Happy Friday

I have no new finishes. Since finishing Christmas Elf Fairy, I have stitched very little. I've stitched a little more on LK GIVE DoubleFlip, and have stitched a little more on the large project from my recent Myrtle Beach retreat.

Tonight I will stitch my signature on Christmas Elf Fairy and give her a good pressing, for tomorrow morning she gets dropped off at LNS for framing. I also will leave for framing Shepherd's Bush "Christmas Is Love" that I stitched back in December.

While eating a late lunch at my desk (at work) an hour of so ago, I was surfing around the web. Browsing through the various websites, I realized something, and with this realization, have concluded that I have LOST MY MIND. Since finishing Christmas Elf Fairy (my first Mirabilia), I find myself wanting to stitch other Mirabilia's. I have already purchased 3 additional limited addition "Fairy" kits and have the "Christmas Tree 2007" kit. These are relatively small in size (compared to most other Mirabilia designs - like the "mermaids"). And, what, do you ask, what do I want to stitch? All of a sudden, I want to tackle a LARGE Mirabilia project. And which Mirabilia project have I decided upon? One that I purchased several years ago .....



The Lady of the Flag
- Design Size: 340 x 170 stitches (21 1/4" x 10 3/4" on 32 ct)
- 8 packages of beads

I have other large projects that I'd like to work on. I have 1 large project that is currently a UFO (that I want to get back to working on sometime soon). Why oh why do I suddenly want to start a really large Mirabilia project? As I mentioned earlier, I think I've lost my mind. For those that know me, you'll proabably agree.

I'm actually going to pull the pattern out tonight, pull the DMC colors needed so I can decide what kind of fabric to use.

Hugs to all. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. I have a concert later tonight and a dixieland gig tomorrow afternoon. In between playing music, I'll hopefully get a little stitching done this weekend.

WOOHOO!!!!! She's finished.....

Took longer than I thought, but I was determined to finish her before going to bed. I put the last bead in a couple minutes past 2am. Only thing left is to add my signature (I can do that after I've had some sleep).

This is officially more beads than I have ever added to a project. I did a rough count, there are approximately 480-490 beads. The photo is a little fuzzy and you can't see all the beads, but believe me, they are all there.

I hope everyone likes her. This was my first Mirabilia .... now I can say "I have stitched a Mirabilia". :-)

I have pictures to share...

First, here is the small project from Susan Greening Davis from my Stitching Retreat in Myrtle Beach March 14-15:



The zipper bag is a small mesh bag, covered in fabric. The class project has all specialty stitches except for the backstitched words. The words didn't come out too clearly in the photo... the words are "A threads tail is never long enough". I added some buttons and attached it to the zipper bag. It turned out so cute.

Next is Bent Creek February Snapper:



I'm stitching them in 4 rows of 3. I stitched February first since it was center of the top row. I still need to attach the snaps.

Then I switched gears to Lizzie Kate. In the last week, I've stitched LOVE and REMEMBER from the 2008 Lizzie Kate DoubleFlips. Here they are:



I've started GIVE below those two. But then I decided to rotate back to Mirabilia Christmas Elf Fairy. I haven't shared a picture of her in a while. I have a discount coupon from my LNS that expires the end of April and want to use the discount on getting this and a couple of other pieces framed. Last night I finished the whisper thread stitching (yipee!!!). Only thing left is the beading and the backstitching. Here's what she looks like tonight:



My goal is to have her finished by this coming Sunday.

What's going on other than stitching? Work has been busy, busy, busy. The dixieland band has a gig coming up on April 19. I'll be making my "singing with a band" debut that day. I've sang with various chorus groups from grade school through college, but until now, have never sang with a band. I'm the banjo player with the dixieland group, but recently started singing a few vocals. I'm having so much fun performing with this group.

North Carolina weather has been all over the place lately. This week has been the roller coaster the weatherman predicted this past weekend, nice one day, chilly and rainy the next. It's been rainy today. Tomorrow (Friday) is supposed to be beautiful and around 78 degrees. The great news is that this area of NC has gotten several batches of rain during the last month or so. We're not out of the drought yet and water restrictions have not been relaxed, but the local water source (lake) has risen quite a bit over the last month or so. Yipee!!!

I hope everyone has had a great week this week. And hope everyone has a wonderful weekend planned.

Following in recent footsteps....

My dear friend Ruth has posted recently how she has stayed up very late into the morning stitching, or reading, or watching TV. I have done this tonight. I was awake and making great stitching progress and kept stitching. I finished RR piece I was working on and then got out Bent Creek Monthly Snappers and continued working on February. I recently finished March Snapper for a Society RR rotation, but stitching on this for the RR made me decide to go ahead and get my Monthly Snappers patterns out and stitch them for me also. I started with February (I'm doing 4 rows of 3 and February is center of top row). I've finished everything except filling in the middle of the heart. Hopefully will finish it tomorrow night and will post a picture.

Ok, it's a little after 2:45am. I have to go to work in about 4 1/2 hours...guess I should get some sleep. Good night all.

Happy Easter to everyone

I hope everyone has had a nice Easter weekend. I have had a quiet weekend. I had no musical obligations for Easter this year. I stayed up late Friday night stitching so I slept in Saturday morning. I did stitch a few hours Saturday, inbetween getting laundry done. Today, Sunday, I've been cleaning and straightening up in the kitchen and will soon start making a cheesecake (cream cheese is sitting out currently). I'm also watching The Ten Commandments on DVD. Yes, it was on TV last night on network television, but I do not have the patience to sit through it with commercial interruption. I picked up a copy on DVD several years ago and usually watch it every Easter weekend. Watching it is an Easter tradition for me.

For stitching, I'm almost finished with a RR piece. Should finish it tonight and get it mailed tomorrow. I need to go through my stash and pick out a snowman for another RR piece which I'll start soon. I also want to get back to the beach projects from my stitching retreat last weekend at Myrtle Beach. One project was finished at the beach (I owe you a picture). Another small project I should be able to finish in the next few days. That leaves the larger project that will take more time. I'll take some pictures and share in the next day or so.

Ah, The Ten Commandments got to the "intermission" (end of DVD disc 1). Time to put in disc 2 and wander back to the kitchen to start making the cheesecake. The cheesecake I'm making is "Guinness® Chocolate Cheesecake" (recipe from www.allrecipes.com). One of the guys in my department at work found the recipe and requested it for his birthday. His birthday was a few weeks ago, but I told him I would make the cheesecake eventually. So, off to start melting chocolate and beating cream cheese. (Anyone want to come over for a taste test?)

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted...

It's been over a month since I've posted...shame on me. Life has been busy as usual. Work is always busy. And rehearsals continue and I've had a few concerts in the last few months.

I have been stitching some, not as much as I would have liked. Here are some photos of some recent finishes.

First, here's a Christmas Tree ornament (first ornament stitched for 2008). This was from a class at my LNS. The design is by my LNS owner. The tree is made up of various rows of specialty stitches.



Next are the squares I stitched for Fair and Square round 5. It's Valerie Pfeiffer's "Christmas Chick". The backstitched cardinals on my signature square are from a Jeanette Crews Designs book titled "Winged Things".



Next is Bent Creek "March Blows" Snapper. This is square I stitched for the "Society of Friends" Round Robin I'm in.



And, finally, a couple of pictures from my trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina this past weekend. The trip was for a stitching retreat my LNS owner does each March. There's a shot from the balcony of the room I was in, and another shot from outside the conference room area:





I need to take pictures of the stitching projects from the stitching retreat, 1 project is done and the other 2 are in progress.

I hope everyone is having a great week so far.

Happy Wednesday everyone....

Is it the weekend yet? Sorry for my lag in posting. Work has been so busy the last couple of weeks. I don't have any finishes for February yet, but I have been stitching a little here and there (not as much as I would have liked). I have been working on a couple of RR pieces. And for a few days last week, I rotated back to Mirabilia Christmas Elf Fairy a little (she had been rotated out for a few weeks while I was working on other projects). For Christmas Elf Fairy, all that's left is to finish the Whisper thread stitches, attach the beads, and the backstitching. I started working on the whisper thread, which I saved for last for the x-stitching, end of last week, have about 1/2 of it done. I hope to work on her more this coming weekend, might even get her done ... woohoo!!! I also need to get started on my Fair&Square piece. I have the pattern selected, just need to lay the threads across some fabric colors to choose the fabric I'll use.

Pictures coming soon, I promise.

What I have been doing during the last couple of weeks is buying new stash. Like I need more stash????

From Down Sunshine Lane, I bought:
- Mirabilia: Thanksgiving Harvest Fairy kit
- Mirabilia: Easter Fairy kit
- Dragon Dreams: There's Magic In My Needle (so cute)
- Valerie Pfeiffer: Christmas Chick
- Valerie Pfeiffer: Chorus Line
I think something else I'm not remembering at the moment.

Then, got in the mood to look for some Breast Cancer Awareness patterns or kits, and found and bought the following exclusive kits from Elegant Stitch:
- Blue Ribbon Designs: With All Your Heart
- Little House Needlework: Where There is Life There is Hope

Incase you are interesting in purchasing these or other Elegant Stitch projects where all proceeds are donated to breast cancer organizations, please visit Elegant Stitch Pink Charity page.

And finally, I was browsing the other day at The Silver Needle, and ordered this Silver Needle exclusive Just Nan project:


I had never seen this until last week, and have to have it before they were all gone. I ordered some other Patriotic items from The Silver Needle's Patriotic section also.

I guess if you can't find time to stitch, we can always shop!!!