Exchange Goodies!

Firstly, I want to thank everyone for your comments on the last post. Thee I Love with the Lilies of the Valley was obviously the favorite finish of most of you!

Pictures of the Stitched with Love exchange have been posted to the Gallery, so here's what I received from Cherise

My first Shepherd's Bush anything! It's very cute. The egg kit is in woolfelt which is right up my alley. There are 2 blank key rings, ribbon, handmade paper w/pencil, stitching fabric, fabric buttons, and that very pretty fabric with the pink flowers. There was a small chocolate bunny that was inhaled within the first minute. Love it all, Bev! Thank You!

Here's what I sent to Cherise

Luckily, the Rolos survived the trip to California! If I had to send these during Summer, they would've not made it! The pillow turned out wonderful! I made up some new cuss words though, while ruching that ribbon around it! All worth it, and Cherise loved it all. I have a bunch of small cross stitch to finish so I plan on ruching ribbon on them!

It's going to be 81 here in Prescott Valley. I'm planting zucchini and cucumbers so perfect time to plant. Although this past Wednesday or Thursday, it was spitting snow. Crazy weather!

The 24th is the day to post for the Ornament SAL; I have an ornament stitched up for that already. I tell you the days are just going by way too fast. I feel like it was just last week I posted for the SAL!

Take Care all!

Turtle Trot April '13 Edition

I had two WIP finishes this past month. Note: Blogger is in control of this post as I had this picture centered!

Meet Thee I Love! As I look at this, I am befuddled at how long it took me to stitch this! I had it kitted up for 2 years or more. I barely started stitching on it last year. It's not very big. Where I got hung up is probably the whole plant on the left. There are 7-yes 7!- shades of green. Not to mention the back stitching! Here's a little tidbit of backstitching info-

• 368-top of lower right leaf, right side of large background leaf,
• 320-bottom left leaf except for tip, upper left side of tip of large background leaf, etc, etc.

And so on and so on. Also the symbols for the colors are all drawn by hand. But, I think it's all worth it because it turned out very nice! The color of the fabric is more sea-mist or seafoam color. It looks gray in the pic.

Here's another look at it

That's how those old JCS magazines were though, hand-drawn symbols. This particular design is from the June 1989 issue.

Christmas Magic is the second WIP I finished. This one did double duty for the Ornaments SAL and now for the Turtle Trot. Here it is again

From the JCS Ornament mag 2010.

Well, that's all I got! Sun's going down, the wind too. I live in a valley and the wind just blows through here. I am working on an ornament for the Ornament SAL coming up at the end of this month. The days are just going way too fast! Take Care!

*This post is dedicated to Dana, the recently departed animal buddy of Claudette who hosts the Turtle Trot and has the blog BAP Attack.

TUSAL Time

Here's my jar

I'm seeing Easter-y and Spring-y colors in the jar. I'm stitching LHN's Love Sheep. Yes, I'm a month behind on the Flock! I'm on automatic with the Sheep so I've already received Peace, which I think is more cute than the previous two.

I've been putting in some stitches on Baby It's Cold Outside

I've added the snowflakes on the left, the beginnings of the house, the snowflake to the right of the house, and Fire for fireplace. Love that Pomegranate from Simply Shaker/GAST; it's my new favorite color. When I first began stitching this, I had reservations about how everything was going to fit inside the border but it's working out!

I did a little stashing too!

L to R: Flowers kit by LizzieKate, Three Tulips by Country Stitches/WTN&T, and Black Cats Trick or Treat by The Sweetheart Tree. I also picked up some fabric

The first one is Lilac which is for one of the extra designs that came with the Mystery Sampler from LK. The other two are for whatever.
And now for your entertainment, may I introduce my Easter Hat! Over at the Stitched with Love exchange, Lainey had an Easter Bonnet/Hat contest. The prize was a small design with backing fabric, trim, floss. There were only 4 of us crazies who made a bonnet/hat and Lainey's hubby picked me!

That's me underneath. I took a straw hat I found for $1.00 at a second-hand store, covered it in green check, hot-glued the house and everything else to it! Took me 20 minutes! Wish I had a better pic. So anyway, I'm patiently waiting for my prize to arrive all the way from Scotland which, btw, is on my bucket list to visit! Speaking of exchange, I received my partners' package and love it all! I'm just waiting for the OK to show what I have.

I'm seeing a few bloggers who have already signed up with Bloglovin. I've set up an account but just to follow. I'm confused at whether we can keep our blogs here or do we set up a blog with Bloglovin? Or is it needed to read other blogs? Those of you in the know-let me know! Myself, I like having everything right on one page like it is now!

Well the washing machine is calling me so I'd better attend to it. I just want to say to everyone Thanks for leaving comments. I enjoy reading them! And it's exciting that I'm up to 91 followers-Yay! Welcome! Take Care

March '13 Ornament SAL

I have two ornaments for March to show...

The Pickety Witch freebie by The Little Stitcher and can be found HERE . On 32ct linen using DMC. Next up is one of those 2-birds-with-1-stone situations!

Here's Magic by Charlotte's Web Needlework found in the JCS Ornament 2010 magazine. This beauty is also one of my Turtle Trot WIPs. This is the result of marathon stitching Sunday and last night. There are more beads below the wand on the pattern but after battling the metallic DMC in the wings, shoes, Smyrnas' on the bottom of the dress and the words, I just wanted to be done! It's pretty though.

By the time the 13th of April rolls around to report to the Turtle Trot I will have another finish. But you'll have to wait til the 13th!

I met with Mary from Stitches and More for breakfast and she had made me this project bag! How very cool! I love these things and it's my first one

It's a pretty good size and it's been put to use. Thanks again Mary! BTW Mary, I saw the picture on your blog of the moon and I have a general idea of where you're staying at just by looking at the mountains in the background! That almost sounds stalker-ish! Eeewww. But have a good safe trip back to Oklahoma!

Well I've got to go. This is my 95th post and counting down to 100 when I'll have another Giveaway. After this Giveaway, I'll have to stop! I enjoy doing this but I'm looking at some auto repairs down the road (no pun intended) or actually buying another car. I did do some 'Nashville stashing' and I'll have a pic of those soon. But I kept my distance from the Attic this year! No worries, I have enough kitted-up stuff to stitch and they'll have to suffice! Take Care you all! Welcome to the new followers also!

Giveaway prize goes to....

"CARRIE"!!

Carrie said "Happy belated, belated birthday! That looks like a very nice giveaway! I can't wait for the weather to be in the 60's here. Right now it's cold and snowing, yuck! Counting the days until spring arrives in Ohio!"

Congratulations Carrie! Let me know your mailing address at azcampis@yahoo.com, and I'll get your package out to you as soon as I can! Thank You to all you ladies who played along, wish I could send you all something! I'm closing in on 100 posts so I'm pretty sure I'll have another giveaway for that. I'm seeing a stitched item as being part of the prize.

Also, I finished my exchange piece Thursday night-Yay me!! I immediately started stitching on a WIP and it felt good! This weekend I'll be finish finishing the exchange piece and have it in the mail by Monday.

Take care everyone! Thanks for stopping in whether you're a follower or just found me via another blog I follow!

TUSAL-March '13 and a reminder!

Hi All

Here's my TUSAL jar since last time

Since I'm stitching on nothing but my exchange project, you get to see what colors I'm using! Speaking of exchange project, I'm getting closer and closer to finishing it with 7 days left to do that and then finish it into whatever it's going to be. You see, I work 4-10 hour days with a 3 day weekend. When I get home at 5 p.m. or so, I start cooking for my daughter and I. Wash dishes old school (no dishwasher!), sit down to computer and check emails, throw a load in the washer if need be. After that at 7 p.m. is when I can finally stitch and then it's to bed by 10. This past weekend it was a marathon stitching session for Sat. and Sun. Evenings and weekends are really the only time I have to stitch. In these next few days I may be looking at an all-nighter to get this project done! Wish me luck! I may not even have time to stitch on a WIP for the Turtle Trot report on the 13th.

Lainey with Stitched With Love is also having a little contest with the exchange; a Easter hat/bonnet contest. I totally forgot and this past weekend is when I remembered. So my daughter and I hit Hobby Lobby, a dollar store, and I went to a second-hand store for supplies for this hat. I found a straw hat at the second-hand store for cheap. I can't show you my creation but I have to say it's cute! Easter week is when Lainey will post all the pictures for voting. Then I'll put a picture on my blog.

As some of you requested, here's my daughters' Fairy Garden

The roses are plastic, so are the bushes in front of the house, but those are real Juniper needles she took off our big bushes. As soon as it gets warmer, she'll plant flowers in place of the roses and Juniper. She's taken a Pinterest break so I haven't been stuffing my face!

Gracie from Needles Pins and Dragonflies sent me a birthday package!

From Pineberry Lane which I happen to love, and fabric/floss. And

Party in a Bag! How cool! Thank You Gracie, you are a sweetheart! Fancey will go on top of my heap of new starts for this year.

And now the reminder-have you left a comment on the last post HERE for entry to my giveaway! If not, well, get on over there! You have 'til the 15th early in the a.m. to do it. And why am I choosing a name so early in the morn? That's when I usually get out of the shower lol!

It's time to get on back to the couch to stitch more on the exchange item (what else is new!). Blogger is throwing a fit also so Take Care! And

A Total Blank..

as far as an idea for a title!

Things are a bit blah here. Now yesterday the sun was shining..I mean it was a short-sleeve day, in the '60s! But today, clouds moved in, there's a bit of a breeze and its a little chilly. So we'll blame the clouds for the quality of the few pics I'll have below.

I've been stitching hysterically furiously on my Stitched With Love exchange piece. I mean, I have not picked up anything else since the beginning of February. I didn't even have an ornament finish for the Ornament SAL and that bugs me! This project needs to be done by the 18th of this month and shipped out and I'm hoping I'll make it. With the Fall Into Halloween exchange back before Halloween, the project I picked was smaller and it seems like there was more time. This time though, I'm feeling the pressure!

So have you all checked out the designs coming out of Nashville? I've already put in a pre-order at Stitching Bits and Bobs for a few limited edition kits, one of the LizzieKate designs and a Sweetheart Tree Halloween design. I may be heading to Phoenix and the Attic this coming weekend. I'm not sure if they're having their Market Day or not; I'll have to check out their website. I checked out the Bush Blog and boy! have they got some great things to stitch up! So does With Thy Needle and Thread.

Do you know someone who is addicted to Pinterest? I do--my daughter! Because of her addiction, I've probably gained 5 lbs. eating 2 creations that she found there. It's all Pinterests' fault! Today she's putting together a fairy garden with a large planter, garden soil, a birdhouse, decorations, and later on, planting some flowers in it. It looks cute so far. Well I had hoped she would turn crafty so I can't complain!

I finally bought a handy tool that I've been wanting and here it is

A cord maker! I believe it was Carol from Stitching Dreams who told me about using a corder to make cords.

GIVEAWAY TIME!!

Here's the Belated, Belated Birthday Giveaway! lol. It's a little one, almost all blue which describes my mood for the last couple of months. Yesterday though with the sunshine, things are looking up. Anyway here's the goodies available

On the right are #28 Bohin needles (I love these needles; they're sturdy, straight, not too long, not too short), a pyn pillow made from BBD fabric and mother-of-pear buttons, shiny Italian Premax scissors, shiny Stitch Happy travel cup, and LHN's The North Wind (I know, some of you have been dealing with some very snowy weather but you can stitch this up in the middle of the summer when it's 90 degrees with 90 degrees humidity!).

All you have to do is leave a comment. You don't have to be a follower. I'll pick a name on the morning of the 15th at 4:45 a.m. which is a Friday.

I need to get back to my stitching! I can't wait to have this exchange piece stitched. I really miss working on my WIPs and my one start. I'll be back before I draw for the giveaway with my TUSAL and Turtle Trot report. Take Care and Thanks for being a follower!