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!!

Woodlawn Plantation Visit

They wouldn't let me take pics! I can totally understand why, however. There were some great original pieces, and as sad as it is, I can see someone taking a pic and ripping it off. :( So, I happily obliged, but WOW are you missing out on the great photos in my head right now! If you live locally (NOVA area), I recommend going if you can. Even if you don't see the needlework, it's a great historical area, and the artwork in the home is magnificent. Read more here: Woodlawn.

What a terrible photo! But you get the idea.

They had a room devoted entirely to Japanese embroidery, and I was captivated by it. The sheen of the silk, the texture, and the movement depicted in the designs was incredible. There was a lady there demonstrating, and I can tell you right now, there's no way am I attempting that. So gorgeous though!

And what's a visit to Woodlawn without a visit to In Stitches? I just love that store. SO many great things to look at. And today was just one of those perfect and crisp clear Spring days, and it made the leisurely shopping that much more enjoyable. I went with my mom and we spent the whole day together and it was really, really nice. I love to have some great quality time with my mom. She's an awesome lady. Smart, funny...hey, I know someone else like that. ;)

Here's what I came home with.

No, it's not you--those ARE craptastic photos. I was off my game today and it was dusk when I got home and I just couldn't seem to get a good photo, lol. Enjoy! I didn't get the latest and greatest designs, but these really appealed to me. I also ordered something, but even they didn't know who the designer was. It's a pretty little series of about 5 trees, one of them has beads. I'll let you know when I get it. I hope everyone is doing great, and I'll be catching up to all of you in the next day or so! Till next time,

Never Too Early for Halloween

This is Jolly Jack, by All Through The Night. Isn't he awesomely cute? He's a must have for me.

Well, this is a kind of drive by post. No updates from me. I'm kind of overwhelmed with work and family stuff and I just am feeling a bit boxed in by it all. Boy, it really puts the whammy on creativity. I truly have no idea how some of these people have full time jobs and do all this cross stitch designing too-churning out charts left and right. I just can't seem to manage, lol. However no fear! My second design is nearly ready to frame and get out there. Meanwhile, I see many things I want to start (or finish!) and I need to focus.

Random thought for this week : Finding old friends via the internet, Facebook, etc. is a wondrous thing. I mean, I went to bed this week thinking "internet reunions are AWESOME!" If you haven't had one, I highly recommend it. Nothing like finding those few people in your life that never failed you, and never failed to make you smile. Welcoming them back into your world again is such a great feeling, even if it's only occasionally or through email. If you're lucky, you can reconnect over lunch and get to know one another's families. Sometimes, life is really good.

I hope everyone out there has a great stitching week, and please, no one remind me that it is the ides of March and I've yet to have a finish, OK? :-p Until next time my friends,

Want to LAUGH hard?

So, it's not like me to post twice in one week, but I'm telling you, this is THE funniest commercial I've seen in forever and had to share. Of course, not stitching related, but if you want to laugh really hard, just watch.

I Survived My Trip, oh and some stash.....

Back from NY and had a blast. Here's what we did in two and a half days: Ripley's Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Empire State Building, Top of the Rock (Rockefeller Center), Staten Island Ferry, Ground Zero, Bodies Exhibit, dinner in Little Italy, The Guggenheim (hated it!), and Museum of Natural History. WHEW. It was so much fun. We stayed at the Westin in Times Square and it was so comfortable and clean and just awesome.

The plane ride...well, I apparently was the only one crying during takeoff (so says my sister), but I don't believe it, lol. No crying on the way home though, so I'm pretty proud about that. Both flights were great and without incident. It was so smooth getting into and around the airports and on the flights. I was surprised. I have hope I may go somewhere else on a plane someday. Yaaayy me! Here's proof I was there:

Ground Zero-lots of construction happening!

Overlooking the Hudson

View from Top of the Rock

I have lots more pics, but most are from the Metropolitan Museum and the Natural History Museum. I didn't think you'd want tons of Greek Statuary and funerary steles, so I'll save those! But I must say, it's the most magnificent art museum I've ever been too. The people we came into contact with, in all our ventures, were the friendliest, most helpful, ever. With the exception of the creepy guy in the Lincoln Town Car who tried to pick us up and take us who knows where--uh NO WAY buddy!!, I highly recommend NYC!

OK, enough vacation ramblings. I picked up a few stash items this past weekend from my LNS, and here they are:

I WILL have stitching updates very soon. Don't you hate when people say "I've been busy"? I mean, whose not busy, right? So I hate saying that. Life gets in the way of stitching sometimes, and that's where I've been the past week. I hope your week has gone better and you've been more productive than me in the stitchy arena! Thank you all for your comments and encouragement-it helped so much! Until next time,

Uh Oh Snow!

There's a Winter Storm Warning for my area. We're supposed to be getting 16-24 inches between Friday and Saturday. I picked a great weekend to fly to NYC, didn't I? I haven't flown since 1988---FOR A REASON. I'm terrified, lol. My sister talked me into a whirlwind trip and even extended it for a day because I was going. The woman would NOT leave me alone until I said yes. Everytime I said "No", she said "So, that's a yes??!!" Wish me luck, people. It's only an hour flight, but holy moly.....we leave Friday morning at 9:15am, and come back late Sunday night. I should have asked my doc for a tranquilizer!

And speaking of SNOW, here's a tiny more progress on Green Snowman:

And here's a little sneak peek at a project that is almost ready. I'll have it done next week sometime, when I get back. I WILL be coming back--right? Sure, right, of course Tammy. Don't be riduculous! It's not like a flock of geese ever brought down a jet! And no one would ever get on a plane with an underwear bomb!! Don't be silly!! GAH!

Enjoy your weekends, and do something fun (stitching included)! Until next time,

Shepherd's Bush Green Snowman, etc.

What? You thought it was done? *insert maniacal laughter here* Nah, just a little progress, that's all. Just wait though. When work is done April 1, things are gonna bust loose up in this joint. :p

I've made my peace with the loosey goosey fabric. I'm not pulling tight at all, yet still have the dreaded holes. Guess what? I'm gonna live with it. I like him so far. Now, if I can just finish him before he melts this Spring.....

I picked up a little Trail Creek Farm chart. It's a witch. It was a given. I posted about this when it first came out, but it was a kit for a treat bag and I didn't want to make a treat bag. Thankfully, you can now just buy the chartpak. Awesome!

Boy, those pics are really no-frills, aren't they? Sorry 'bout that.

All's well in my little corner of the globe, and for that, I'm supremely thankful. It's a beautiful 55 degrees right now and we may be getting some snow this weekend. VA is like that. Have a wonderful week, and I'll be catching up on blogging in the next day or so. I have a few new followers. How nice is that? Very nice I say! I'll be adding all of you to the blog roll asap! Thank you so much for all your comments previously and until next time,

A Nose By Any Other Name...

I'm working on two projects at one time, so I don't have tons of progress. BUT, the snowman has taken shape! If anyone else has done this one, did you find the fabric a bit "loose"? It seems to pull more than the red fabric did, so there are little "holes" in between all the stitches. I don't like that! Maybe when it's all done, it'll be OK? I'm IN LOVE with his nose however.

Someone asked about the button switch-a-roonie I wanted to do on this. I think I will replace the original buttons with some tiny rose buttons. At least that's the plan right now. And hopefully I'll have a new design ready to go in another week or so. Stay tuned!

I hope everyone is having a great stitchy week! We are slowly getting the house back in order after the holidays and I hate doing it. You'd think with a small house it'd take no time whatsoever. WRONG!

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!

A New Year and a New Start !

Have I been phoning it in or what? It's OK, I can take it. :) I have been phoning it in, but need to get back to my blog. It is what kept me stitching last year and the year before, so I *need* to do this. Excuses, be gone!

So, I started stitching up Shepherd's Bush Green Snowman. A bit of a misnomer, because he's not actually green. But the fabby is! I hope this goes as quickly as the Red Snowman did for me! One thing I'll miss is that there is no sweet little sheep on this one. I've already decided to swap the buttons out for something else. We'll see how that works out.

I have one new little purchase. My friend got me a gift certifcate to my LNS and I treated myself to this one. It's a Christmas design, but the colors are oh so pretty! They didn't have the bluish purplish color (the wording is done in that), so I'll have to pick that up later. Thanks Julie! By the way, this is a SamSarah design.

I trust everyone had a lovely and wonderful holiday season! Thank you for the comments to the Jack/Christmas video. I totally swiped that from my cousin because I loved it so much! Thanks Kim!

My husband is the best. He got me a new Nikon D3000. I love this camera. Not too steep a learning curve for the auto features. I plan to really learn more about this camera in the coming months. Thanks hubby!

And thanks to anyone out there still listening and reading and commenting. I'm keenly aware of the time it takes to do so, and I appreciate when you can---and even when you can't! 'till next time,

Merry Christmas from me and Jack

Merry Christmas one and all! Hope everyone is getting lots of stitching done, because I'm SO NOT right now, lol.

Feel Like Giving?

You may have heard about the 4 murdered police officers in Washington state this past Sunday. If you are in a giving mood, please consider the Lakewood Police Independent Guild. Every penny you might want to donate goes directly to the families.

I would not normally post a message such as this, but as the wife of a police officer, I feel I should. Many people want to do something but don't know what. These families could use our help now. So, if during this season of giving, you feel the desire to donate to a good cause, click on the above link and take a look.

Many thanks.

I have lots of catching up to do and a few of you to email back---Lorraine, I have not forgotten you! Hopefully I can do that in the coming days. I have been extremely busy. I hope everyone is stitching up great things.

A Peek in the Cauldron and A Must Do

Well, let's just jump right into Christmas, shall we? Nevermind that pesky Halloween post just one down, OK? :p

I need to stitch this for myself this winter season. I finished the Red Snowman earlier this year and just love it-no I haven't framed it!

So, I may do that, or some other wintry sweet piece. Doesn't have to be Christmas per se. Speaking of that, I have a sneak peek of something I'm working on now and I have no idea if it'll be done soon or not! My work has kept me so so busy that I haven't had time to stitch hardly at all. I may need to shop around for a stitcher, as I have several other designs ready to go, but when they'll see the light of day I don't know.

So there it be, so to speak. I have lots of little visions, lots of designing in my head and lots of things in progress on the computer as well. Very little stitching. Anyone want to point me in the direction of how to win a lottery? That would free up a boatload of time, I tell you! I watched a great show on how lottery winners screw up their lives (not all of course!). Is it bad to say it made me feel a bit better? You truly must have your act together regardless of how much you have or do not have. That's the simple lesson. Stay away from credit, save your hard earned money and you can enjoy your "wealth" at any stage of the game! (but I still wanna win the lotto dangit.)

Sorry for the rambling. We're in the midst of paying off bills and I tend to wax philosophic about it, lol. Anyways, I need to go spend some time in blogland visiting all my buddies. I've picked up a few more followers---THANKS GUYS!--- and need to add them to my blogroll and check out their blogs if they have them. Boy, blogging really shows you that the world is full of the neatest and most interesting people. Get lots of stitching in this weekend and maybe some holiday decorating if you can--I hope to put a few stitches in and show something more than a pitiful peek next week! Ha! Till then,