Finally a Finish...

Promised Lamb by Plum Street Samplers. I love the colors in this piece. I could have been finished a few days ago, but I have been lolly gagging around. It's stitched on an unknown to me Lakeside Linen in 32 count, using the recommended Gentle Arts threads.  I only changed my angels wings to pink just cause I like pink ;-) I haven't decided what to really work on next, going to refer back to my list I think and go from there. I am going to try to finish Kitty Cat Row though. 

Nothing much going on around here, my son turned 20 yesterday! Where does the time go? I just brought him home from the hospital, didn't I? I am getting ready for another cruise next month, looking forward to it. It's an all girl trip-so lots of laughs are on order and we celebrate my birthday and another of the ladies birthday while we are gone. In fact, I will be in St. Thomas, V.I. for my birthday. I love saying that! LOL I hope to get a little stitching in. I do know one thing, I will be having chocolate melting cake every night for dessert. My hips won't appreciate it, but my mouth sure will. 

  

I leave you with a picture of my Kensi, she is my youngest cat and a tortie. She is so sweet and spoiled. Love her to death!  Hope the rest of your week is wonderful!

xoxo 

February WIPocalypse

It seems as we get older, these days, weeks and months pass by so fast! Here we are again and I am late for the February WIPocalypse posting. I have been stitching, however I have been working quite a bit and sometimes reading (my other love).  My baby turned 16 and just got his learner's permit. So if you hear any yelling, it's probably me! LOL  I didn't make my goal of finish anything this month, but perhaps next month will be my month!  So here are my current wip's.

Promised Lamb by Plum Street Samplers

Hannah Lovina Joslin 1836 by Blackbird Designs 

My Instagram SAL

Kitty Cat Row by Bent Creek with a little help from one of my furry friends as you can see. So I hope to finish at least one of these because as you know my list is long and the Nashville Market just finished and naturally I found some new projects I want to start!

  Tell me what were some of your favorites from market?  I ordered English Garden by Blackbird and a couple of Stacy Nash's-I am not a border person but her flower borders just call to me. Anyway, I must run, thanks for your continued friendships and visits!

xoxoxo

January WIPocalypse

Well finally, I  sat down and made a list of  my stitching plans for next year. Naturally, the list is still crazy and ambitious, but that is the fun of it! I rejoined the WIPocalypse and I hope to do better about posting.  I already have quite a few of these projects in play and it's just a matter of taking the time and getting to work on them. I have been trying to stitch a little in the morning after work and since that is something I don't normally do, I am hoping it will help propel me to finishing more.  I have found that, I enjoyed having a working list to refer back to, especially when finishing a project. It definitely has helped me focus on what I want to stitch next.

My current wip Promised Lamb

                                                               
The topic for the January WIPocalypse was for us to introduce ourselves, our projects and our goals. Many of you know me so just skip on by the next part!

My name is Sharon and I have been blogging now for almost 8 years. I can't believe it's been that long. I have 3 busy teenagers, 2 in high school and 1 in college. I have 5 cats and my daughter may kill me if I get anymore. I love to read, stitch, Internet surf and watch NCIS. You can find me on Facebook and Instagram.  I currently work an RN on a mother/baby unit.

My projects are listed here and you can read pretty much what my goals are above. My main goal is to finish anything!

ES Sport Motif Sampler by Of Female Worth*
Promised Lamb by Plum Street Samplers*completed 3/11/14
Away We Ride by Blackbird Designs*
Primitive Bouquet by Jardin Prive*  completed 5/31/14
Kitty Cat Row by Bent Creek* completed 5/11/14
Ohio Treasure by Threadwork Primitives( This is going to be a restart on different fabric)
Christmas Village by Threadwork Primitives
Jane Pattison 1806 by Shakespeare's Peddler (My New Year start)*
Love Thy Neighbor by Plum Street Samplers
Hannah Lovina Joslin 1856 by Blackbird Designs (An Instagram SAL  completed 9/8/14
Bittersweet September by Blackbird Designs*
Tombstone Sports by The Primitive Needle *
 Thine is the Trick and the Treat (SAL with Jinger)*
Sleigh Rides and Snowflakes by The Scarlett House
Summer at Hollyberry Farm by Stacy Nash
Thankful Davis by R & R Reproductions
Margaret Cottam by La D Da
Trellis Blackbirds by Plum Street Sampler
Freedom Needle Book by Stacy Nash added and completed 10/13/14

I am still in The Ladies Prim Society at Dyeing 2 Stitch.. I also decided to move back over into the Stacy Nash Girls Club with Country Sampler.

Anyhow, I am excited for the stitching year, so many great projects and Nashville is coming up quick! Thanks for your continued visits.

Blessings
xoxo

Happy New Year!

Well friends it's time to close the door on 2013! I can't say that I will be sad as it was a hard and frustrating year for some people I love the most. That's the beauty of starting a new year, because its a fresh new start. I am finishing my 2013 stitching with this sweet little freebie by Stitches by Cheri.  It's called Happy New Year of course!  I got up this morning excited by new prospects to come and finished it into this little cube. I used wired ribbon for the bow and my ribbon always looks as if it's going to fly away! It is stitched on 30 count parched bones linen with Gentle Art threads and the backing is this pretty funky batik. So easy and sweet,

I stopped doing resolutions many years ago. I do have some goals in mind but that is where they will stay. I would like to wish everyone best wishes with their resolutions, goals or whatever you may have in mind. I hope that you, your family and friends will all have a very happy, healthy and prosperous New Year!!!

Blessings!!
xoxo

Mary's Sampler II Finish

Well better late than never! I finally finished my Mary's Sampler II design by Plum Street Samplers. It was a lovely stitch to do and I would have finished earlier if my stitching muse had not decided to disappear. My sampler is stitched on 30 count Apple Brown Bindy by R & R, and uses Gentle Art threads.You can still find this free pattern on Paulette's blog.  A big thank you to her for sharing her time and talents with all of us!

The holidays have come and gone, I hope yours were as wonderful as mine were. Time spent with family and friends is truly a blessing.  The kids are happy with what Santa brought and this mama is happy that the kids are happy. Now it's onward to looking at a new year, I am hoping and praying 2014 will be a  little kinder than 2013. I am still working on my stitching list for next year. I am not sure I will rejoin the wipocalypse, I liked having a list of stitching that I could refer back to. The list did help keep me organized, so I know I will continue that.  However, I got really lazy about posting on the dates required even though its a no pressure thing. So, I am still considering that, I  do know that my focus next year will remain on samplers. I hope to be back with a post before new years! Blessings my friends.

xoxo

Gift for a Friend

Every year for the last 5 years or so I have made a stitched gift for a friend. We have never met, we only talk via Facebook, email or texting. She is very dear to me. This years gift continues with the Halloween themed gift I gave her last year, which you can see here.  Since I was running behind, I had a little help from a friend. Sherri did the primary stitching for me and I did the finishing. Thanks Sherri! I finished it into a hanger for the door or doorknob perhaps.

It is stitched on 30 count Grasshopper linen with DMC threads, the little loop and the pumpkin nose beads came with the pattern. It had some other weird looking stars but I changed mine to black. The backing fabric is this fabulous Halloween orange fabric with the words boo on it. I added the fuzzy black yarn around it to finish it off. Oh, forgot to say the pattern is called The Witch is In by Amy Bruecken! I hope she likes it! Hopefully, I will be back soon with my Mary's Sampler finish.

Cecilia's Sampler Retreat and Meeting a Blogging Friend

Last week a Sherri and I attended our first Cecilia's Samplers Retreat in Branson, MO. It was great! The theme was a Fall Fiesta. We drove up a day early because Branson is like 12 hours away from us and detoured big time through Nashville, TN and visited The Stitchin' Post Nashville. I didn't get any pictures, but it was a very good store. Then onward to Cecilia's Samplers. Below is the outside of the store, very unassuming for what's inside, which is just a stitcher's heaven! 

Outside of Cecilia's

This is one shows a side wall of the Weeks and Crescent Color threads and looks towards the front of the store where you have fabric and lots of lovely accessories.

Ignore me! Look at the glorious wall of threads, this is the other wall of threads, this one Gentle Art and Carrie's Creation and Kreinik. I was picking out thread for one of the million projects I have! LOL 

A little peek at their Halloween section, they have lots of wonderful models all around the store.

Here is Sherri perusing the fabric. They have a wonderful fabric selection and will cut fabric to your specifications, not just in the standard cuts, Even better, they will serge the fabric for you. The fabric section is a little tight when lot's of ladies are trying to get in there and choose fabric ;-) 

Here is Sherri again making yet another purchase, we are so bad! You see a little more of the store.

This picture is looking down again from the fabric section. All in all, a great store. It was definitely a family affair for the owners and they were all so nice. The retreat check in started on Thursday afternoon at 2:30 pm and the conference/stitching room was open until 11 pm every night and open again at 8 am. The first night we had pizza, drinks and dessert provided by Cecilia's, the pizza was fabulous! When I go again, I will be saving myself for that-LOL  All retreat activities were done between 6-8 pm every night, which left you free to stitch, shop at the store, see a show (lots of those there)  or eat. We received gift cards for our meals and the breakfast was at the hotel if you were interested or you could eat where you wanted!  The great thing the store did was do a raffle to raise money for The  Wounded Warriors, the raffle was for a 250 dollar gift card to the store. I am sad to say, I didn't win.  The store matched the donations from their two retreats and all in all raised over 2,000 dollars for The Wounded Warriors.  On top of that, we received gifts and everyone won a door prize of which some had some gift certificates added for the store. 

Now for one of the best parts of retreat, and that was meeting Chelle from Totally Toadlily. Chelle and I first connected when I started blogging in 2006 or 2007. I never expected to meet her, we had always spoken via email and the we found each other on Facebook. Here we are below. Chelle, it was great to meet you and I hope we will get to see each other again! I also made some new stitching friends well. It was a great trip!

Mary's Sampler II

Paulette of Plum Street Samplers has been been sharing a wonderful Sunday Mystery Sampler the last several weeks called Mary's Sampler and Mary's Sampler II.  The theme is the birth of Christ. The mystery lasts a total of 9 weeks and a new part is released every Sunday. This past Sunday was the start of the 5th week.  When you finish you will have a beautiful holiday sampler. I couldn't resist of course, so I gathered my supplies and I  started about 3 weeks in. The parts released have been so easy to manage, and even though I started later I was able to get caught up quite easily. Let's hope I can stay caught up! The only difference between the two samplers is that sampler 2 is a little more dense in it's stitching. I am stitching sampler 2.  I am stitching mine on 30 count Apple Brown Bindy with Gentle Art's threads.  If you haven't decided yet, go take a look! 

As usual, the month has gotten away from me, but that's not new.  I feel like I have been at work a lot with classes and working extra, so not a whole lot of stitching going on here. I am looking forward to November, my baby girl turns 18! We haven't quite decided what to do yet, though she continues to find ways to spend my money. I also am going to a retreat at Cecilia's Samplers in Branson, MO. with a friend. I have never been, so I am really looking forward to that. We are going to make a detour through Nashville as well. Can't wait!

Thanks to those of you left comments in regards to Cathey...she touched a lot of people and she will be missed. (Edited to add-there is a beautiful tribute pattern to Cathey and you can find it here)

Anyway, I am off to watch The Voice, love that show and hopefully get some stitches in.

Blessings

xoxo

Remembering Cathey

I am sad to have learned that Cathey of Pumpkin Patch & Co. has lost her very brave battle against cancer. Though she will be greatly missed,  she is no longer in pain or suffering.  Please pray for her family and friends, but most especially for a sweet little 18 month old boy who will never truly get to know his mom. Hug your loved ones today and always! 

Pumpkins for Cathey!

Dear Cathey, as a fervent pumpkin stalker, I want to wish you a fabulous and a very Happy Blogoversary!  It's always been a great pleasure to visit your blog and see whatever beautiful pieces you are stitching on and to catch a glimpse of your adorable little man. I wish you many, many heartfelt blessings today and always. 

xoxo