March Ornament Unveiled

I've decided to stitch something completely different for this month's ornament. Wish me luck in finishing a heart shape but I'm willing to give it a go!

Homespun Elegance "Festive Redbird"

Lesleyanne and I decided to start our SAL, we are both stitching CCN The Tea Room.  It's her Birthday today (Happy Birthday Lesleyanne) so be sure to pop on over to her blog to wish her a wonderful day!  I don't have much progress but here it is.......

I have decided whom the first of my RAK's are going out to and since I already have their addresses, I want to keep it a secret :)  Thank you to everyone that left me a comment.  I have already finished another small stitch for the next RAK and will have more RAK's throughout the year. 

It's a glorious day here in Southern Ontario today and I plan to get out there and enjoy it!  I may have to break out the shorts since it's going to be a balmy 13 degrees Celcius!  LOL.  I do plan to go for a walk later and enjoy it as much as possible, now if only I didn't have to work!

Thanks so much for stopping by today~

"The Book Store"

I'm just too excited about this finish and I can't wait any longer to share it with you all!

It's my Stitching Sister, Lesleyanne's, Birthday next week,  I "adopted" Lesleyanne last year and I've had so much fun stitching for her, sharing with her and we have quickly become great friends.  I wanted to make her something extra special and this is what I chose........

CCN "The Bookstore"

32ct Mushroom Lugana

DMC as charted

Stitcher's box finish

I was so thankful I started this back in January or it wouldn't have been finished on time!  I was about 3/4 of the way done when my elbow started to act up.  I chose this design as we both love to read, we love to talk about books and we had talked about including this in our personal SAL this year....

I painted the box in 2 different shades of beige to match the 2 different shades in the roof....

I lined the inside with a blue fabric to match the sweet little bluebirds and added a  pocket to hold scissors or other stitching supplies.   

I really loved this finish and I'm so relieved that Lesleyanne loves it just as much!  I truly enjoy finishing these boxes and have a few more planned this year!  

Thanks for stopping by today~ 

February's Ornament and some RAK's!

Brittercup Designs " Britty Christmas Kitty"

JCS 2006 Ornament Issue

I almost forgot to share my ornament stitch for February!  I loved this design the first time I stitched it and knew I would make another one for myself too :) I want to stitch a few months first before I sit down to do the finishing.

I also managed to finish a couple of pinkeeps for my first RAK giveaways!

Design # 1 Little House Needleworks "Blossoms and Blackbirds"

Design # 2 Sampler Girl "Good Tidings to You"

I had thought about not offering giveaways anymore but why should I let one person ruin it for so many others!  So if you would like to give a good home to either of these finishes then please leave me a comment on this post only letting me know the one you like.  I will draw names at random on March 7th.

Thank you for all your comments on my last post.  I have changed my settings,  turned my word verification off, plus I am still approving all comments.   It was never my intention to stop sharing my love for stitching because of this person(s).

I'm super excited about sharing my next finish with you!  Stay tuned!

"Anonymous".......

I am very upset by an "Anonymous" comment that was left for me recently.  It would appear that whoever you are, you are making the rounds to see how many bloggers you can upset!  I know I don't appreciate the comment that was left for me over how I have set up my RAK follower giveaway.  This is my blog and I can do whatever I want here.  Period.

I am now re-considering how I send out these RAK's.  I'm not going to stop sharing my love for cross stitching just because this "Anonymous" commenter is jealous, whoever they are.  I am however not going to be offering my finishes for giveaways anymore and will send them out as I feel like it instead.

I want to let "Anonymous" know that whoever you are, you are not welcome on my blog.  Don't come back!

To all my wonderful followers, I'm sorry but I just had to say something :)  I thought the purpose of blogging was to share your love for stitching with like minded people???  To encourage, celebrate, share our knowledge and make friendships along the way???  Maybe......I am wrong :(

I AM NOT A ROBOT!

WARNING!  Highly frustrated blogger........

I know that I have the beginning stages of Macular Degeneration and I need reading glasses but I know I'm nowhere near blind yet and still I can't read these damn words!  I've tried to leave comments, tried to leave comments and then tried again and I still can't type the words right. 

So for now I give up :(  Thanks Blogger for the wonderful upgrade!  If you are interested in changing this to make life easier for your commentors just follow the steps below

Visiting your Settings page.
Click on the  Comments tab.
Scroll down until you see "Show word verification for comments" and change it to "no". 
Then I would recommend changing to moderate your comments and you can filter out the Spam this way. 

Honestly.....who comes up with these ideas????  LOL.  Please excuse me if I am not able to leave a comment on your blog, it's probably not from a lack of trying :)

Thanks for letting me rant!

My first Hermit weekend!

I finally managed to do a little bit of stitching this weekend and it felt wonderful!  My elbow has been really bad but with lots of rest, ice and anti-inflammatory medication it does feel about 80% better.  That's good enough for me to stitch :)

I really enjoyed my first IHSW and actually managed to stitch for a very good part of it!  I started up this LK design which is going to be finished for my first RAK.
I also finished up a very special finish for my Stitching Sister. Lesleyanne's, upcoming Birthday.  I just hope I don't mess up the finishing now!  LOL.  I'll get to share this one with you all soon :)

So it seems I am back to stitching for now and I plan to take full advantage of it.  Thanks to everyone for your supportive comments on my last post.  I appreciate each and every one of them!  These past 10 days have been very awful!

Happy Stitching,

Warning: Stitching can be hazardous to your health!

I promised myself at the beginning of the year that I wouldn't complain too much about my health this year but how can I not when this has happened .......

It turns out the Ulnar nerve in my left arm is compressed somewhere in my elbow, I'm just waiting for the nerve test to determine where and then more waiting for the surgery.  The official name for it is Cubital Tunnel Syndrome you can read about it more by clicking on it.  The pain is getting worse daily to the point where I can't even bend my arm now without my fingers going completely numb and sharp pain in my elbow.

Now you can imagine it is practically impossible to stitch like this.....I keep trying but it is very painful and just way too awkard.  I don't think it's stitching alone that has caused this but a combination of my job, the way I sleep and too much stitching, along with having previous damage to the elbow when I had my car accident a few years ago!

I'll return when I actually have some stitching to show or if I have other news.  I have a feeling it may be a long break this time as I have been told to rest as much as possible for 2-3 weeks to see if it helps.  If anyone else has had to go through this and has some advice to offer please feel free to email me (link is in my profile).

Thanks for stopping by today~

Happy 10th Birthday Julia!

Happy Birthday to You,

Happy Birthday to You,

Happy Birthday Dear Julia,

Happy Birthday to You!

Lots of love and hugs from Mom, Dad and Eric!



Black Cats and Red Threads!

I seem to have discovered a new "love" for larger projects!  I've wanted to get back to this one since I started it last year.  I love Halloween designs and lately I've been drooling over Blue Ribbon Designs too.  I stitched across the tops of all the squares because I was terrified I would run out of fabric but it looks like I will be just fine after all :)  Please excuse the wrinkles............

Below is a close up of the first square, minus the poor little birdies feet :)  I will leave any and all details until the end of the design but I do hope to stitch some of the border as I go along.

Designer:  Blue Ribbon Designs

Design:  Black Cats and Flying Bats

Fabric:  32ct Steel Gray Belfast Linen

Floss:  DMC equivalents

Date Started:  October (ish) 2011

Designer:  Bent Creek

Design:  Red Thread Snappers

Fabric:  32 ct Mushroom Lugana

Floss:  DMC equivalents

Date Started:  January 2012

I finally got my first square complete on RT.  As you can see I went overboard on the cut of fabric but when I don't start in the center of the design, I panic and tend to cut a mile more fabric that I need!  I hope to stay on track with this project and stitch one square per month.  If I manage to stick with this one (and I'll need some encouragement there) then this will be the largest project I will have completed!

I also finished up an exchange piece but that isn't due out until March and I'm currently working on a Birthday gift for my Stitching Sister, Lesleyanne.  I think I know which ornament I am going to stitch in February but I'll share that in my next post.

Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend :)



Distractions, Another Happy Dance and something you didn't get to see!

It's a little difficult to get any stitching done when you get one of these.....

I'm not complaining too loudly though, it was a perfect price (aka free) and I have been enjoying a bit more blog browsing and researching my books, TV shows and movies!  Plus the only person I share this with is my hubby :)

I did manage to do some stitching though, LOL.  Me....not stitch.....yeah right!  I finished my ornament for this month.  Woohoo, another happy dance!

Blue Ribbon Designs "Frosty in the Firs"

JCS Ornament 2011 issue

32ct Clay Lugana

Recommended threads

I just realized that I completely forgot to show you this finish from last year!

LK Cinderella Is Proof Boxer

28ct Cream EW

DMC floss

And I"m almost finished the first square on Red Threads.  I also picked up Black Cats and Flying Bats that I haven't touched since last year since I was having nightmares about not having enough fabric left to stitch it on and I put my mind to rest.  I'm really enjoying stitching whatever I please and I'm kind of doing a lot of flipping back and forth.  I'll share the RT and BC&FB projects with you in the next post.

I just made a tea and it's time to stitch while watching Revenge, which is such a great show!  Anyone else like this one too?