Well a year between posts isn't so bad is it?  lol

I'm just not one to post unfinished projects and it took me a year to do 3.

This was done for my girlfriend's March birthday - I can never get it completed on time so I never give her a year.  I had it framed at Hobby Lobby using one of their open stock frames and it was half price - didn't cost me anywhere close to an arm and leg.  My girlfriend took this picture of it hanging on her wall in her bedroom.

My girlfriend is thrilled with it as am I.  It was my first Miribilia - Nora's Letter C done on 16ct Aida.  My only problem was with the 1/4 stitches but once I got over my fright it wasn't so bad - lol

My next posting will be next month as I have another finish at the framers.

Thanks to everybody who takes the time to look at my blog and for any comments you make!!!

2012 First Finish

It was a long time coming!  I started this as my first every jump into the Heaven and Earth obsession in January 2010 as a SAL offered through the HAED Yuku bulletin board.  I haven't worked on this exclusively but off and on with other projects.

But now it's done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  WooHoo!!  Happy happy dance!!!!!!!

Hope you all like it!!

My journey is not over with HAEDs - I have at least 3 more SALs I jumped into but I'm telling you I'd much rather work on these than easier stitching projects.

I'm going back to Floral Retreat and complete that for my son - hopefully that will be for an April posting.

Oh - and on a non stitching item - I made this a couple of weeks ago and am totally hooked on them - the owner of Cross My Heart here in Upper Arlington taught the class and when I showed it to my ceramic teacher and some of her students there were just as excited so we're going to have a class in April at my ceramic shop.  The bracelet would retail for around 100.00.  Yep expensive but you've got a mim of 4 hrs of work into it (I would charge 10.00 hr for putting it together) not including the beads and buttons (1.00 ea button from Just Another Button Co and we use 15-19) so cost wise you've got a mim of 50.00 into it

Anywho - here's a pic -

Well - that's all from my corner of the world!  Until next time.

My first linen piece.......

and probably my last - lol

I had promised one of the owners of my local stitching shop that I would attempt to do linen in 2012. Not wanting to drag my angst into 2012 I found this little thing and thought - well why not - not much to it - good starter piece.

Well after all was said and done it was nothing that would make me give up Aida.

Ok - here is the picture of my linen pumpkin. The kit came with the pattern - floss - material for the back - ribbon - acorn charms - buttons.


I have a lot of mistakes because linen isn't wasn't as easy as Aida. You have to be on the correct side of the thread line to get things to line up. Most times I did but in some places I had to do some creative stitching. I also swapped out the leaves for "bling" so I didn't have to stitch them - and put a bead in for the squirrel's eye. I also left out the words "come in" at the bottom of the pumpkin. I made it into a hanging ornament with the materials that were provided - that part was pretty easy - lol

Well that's it for me for 2011!
Hugs to everyone that is following my blog and I hope to see you all in 2012!

September 2011

I've completed another project - woohoo! Whittling down my 7,450,000 charts (just kidding - lol - well sorta - lol)

This is a Hinzeit block chart called Birds. My aunt had put a sun room on the back of her house last summer and at Christmas she said she loved coming into the room in the mornings - having her coffee and watching the birds. So I made this for a Christmas present for her.

This was pretty standard stitching for me - used 14ct Aida and the colors the chart suggested. Of course I added my "bling" - there is gold metallic thread in the green leaves. In the picture it's had to tell tho. The charms came with the chart. Still have to take it to Hobby Lobby to get it framed. Will get a green matte to complement the green leaves.

Hope you all like it.

August 2011

Hi everyone!

First I'd like to introduce my newest member of my family - Smoky. I was doing some gardening a couple of weeks back and had tossed a rock really close to my front porch. I noticed a little gray paw come out from under and try to play with it. Well long story short - this little kitty was under my porch and now has become a member of our household.






Now on to stitching -

Another pillow completed from the Pine Mountain series. This was actually completed the end of July but I had to wait until I got my bird button. It's the May pillow - I just grab out of my stash in obviously no particular order - lol.

I changed the wing as the DMC color the chart used was almost identical to the body of the bird. I found a floss that was identical to what was shown in the picture which really made the wing stand out. I blinged the eyes and the bird house entry with black metallic iron on embellishment (glued on) and instead of stitching the bird on the flower I chose a button. Then I added 4 large buttons to the corner of the pillow to finish it off. I think it turned out pretty cute!

June 2010 2nd finish

Finished a second item for the month - woohoo!! I think that's a record for me - lol

I decided that after last month's project I would no longer do anything large at my "Tuesday only" group.

This is a monthly series from Pine Mountain that I believe they started last year. And of course I had to "bling" it. The sun has gold Krinik thread in it and the seeds for the watermelon are those metallic iron on bling. I'm still deciding whether or not to put some cherry buttons or ant brads on the pillow.

The chart has the ants without antenna so I just had to put them on - now if you look really really close they look like minature raindeer - lol

June 2011

I finally finished my 12 Square Quilt by Handblessing. This was a free SAL that was done thru my local stitching group and I'd been working on it since fall of last year (I'm such a slow stitcher - lol) Of course I didn't follow the colors suggested but I did use silks. And I'm telling you - I'd rather use Krinik than silks - nothing wrong with silks - just I found them very slippery

When I had completed it I asked one of the more experienced sewers to put it into a pillow for me. I was lucky enough to find a blue batik that perfectly matched the blue silk I was using. The hardest part of this whole project was that I limited myself to only 5 colors and trying to get the colors not to be side by side.

Well - on to the pictures. Hope you like my pillow. And I thank every one of you who leave a comment even if I don't get back to you personally (I've never figured out yet how to respond from the blog)

March 2011

Been a while hasn't it? I've been stitching tho.

I'm still working on my son's project (Floral Retreat by Dimension's Gold and the 2 HAED SAL Storykeeps). I really really want to get Floral Retreat completed so I'm thinking of just concentrating on that. I'm also working on a Tuesday only project which is a 12 Square Quilt pattern called Handblessings (a Eileen Gurak Needlework Design) which is a freebie from my local stitching shop. I'm on square #5.

Now on to my finishes - and I'm very sad to say I can't tell you the name or who they're by anymore. The Halloween one has been passed forward and I can't find the chart right now on the rose one.

This one is for my BFF (the one I did the chili pepper one for) for her birthday. It's done on pale green 16ct Aida and verigated floss (Melon). I added teeny tiny seed beads in the middle of the desigins of the border as well as within the pattern. Again I can't remember the designer as I can't find the chart (will have to do better at that in the future!!)

The Halloween one was placed on the wall behind the register at Cross My Heart where I go stitching every Tuesday for the fall season.

Well I guess that's it for now. I hope to be able to post more finishes but I seem to be a slow stitcher. Hopefully the next postings will be the 12 Square Quilt and my son's Floral Retreat.

Until then I hope everyone has a good spring and stays safe in whatever they do!

October 2010

Wow - where has the month gone. The leaves are falling and soon winter will be here. How many months til Spring???

The piece I finished is called Fat Bat Cat by The Victoria Sampler. I was in my cross stitch shop's bathroom and saw the pic of this (yes they have lots of things hanging in there - charts and completed things too - lol). Anywho - I saw this posted and thought "My those bat wings would be cute with glitter in them".

So.....my bat has krinik black with the black DMC. I also wanted something different than the stitched spiders and spider web and as I was walking thru Michaels I found the perfect item - it's for scrapping but hey it just jumped out at me and said "TAKE ME HOME AND PUT ME ON THE FAT BAT CAT" (yep it was screaming that loud - lol)

Hope you all like what I've done.

September 2010 finish - bout time!

Here it is the middle of September and I've only completed 1 project. How sad is that?? I am tho working on Floral Retreat and 2 SALs from HAED - Dragon Luck and Sunny so maybe I can use those as excuses

I've had my share of dragging my feet. My son had surgery on his ankle the end of June and for the first part of the month I just stitched away. The more mobile he got tho the less I stitched. He's back to work so I'm getting my "me" time back (not that I actually lost it - I just lost me inside that "me" time)

My dog (a Scotty named Sparky) also began having a lot of problems the end of July and August and my son and I finally had to make the decision to put her down. We had a wonderful 14 years with her (well almost - she was 2 months shy). She was so smart and quick to learn and that put a damper on things as well.

Anywho that's enough moaning/groaning/bitching and bellyaching!

The finish is called Sneak Peak from The Trilogy. It was a multi chart with part 1 having the border and cat. Chart 2 the pumpkin and ghost. Chart 3 the haunted house and witch. Of course I added some bling by putting blending filament in a couple of pieces - the ghost and the harvest moon.

I continue to go to my local stitching shop every Tuesday I can and was shocked when they asked that when completed they'd like to hang it for display. Wow talk about stressing me out - that they would even consider anything I did good enough to put on display.

Well here's the pic - a cute piece. Hope you all like it!

End of year finish

Wow - can't believe it's been so long since I'd put anything on here. I've been stitching on a few items - none of which I've done a pic for. But I did want to post my last finish of the year. I am still working on Floral Retreat by Dimensions Gold - I guess I'm about 1/3 of the way completed.
This item is called Holiday Round - St Patrick's Day from The Stitchworks. It came with a green shamrock button but it broke. I really wouldn't have used it anyway - I put a charm in the middle instead. This took me way longer than it should have. I've been trying to do a week rotation between this and Floral Retreat. For some reason I had some major issues with the last leaf of the last shamrock I was doing. Don't know what happened but I had to re-stitch it 5 times - lol.

Anywho - thanks all in advance to anyone who reads this and leaves me comments - you all don't know how much it's appreciated and how it motivates me.

I also want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

July 09 finishes

Took me forever on getting my items posted but here are 2 I finished in July -

This is a small freebie that I recieved from my local shop by The Prairie Schooler. I finished it by folding it over a styofoam block and covering it in fabric - pinning the fabric to the block and pinning a ribbon over the seam. I did it on 16ct White Aida - I also changed the colors around - I just couldn't wrap my head around an eagle having a brown head - the arrows were supposed to be red and I made them gold as well as the little designs in each corner - and my bling are rhinestones I glued to the blue band of the shield.

My second finish -

Was also a freebie from my local shop. It was a handout from when they did Camp Gottastitch back in November (I didn't go). The design is from Handblessings (http://www.handblessings.com/) a Eileen Gurak Needlework Design (size 39 x 38) called Valentine Acorn Birdhouse. I stitched it on 14ct white Aida using Weeks Dye works Garnet # 2264 and Bubble Gum #2275A. My bling is the pewter heart charm in the middle. I'm having a hard time finding a frame that won't overpower the design.

And for good measure I thought I'd show you all a picture of a ceramic piece that I completed last week from castware. This was base coated in black, washed in green, dry brushed in lavender pearl then cranberry pearl and then drybrushed in copper. I'm making more to sell at a local hobby shop. If you all think I should also post my ceramics that I complete I will - 99% of it goes out for sale - I'll even sell to you all but I'd have my UPS store package so I would probably have $10.00 s/h for something this size. The piece below I'm selling for $20.00 - other items I do it would just depend on the size of the piece but you gotta remember these are very breakable.

Well that's all from me this month - I'm still working on the project for my son and doing another freebie from The Prairie Schooler.

May finish "The Hunt" SAL by Pelin Tezer

Wow - I did this as a Stitch-A-Long with an online Yahoo group. This was a fun project and I thought this was going to be a "no brainer" - lol What it taught me is I CAN'T COUNT - lol I've had more hiccups but managed to finish in (for me) a reasonable time.

The color I used for the fabric was a Aida blue (can't remember the actual name) and the floss was DMS 977 which is considered a light brown but to me is golden. One of the ladies at the LNS said it was an interesting choice of fabric/floss color - hummm not sure it that meant she like the combo or not. When I asked her if that meant she didn't like it she said "no it's just not something I would have thought to put together". I kept tossing colors on the fabric and kept coming back to the 977 for some reason.

Last week I went to Hobby Lobby to pick out the frame so I knew I had a deadline. It's just a plain brown. I was going to put a navy blue matte on it but nothing looked right.

This one actually has NO BLING - yep - NO BLING - unless I can find charms this is "as is" "au natural" "in the buff". Haven't decided where I'm going to hang it but I'm thinking my living room.

Hope you all like it.

April finish

This little thing was a freebie from my LNS. It's from The Prairie Schooler. Of course I changed it - lol I stitched around the edge of the egg in brown which was supposed to be used for the legs - wow what was I thinking (or not)- lol

I did the egg in a light green verigated and then brushed a light coating of light green glitter on it so the egg would have some sparkle. I had my ceramic teacher/friend Mary do the little bow as she does them best. I did the background as a peach felt which matches the peach of the stitching.

All in all I think it turned out pretty cute and it taught me I can make an ornament.

January finishes

I have 2 finishes for January. One was actually completed the end of December but I haven't gotten around to posting so I'm designating it a January 09 finish.

The first is Frosty Friends by Mosey 'N Me which comes from the Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornaments issue. As usual I can't leave things alone - lol I added rhinstones to his hat (instead of stitches) and added a green/metallic pom pom to his hat (the original didn't have a pom pom)

The other is called Snow by Heart in Hand from the their Wee One's Collection. The designer is Cecilia Turner. This was such a small project and I thought I could complete it in 1 night - nope not me - I spent almost 3 months looking for something other than what was listed for the snowflakes. I even considered snowflake buttons. I finally took it to my LNS and decided on the Silver Kreinik Metallics. I also switched out the cardinal which came with the pattern for a glass one.

Hope you like what I've done!

Wow - after I completed my last project I was hoping I'd be able to do at least 1 Christmas Ornie - and I DID!! This will probably be the only other stitching I get done in 2008 but I'm happy with that.

My local stitching store (Cross My Heart) is doing a monthly Christmas Ornament from the 2008 Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament magazine. I decided to join back in October knowing that I'd be able to buy the monthly ones but not knowing if I would be able to get to them this year.

This is called Be Merry (Designed by Monique Keylor of My Mark). I can't leave things alone and instead of straight stitching I beaded the large snowflake in the upper right corner. I also added flat snowflakes to the tree and snowflake area in the lower left corner. I also stitched this in 14ct Aida instead of the 28 Cashel linen it recommended. Now my only decision is to make it into an ornie or put it into a frame.

Hope everyone has a blessed Christmas!!

Celebration time!!!! I told my BFF that I would do a cross stitch project for her for her kitchen redo. She did it all in a Mexican theme and I thought this would be perfect. It was due last March! I had no idea when I began it what a journey it would take me on. I had several redo's in the 2 pepper areas which slowed me down quite a bit and made me question my sanity. In August I began going to my local stitching store and the ladies there were soooooo very helpful. They saw where I was stumbling and put me on the right track - many thanks to them all!!!!! They gave me incourgement and it helped so much that I completed the last 2 pages in a little over 2 months (I must be a slow stitcher)

The project was originally to be stitched on black aida but I thought it would be simpler to just stitch in the black. No bling on this one - lol

I gave it to my BFF today at ceramics class and she was thrilled with it. I'm on now to doing a couple of Christmas ornaments (and if I don't get them done this year that's ok - I no longer have a due date on anything) and in January I'm doing a SAL (The Hunt) with an online group. I'm also going to start a project that my son got me last Christmas call Floral Retreat (Demensions Gold Collection). Lots of stitching on that one with smaller ones hopefully throughout the year.

Hope everyone who looks at this likes it!

My first 2008 finish

Wow - I can't believe this took me over 10 hours to do. This was sent to me as a RAK from one of the members of my cross stitching group. THANK YOU AGAIN!!

I changed it somewhat. The words were to be done in green - I changed it to yellow. The backstitching was to be done in yellow - I changed it to gold metallic (not the easiest to work with). The collars were to be stitched and I changed them to beads.

I think I spent the most time trying to decide how to spiff it up and after several hours of trying this bead and that I just felt - less is more so I have just a little in the upper corner.

I also have a bookmark to do and I think I'll do a little more preplanning with my beading as I have some cute scotty charms I'd like to use. But I've got other projects I MUST get finished so this will be done later on in the year.

Hope you like it - it was really fun to do.

These are my completed 2007 projects -



This was simple enough to do and I really like the red on pink and am currently looking for something else that is similar.

I framed this one in a black frame because I thought it would bring out the colors - then I added what I call foo-foo which added a little element of surprise I hope.

My cross stitch

This is what I completed in 2006. It is for my son who is in college for Fire/EMS. He currently has his EMT Basic Card and his 240 Card and currently taking Paramedic classes.