And A Forest Grew!

I have the most talented customers! Look what Pat brought in to show me today!! Unbelievable. This is "And A Forest Grew" designed by Rosewood Manor. It is stitched on 28 count Cashel and stitched over one linen thread. Totally incredible.



She still has a bit more stitching to do (and remove her basting threads), but wowie, this is gorgeous! Look at the fox and the little robins.



How about that deer?



Those trees!



The mama bird feeding her babies in the lower left and then toward the top, the owl in the tree.



The serpent in the tree of life.



Those little bunnies!



I love this design - always have. I love it even more now that I've seen it stitched over one!!! I think there is something to be said for over one stitching. The smallest of details really pop out. Thanks, Pat, for letting me showcase your masterpiece on my blog!

An American Girl Christmas & Customer Finishes

The twins were here right after Christmas and we had action-packed days for their entire stay. My cousins were also in from Kentucky, so we were able to have a traditional Christmas Eve, albeit several days after Christmas. It's always nice to carry on the family traditions. The day after my cousin Robin's arrival, my sister, Robin and I set about to make pierogi, which is a staple of our Christmas Eve feast.

One of the highlights of the twins visit was a trip downtown to the American Girl store. Angie and I had been together last year, but Robin and her daughter (one year older than Angie) had never been. Sometimes it's best not to let little girls know about these stores! We toured the two-story, little girl's dream shop and then headed over to the American Girl Cafe for our luncheon reservation. Here are the girls deciding what to choose for lunch. Take notice that the dolls get to join us for the luncheon!



Both girls selected the Picnic lunch with mini hotdog, mini hamburger, macaroni and cheese and fruit skewer. Yum! It was a very fun afternoon, one I'm sure the girls will not forget anytime soon!



Marilyn stopped by recently to show me some of her Jane Greenoff finishes. Marilyn is a stitching machine! She not only stitches so quickly, she finishes them all herself, too. Here are Butterfly Needleroll on the left and Flowery Mead Band Sampler on the right.









Next up is Silk Flowers Needle Tidy. It's so amazing, with sections inside for your needles, 22, 24, 26, 28 and a beautiful pincushion in the center. Tied up with a drawstring, even the back is magnificent!







Here's a pic of BBD Morning Star that I stitched for a shop model.



No stitching tonight for me but here was my progress on the 40 count Morning Star as of last night.



Hope to make some x's on the French Vanilla tomorrow evening! Wish me luck.

Christmas, Etc.

Hi friends, thanks for stopping by! I wanted to catch up and give you an update of things that have been happening in my life. Christmas happened since my last post and I'd like to share some of the gifts I received. My very generous DH showered me with Vera Bradley this year! I received not one, but two new handbags. I love, love, love both patterns. Quick story....I had purchased some Vera Bradley gifts for friends and employees, several of which were in the Suzani pattern. Also, my friend Teresa has a Suzani patterned bag. The more I saw the pattern, the more I liked it. I just happened to mention casually (really! I wasn't hinting!) that the Suzani pattern was growing on me. Well, what a guy! He bought me the chain bag, wallet and loop keychain in the Suzani pattern.



He also picked up the handbag in the Night & Day pattern, another simple, yet elegant look.



My sister gifted me with several things but most special of all was this round beauty. This is from the sister that as of three years ago, did not even stitch! Nancy did such a fab job of stitching and finishing this box all by herself!



I did a bit of stitching myself for an ornament exchange. This is the ornament I gave. Here's the front:



And the back. I was able to personalize for Patti since it wasn't actually ready for the day of the exchange. The gals let me participate even though my ornie wasn't finished. It took about another week to finish the stitching and get it assembled. This is called "Peace on Earth" by Victoria Sampler. You will find this adorable ornament in this year's issue of JCS Ornament magazine.



Here is the ornament I received from Brenda. It's designed by Linda's Designs, distributed by Victoria Sampler, called "Biscornuments." I love these tiny beauties! They are so petite and delicate. I have been wanting to stitch one of these ever since I saw the pattern book. I was so thrilled to get this one in the exchange, stitched and finished expertly by Brenda! I will have to make up a few of these. My tree would look great with a handful of biscornuments hanging on it!



Lastly, I'm teaching a box finishing class next month. We are doing the Blackbird Designs "Morning Star" box. We will paint and sand the box and then mount our finished needlework on the box top. Publishing a date meant that I had to get cracking on the design! Yikes. Here is my progress from earlier today. It is going much more quickly than I anticipated. This is done on R&R 40 count French Vanilla. Stay tuned for an update within the next few days.



I do hope you all are finding time to put needle to fabric!

A Stitching Evening of Surprises

This past Saturday evening, I got together with a group of stitchers for a festive holiday party. I had to work at the shop that day so I was the last one to arrive. As soon as I walked in, I was greeted with package after package of lovely stitchy surprises!

You will see l to r (top row), a beautiful, quilted candle mat with candle, a stitched and beaded scissor fob with my initial and l to r (bottom row), homemade crackers and holiday music, a perfectly stitched and finished floral ornament and a handmade needle minder.



But wait, that's not all! L to r (top row), the ornament I received in the exchange, a Victoria Sampler "Biscornument", a cute, little snowman plaque, l to r (bottom row) Candy Apple hand soap with decorative snow scene cover and lotion (the Santa in the picture is mine used as a prop, a lovely, golden reindeer ornament and a decorative hand towel and Very Bradley mints!



Am I lucky, or what? I won't mention what I gave because it pales in comparison to all the awesome gifts I received. These gals have really raised the bar! My mind has been reeling as to what I can do for next year. There are 10 in the group, so if it will be handmade, I need to get started NOW!

My dear friends, if you are reading this post, thank you again from the bottom of my heart for gifting me with such wonderful presents. You sure know how to make a gal feel special!!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Quick Trip East

While at the retreat in Shipshewana this past October, I ordered an item from Yoder's Hardware store. I was waiting and waiting for it to come in. I had hoped it would come in during November because I wanted to meet a friend of mine who would just happen to be out in Shipshe on a Quilt Retreat around Thanksgiving. Well, they called last week to tell me that my item was now in stock. It was a large item and I knew it would be cheaper to drive and pick it up then to have it shipped to me. Two weeks before Christmas was not the optimal time to make a quick trip to Shipshewana, but if I didn't go on my day off this week, it would be at least a month before I had an opportunity to get out there.

The drive was pleasant, the temperatures, mild and I was able to stop at the Blue Gate and "Christmas store" to check out what was new. Here are some pictures right before evening set in.



I picked up what I ordered at Yoder's and after quickly making a few purchases of Christmas gifts, I set out for home. I wish I had more time to stay and take in all the lovely, twinkling lights, but that will be for another day.

I was able to snap a quick shot of Rob, the UPS guy that brings all the wonderful, stitchy designs to the shop.



Jill brought in some finished Ink Circles designs a few weeks ago that she will be giving as gifts this Christmas.




Marilyn also stopped by with some finishes of her own. My goodness......so many samplers, so little time!





I hope to bring you some more updates of customer framing and/or stitching projects within the next week. Thanks for stopping by!

Truly Thankful

I've been fighting a reaction of my body to sugars I eat, whether in sweets or carbs which covert to sugar. The condition is known as candidiasis where the "bad" bacteria feed on the sugars I intake and then overrun the good, beneficial bacteria. It is a hard one to knock out and the steps you need to take are drastic. The first recommended step to rid your body of these nasty bacteria is to do a cleanse. For seven days, you go on a liquid fast, drinking several concoctions meant to flush your system. I decided to go for it since I couldn't continue on as I was. I'm telling you, I was so hungry by the end of the afternoon that I caved! How do people do fasts, let alone for seven days?! I didn't eat much and it was certainly on the list of "allowed" foods, but still, it was food!

This was perhaps a reminder of how fortunate I am to live in this country. I am truly thankful for food. I am thankful I can look into my stocked cupboards and refrigerator and find many things that I can throw together for a meal. I am even more thankful that when the cupboards are bare, I can just drive to the store and buy more food. There are so many other countries where food is a luxury and here in the Western world, we don't even give food a second thought because it is so plentiful.

Definitely food for thought! What makes you truly thankful?

Framing and Finishing

My customers are quite prolific stitchers. I wish I could stitch half as fast as some of them. I thought I'd show you what they have been up to the last few months. I've had the privilege to frame these beauties you see here.

First up is Linda's All Hallow's Eve. This is a design by Chessie & Me and was framed in a Maryland Hornbook Frame by Pricilla's Pocket. Linda stitched the design in the recommended Belle Soie silks on Meadow Rue by Lakeside Linens.



Then we have a design from the Blackbird's Designs Loose Feathers: Summer leaflet. Terry stitched this with the recommended silks and we chose a frame from Larson Juhl.



Terry also stitched "Think Winter" by Lizzie Kate. It's adorable with the little birdie and JabCo buttons. This is also a custom frame from Larson Juhl.



Marilyn does all her own finishing. It doesn't matter if it's a bellpull, an ornament, a shaker box....she does it all wonderfully. She loves to stitch Victoria Sampler designs and here is "Biscornuments."



Linda stitched "Get Scared" by Shepherd's Bush and then I laced it and put it in the decorative round box. Linda has a collection now of little round designs that she can pop in and out of the pretty black and ivory boxes that Shepherd's Bush loves to use.



This is just a sampling of what's come through the shop in the last few weeks. Stay tuned because I have lots more to show you!