at lunch, yes, Stitchery Row is down the street from work..(yeah!!)and I bought (blush) MORE stash...oh, I am so bad. I bought a piece of Bonnie Blue linen to stitch "Bring it on". I also bought another set of buttons to make it again for a special someone. And Krenik braid and a BC Snapper "February". I put 2 patterns on *hold* too, Sampler Cove's Grace and Carriage House's Quaker Christmas. Then it was off to my 2nd manager's home for a Christmas party. We had a ball there. Got home around 6:30. Roads were dry but there was a ton of traffic. Then I put up the Christmas tree. David hates putting up the tree and getting him to put the lights on was a battle in itself. But the tree is done and it's so pretty. Now, it's Christmas in my house! My hubby wanted me to wait until tomorrow to put it up but Mike is coming home from college tomorrow and I wanted to have the house all decorated for him.

When I get up tomorrow, I have to bake 7 dozen cookies for a cookie exchange in the afternoon. I hope that they come out ok. I am going to make Chocolate Crinkles. Nothing like waiting until the last minute!!! LOL!!! I am hoping that on Sunday, I can relax and stitch awhile. That will be a good thing!

Taking a small break

I was at Barnes and Nobles the other day to pick up a book for my Son. I bought myself "Memoirs of a Geisha". I can't put it down, it is so fascinating. I wasn't sure that I would like it as it's not the type of novel that I normally read. But I love it. Has anyone read it?

I got word that Leena received my Sampler House II exchange piece. I am so relieved as I was going to start a new piece for her. It took a long time to go to Malaysia. Now, to finish off Nancy's pieces and I will be totally finished with exchanges for 2005. I have been working on my Quaker RR too, I put in a couple motifs in the border and I am planning on what to stitch in the interior sections. There are many Quaker motifs that I like so I am having a hard time deciding what to stitch next! I know I should not be stitching on the Quaker RR but I can't help myself. It's like eating good chocolate, I eat until I get a stomach ache. I am going to lock it in my cedar chest so I am not tempted to continue to stitch on it as I MUST work on other things!

One of the things that I want to start too is this little freebie from Just Another Button Company called *Brign it on*.



I think this little snowman is adorable, don't you? It doesn't look like a long stitch either, maybe I will work on it over my Christmas break.

Lizzie Kate Winter Boxer

I made this for the Sampler House exchange on Legacy. It's Lizzie*Kate Winter boxer made into a cube. I didn't put the bow on it yet. I want it to look like a Christmas present.



And with the bow, displayed on my mantle next to the Santa bowl that I painted.



I'm not saying where it's going and I hope that my exchange partner likes it. Do you?

Pictures Pictures!

As promised...Pictures!!

My Quaker RR. This sampler is stitched on 32ct Vintage Pearled Barley linen from Lakeside with Vicki Clayton premium silk in Basic Black. It's so graphic and I love it. The ladies who stitched on it did a fabulous job, and it's exactly what I envisioned it to be. I asked that the participants use only motifs from Quaker samplers in the style of M. Quetier or Good Huswife's, "1798 Quaker Sampler". My only regret is that not all the participants in the RR stitched on it cause it came home early. Honestly, I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to work on it because this piece sums up a very difficult late Summer and early Fall. But now that it's home, I will finish it.



Moira Blackburn's "Time & Seasons". This is stitched on 36ct Lakeside Linen Vintage Light Exemplar with Vicki Clayton silks. The colors are very soft and nostalgic.



I will be working on this sampler during 2006.

Stash! I've been very bad stash shopping instead of Christmas shopping! In this photo is Lizzie*Kate's "December Flip-it", Elizabeth's Designs "Garden Gate" and "My Garden", Au Fil des Reves "Scissors and Needlekeeper" and a reproduction Quaker sampler, Sarah W. Rowland.



I know there's more stash stuffed someplace in my house cause each day I get envelopes in the mail and my husband just shakes his head in bewilderment. I also have stuff on order, Vero in France picked up Armada for me while she was at the big craft exposition last week. She is so kind. From Elegant Stitch, I ordered a Just Another Button kit, "Bring it On". It's the cutest snowman. Plus, Heart in Hand's "Snowman Medley".

My Quaker Sampler is home

I participated in a Quaker RR on the Legacy bb. Although my sampler came home early, it is truly beautiful and I love it. The ladies that stitched on it did a wonderful job and I will cherish this sampler. I believed that I would not be able to look at it or even stitch on it once it came home cause of the circumstances that surrounded it, my Dad's death and other things, but I believe that I will be able to finish it and hang it in a special place in my home. I know that when I look at it there will be bittersweet feelings and sadness but also healing and closure.

I will post a picture of it tomorrow along with the stitching that I've done this week. By the time I get home from work it's dark and there is never enough light to take pictures. My digital camera adequate but not terrific. It's the equivalent of a snapshot camera and it doesn't do well in low light situations. Tomorrow, we are to have a partly sunny day so I should be able to get decent pictures of my Quaker RR, my progress on "Time & Seasons", a Lizzie Kate piece and my recent stash aquisitions.

Snow's on it's way!

We are to get a snowstorm tonight, the weatherman is predicting at least 6 inches. That means we will have about 10 inches total after the storm.

I've been sick, I picked up a viral infection, so I've been home from work for the last 3 days. I did stitch a little bit during this time when I wasn't coughing or sleeping. I finished up my Sampler House Exchange piece, I just have to put it together. And today, I decided to stitch on one of my Wips. I figured that if I was well, I would be at work, so the time at home was bonus time. I worked on Moira Blackburn's "Time & Seasons". I started it way back in June but put it away while I was stitching on exchange pieces and dealing with everything else. I am stitching it on 36ct. Light Exemplar linen from Lakeside and using Vicki Clayton's silks. I like how it's coming out, it's very soft and vintage-y looking. I'll be putting it away after today, cause I am busy stitching last of my exchanges.
I don't think I will be working on any of my Wips until the first of the year. But that's ok.

I had S.E.X. too, I've gone overboard ordering things lately. I received a couple of Elizabeth Garden pieces, My Garden and Garden Gate, Lizzie Kate's, December Flipit and Acworth 3 from Historical Stitching. I also won a DAR sampler, Susan Rowland on ebay. I've ordered a couple of things from Elegant Stitch too.

My Christmas ornament for Katrina

For the Christmas ornament exchange on the Stitching Bloggers Exchange BB, I stitched a Prairie Schooler design for Katrina. It's from Book #33 Christmas Collection. I also sent Katrina a Bentcreek kit, Winter zipper.
I am glad that she likes my ornament and small gift. I had a great time stitching for her.

Extreme craft room makeover

NO, Ty and the crew didn't show up at my door to makeover my craft room. Although, I wished that he would show up many times today as I battled with 20+ years of various types of stash.

I know I am going to regret posting these photos of my trashed craft room because the room is really messy and cluttered. But it's the beginning of ORGANIZATION. I spent a lot of time today moving, toting, throwing out, and yes, cursing as well. So without further ado...H-E-R-E-'S Joanie's Craft room....! (Click on the photos to enlarge them.)

This a picture of the new storage units that I bought at Target. They are stackable and right now they are holding some painting supplies. They aren't as wide as I wanted but they will be OK. You can just barely see the bookshelf that holds binders of all my stitching charts. To the right are the plastic containers that held my fabric.



There's more to come, I bought 2 pantry units to go on either end of these storage units, as well as 2 drawer units to place on top of these double door pieces. The hubby got tired of assembling furniture and moving things around for me, he's such a dear.


This picture is of the top of the little dresser where I stored all my fabric. I moved the fabric to a nicer home than those plastic storage bins. This is the beginning of the mess.



A tiny bit of organization. I decided to make a stitching display on the top of the dresser. On the far right is my Mom's sewing tin. It was a Christmas candy tin that she used as long as I can remember to hold needles and various spools of thread to do mending. It still has all of her sewing stuff inside. The little candy jar on the left always held hard candy or jelly beans at Easter.



A closer image that shows all of my stitching treasures. You can see PattiH's little scissor fob.



To the right of the dresser on the wall is a display of some of the wooden miniatures that I painted over the years. I used to sell these at craft shows. I have eleventy-bizzillion of them that are unpainted hiding in the basement. I can't bear to get rid of them! Am I a sick puppy or what!



The only picture that didn't come out because it was back lit when I took it was the work table. I'm glad that it was too dark cause it was stacked about 3 feet deep with STUFF. Tomorrow, I will take a picture of it in the evening. Also, I am confessing that I moved a metal shelf unit out of this room and into the basement that held large pieces of unpainted wood. You didn't get to see those...LOL!!

Well, kids, it's a start. And I'm bushed.

Comments?

Mourning Samplers

I never really gave this concept a lot of thought but there is a thread on Legacy about mourning samplers. I guess they were, well, too morbid for me to even consider. I've never liked the *tombstone samplers* as my son refers to them. But recently I've decided that maybe I would *research* them just in case I wanted to memorialize my parents. I came up with the following samplers that I think I could live with and would reflect who my parents were when they were alive.

My Dad was a US Navy veteran, so I came across a French sampler called Armada. Here's a picture of it:




Dad never tired of telling Navy stories and he was quite proud of his service time. So I thought this sampler was fitting for him. I will lengthen the sampler and personalize it with his Navy service record.

I chose this sampler for my Mom from Homespun Elegance called Nellie's Garden Revisited.





Her name was Nellie and she was an old fashioned gal. This sampler, to me, has a very homespun quality about it. My Mom was a stay at home mom who lived for her family.

What do you think?

A gift from PattiNH

A few days ago, I came home to the nicest surprise. Patti in NH made me the teensiest scissor fob just because she was thinking of me. I admired her fob that she posted on her blog and wished that I had enrolled in the Essey & Friends club that Elegant Stitch was promoting for Breast Cancer research. Patti decided to make me one. I was deeply touched by her thoughtfulness. THANKS PATTI!!! Here it is...



I am very happy and touched that she would think so much of me. It came at a great time cause Thanksgiving was tough this year. My brother and his family didn't come here to spend the weekend with us. Usually, he would bring Dad with him to spend the holiday with us. So we went to friends for an early dinner and then home in the early evening to a very quiet house.


So you see, this little token of cheer did much to lift my spirits!

My contribution to the SBEBB Lottery

Here is my Lottery piece for the Stitching Blogger's Exchange BB Lottery.



It's a freebie design from Rainbow Gallery. I changed the fibers to Weeks overdyes. It was a nice piece to stitch. Finishing though, wasn't so nice. My sewing machine and I do not get along.

Do you like it?

Karin's Ornament

Karin in Ireland made me the cutest snowman ornament for the ornament exchange on the Stitching Blogger's Exchange BB.
Here it is! TA-DA-A-A-A!!!!



Isn't it adorable? I have it hanging from a peg on my kitchen shelf. Thanks, Karin, I LOVE IT!!!

Karin's Christmas exchange came!

Karin had my name for the Christmas ornament exchange on the Stitcher's Blogger exchange board. She sent me the cutest snowman ornament and a boatload of goodies! I got chocolate (yum), mauve fabric, mauve Threadgather silk and gold and mauve sparkley fibers, mince pies, cute candycane and snowmen charms and a beautiful card with a nice handwritten note inside. I was thrilled to get it and later I will post pictures cause it's very dark in my house right now. Plus, it's littered with boys. Mike had 3 of his buddies come over for a video game party and you can just imagine what my family room looks like. I think I am living in a frat house! Oh, I don't mind, it's been such a wonderful 10 days having Mike home from college. I can't believe he is going back tomorrow. But only for 3 weeks and then he will be home for almost a month for Christmas break.

Stitching wise, I finished my Lottery piece, I will also post pictures of it later. It's a cute snowman design. And I also finished my Sampler House exchange piece. I got word that Aniza received her redwork piece and I am waiting for Leena to get her Sampler House II piece. Nancy's autumn exchange should go in the mail this week too, I wanted to make something special for her cause she has been so nice to me. Then I will be ALL caught up and I can stitch a couple of small gifties for some special people. I may paint too....hmmm...

Well, stay tuned for photos!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you have a great day spent with family and friends! And LOTS of turkey! Please don't forget to give thanks for all the blessings that rain down from Heaven! I am particularly thankful for all the friends that I have met through the Stitchers Blogger Exchange BB and through my blog. I love all of you and my life certainly has been enriched because of all of you!

Our family went to friends for dinner, it was so nice! I brought the pies and one of their dogs ate the remainder of the apple pie! We all went down to the family room and we could hear doggie paws upstairs in the kitchen but we weren't sure what *Blue* was up to...well, he was up to NO GOOD! My friend found him sitting on a kitchen chair chowing down on the pie. He left not a crumb.

It snowed here today too, so the roads were pretty slippery coming home. And cold too! It was 8 degrees!!! Once we got home, I changed into my jammies and climbed into my stitching chair. I am finishing up my Lottery exchange piece. I actually created a phototrail account so I can post pictures. The url is: WWW.joaniestitch/picturetrail.com. Check it out! It's just a beginning but hey now that I figured out how to download photos from my camera and upload them onto this account, there should be pictures to view.

I am thinking about next year's stitching. I will be doing a couple of well spaced exchanges but I really want to concentrate on finishing up some of my WIPS. I also want to work on a couple of smaller pieces because most of my WIPs are BAP. I also will be working on Sarah Tatum as a part of a SAL on Legacy. It's going to be a fun stitch. Anyway...those are my thoughts for now.

Well, dear blog readers, I apologize for not posting much sooner than now, our family has been very busy this last week.

Mike is home from RIT for the holiday, he came in last Tuesday cause his quarter ended and he finished up his finals early too! Got grades, 4 A's, 3 B's and a (sigh of relief from all of us) a C in chemistry. Plus, he was nominated for Cadet of the Quarter in ROTC Airforce.

We are planning a large remodeling job for our house too, we met with the contractor to start to pick out things, wow, was I overwhelmed! Siding styles, colors, materials! We did decide on a type of siding and a beautiful front door with leaded glass inserts - it's gorgeous! But next is windows and tile...yikes!!

We went to see Harry Potter too, I loved the movie, it's very dark film...shot in greys and browns and blues...the acting is top notch and the cinematography is beautiful. I wouldn't take a child to see this one though, it's scary in parts.

On the stitching front, I finished my Christmas ornie exchange piece, it's going down under. The rest are in process. I am waiting for confirmation that my redwork and Sampler House II exchange piece made it to Malaysia. I hate mailing international. Once it leaves the States, the PO has NO control over it. So I am on pins and needles (no pun intended) waiting and waiting.

It's been a good stitching weekend!

Over the course of the weekend, I have made a big dent in a lot of my stitching. I have completed and assembled 3 pieces! Woohoo! I hate to assemble anything, I am sewing challenged and they never look good enough to me. But each time I make something they look a little bit better. I am not posting pictures of them, they have to do a fair bit of traveling before I can unveil anything.

I bought a bunch of new patterns from Wyndhamneedlework. I really have no business buying MORE, I have such a stash now. But I couldn't resist. I bought Sampler Cove's new Quaker, Grace. It's very beautiful. I love Quakers. I also bought some Carriagehouse Samplings designs, those little alphabet ones, K is for Keys, Q is for Queen, the Goode Huswife's Pennsylvania Quilt Pincushion, One Blue Bird, Eliza Ann Pomeroy,Fanny Erb's Sampler. I would love to start all of them but I will wait until next year. I decided that I would just finish out the year with the exchanges. Upon much reflection, I decided that instead of obsessing over what NEEDS to be done I would treat those pieces with JOY and enjoy the process. They will no longer be thought of as *obligations*. Yes, there is a commitment that goes with them but I will not link *obligation* with work. I stitch because I love to and no matter if I am keeping the piece or giving it to someone who will enjoy it, I will find joy in my stitching no matter what I am creating.

Also, I am beginning to formulate a plan for my craftroom. The 3rd bedroom has always been my room to do decorative painting. Since I have my Dad's bedroom set now, I am moving furniture around. I moved Mike's dresser into my craftroom to store my fabric and I bought some storage units for patterns and paint. A bookshelf for a small library of stitching related books. There is much to do to get organized. It will be a good winter's project.

Biting off more than I can chew

I am still plugging along on my exchanges. I appreciate Leena and Nancy who are being very patient while I finish up their pieces and take care of everything else in my life. It's been quite a ride these last few months. I feel very bad that I got behind and I am worried about my stitching *reputation*. So to those stitchers, please accept my apologies and please realize that this has been one of the worst times of my life. I miss my Dad very much and there are days when I just go through the motions.

I've been thinking of my stitching goals for next year. Around this time of the year, I take a peek at my goals and accomplishments. I have to say, I am not really good at planning my stitching, I tend to go with the flow of things. I do a great deal of planning at work so I have a tendency not to *plan* things outside of work. It's not to say that I don't make lists or try to set goals but stitching is supposed to be relaxing and not work, right? So now, with all the obligation stitching, I am up to my neck in lists and goals and plans. It's a necessity for me to do that to stay on top of it all but I am not enjoying stitching right now. I am feeling a lot of pressure and that is sapping my the joy of stitching *lovelies* for my stitching pals.

So here is a listing of my stitching musings....tell me what you think.

1. I listed all my WIPS, I have 28! YIKES!!!!! I didn't think that I had THAT many! So one of my new goals will be to finish 2 of them that are closest to being finished. That would be Drawn Thread's Welcome Spot and Real Roses. Both of them only have about 8 hours of stitching to complete. I got hung up with the roof on the house on Welcome Spot and I wanted to make the boy into a man on Real Roses to represent our family.
2. Then I will pick out one that's not as far along and work on it. I would like to work on either Carriagehouse Samplings, Wild Roses, or Moira Blackburn's Time and Seasons.
3. I want to start Sarah Tatum on December 31st, I always start a new piece on New Year's Eve.
4. I want to also do a couple of small pieces.
5. I also need to limit my obligation stitching. I love the exchanges but I also have a ton of stash (and I recently acquired MORE!!!) so I need to concentrate on stitching it.
6. I have plans for *sampler walls*. I would like to have a Quaker wall, a wall of reproduction samplers with houses, a wall of samplers with biblical verses, a wall of the Chester County samplers and a wall of french alphabet samplers in red or black.

I didn't do well with accomplishments this year, I finished a few things but not as much as I would have liked to finish. I framed Drawn Thread's Happy Halloween and Bent Creek's Blackbird Sampler. But I've also decided that stitching is not a *goal oriented* activity so I'm not going to obsess over not completing as much as I would have liked to complete.

My Redwork exchange piece from Helene in France

Helene sent me the most wonderful little hangup. It's the cutest redwork piece ever, and I am so pleased to have received it from her. It's too precious!




Thank you so much, Helene, it came at a perfect time as I have been a little *blue*.

I LOVE IT!!! Don't you?