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!