Do you ever feel like a stalker?

Hello dear blogging buddies! Well I guess the title says what's on my mind this morning. I read several blogs , some of which I haven't even gotten around to adding myself as a follower even though I do read them. I leave tons of comments on blogs and usually no reciprecating, which is ok. Sometimes I do that too. Then I have some blogs that I comment on nearly everyday and a lot of times I'll ask questions that never get answered. Makes me wonder if sometimes people think I'm stalking them! LOL! Do any of you ever feel like that? If you are one of those people that I am constantly commenting on your blog, please don't think I'm some weirdo, I just really appreciate your blog! I was a lurker on a few blogs for quite awhile before I ever had my own blog.Then dear Edgar (http://blacksheepsite.blogspot.com/ ) came along and gave me the nudge and so I folded and here I am. Anyway...

This morning I played with a cricut. Not the insect, the scrapbooking machine! LOL! I got it last year for Christmas and I hardly ever use it. I'd use it all day long if I had the time and paper though. I made a couple of Christmas cards for our parents this year but other than that I haven't used it much lately. This morning I made a card for a special person and this is it completed except for the inscription. I'm still learning how to match papers but I think I didn't do too bad of a job. The saying on the front is one of my favorites and something we all should live by.

These next two pictures I'm kind of ashamed to show. We had to get a new blind for the living room window. The other one had cracks down the edge and that part of the blind was starting to fall off in pieces. Well as you can tell, we couldn't find the same color as the other two. Or maybe it is the same color and I just don't know it because the older ones need to be cleaned! That's probably it. Anyway I haven't had any curtains up for awhile because I haven't found any that I like . I am really getting tired of looking at a naked window though. Any thoughts as to what to do?

This next picture is of the computer desk in the corner and a glimpse of the entertainment center, if you can call it that. Because of the computer being in the corner, the couch can't be centered on that window. I had a really nice piece of needlework from Hillside Samplings that used to be above the computer. My husband had to put this wrestling figure in the package on the wall. There is also some action figures from a computer game up there too. I got disgusted and took down my needlework. As you can tell, and can probably relate, our taste in decor is total opposite. Then there is that black entertainement center ( I didn't pick it out) that is right smack dab next to the computer desk. If you can't tell what is on that side, there is the panther that my husband did in a ceramics class years ago. There is also shark teeth, and a John Perry shark sculpture , which I am guilty of purchasing for my husband our first Christmas together when we were dating. I can't stand to look at it now. There is also the computer motem and a bunch of other computer related stuff that has a bunch of cords and looks terrible. Maybe it's just the time of year, when we look forward to renewale , that has gotten me in this fit, I don't know.

On to other thoughts somewhat. I have read many blogs lately that have talked about that they are working on organizing and sorting through , and throwing out. I started to use a really good system a couple of years ago that works pretty well if you keep up with it. It's from the flylady ( http://flylady.net/ ) I had left it for awhile back when my vision was really hazy from the iritis and I couldn't see well to do housework. Anyway I have started it again and am on the week of working on the front entrance and dining room zone. Any takers on following along? It would be interesting to see where everyone is on their routine with no judgement.

Well that's enough of my dribble for today.You all take care and have a safe evening celebrating the New Year. Happy New Year!!

'til next time,

Sharlotte

Pardon me but...

Greetings- I thought I'd start this post out with a little humor. I hope you all take it as such and are not offended. I just couldn't resist. This picture is from Celia Rae , courtesy of http://blogaroozer.com/ Just goes to show Queen Elizabeth is just as human as everybody else. As I said , I hope I have not offended anyone. I just got a little chuckle out of it and would have posted it if had been anyone else in the limelight.

Yesterday I posted the wonderful floss tag that I received from Jolene. I neglected to take a picture of the beautiful fabric on the back, so here it is. You may swipe it if you'd like Jolene.
I will see my mom today and I can't wait to show it to her. She'll probably try to take it from me even though she no longer can see to do needlework! LOL!

Here is another beauty I received from Jolene in the exchange.It will make a nice patriotic addition to our game/family room.

I just had to take some stitches the day it arrived. Here is my progress thus far. I just love those little sheep!

I woke up this morning to a blanket of snow on the ground and also on the car. I'll have to beebop it outside to clean it off as I need to use it today. Ugh! I dread going out in the cold but at least I am lucky enough to have a car to use right?

For all you quilters out there that love redwork, and I'm one of them, you should go and visit Alex Anderson's blog at http://alexandersonquilts.com/ . She is giving away her 12 Days of Redwork as a free download. I have really been itching to do another redwork quilt and this will do nicely.I was thinking about how great it would look to have small squares of different red fabrics bordering the redwork blocks and then border the entire quilt the same way, maybe using 2 rows of squares instead of one? Lot's of time to decide. I'll use DMC's 498 for the embroidery. It's my absolute favorite for redwork. I think Alex said on her Simply Quilts show once that it was her's too.

Thank you all for your wonderful comments. It's so nice to be 'visited' by friends!

'til next time,

Sharlotte

**Edited to fix some obvious misspellings.Don't know what I was thinking!**

Long time no post!

Greetings all! I hope you all are doing well! I could hardly believe that it has been since the 18th that I made my last post! One sure can get wrapped up in the busyness this time of year brings! I'd like to start the post off by sharing a wonderful personal exchange I received in the mail yesterday from Jolene! She stitched me this great floss tag! It is perfect and I love all the colors in it, they are so me! The fabric on the back is a paisley print and oh so perfect for the front! She also sent some wonderful fabrics, some wonderful embroidery scissors with a cute little fob, a Shepherd's Bush kit , titled "Stripes", ( yes I had to take a few stitches right away!) and some great chocolates. Those that are pictured are what was left after I had began to scarf them down, and realized I must get a picture before they were all but gone! Thank you so much dear friend, I will treasure it all always!!!

Here is a closer look at Jolene's wonderful work of art! I think the edging is some type of chenille.Anyway, it's really soft and took hours to put on I know!

I have been a little busy working on a sweater for my little great niece. Her name is Jocelyn . She is 4 months old, and just the sweetest little thing. Her older brother, Jaden (20 months old) , is quite jealous of her I think. The other day we were visiting them at my sister's house and while she was holding the baby and feeding her , he began to throw Hotwheels, toys, and anything else he could pick up at my sister. Well that didn't sit well with her so he got sent to bed for throwing cars at the baby and Grandma. Later, my nephew's wife Becca, went in to check on him and she starting yelling, "Oh my God, what did you do? Bobby , I need you, and bring a vacuum!" We knew that didn't sound good. That little stinker had dumped the litter box in his sister's bed and had the floor vent pulled up and was pooring it down the vent! That is one busy boy, that one! Well on to the sweater. I had started it some time back and I'm glad that it is still big enough to fit Jocelyn for a little bit.



Here is a little closer shot. I find it so hard to embroider on something crocheted, so it doesn't look the greatest , but I still think it will do.

Here is another pair of socks that I knitted for my mother-in-law. They got snowed in and still haven't made it up so it may be a while before she gets them!

We all spent Christmas Day at my brother's house this year. He and his girlfriend and their roomate did all of the cooking. A very nice break for my mom.They had everything that you could think of. They insisted that no one do clean up . Just sit and relax they said. Me and another sister snuck off to the kitchen and did the dishes. It was nice to get to talk to her one on one . She and her husband and their family live in Wisconsin where he pastors and they usually can only make it down once or twice a year. Usually when they come down, something major happens with one of his parishioners and he has to go back by himself. They have learned to bring two cars.

Well, we have taken down most of the Christmas decorations and we are going pretty much in full gear toward the New Year. It has been so cold here that hubby says he'll wait to take down the outside lights. I can't say as I blame him. Not only has it been cold, but very windy. We were excited that we had a white Christmas .It was just a blanket of snow, but at least it was some color!

I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week!

'til next time,

happy stitching,

Sharlotte

Homemade Gift Idea #7 Rich Cocoa ( no pictures)

Here is the last of the homemade gift ideas posts as next Friday will be THE day! I am sorry that I am unable to take pictures today but this is easy and you all are creative and can do wonders with it. Here goes.

supplies list:
Decorative container
gift tag big enough to write a few instructions on
decorative ribbon
coffee mugs (optional)
2 lbs. can Nestle's Quick
14 oz. jar of coffee creamer
1 lb. powdered sugar
8-10 quarts powdered milk

Mix all ingredients and add as much cocoa mix as needed to accomodate the jar or container. On the back of the gift tag write the following: Use 1/3 c. for each cup of cocoa, add hot water.

Punch hole in one corner of the tag. Tie ribbon around the top of the container. Slip one end of the ribbon through the hole of tag and scoot the tag to the top and tie on. You're done. You can add a mugs to this gift or even the chocolate spoons from a couple of weeks ago or just give the cocoa. There is an idea for the tag on my Wishing for Christmas blog using a recylced brown paper bag. Just click on the picture at the top to take you to the blog. Enjoy!

Yesterday's post....

Greetings all. I had several comments yesterday about the needlework seeming to be intact . I thought I would try to get a couple of upclose pictures of the damage to it. It still doesn't seem to show it well but I think you tell a little better in these pictures. The front and the side is torn in the linen itself, not just the cording.

In this picture I think you can tell a little better that the 'A' block has holes in it. There is also a mick in the button from one of her teeth.I didn't take a picture of the underneathe side, but there are several places where the wood from the lid is chipped away. I'm glad that it's a quick stitch and I will probably re-stitch it sometime in January when life isn't ( hopefully) so hectic.

btw.... Daisy is doing well outside, it's not too cold .When she looks up at me with that look, it's kinda hard to stay mad . :)

'til next time,

Happy stitching,

Sharlotte

I'm gonna kill me a dog!!!!....

Well ok, I'm not really going to but man when we awoke at a quarter after 2:00 this morning to hearing our son telling her to be quite because of her barking, I wanted to! It was really cold last night so we brought the dogs in ,which we almost never do. Our dog Daisy had started barking in the kitchen extremely loud. We ran into the kitchen and she was barking at the dishwasher.She had managed to turn the dishwasher on and I guess it must have scared her, and she was going ape! Our son already had the camera and was taking pictures of the mess she had been making. Some time back I had posted a picture ( and thank God I took one!) of a basket from Bent Creek that I had stitched. Here is what it looked like.

This is what is left of it after Daisy got a hold of it last night while we were sleeping!

I'm not likely to find another little basket to re-stitch it as Michael's doesn't sell them anymore. At least the local one here doesn't.

Before we went to bed , she had already broken one of my favorite mugs when she whacked it off of the china hutch with her tail! That thing is like a whip I tell ya! She had smacked me with it several times last night and left welts that are still sore this morning!

...and here is the culprit!

We had put up a wooden palet last night to keep the dogs contained from the living room.Good thing we did .Can you imagine what she would have done to the tree?! Everyone would have known what they got for Christmas too no doubt. She'd be packing her bags if she had done that! Well, probably not, but I would have strongly considered it! By the way... she spent the rest of the night outside! It's funny because what little sleep I got after all that, I had a dream that I went to a support meeting for damage dogs do. I met another stitcher there. Can you can who that was Carolyn? Isn't it crazy what we dream?

Well dear blogging buddies, I hope your day goes well. At least may it be better than mine!

'til next time,

happy stitching!

Sharlotte

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree

Greetings everyone! So have you worn yourselves out with all the Christmas hustle and bustle yet? It's such a busy time , but thank goodness it can be very delightful. I went to my sister's annual Christmas Tea and forgot to take the camera! Shame on me! Anyway we had a delightful time. I seen people I knew and met some new ones. The food was wonderful as always. My sister read 'A Cup of Christmas Tea' that she reads every year after everyone has finished eating. If you haven't read that yet, it's a little poem that was turned into a short book.It's a great read and reminds of the importance of the elderly in our lives. We then shared our favorite Christmas memories and traditions and let me tell you, there was barely a dry eye in the house when we were done!

We were at Walgreens not long ago and found the Charlie Brown tree from the Christmas special. We love Charlie Brown and the tree came home to live with us. You can't see it in the picture very well but my husband took some 'pine needles' that had come off of our official tree and sprinkled them along the bottom of the Charlie Brown one to give the same illusion of the one from the show that keeps loosing it's needles. I thought that was cute.Here's our little tree.

I bet I haven't picked up a stitching needle in over a week! I have been busy doing other things to get ready for Christmas . One thing I have been working on is socks for my mother -in-law. I got the first pair done. I get frustrated when the striping doesn't come out the same on both socks. Seems like in order to do that you almost have to unwind the second ball down a long way and start there. Too much of a waste. I wish they could start and end a skein in the same colorway spot! I guess it will be okay though, I know she won't mind. I at least know she likes the colors in them as I had made myself a pair from the same colors and she liked them a lot .

I have removed the playlist from the blog for a bit. I haven't gotten much traffic on the blog lately and was thinking that maybe you all were getting burned out on the music. I may put it back on a couple of days or so before Christmas, we'll see.

Hope you all have a splendid week!

'til next time,

Sharlotte

Attention quilters...

Hello everybody! I am thinking about joining a quilt block swap in 2010. I was wondering if any of you quilters knew of one that involved patterns and fabric from Kansas Troubles . If I can't find one sometime within the next month , I just may create one myself. My idea is I'd like to swap blocks from KT over the next year where swapers would all would wind up with enough blocks for a lap quilt.If anyone knows of anything like this, please point me in right direction.

'til next time,
happy stitching!
Sharlotte

Just to let you know...

I started a blog that I was using as a test run for changing backgrounds and so forth for this blog as I didn't want to goof anything up.I'm getting better at navigating and so forth now. I have decided to keep that blog up and running with recipes and decorating ideas for Christmas.I did a few posts this morning and if you'd like to take a peek , you can find it here: http://wishingforchristmas.blogspot.com

'til next time,
Happy stitching!
Sharlotte

Homemade Gift Idea #6- Cake In A Cup

Greetings all! Here is gift idea #6- Cake in a cup. If you have time, this one would be great to add a cup that you have made yourself at one of those do-it-yourself pottery places.. Most of them is safe to put in a microwave ,but you'd have to ask about it first.If that's not your cup of tea, there are many many cute styles of mugs to choose from on the market. Keep in mind that the recipe makes 1 serving, not an entire cake. NOTE: you'll use chocolate chips for this recipe but I didn't have them on hand for the demo, that's why they're not in the picture.I forgot to buy them, sorry! We make this at home from time to time when we want something a little chocolate but don't really want to bake something.It's not overpowered by sweetness either. Have fun!

Supplies list:

1 very cute coffee mug

1 index card

piece of decorative ribbon

gift tissue or even wrapping paper (tissue works best)

sandwich size self sealing bag

4 tablespoons flour

4 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons Hershey's cocoa

3 tablespoons chocolate chips

1.Place ingredients in the bag.

This is more presentable if you can get the ingredients to 'layer' in the bag.Because of it's size , they probably won't but that's okay.

2. You can place a to and from stitcker or tag on the front of the index card or write 'Merry Christmas' , however you want to decorate the front of the card. On the back you'll write the following instructions:

(Mix dry ingredients in cup, add 1 egg, stir well, 3 tablespoons milk,stir well, 3 tablespoons oil, stir well, vanilla to taste ,stir well. Microwave for 3 minutes ( for a 1000 watt microwave) ,you may need to adjust time if microwave is a different wattage.The cake will rise high but will not spill out of the cup.You can add butter after cooking and let it melt , eat right out of the cup or on a saucer.)

3. Punch a hole in the corner of the index card, place bag inside the tissue and tie at the top. Run one end of the ribbon through the hole in the index card and tie a bow. Place in the cup and you're done!

Hope you enjoy this one!

'til next time,

Happy stitching,

Sharlotte

A little more Christmas

Hello everybody! Just a quick little post this morning to show a wall hanging a made several years back. I can't remember the name of the pattern but it was from a Mc Call's Quick Quilts magazine. I think it was called "O Christmas Tree", but I'm not sure. Doesn't it remind you of " A Charlie Brown Christmas"? That was on ABC last night and we try to always catch it so we watched it last night.

I wanted to leave you today with a little post to visit on a blog. For a holiday chuckle visit: http://lovincomfortknits.blogspot.com/2009/12/holiday-decor.html

"til next time,

Happy stitching!

Sharlotte

Some mail arrives

Greetings all! I received some great mail this weekend from Amy , my partner for the HOE/ HOE II Christmas ornament exchange. She sent me , not one, but two! I've seen the tree before and have thought about stitching it , but I had never seen the santa before. It was a very different and unique finish for him I think. I like them both Amy, thank you!

Well, do you have your shopping done yet? Not me, although I have gotten a start on some socks for my mother-in-law. I am using number 2 Crystal Palace bamboo. I love using them. I had to make a quick trip to yarn store the other day though because I had laid the project down on the floor, close to the edge of the recliner where I thought they would be out of the way. I went into the kitchen to fix myself a cup of cappuccino, came back to the living room and stepped on it. Well, with the needles being bamboo, I broke one of them! I quickly called up the store and luckily she still had a couple of sets and put one back for me to pick up. Carol is always so accommodating.

The other day , I looked out of the kitchen window and there was our crazy dog,Brittney, sitting on a railroad tie that we have along the bottom of the fence. It was so funny that I had to run and get the camera. She does some goofy stuff sometimes. I thought it was cute anyway. We keep the railroad ties along the fence line because she likes to dig a lot . We don't want her crawling under the fence and getting into the neighbor's yard. Our neighbor is a botanist . She and the others she works with are trying to grow plants the are becoming exstinct in our area so that they can transplant and promote more growth. Can you imagine if our dog got over there and dug them all up! Aye-ya-yi !

Thank you all again for all of your nice and wonderful comments! I hope you all get a chance to make a few of the chocolate spoons. They are really great!

'til next time,

Sharlotte

Homemade Gift Idea #5- Gourmet Chocolate Dipped Spoons

Hello everyone! Sorry it's been a while since I have posted a gift idea.If you've been reading my blog , you know why. Today's homemade gift idea is gourmet chocolate dipped spoons. If you've gone to coffee shops or candy stores I'm sure you seen these. They're great and be can expensive.I've seen some be as high as $3 a spoon! When you consider the actual amount of chocolate on each one, that's pretty high. These are great to use in coffee or hot chocolate and make a great little extra something added to a gift basket .If you are giving a package of gourmet hot chocolate or coffee this year as a gift, add a couple of these along with it. They are also a great party favor. Now let's get on with it!






Supply list:

-Sturdy clear plastic spoons- they look the nicest but hey,it's Christmas , you could use green or red
-variety of chocolate candy bars or chocolate chips - I don't recommend the Melties chips as they take way too long to disolve in the cups
-variety of liquid flavorings- if you don't want to use those, use a flavored chocolate such as Ghiradelli or Lindt, they have some great flavored ones
-waxed paper
-lollipop wrappers- can be found in the candy making section of a hobby/ craft store, party store, or grocery store
-ribbon
-crused candy or finely chopped nuts, optional





1. Melt down chocolate. Mix in just enough liquid flavoring to flavor chocolate. Adding too much will cause the chocolate to not harden.

2.Dip spoons into chocolate until the entire bowl part of the spoon is well coated. Place on waxed paper.If desired or needed , you can re-dip the chocolate letting it set between dips until you get the right coverage.If you are re-dipping. BE SURE to dip in the same flavor or you will get mixed flavors. Hey there's a thought for new and interesting flavors.

3.If you want to add extras to the chocolate spoons, you'll need to do so while the chocolate is still wet. This is where you can really get creative. If using a white chocolate , you can take another spoons and dip it into a milk or dark chocolate and while it's dripping from the spoon in a long drip, move it back and forth across the white chocolate to make angled stipes. You can sprinkle on finely chopped almonds, pecans, or walnuts. I think dark chocolate dipped spoon with crushed candy canes sprinkled on top would be yummy!




4. Let spoons set to dry and harden. You can place them in the fridge on the waxed paper if you'd like.

5. Place spoons in the lollipop wrappers and tie with a ribbon. You're done!


Hope you all like this idea. I know you will amaze those you give them to.
"til next time,
happy stitching,
Sharlotte

Some more mail and ornaments

Hello everybody! Yesterday brought another ornament in the mail from the Ties That Bind exchange. My partner was Leeanne . It reminds of a vintage Christmas post card. The fabric is sort of a salmon colored pink which adds to the vintage look.Very nicely done Leeanne!

I got my tree in the kitchen set up. I mainly decorated it with things that you'd find in a kitchen. I used gingerbread men cookie cutters, little tiny candy canes that my sister made me, the cookie and s'more man ornaments that I made, along with other things that would compliment the tree. Yesterday I felt that the tree needed a little something else so ...

... I made this little gingerbread man. I just adore him! You can't see it in the picture very well because of the flash, but his nose is pink and not white like the rest of the 'icing'. I didn't have any garland for the tree but I did have some ribbon with candy on it that I thought would be perfect for it. I also had some Christmas candy fabric that I used as the tree skirt. You can kind of see it in the picture above.

I've been working on ornaments for our own tree in the living room inbetween the stitching for exchanges. This first one is one I'm sure a lot of you recognize from Blackbird Designs. I used a 'B' initial as that is what our last name starts with. The stitching was faster than putting it together!




This next one is a freebie pattern from The Drawn Thread titled 'Home for the Holidays'. I just love how it turned out. I wish I had gotten a closer shot of the beadwork...maybe tomorrow.

This last one is from Little House Needleworks that was in last years JCS ornament issue. I'm usually not keen on religious designs because so many of them seemed to be on the tacky side.Shouldn't something like that be more on the elegant side? I think so anyway and I find very very few I like. I think Diane did a great job with this one.

Well that's it for today. I hope you are able to fit some stitching or other crafting into your life today.It makes the day so much brighter! Thank you all for all your wonderful comments. Keep 'em comin' !

'til next time,

happy stitching!

Sharlotte

December is here!!

Greetings all! Can you believe that it is December already? Christmas is right around the corner! I have alot to do to get ready for it how about you? We've only got a little shopping done. I had planned on putting up my kitchen Christmas tree today but the lights that I was going to use on it stopped working. They were working a couple of days ago when I tested them. I won't be doing the tree today. It will have to wait until tomorrow.Rats! I thought I needed a little something Christmasy for the blog. I scrounged around and found some Christmas songs that I hope you'll like while reading.If not, just turn off the sound. If you like it, turn it up! :o)

I had joined 3 Christmas ornament exchanges and thought I would share some photos on those that I have sent out that have already recieved them.

I stitched one for Leeanne for The Ties That Bind exchange. That lucky duck is going to get two with this exchange! She already had a partner and then when one dropped out, she graciously offered to be my partner so I would have one. Bless her dear heart! The one I stitched for her is Winter Frost from Patricia Ann Designs found in last year's JCS Ornament Issue. I didn't realize until after I had stitched it that I had just the perfect fabric for the back. I should have taken a picture of that. It is a light purplish blue with silver snowflakes and stars.

Here's a little closer shot.

Yesterday I posted a pic of the ornament that Sadie stitched for me. Here is the one that I stitched for her. I stitched Let It Snow from CCN found in that same issue. I modified the pattern to make it into a stocking ornament. I will have to stitch me one too but it will wait until next year.

A wee bit closer peek.

So what are the rest of you working on? Are you making ornaments, pillows, gift boxes, or other things? I'd love to hear from you . Hope you all are having fun with all that the season brings. Well ,with the exception of traffic and searching for a parking space! That's never fun! LOL!

'til next time,

happy stitching,

Sharlotte

A little Christmas decorating & some mail arrives

Hello everybody! First off I must apologize for not posting the handmade gift idea on Friday. I have had lots of things on my mind. We went shopping for some stuff, not Christmas shopping per sey, and the city was so crazy! I have forgot about the Friday posts I guess with the guys being gone and all. I promise I will post this Friday!

I hope those of you that celebrate Thanksgiving, that you had a wonderful one. Ours was slow and easy. We decided to stay home and have our own this year and it was very relaxed. The only things I had to do was make a pecan pie the night before and stuffing the day of. Hubby took care of everything else! Here is the wonderful bird he cooked.

It was a 23lb. turkey and we have lots leftover up in the freezer for other nights.

I also got some wonderful mail. I received this beautiful ornament from the lovely Sadie http://stitchingupastorm.blogspot.com/ It is LHN's Holly & Berries and is so so pretty! She added a very pretty cording with gold and deep red around the edge and she chose the perfect fabric for the back that had cardinals on it. Thank you so so much for the beautiful ornament and for all the hard work! I'll treasure it always my friend!

I dabbled with some ornament making this weekend. I will be making a few others for the little tree in the kitchen. So far I have a cookie and a little s'more man done. Here was the outcome.

Up on the Housetop.... that was the song that was going through my head when I went outside to check on the guys to see how the outside lights were coming along. I brought them out some hot chocolate. It was quite nippy outside while they were putting up the lights. It had started to rain before they got them all up so the rest of the lights will wait 'til later this week when they have a chance.

....and here's the tree. Still have room for ornaments from a couple of other exchanges and the tree will be all set. I just can't get a good closeup shot of the whole shabang so maybe I will take closeups of sections later. We even have a few presents under there already! There're kind of tucked away in the back.

I had wanted to make a tree skirt this year but we couldn't stand to fight the crowds at Jo-Ann's the other day. Hubby thought that a fabric store wouldn't be busy on the day after Thanksgiving! I told him that he must not know women very well and he said that no he didn't . We got there and it was almost wall to wall shoppers. There was a lady there that was practically crying because they wouldn't give her a certain percent off of something she wanted just because she had driven a hundred miles (so she said and no one believed her) to get there. I'll tell ya , the nutcases really come out this time of year don't they?

Well, that's it in a nutshell! Thank you all for all of your nice comments on American Star. Now I just need to figure out a way to finish it.

'til next time,

happy stitching,

Sharlotte

American Star

Hello everyone! Just a quick post to show my finish of American Star from Blackbird Designs. I had most of the stitching of it done for quite some time. I just needed to fill in the background. I finally got around to finishing that part over the last couple of days. I think I will finish this into a stitching box of some sort. For lack of space, I store my stitching and other crafting supplies in the family/game room. Because of that I try to disguise my storage containers with stuff that will fit the room nicely without looking to hodge- podge. I say "try", I'm not quite there yet. It's a small room that is actually an exta bedroom with two entrances. There is no bed in there, just family stuff. The things that stick out like a sore thumb in there are my stackable drawer units. I have no place to put them. I'd take a picture for all of you crafty people so I could get ideas on how to disguise those, but it's such a hideous mess right now, I'd be too embarassed! The projects that I will be focusing on between now and Christmas is getting my winter stitching done and finishing up Alex's quilt.It's a not a Christmas present so no need to worry about him visiting my blog. I may get around to making a tree skirt too that I have wanted to make for some time now. Here's hoping this is the year! I won't be doing quite as much stitching for a while other than that. I need to give my eyes a break, the eye doctor informed me yesterday that the iritis has reared it's ugly head again. I'm not a bit surprised, it's been a real bugger to deal with.

Anyway, here is the American Star.

'til next time,

Happy Stitching,

Sharlotte

Some finishes to share

Greetings all! Well the guys are back from the deer hunting trip so that means I get to use the camera again! Yeah!! For all of those who are wondering, nope ,no deer :( . There is still the muzzle loading season and the atlerless season, so hopefully then. While they were gone I did a lot of decluttering and also I got a lot of stitching done. Since I was excited that I got to have the camera ,I thought I would take some pictures of the things I've stitched. I worked a bit on Alex's flannel quilt too ,but I'll save a picture of it for when I get it done.

First , here is the Be Ye Thankful that I won from Jolene all finished. I decided to finish it in slip on style for a pillow . That way I can stitch other things for other seasons and be able to keep using the same pillow base. The cases will store a lot easier than a ton of pillows.

Here is a little closer look. The camera isn't taking very clear pictures, I think it is getting old.

Jolene is just full of surprises! I went to check my mail the other day and low and behold I find a package from her! Inside was a Pine Mountain Designs pillow sham that I have been wanting for a long time. Even though Halloween had already passed , I couldn't resist stitching it up. These things go so fast, it only took me the part of a couple of days to do. I love the way it turned out! Thanks dear one! I had so much fun with it!

Next is my version of I Love Snow from Bent Creek. The pattern was gifted to me from Dee http://tangledupinsticksandstring.blogspot.com/ She is my Monday great blog shout out today. If you like knitting as well as stitching , you will love her blog. I've enivous of her Catherine socks. I really like Dee's color choices for the nose and cheek better than the pattern colors that I used. I'm thinking about taking those out before getting him into finished form. Thank you so much for the pattern Dee. I loved stitching this little guy!






I also got the Rose Sampler from Little House Needleworks done. I stitched it on some wonderful pink linen from Silkweavers that I recieved from my beCAUSE It's Pink partner. Thanks again Caroline! This was the perfect linen for this. I will make it into a project keeper/ stitching pouch. I have the perfect fabric for it, just got to get it into finished form.

Hope you all had a great weekend! Thanks everyone for commenting on the quilt. I really appreciate it.

'til next time,

Sharlotte