The perfect little black box.....

since I'm to fat for a perfect little black dress, I'll have to settle for a perfect little black box. ROFL

I spent the better part of a late afternoon and evening plotting the fragmentation of Ian Daniels Salamander chart to fit the openings for this box. I think it's going to be fantastic!

On a whiney note, I did my first Zumba exercise class on Friday and I'm still sore. It was great fun and I will be going back.

A couple of new starts....

there are so many beautiful charts I would love to start. Here are two relatively new ones.

A Chatelaine, Evening In The Park stitched over 2 on 32ct. Jobelan from Silkweaver in Sudden Storm.

A Linda Ravenscroft piece, Waiting For Neptune stitched over 1 on 28ct. Lugana in Ivory.


I have a couple of new craft projects in the planning stages, along with 1 new cross-stitch piece. I found these beautiful black boxes (about 10x15 or so) at Hobby Lobby. They are very, very nice and are lined inside with black felt like a jewelry box and also have a hinged lid. The top is cutout into various spaces for pictures but rather than having the entire lid cutout with a large mat that has individual cutouts (have I lost you yet?) these pieces actually have the wood top cutout, leaving behind the black wood outlines around the cutouts. There is a layer of glass under the cutout and a compartment to insert your photos into. Now I thinking I could stitch parts of Ian Daniel's Salamander chart to fit the cutouts. It's in navys and orange/peach/shimmer shades. It would look very nice sitting on the coffee table and would be a great place to hold all that damn remotes.

Pretty and functional too...

New beginnings.......

are awesome! my bad, I've been neglectful of so many things since this past summer. I quit several groups and activities so focus more time on family and the things I really want to do. Time to reinvent my stitching blog and that means a beautiful new template. It's courtesy of Izzie Grace Blogging Backgrounds; you'll find her button at the bottom of my blog. They are free and she literally have 100's of beautiful backgrounds to choose from.

I've been traveling, stitching and quilting up a storm since last summer. I'll be back with pictures after tweaking my template.....

June is nearly over.....

but what a wonderful month it's been. It sure doesn't seem like I've done much stitching or other crafting but I think a little here and a little there adds up to a nice bunch by the end of the month.

I've been working on my Love Quilt squares and really enjoying them, especially this time of year. The Aida is so nice to work with and the designs are usually so playful and light hearted that they make the perfect thing to work on during the busy summer months.

I'm also putting together my first quilt for Love Quilts. I received the squares last week and will wait until it's finished and sent to the intended child before I post a picture. It's a real pretty one too! Dusty pinks and blue colors.

June has been very busy around our house, my birthday and our wedding anniversary and all the usual summer stuff. We have enjoyed the college kids being home this year.............so much better than last year. We've termed 2008 as our summer from hell, what is it about turning 18? They think they are adults and can just do anything they like and run all over their parents to boot! Thank GOD this past year has been so much better and she thoroughly enjoyed her first year of college - took to it like a duck to water.

DH and I had such a wonderful time in Gulf Shores last fall we decided to go back this year. So, we start talking about it and planning a trip for the first of Sept. and invite my B&SIL to go with us. We are all getting so excited then our kids (ours 19, theirs 20 & 15) start complaining about how they would just love to go with us would we please go the first week of Aug. instead?

Trust me, I know - we are still in shell shock that they want to go anywhere with us and are looking forward to it too! I've rented a beach house for Aug. 1 - 8 which works out well. DD has to be at college Aug 9 for check-in. She is a mentor for her dorm this year so they have to show up a week before everyone else for orientation, etc. We are taking 2 of our vehicles to Gulf Shores so we can load them both with her stuff and she can leave it all at her Aunt's house (she literally lives less than 1 mile from the university). We will be back Sat. night and she can stay with a friend in the dorm then move all her stuff in on Sunday.

I'll leave you with some my favorite picture of Gulf Shores from fall of 2008. We went after the hurricane dumped a TON of sand - like a solid month after the storm surge and the sand still looks like snow drifts but it was completely relaxing and wonderful.

This is my favorite sunrise photo. It was worth getting up at 5:30 to make coffee and see such a glorious scene.

A finish.....

makes a Monday seem like a great day!

I finished the stitching on Mirabilia's Crescent Dreams. The plan is to use the gingham fabric with white ribbon and make it into a doorknob hanger for the baby's room.



Of course I changed some of the design details as it's charted, but right off hand the only things I recall are changing the ribbon that hangs from the moon to 2 strands of the lightest yellow floss; I used Mill Hill 12299 petite silver glass star beads and the Mill Hill 03018 Antinue Glass Beads for the background in a matte baby pink rather than white.

Okay, I better get going and finish this piece out. I'm thinking it will be a nice idea to use it in place of the bow on my gift for her baby shower which is this coming weekend.

Have a wonderful week my fellow stitchers..........

Tada.........

Leah's quilt is finished and already sent. I sent her a card with a message from all the stitchers.

Dear Leah, there are many mistakes in this quilt, as you grow and become aware of them know that there isn't another quilt in the world like this. It was made special for you. It carries our prayers and hopes for you and each time you wrap up in it your wrapping yourself in a huge hug from The Crafty Coven.

I'll just leave you with many pictures, and a few close-ups of the different sections. It was my first quilting experience and super fun!

Totally Useless Sal.......

Here's a picture of my TUSAL Orts for May. Check the top-right sidebar for a link to the SAL info in Yoyo's blog.

Here are the projects I worked on while collecting these orts. Chatelaine's Taj Mahal; Chatelaine's Christmas Mandala; Mirabilia's Flora Fairy; Mirabilia's Crescent Moon and Stab and Stash's Dreamsleep. There was also a red and yellow race car for Love Quilts that isn't pictured.

Have a wonderful rest of the Memorial Day weekend!

Thanks Brandy.......

This is an early birthday gift from my special friend Brandy. Gingher Designer Series scissors in the Ashley pattern (pink/purple flowers) and the most beautiful scissor fob (isn't that tea pot just adorable?) and thread picker in pinks and silver. I believe the fob and picker are from My Big Toe Designs (at least the box she packaged them in was). Brandy and I drink alot of tea so this was the perfect gift. You've spoiled me with such a beautiful gift. THANK YOU SWEETIE.

Here's a new picture of the progress on Leah's quilt. It's so pretty, I just know she's going to love it! It's all pinned and ready to machine quilt which I will start on right after dinner. I'm so in love with this I may have to make a visit to see Leah so I can snuggle with her in her quilt. Just to show how tenacious I can be, I stitched the left-hand column 5 times and ripped it out 4 to FINALLY get a straight seam. I don't know what was wrong with me but I'm glad it's over. hehe

Yoyo asked through the comments section about the charts used for Leah's quilt. All the pieces are from a leaflet published by Alma Lynne (but the designs are Gloria & Pat) and the name is 'For Every Little Princess (and Her Prince)'.

This summer has started off really busy around our house. Melanie is home from her first year of college. She had a great year but she's ready for a break and is glad to be home. Music to Mom's ears! So while I don't really feel like I have more craft projects going than normal, I do feel like it takes me longer to accomplish anything.

I started this Love Quilt square for Jamison back in April and just finished it today. Isn't the detail pretty, all those 1/4 stitches and backstitching were worth it. His quilt is going to be awesome!

My next square is a baby monkey for Travon. I'll get that started sometime next week. I want to finish Leah's quilt and get it in the mail then I have a small piece to finish stitching and make into a door hanger for a baby shower the first week of June.

Don't forget to check back on Sunday for the unveiling of The Totally Useless SAL aka The Mystery Ort Jar......happy stitching!

All's right in my little world.......

DD is home safe and none the worse for wear. She has blossomed this past year and it's hard to imagine her first year of college is complete. She will be home with us for 6 weeks then off to Texas A&M at Corpus Christi for the month of July. She was selected for a slot in this summer's Governors Internship Program for high school Gifted & Talented kids and she'll be working on the campus during their summer program. It's like a free month long paid vacation. For those of you who are new readers, DH has a unique job and home unless he is actually working. So, he's been home and lot the past month and we've had a wonderful spring. I just know this summer is going to fly by.

This is a picture of my Taj Mahal by Chatelaine. This is my first Chatelaine piece and I'm really enjoying working on it. I decided to stitch it with the recommended silks & beads and it's been a fun piece. While the fabric is gorgeous (it's Fairy Morn by Sugar Maple Fabrics), looking back I wish I had chosen something without so much color. The piece it's self has so much color I feel like the two are competing. Nevertheless, I'm pleased and will pick it up again soon.

I've stitched quite a bit since this photo last weekend. I finished the building on the right and the trees directly above, plus the first section of the flower/column in the border on the right.

I've picked up Dreamsleep and been stitching on her for the past few days. It's such a gorgeous piece to stitch - all those deep browns and beautiful pinks.

We are going to see the new Star Trak moving this afternoon. I've been really excited about it and just waiting for the release date to get here!

I've joined The Totally Useless SAL from the blog of Dragon My Needle. It looks to be like a lot of fun so check back on May 24 for an update and picture.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Do you make your bed everyday.....

it really does 'set the tone for the day'. The rest of the house can be a mess but if everytime I walk into the bedroom the bed is neatly made it just seems like the whole house looks better. It's like sneaking chocolate - just a nice way to spoil yourself. try it for a week and see if you agree.

So DD was home from college and I showed her all the fabrics and squares for Leah's quilt. (see earlier post for info. on Leah) and she says 'you've never made me a quilt'.....little stinker! So guess what my special summer project will be?

It's raining today, a good hard rain. We need it though, at least it's cool and everything looks so green and beautiful. Now you know I have to sweet talk the dogs to get them to go out - they don't mind the soggy grass but they are little princess puppies and can't go out when it's raining. grrr

We were decadent today and had ice cream, brownie with carmel sauce for dessert after lunch. Sometimes you just have to enjoy whatever kind of spoiling you can get. HA

I'm still stitching on my Chatelaine, Taj Mahal. Getting very close the last page of stitching, then it will be a beading project. I have a race car square started for Love Quilts and some needle books I want to start. Then there are the 2 new starts laying on my desk (though I solemnly swear not to start them until I have another finish), another Love Quilt square and 2 kitted up Chatelaines ready to go.

See, I do have restraint. Happy Stitching everyone.....

Turning into your Mother........

do you ever just get smacked with the idea that you've turned into your Mother? I mean, it hit me that my blog is the most boring place around. But, by the time I share with friends by email, post on my favorite message crafting boards and visit in Yahoo groups it's just a little stale by the time I'm telling the story for the umpteemth time. See, turning into your Mother by telling the same story over and over (and worse, forgetting that you've already shared that particular event).

In stitching news, I'm working on my Chatelaine, Taj Mahal. Not too long before this is just a beading project then on to the category of a room remodeling project. At least that's what I figure it will cost to get it framed. I recently took a relatively small project (7.5x9.5) to Michael's for a framing estimate - a whopping $498! I could gold-plate a wall for $498!

Here are my last couple of finishes. These are more Love Quilt Squares.

This is a Zebra for Taylor.

And this is Maegan's Cat Theme.

They are so much fun to stitch!

Thanks for stopping by and hope you each find a few minutes each day to enjoy your stitching passion.

Happy Easter.....

Spring is finally here which for us means days loaded with sunshine followed by days of dreary clouds and rain. But it's all good for the garden.

Here's a picture of pansies from my patio.

They are so pretty this year and I know they will still be gorgeous when it's time to pull them up and change them out to flowers that will take the very hot summer temps but we've enjoyed them all winter and spring.

Here is my Once Upon a Tree Sampler. It's from Just Cross Stitch Magazine, done in 4 installments. I still need to put the petite white beads on the first part (for the snowflakes). They are in at the LNS, and I'll pick them up Monday when I'm out running errands.

I hope everyone is enjoying their Spring weather and soaking up some of the beautiful sunshine. It truly will lighten your mood and make you feel good. If you celebrate religious holidays, have a blessed Easter.

I've been stitching on Dreamsleep from StabnStash and will post a new WIP very soon. They have lots of new artist and tons of new charts up. They are also having a 20% off sale (most of their charts are now $7.99 to download) so check them out!

Happy stitching everyone!

Quilt Squares

I've become addicted to stitching these quilt squares on 14 ct Aida!

This is charity stitching for Love Quilts. A special quilt of clowns and I thought he was so bright and cheerful with his orange hair and flappy flower!

Here's another LQ Square. It's for a special quilt all about snowmen.

As you can tell, I haven't washed these yet!

And the last one for LQ is EMS Zoo Babies. These are free charts from her message board. Aren't they just adorable? I picked 3 of the 'cold water' babies and made this square for what they term a 'any child' quilt. These are randomly stitched squares that they collect and catalog. Then when they need to put together a quilt in a hurry, they have these squares to design and piece a quilt.

Last but not least, I mentioned a little girl, Leah, in my last post. This is one of the squares from her quilt. There are many people stitching squares for her quilt and I will post them as they come in.

These colors were such a treat to stitch! So sunny and bright, made me feel like spring was here.

March sure started out cold......

How did I let February get away without any posting? It's just been business as usual around here. We've had some of our coldest weather of the season the past few days. I'm so ready for spring, narcissus is ready to bloom, daffodils very soon after and tulips have started coming up!

My current project is a stitching/quilting project. A group of stitchers are each stitching squares for a little girl, Leah. Please pray for her recovery from a cancerous tumor on her kidney. She is only 3 and from pictures, you can just see her precious spirit and the special person she will grow into. One of our group members knows her family and got us all involved in being part of her miracle. Many of us stitch for Love Quilts and decided to adopt her as a group project and make a very special quilt for her. I'll post pictures of the squares as I receive them.

I have a new stitching finish but I can't show pictures yet. It's going into the mail today so I promise a picture later this week.

I didn't put much effort into vegetables last year but I'm excited again this year so I'll have tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, squash, cucumbers, beans and cantaloupe. I'm lucky to live in town but have a huge backyard with plenty of space for a vegetable garden. I told the little boys who live next door that they can help me this summer. They are so adorable, 4 and 6 years old.

I hope your inspired to stitch and have a great week.

January is nearly over.....

and it's been ages since I posted. I hope everyone had a great holiday season and a fantastic start to 2009.

For unknown reasons, my stitching mojo has just deserted me and I think it's adding to my case of Winter Blahs. You know when you just can't seem to concentrate on anyone thing, even those things that bring you pleasure. Stitching, reading, cooking - there just isn't any fun in those things right now.

The only way I know to bust through this phase is to Just Do It.....we could all benefit from this. Be good to yourself, take a good multi-vitamin every day, drink some juice or eat a piece of fresh fruit - every day. Weather permitting, get out for a walk - even a short one will change your perspective and shake things up - and make a point to count your blessings every day.

I'm trying my best to move past this and get back to my 'normal'. DH is on a business trip for 3 weeks and while I didn't think I would miss him to this extent, I'm now wondering how much his absence is affecting my mood. It will be good to have him home and get back into our normal routines.

Thank you to my sweetpeas; for all your encouragement and support.

Now looking forward to 2009 we have several weekend trips in the works. Some with friends and some just for fun. A trip to the casinos in Tunica, MS and a weekend to Eureka Springs with a stay at the Treehouse Cottages, a trip to Lake Tahoe in the fall...lots of fun things to look forward to; life is what you make it and 2009 is gonna rock! the power of positive thinking.....

Miracles Happen......

from the 2008 JCS Ornament Magazine, this is Miracles Happen by Jennifer Cooke-Rabig of Ladybug Lane Designs. It's my absolute favorite from this years ornament addition. You can't really see the sparklies but all the white snow has Kreinik in it and it really does shine. All the white flakes and around the border are white beads - those didn't show up too well in this washed out picture either. You still have time to pick up a copy of this special magazine for your collection.

DH and I went shopping this morning, mostly just browsing and picking up some stocking stuffers, etc. We had lunch at Red Lobster, Seafood Stuffed Flounder. It was so good! Fish is one thing I never cook at home. Love the finished product but hate the smell as it cooks.

He is home until Jan. 5 and DD is home until the 12. I have a feeling I'll have all the togetherness I've been craving - and then some to spare. LOL It will make it easier to see her leave for college again. Then, DH leaves Jan 18 for a 3 week school.......I'll go stay with him a few days, probably the last part of the 2nd week. After all this holiday time together, it's a good thing and I'll really be glad when he comes home.^giggles^

I baked a batch of sugar cookies so I'm off to make icing and get those decorated.

Happy Stitching!!!!

Time to get into........

the holiday season. I hope it has biten each of you, lifting your spirits and making your days a little sweeter. Nothing new going on, just enjoying the holiday season and having my family close to home.

DD is home from college, as she said - I'm yours for the next month. It's supposed to be icy and cold tomorrow but I think we are going out for some girl shopping. We need to hit the new Ulta makeup store and of course as it's next door to Target, we'll need to have a run through there too. Then we'll take our business to Best Buy; she needs new Ipod earbuds and heaven forbid they aren't the Apple brand. Then a nice stop at Books-A-Million, that's always good for an hour or so. By then I'll be pooped and ready to come home. She might could entice me into a pit-stop at Hobby Lobby. I'm sure of it, especially if we grab a Starbucks on the way. Man, I'm really looking forward to tomorrow, LOL.

Be proud of me, after 2 years in the local Embroidery Guild I finally stitched a beautiful name badge for myself. Of course I changed the intended thread colors and the beads too. I'll post a picture tomorrow or the next day.

Thanks for visiting, have a wonderful week and carve out a little relaxing stitching time.

Thanksgiving Day.............

has come and gone. Where do the days go? I hope everyone had a relaxing holiday with family and good friends. We love Thanksgiving around our house, it's the kick-off to the holiday season. Too much food, too much shopping and staying up late at night with friends, and too little sleep.

Our daughter will be home from college tomorrow and the ecomony and personal finances are starting to sink in with her a little. She is upset that her roommate will not be coming back in January - her parents just can't afford it. There are so many kids who aren't returning, it's sad. DD is going to the housing office in the morning to sign the papers to stay in her room, as a private room. This means she will get priority and be moved to the END of the line for new housing so anyone new who moves into the dorms in January will go to another room and she will get to keep her room by herself. This also means we don't have to pay for a private room - unless they run out of housing then they will give her the option of going ahead and paying to keep it private or having a roommate. She said there are many kids that she knows who won't be back in Jan. so it will probably work out okay. She took her last final this morning and has 4 A's and 1 B for the semester. My hard earned money at work - YAY!

So in stitching news, here's my newest little Love Quilt square. I call him Wacky Cat, isn't he just adorable? He's a freebie from http://pagesperso-orange.fr/anne-les-petites-croix/

I stitch so much over one stuff that it's a very nice change to work on 14ct Aida. You forget how relaxing and comforting it is stitching on the stuff.

I've been reading The Immortals book series; I'm up to book 3. They have a good story line and are easy to get into. And lots of hubba-hubba..........LOL

I've been trying to read a couple of hours every day as I've got book 4 of the Twillight series ready to start so I think I'll go pick up that book........

Hope everyone has a relaxing and joyful holiday. It's hard to do when so many things that we can't control are dragging everyone down and making everyone on edge, etc. But it's the only thing we can do; it's the days of our lives and we do have control over how much we smile (it's contagious you know) and whether we go to bed at night satisfied and happy with our lives.

God Bless you and your stitching mojo........

Playing catchup........

First my stitching news. Of course I forgot to get pictures of the finished products before packaging and mailing; but, I stitched 3 little house/winter scenes and made into flat-folds and one reindeer ornament.

I've also been stitching on my RR Verdure piece from last year. It's such a gorgeous piece.

We've been so busy since my last update. You ever have those times in your life when everything runs on fast-forward? You skip along and everythings calm and clean, then before you know it things are helter-skelter? Nothing tragic or can't be fixed, but everything that could disrupt my routine was saved up this year and all hit the same week.

My car had costly repairs (but GM was wonderful and reimbursed me out of warranty for every penny) my big screen TV went out (needed a lamp projection bulb - those are consumer replaceables now) ceiling fan in our office blew up (that was interesting) our daughter's car was hit in the parking lot at college (with her sitting in it - we left Orlando, FL and flew home 3 days early to see about her). Everything's good now and everything's fixed but maybe next time it could be spaced out and not hit all in the same week.

Oh -then we had rescheduled our Gulf Shores getaway cause Hurricane Ike brought in a pounding surf that deposited snowdrift like mounds of sand (truly looks like snow) so that the neighborhood where we rented a house was literally closed to traffic and evacuated. Well, we rescheduled for the end of Oct. and had a really good vacation - except our daughter called on our second night to tell us (before we saw it on CNN) that there had been a shooting in the parking lot at her dorm and 2 people were killed. While we were horrified for the families who lost their child - we were worried about the safety of our daughter. I think it was a blessing that we were away as we couldn't drive the normal 2 hours to be with her and make sure things were okay. The police stayed in the hallway of her dorm all night and the next day until they had a handle on why the shooting occurred and had made arrest. I feel so guilty for worrying about my daughter when two other families lost their innocent sons. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. So tragic.

On a brighter note.......here's a picture of Don and I in Gulf Shores. The sun was so bright and most of the time the wind wasn't too bad. And the water - it was warm enough to walk in and so clear it sparkled.

We had the beach to ourselves and took long walks. On one of those walks we were lucky to be walking right at the shore line and the sun was behind us and with the crystal clear water, I looked out about 5 feet from shore and saw a group of sting-rays. Not real big ones (they were maybe 18 inches with their wings extended?) It's a good guess as the next day we saw one of them dead on the beach so I had to check. LOL Anyway, there were maybe 10-12 of them in the group and they were absolutely beautiful. So graceful like they floated through the water with their winglets furling and unfurling as they went. They didn't go fast, watching them was like in slow motion.

I got up each morning to see the sunrise. What gorgeous colors - as everyone knows, my favorite palette. Check out in the dark part of the picture - that's the sand mounds left from Hurricane Ike. They are still scooping it up and dump trucks full make the circle down to the beach to dump it. They were very nice and made all their noise working in other areas so we had mostly peace and quiet during out stay.

And a little later at sunrise..... You can see the oil platforms out in the Gulf they were lit up at night, actually very pretty. These pictures were taken from the deck of our rental home. Such beautiful colors at sunrise.

Here's a picture directly in front of the house of the sunset.

It was a perfect getaway and I can't wait to go back next year. Hopefully a couple of weeks earlier when the weather is just a tad warmer.

Thanks for visiting my blog - enjoy the upcoming holiday season and give all your kids big hugs just because. Whether they want them or not.

Kathy's Violets (Chatelaine freebie)

I finally decided to work on finishing off some stitched pieces. Here is Kathy's Violets finished into a flatfold. I really like this option as you can display it on a table or shelf and just change them out whenever......