Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Three little birdies

I have been filling in my evenings stitching these 3 little birdies from HSE. They will be finished out with some chenille ribbon I picked up at LNS last weekend. The ribbon reminded me of my Great Aunts home when I was growing up. When I would spend the night there she would have a chenille bedspread on the bed I slept in. It also had the pom-poms all the way around the edge. Even at 5 or 6 I must have loved textures because I recall petting it and playing with the knap until I would fall asleep.It was an old cinder block house and was always cold so I'm sure the fur off the bedspread was keeping me warm in my mind. Who knew something as simple as a ribbon could recover so many good childhood memories?


Not sure why these pictures vary so much in size. All three bird are small. 2X3 or so but the computer saved them all different. 


I still have a couple of days off for the holidays but my mom is here and there will be no rest for the weary. Shopping, cooking and errands to run with her and then back to work on Thursday. I believe the tree is coming down today as well. Getting things back to normal around here. Hope everyone had a nice Christmas and made some fun memories.


Thanks for visiting,
Pam

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Goodies Galore



First up is the Winter Wonderland Exchange , above is what I sent to Vicky L and below is what I received from Cheryl.Peppermint Twist is the ornament, silks, over dyes, great chart and more.
As always it was a great exchange, if you are wondering about them I would highly recommend this group. Lainey and Colleen host a wonderful exchange and you feel safe sending and receiving.

The other day was a rough one for me. I got sick and had to stay home a few days, my step-daughter who was doing so well decided it was too much to live with boundaries and went back to a place that can be dangerous for her. (keep her in your prayers-Tiffany) and then I had a family member come for a few days in the middle of all of that.I could not go shopping still because I was sick and have literally no gifts under the tree. I had just about had it when I opened the front door to find a wonderful surprise. Teresa sent me a wonderful Christmas gift with some very thoughtful gifts. A devotional book, soup mix(YUM!), Sees chocolates ( more YUM), a personalized tin of tea with strainer, and a frogger, bead counter and fob that you cannot see well in the picture(sorry) but they are breathtaking.  
Then yesterday was my first day back at work after 4 days off unplanned. It was a bit rough on an old girl to say the least. I found a lovely card from Belinda which also contained a wonderful snowflake ornament. Blogger is not letting me turn it. So delicate and pretty.
So just when you think life is not being too kind, in comes the stitching world so save the day and make life much more enjoyable. It has been a most blessed 2011 because of blogland and all the friends I have made here. You keep me motivated to stitch and encourage me in so many ways.Thanks to Nataly for getting me blogging. (take a picture of the menorah with candles glowing please) That is a beautiful menorah.

Happy Holidays,
Pam

Saturday, December 17, 2011

MAP Complete!

I came up with yet another stitching acronym. MAP, this will stand for Medium A$$ Project in my little world. I completed Dandelion Sampler today, a MAP. It isn't quite large enough for a BAP but still a bit larger than most of the projects that catch my eye. As usual it looks much better in person and I doubt the picture shows the detail. I had it all compete Thursday except for about 3 inches of beads I decided to put on the outside border. Of course this required a trip to the LNS to recover the beads. Glad Mill Hill doesn't drop beads the way some of the over-dye thread makers drop colors or I would have had to re-bead the entire border. This leads to another saga, I need a framer. I have not been happy with a framer in town in many moons for needlework. Suggestions welcome if you know of someone in Birmingham, AL area.


I'll post stash enhancement later. DH is hope sick today and well, some things should be done in private. Let's just say I heard the call of some Belle Soie silks for another DT chart, Linen and Lace from 1998. (still stuck in the 90's but they are really great charts and fun to stitch) Amazing R&R green fabric to stitch it on too. A few other must haves but I'll just tease you for another post. 


Hope you are all ready for Christmas. (we are not) I feel behind but the kids are gone this week and hopefully we can get this end of shopping completed after work this week. My mom is coming up to sign on a little lake place and in full panic that she hasn't done any shopping. It will be an interesting week. Be careful traveling and enjoy your family time. You can stitch after the visits to de-stress. (at least that is what I'm telling myself.


Thanks for stopping by,
Pam

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

All lite again



My husband was able to find white lights on the side of town where he works so we were able to redress the tree and get all festive again. I was glad that saga came to an end. The tree really could have used another 100 lights but they only had 6 boxes at the store where he was and so I felt lucky to have just enough for a decent showing. 

I am on the final band of the Dandelion sampler. I stitched one tiny section of the band last night and called it quits. Starting to get a cold and my nose would not stop running.Hoping to show it all stitched no later than Thursday this week so I can feel like I got a little something done.The weekend slipped away from me with no real stitching. It doesn't count when you have to take out what you put in. :(

Thanks for stopping by,
Pam

Thursday, December 8, 2011

not at all happy

I am sitting by the fireplace in my stitching chair working on a sampler, feeling all happy because I am actually finding time to stitch. When I sit down I am looking at the above photo. Then after an hour or so I look up and it is all dark. I ask the kids who turned off the tree. They all look at me like I am nuts and deny even being in the same room with said tree. Then I get up to investigate and the sugre protector is still working. I start trying to figure out which strand of lights is bad. ALL of them are not working. So now I am going to have to pickup lights on the way home from work the next day. My husband was off yesterday so I sent him looking for lights-white as I have blue, silver and white ornaments.He went to Lowe's and Wally-world and said they are sold out of lights. I went to 7, that is SEVEN different stores looking for lights in the very damp and cold night on my way home looking for lights. Miles and miles of colored lights and not a single white light in the place unless you count the 50 boxes of 20 lights they had at Dollar General.So I went from a lovely completely decorated tree with draping silver ribbon topper to this.....
Still lovely because I love the color pallet but no decorated tree.Last year we past on a tree because of the death of my Father just before the holidays and the year before we passed because we were traveling to the mountains to see family.This was my first year to have a tree in my new house with all the pretty lights and glitz and glamour of Christmas. UGH!


So tonight on the way home I will either stalk down a lighted tree hopefully on sale(I hate to pay full price of anything) or go to another area of town looking for lights. I am nothing if not persistent. Probably the most common word used to describe me. 


On a Quest,
Pam 

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Hallmark Channel Movies

Is any one else finding themselves addicted to these silly Hallmark Channel Christmas movies? It is almost like a strange event. You know you are getting drawn into them, they are beyond predictable and yet you watch and stitch to the warm fuzzy feeling they leave you with every time. Save me from myself. I actually recorded one I was in the middle of the other day when I had to leave to pick up the kids. Can anyone explain this strange phenomena? 


Enough of that, It is wrestling season which means 14 hour Saturdays and sometimes Friday nights late are filled with sweaty boys in a gym and bug eyed, exhausted parents who would rather be at home. One of his teachers described watching the boy wrestle as watching a box of puppies one time and it is still the best description I have heard.What I like best about it is that I can stitch without worrying about the chores at home.True silver lining don't you all agree? I was able to do 5 bands of the above sampler this past weekend, leaving just 4 and the completion of the border. 


Hope everyone slows down and enjoys the holiday season,
Pam