Spooky Hollow Finish

Happy Valentine's Day! Let's see, I've not been back since November so a quick recap is in order. Thanksgiving was wonderful, went to my sis's house and visited with everyone-same for Christmas. She and her husband are great to host it for us. Wonderful company and food. My husband lost a friend of his in the line of duty on New Year's Eve. His loss will forever be felt by family, friends, co-workers, and the community at large.

On a lighter note, my son just took his ACT and is taking the SAT in March.  He's researching colleges, and I don't think we're ready for all this!  Yes, we knew it was coming, but it really sneaks up on you, doesn't it?  YIKES.

Otherwise, we've just been working and doing some cleaning out and fixing up of our little house. Just some repainting, etc. at this point. It'll be good to get it all done. Speaking of all done-I finished Spooky Hollow without the border. Yes, I did say that I wanted to finish it properly. But guess what? I'm taking a page out of a fellow stitcher's book and saying "I didn't do it and I don't feel guilty either!" LOL. Think of me what you will (you're probably right, whatever it is!). I looked at that border and thought "Do I really want to spend time stitching this??!" The overwhelming answer was
"NO!".

Spooky Hollow

With Thy Needle and Thread

28 ct. Picture This Plus Mello

Regular DMC floss

So, there we go.  All done.  Now I'm finishing up the Shepherd's Bush Green Snowman-he's over there to the right in my sidebar.  He's nearly done.  Have you seen the new Gray Snowman?  Oh, I think I'm going to have to have him!

Isn't he adorable?  And I love that little house too! All of those snowmen are so cute.  I think I need blue and purple as well.

We put a bird feeder up, so I'll leave you with a pretty pic of one of my favorite birdies.

 Until next time,
 

Finishes and Frames

Well, hello!  Um, pay no attention, please, to the date of the last post.  Deal?  I've done many fun things this past year, and have recorded none of them here.  Shameful, I tell you!

Since I last left showing a peek of Fa La La, maybe I should update him, eh? Here he is, all finished and pressed. Don't know what I'll do, but probably frame him somehow.

Shepherd's Bush - Fa-La-La

I think he turned out pretty cute. LOVE that button hat too! I also had been working, albeit very slowly, on Spooky Hollow by With Thy Needle and Thread. Very sad and slow update below! I adore this design.  It's got a border that doesn't look very fun, but I'll persevere and finish it properly.

Spooky Hollow - With Thy Needle and Thread

Just yesterday, I went and picked up a project from the framer, In Stitches. Here is my framed Blackbird Designs project.

With My Needle - Blackbird Designs

I hope everyone is doing well. My blog feed shows so many beautiful and wonderful projects being done out there! I need to find some time to catch up with everyone and get some inspiration.  I've done some designing, but not much stitching, as evidenced here.  Maybe I'll get my act together this coming year?  I have a few things to figure out on Blogger, so that will keep me busy updating for a while.  Until next time, 

Shepherd's Bush Fa La La

November is well upon us, and I'd rather not talk about Halloween. Shocking as it might be, I'm over it for a while! So, I'm not even posting anymore pics of it and will move right along towards Christmas. A couple weeks ago, I made a trip to Hershey PA for the weekend to do nothing spectacular. Ate, slept and started a new project. I brought my little Fa La La Sheep that I'd bought the year before, but sadly there is no needlework show at Hershey anymore. And no shops whatsoever!!

Shepherd's Bush Fa La La

He is super sweet and he'll have a little striped hat when he's done. I've already begun on the tree that is to the right of him, but I'll update that next time. I'm working so much there is precious little time for stitching.

I'll be honest, this year has been a whirlwind of crap. Lots of good things to be sure, but you know how the few really stressful things can take over? It's been that kind of year. The kind of year where you say to yourself, "Girl, something's gotta give!" But then I think that I have a great deal to be thankful for as well, so why am I complaining, right? Blah! I have a very sweet friend who recently lost her mom, and my troubles don't compare in the least to what she is going through.

Then, there's my blog friend Donna, over at DaisyGirl Stitching and she's my new inspiration. She just amazes me with her spirit and personality. I need to follow her example and get my act together!

Until next time friends, I hope you have lots of time for stitches!

Happy October & Shepherd's Bush Little Witch!

Oh man. I'm so excited it's almost Halloween! This is my absolute favorite time of the year. I love Summer too, but Fall is just where it's at for me. I always have big plans to clean out things and scrub up the house and Fall is a time of introspection for me.

My mom and I recently had some needlework framed. She framed La D Da's Rain Rain, which I made for her quite some time ago. And I framed my Shepherd's Bush Little Witch. I was a bad witchy and never finished the bottom row of pumpkin blossoms. It looked too fussy for my patience level at the time and I somehow don't miss it. It looks great when I see it finished on someone else's--I was simply too lazy to do it for myself. And I forgot to sign the sweet little thing too! Dangit! I'm so happy with it. It just came out gorgeous. The man who framed it actually picked out the mat and the frame. Very intuitive.  I'm sorry for the bad pics, but it's impossible to photograph a framed piece with glass!

We've also decorated for Halloween. I just love pulling all my stuff out and putting it where it was last year. Hey, when it works, it works, right? One of the most fun things that my husband and I do is to go out to breakfast and spend the better part of the morning hunting for a few new things to add to our collection. Every year I say "We don't have any more room!", and every year, we pick up a few more pieces. Ha.  But we made these beauties by hand!  They are each about 9 feet tall.

And he's a staple every year in our upstairs bedroom window.

Has anyone else suffered the loss of a local bookstore? Border's closed and I went on a major book shopping spree this summer. You'd have thought it was the last time I'd ever see a book. But a new Books A Million opened up, so I'm good. It's really a beautiful store, as it took over another book store that closed. They've really done a great job and it's not warehouse-y at all. I just love it. I also bought a simple Nook E-Reader. I love that thing. It will never replace books for me, but it's just another way to enjoy reading.

I hope everyone enjoys the upcoming holiday!  I know we will--we always do!
 

Want to see some Moonflowers?

Would you like to see a beautiful Moonflower from my garden?  I tried these for the first time this year and so far, I'm enchanted with them!  What a great reason to go out into the warm summer night - to sit and admire these lovely things that appear as the sun goes down.

First, they become these gorgeous swirly pods.

Then the pod starts to slowly open (this is looking down the vine from my upper deck)

Then, it opens a bit more.

Then you are rewarded with the most magnificent, large, beauty of a flower!  I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying these.

Have you seen this wonderful new design?  I'm not much on finishing, but something about this just appeals to me.  Gee, it couldn't be because it's Halloween now, could it?  It's from With Thy Needle and it's a must have for me.

I hope everyone is working on great things and looking forward to Autumn.  It really will be here before we know it and I'm looking forward to this one more than I have in a long time!  Some difficult family business is out of the way and we are looking ahead and not behind!  Love and peace to you all!

Sticking a Toe in the Water

Not real water anyway. We didn't head to the beloved beach this year. Turns out my furbaby Baxter is diabetic and he kind of ate up (no pun intended) all our beach money this year! No problem though. He's all regulated now and we're back on track for an awesome vacation next summer.

So, I've been wondering why I got turned off from blogging for so long. I think I just couldn't keep up. There are so many great ladies blogging out there. I was feeling so much pressure to respond to all the great blogs in my reader, and you know what? I just can't, lol. I simply couldn't do it. And I always say I understand if people don't leave comments, because sometimes, it's so overwhelming. At least it is for me. Anyone have any advice in that arena? I'm all ears!

I've not bought any stitching for so long and I'm enjoying getting caught up on what's out there--though I think we all know that I could never live long enough to stitch what's in my stash anyway. But I still love looking. I have begun stitching again, albeit very slowly. I worked more at my "real" job this past year and have some other things going on that just took time away from stitching. I don't like it, but that's the truth.

Anyone else HOT? In my neck of the woods it's 11pm right now and the heat index is still 100. I felt like my face was going to melt off today. I was out for a bit, but to be quite honest, I couldn't deal with being out in the heat for more than a few minutes. It's brutal.

So, like I said, I'm just sticking my toe in right now. I need to get caught up on some stitching and post some updates. Let's see if I can keep to my goal to post more than twice in one year, eh?

I hope everyone is up to some stitch goodness. I have so much to catch up on and look at. Enjoy your weekends, stay cool, and love one another. Thanks for peeking in!

What I did this Fall-Lancaster PA, Amsterdam, Holland and Adam

Well, I've been absent a while. That's mostly because 2010 was a lost year for me as far as stitching goes. Back in October, my mom and my sis and I went to Lancaster for the needlework show. The city was nice, and it didn't rain every single second of the trip like it did last year. I did buy a few things, but was overall disappointed with the show. I know the individual vendors work very hard, but there were even fewer this year it seemed. Apparently, no more needlework shows in Lancaster, so this was the last year for us.

Halloween was great. I broke tradition and went with Bride of Frankenstein this year.

Now for November. November was so fantastic, I barely have words to describe. I made arrangements in September to go and MEET ADAM LAMBERT in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Ha! Yep, I did. Craziest thing I have ever done in my entire life. The opportunity arose and I couldn't say no. I went for 2 days, BY MYSELF, but the overall trip took 4 days. The concert was to be November 24, 2010 at the Paradiso in Amsterdam, and I held a VIP backstage meet and greet pass. Unbelievable. So, here's a couple pics from my trip.

The VIP meeting was incredible and I met some really great people. I wish I could do it again. On my first day there (be damned the jet lag!), I made a full day of it and took a canal boat tour and went to the Anne Frank House. Incredible, the whole thing. Here's a few pics of concert night. The building is the Paradiso, where the concert was held. Then of course, there's Adam in the beginning number. Finally, I had to take a self portrait that night, because he said he loved my eye makeup. Now, people...when Adam Lambert says he loves your eye makeup, THAT is a compliment, lol.  Of the three Glam Nation Shows I saw last year, Amsterdam was the one that rocked the most.  Seriously, it was over the top, insane.

And then this of course.

I hate that my face looks all squishy, but it was squished in that moment, and you know what? I LOVED every second of it. :-)  Remember the scene in "A Christmas Story" where Ralphie goes to the top of the mountain to sit on Santa's lap?  They swirl him around, sit him down, he gets all goofy and then POOF, they send him down the slide?  Yeah, it was a bit like that.  Come to think of it, it was almost exactly like that!

Don't know what happened to me in 2010! Every time I turn around, I'm promising to stitch more, and then I never do.  I want to do so much, however this past year had me occupied with other things.  Here's to more stitching, hopefully! I really hope everyone is stitching away, or whatever you wish to be doing, and making lots of new goals for the New Year. Maybe I'll post later this week a few items I got at Lancaster. Honestly I haven't purchased hardly anything!

p.s. Hey, did they do something weird to Blogger in the past few months?  Seems I had to size my pics really strangely in order to get them all to be full and not cut off!

Remembrance

“Time is passing. Yet, for the United States of America, there will be no forgetting September the 11th. We will remember every rescuer who died in honor. We will remember every family that lives in grief. We will remember the fire and ash, the last phone calls, the funerals of the children. “
- President George W. Bush, November 11, 2001


Please, never forget.

Otherwise Engaged.....

I so have not been stitching. Yeah, I know, I promised. But Summer kind of got all busy on me, and I haven't made much time for it at all.

I saw Adam, again, in concert this past Friday. This one was even MORE incredible than the first one I went to back in June. My mom bought me a new camera just for the occasion! My sister and I were right up front, with only one or two people in front of us. Unbelievable. The whole night was a glorious adventure.

Adam has had my heart from day one, as anyone who has been following this blog for any amount of time knows. To see him TWICE this summer has really just been an incredible experience. My husband fully supports this obsession, which I'm very thankful for. :-p

Oh, and in between, we also saw The Black Eyed Peas! WOW, it was like a club party up in there, multiplied by 100!!! Before this summer, I had nearly forgotten how wonderful it felt to feel your heart and stomach pounding to the beat of great music, as loud as it can be, in person. It's addictive really.

I hope you guys are settling in for Fall and wrapped up Summer nicely. My boy is now in high school and it's a whole new ball game for us. Work will start for me soon, and Halloween is well on it's frightening way!

Cleaning out and cleaning up is high on my list of priorities for Fall. I just feel like I need to. For some reason, I don't get the Spring cleaning bug - it's definitely Fall for me. And I do have lots more to do before the harvest season. Do you?

Have a wonderful week, whether you stitch or not!

Beach, Stash, and Bubblings from the Cauldron!

Beach is over again? It was fun while it lasted. Just a few pics below. I need to live there I tell ya.
I'm really in my happy place when at the beach. The fox photo was taken behind an amusement park. There were lots of them back there, and it was a real treat to catch them watching everyone. It was late at night and they were right under the lights, just hanging out!

Boardwalk and amusement park pics - also a view from our condo.

I bought so little stash this year. I decided I really need to concentrate on what I have, but I did give in to temptation for these. In case you can't see it, they are Plum Street Samplers Hare's Christmas, and Brightneedle's Under the Sea here.....

And Blackbird Designs Bittersweet Moon, Cricket Collection's Regatta, and Plum Pudding's Bridget Bishop here.

Finally, a little sneak peek of what I'm stitching now. It's a new design and I hope to have it done in the next couple of weeks. That'll be a record for me I know. I think I have the name for it, but I'll decide for sure when it's done.


Does anyone know what the heck is up with the Japanese and Chinese language comments I have on my blog? Is it spam? Are they really comments? I notice that someone likes to just put random quotes. There are more of these every time I make a post and I'm not getting it. The commenters don't appear to have "real" blogs, and the curiosity is killing me, lol. If you have any tips, please do share!

Until next time, have a fabulous stitchy week and I'll be back soon with a sneak peek update! Thank you for taking the time to read my blog!

Me, Adam, and Fireworks

OK, so I know it's 4th of July and all - well, actually the 5th. And as grateful as I am to live in the land of the free, home of the brave, I also cannot seem to set aside thinking about where I was last Sunday, the 27th. I spent the evening with:

...mmm hmmm. Yep, I spent the evening with Adam Lambert. And it was everything I thought it could be, lol. His CD is incredible, and hearing those songs right from his lips was perfection. Oh yeah, I know I'm like a schoolgirl over everything Adam, and he did not dissapoint. At all.

I took that photo myself, that's how close we were - maybe 10-15 feet from him! In fact, he was so fabulous, I'm going again in August! Time for another can of glitter hairspray, people. The only person more glittered up than me in that joint was Adam. :-p No kidding. Wow. I feel now is a good time to mention that my awesome husband accompanied to this concert and he enjoyed it too, though he doesn't really rock out like you'd think. He parties on the inside. Ha.

I have many, many more photos of him, rest assured. :-)

Spent a wonderful day Saturday with my hubs and my awesome kid. Caution: my nose appears larger here than in real life. Maybe not.

Our little town put on a great fireworks show. Luckily, we only have to drive to the top of our subdivision to see it! It's always awe-inspiring to see fireworks on a large scale.

We're looking forward to heading to Ocean City, MD on Saturday and I need to pick out my stitching to take. For some reason, I still haven't felt like stitching - especially my own stuff!! What's up with that? GAH! I want to take something fun, for myself for vacation. I think I'm suffering from severe loss of mojo. Where did my mojo fairy go for goodness sake? She needs to come back and sit on my shoulder, very soon. Stitching makes me so happy and relaxed, so why is it that I avoid it sometimes? How stupidly weird is that? Regardless, I will have some stitching hopefully done while out of town and have something to show next time.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer. We have so much more to enjoy. The days are hot, the flags are out, and the insects are eating me up. Have a great stitchy week and enjoy yourselves!

Peeking back in with a new design!

Wow, where did the time go? I've never not updated for this long! As I mentioned previously, I had some family responsibilities to attend to, and that is wrapping up now, thank goodness. :-)

So, here's the design I've recently sent out - Wynter Sampler. And yes, I know the correct spelling of "Winter", but wanted to spell this a little differently. Just for fun, you know? I'm stitching another design now as well. Hopefully this one won't be 6 months in the making (finishing), lol.

So, what's everyone been up to? I've lost touch a bit with blogging and need to get back into it! It keeps me stitching, that's for sure. I'm sure everyone has been doing alot more stitching than I have lately. Gotta get in gear!

Thanks for stopping in and have a safe and stitchy Memorial Day weekend!!