Getting Ready

With fingers weary and worn.

With eyelids heavy and red.

A women sat in unwomanly rags

Plying her needle and thread.

Thomas Hood

I have been busy getting my stitching supplies all ready to leave for my stitching retreat.  I only have 12 more days left.  I am trying not only to get my stuff ready but my exchange pieces ready to post. Sometimes my fingers are weary and my eye red. OK yes I like to  stitch in my pajamas, is that unwomanly rags.

Here is my stitching set I will be taking with me on the retreat.

I already showed you the witch floss holder and my black cat biscornu. There is a name tag in the mix somewhere. It is the one I used last year and will take again. Here is my ghost needle book. It is one of the Doodles for leftovers. I am sorry Hob Nobb is out of business and no longer makes them.

When I saw these scissors I knew they had to be added to my collection. The back of the fob is the same material that is on the inside of the needle book.

I found this place mat on clearance knowing I would find a use for it. When I stitched up the Lizzy Kate Haunted House I knew I had found just the right use for my place mat.

I have also been busy sewing up another apron for my daughter. She likes to wear them when she serves dinner at our seniors dinner at church. She almost has one for every holiday now. She came by the house as I was sewing it. I did later add two round pockets in front.

If you are wondering my daughter and I look almost alike, well except she has long thick wavy red hair and I have short thin straight gray hair that is dyed. OK she is also tall and thin and I am short and round. She has the darkest brown eyes and I have light blue. Other than that we look alike. OK she really takes after my husbands side.

Today is Pam's birthday Confessions of a Southern Stitcher. Hop on over and tell her Happy Birthday. She says she can't believe she is getting this old. She isn't really she is still in her 40's wait till she catches up with us in our 50's and more. She really likes acorns and squirrels so I stitched her up this tote bag. You will have to visit her blog to see what else she got. Pam will be attending the stitching retreat with me in New Hampshire. We are both counting the days.

Always keep love in your stitches,

Teresa

Kindness of a friend.

"It is not part of God's plan that each of us

has beauty or fame,

but I believe he did intend for all of us

 to know the kindness and compassion of a friend."

Anita Wiegand

Yesterday I was extremely blessed with the kindness of a new blog friend.  I received the most delightful package in the mail.  First she sent me the cutest little pillow with all my favorites, pink, hearts and a  kitty.

She sent me this wonderful magazine. It will not be for sale here in the states for some time. It is like getting a sneak preview. I love the way you get a free gift in each magazine. Pam can you see the bottom of the book it is a squirrel pattern.

See this cute tin. Can you guess all the special treats she had inside.

She added another pair of scissors to my collection. Look at the fun little bows already made up and the ribbon and fun charms. Will have to come up with a fun project to use those.

Look at the goodies. Can you believe they are still in the package. Well I can tell you that won't last long. I will have the shortbread biscuits with tea and read blogs in style.

She also included some Scotland treasures. If you look close at the picture I think Lainey sent me a picture of her summer castle. There is a pin and key chain with one of those woolly cows (I think they are cows, they don't look like any cows we have in the states). The Scottish pattern is by Victoria Sampler, I love the little bag pipe guy. Of course it is in the shape of a heart, my favorite.

Thank you so much Lainey for spoiling me so. Well I am off to possibly open one of the sweet treats.

Always keep love in your stitches,
Teresa



Truly Blessed

"Too often we under estimate the power of a touch,

a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment,

or the smallest act of caring, all of which have potential to

turn a life around."

Leo F. Buscaglia

The last couple of days I have been truly blessed, not only by your thoughtful comments but with surprises.

Yesterday I woke up to a email from Carol - Polka Dot Chicken (don't you just love the name). If you don't follow her blog she fell recently and broke her wrist. I did this several years ago so I know how hard it is to do normal things with one hand in a cast. Carol celebrated her birthday by collecting all her comments over the last two weeks and choosing someone to win a gift certificate. Carol picked my name and I get to pick any shop I want for the certificate. I was so excited by her email I could hardly contain myself.  Since I am going to the Stitching Retreat next month sponsored by ABC Stitch that was the shop I choose. I already have a very large order with them to pick up at the retreat now I will use the certificate to get some linen to go with a couple of the patterns I have on order. Thank you Carol and Happy Birthday.

Today I received the nicest letter from my Pen Pal. Her penmanship is just lovely (I do feel sorry for my pen pal that has to read my terrible handwriting). Included was two stitching magazines from Australia. I know her return address is New York but isn't just the best to get something from another country.

Here are the two magazines I received. They will be going camping with me this weekend. I know I will enjoy sitting and looking at all the pictures and decided what I would like to stitch.

A little note to my pen pal. My kids are both tall. Every time we went to the doctor they too were above height and below weight. I wouldn't worry about it mine turned out healthy and just fine. Thank you so much for the letter and magazines. Don't worry about the H, I would have never noticed if you didn't say anything.

I had to take refreshments for a meeting on Monday night and wanted to do a September Back to School theme. Here is a picture of my apple cupcakes I made.

I was cleaning up red sprinkles in the kitchen for days. Some how they got everywhere.

Thank you again to Carol and my Pen Pal for making me feel so very special.

Always keep love in your stitches,
Teresa

PS - I almost have my Halloween set done so look for pictures next week.

Summer Exchange

"Develop interest in life as you see it; in people,

things, literature, music - the world is so rich,

simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful

souls and interesting people. Forget yourself."

Henry Miller



I really have discovered through blogging how rich the world is with beautiful souls. I so enjoy reading all your blogs and seeing all your beautiful stitches. I love how you let us in with glimpses of your lives making us feel like we are a little part of your world. I love hearing "you've got mail" and seeing a comment someone has taken the time to write.  My favorite way of getting to know someone is in the exchanges. I participated in my second exchange and once again it truly made me feel so special.

I received the most wonderful package from June at Butterfly Wings. She lives in Devon, England.

See all the wonderful goodies.

Look at the beautiful stand up she stitched. I have learned it is a French pattern, Oh La La.

I also got this adorable tote bag with a matching magnet and tea bag holder. She must know I am a tea lover.

Can't wait to find the perfect project for this fun piece of fabric and pins. You probably thought I took off the celo wrap off the candy so I could get a better picture but the truth is I have had this candy many years ago and couldn't wait to open it and indulge in some.

Included was some fun summer stitching charts. These beautiful thread from Wales.

 I just might use them in a traveling pattern I will be receiving.

June sent me two summer recipes. One I have already used, it was shrimp served on can you believe a watermelon and avacado salsa. I did have a lttle trouble trying to figure out how much is 800 grams of watermelon. My husband keep saying this is out of this world. After we finished my husband said we should have taken a picture for your blog.  He is getting into my blogging but his timing is a little off.

A big Thank You to June for spoiling me so.

I sent my exchange to Tina in West Midlands, England. She has no blog so I wasn't able to cheat and she what kind of projects she does. To me it makes it harder when they don't have a blog.

So I sent her a bag full of California Sunshine. Yes I even inclued a beach ball and a hand held fan along with some other goodies.

I had not really seen it in exchanges but decided to make my piece into a tote bag.

My question to you is:

 In future exchanges do you like the idea of a tote bag or project bag or

do you like the traditional exchange type pieces.

Well I am busy working on my next Fall/Halloween exchange piece.

Always keep love in your stitches,

Teresa

Uplifting, Empowering & Inspiring

"Have you ever come on anything quite like

this extravagant generosity of GOD."

Romans 11:33

Last night I came home from a wonderful two days. I attended a Women of Faith conference where this bible verse was theme. There were several thousand women all together to worship and praise together. We enjoyed several wonderful speakers like Patsy Clairmont, Marilyn Meberg, Sandi Patty, Lisa Whelchel (you will know her as Blair on Facts of Life) and Brenda Warner (Wife of Kurt Warner NFL player). I really enjoyed the music from Amy Grant. Just couldn't leave without getting a couple of her CD's. What a uplifting, empowering and inspiring weekend.

Today as we remember 9/11 we must also be inspired by our great nation. Like Pearl Harbor we will never forget, but we will move forward. 9/11 has a different meaning for me. My parents were suppose to fly out that afternoon they had originally thought of leaving in the morning but would attend a grandparents day at school first and then fly to Virginia to be with my dying grandfather. My mother had got the call two days prior saying I think you need to be here. Well we all know that the planes were grounded and no flights were going out. My brother called me after the grandparents event and asked if I could drop everything and drive with my parents all the way across the county. I tried to call my husband who worked in law enforcement to tell him I was leaving. I never packed a suit case so fast in my life. Unfortunately for first thing I packed was funeral clothes just in case. Lucky for me I had at least one child with a drivers license so when I picked up my son from school I caught my daughter heading off for a tennis match and told her she was in charge.

I did get a hold of my husband before I left and by 3:30 that afternoon I was headed across country. We drove all night the first night and it was so strange not to see any planes in the sky. We were surprised as we drove through cities how fast they had put up flags and signs. We did make it back in time to spend a few days with my granddaddy before he passed. Every year as we remember the tragic events of our country that happened September 11, 2001 in my heart I will always remember rushing back to say good bye to my granddaddy.

We all have our special memories of that day and where we were.

Teresa

Peaceful Holiday Weekend

"Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day

is the rest we take between two deep breaths."

Etty Hillesum



I hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing Labor Day weekend and the end of summer. Well it is the end for some of you but today it was about 105 here. We do not see fall here in So. California until the end of October. We did relax and have a cook out one day but mostly I spent stitching. I can't show you one piece that I was happy to finish the stitching part (it was mostly black and I got a little tired of it) it is for a exchange. 

Sunday evening a friend who volunteers at the Hollywood Bowl had 2 tickets and asked me to go with her. At the end of the season they give them two as a thank you. It is usually for the movie night. This year it was Movie Trivia hosted by Alex Trebek from Jeaopardy. He looked so handsome in his white dinner jacket.  When we arrived we were each given three glow sticks in red, green and blue. Alex would give us clues about the next film clip and they would give us three choices on the screen each in a different color. We would hold up the glow stick to the answer we thought was right. It was so pretty to see thousands of glow sticks. After they would show a clip from the movie and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra would play the music to the exact beat as the movie. It really was a delightful evening. If you are not familiar with the Hollywood Bowl, it is hidden in the hills of Hollywood. Everyone comes with a picnic dinner with wine and such and enjoys a concert or performer under the stars.

                                                      Here is the bowl before it started.

This shows how is hidden the hills.

As we were waiting for it to start the sky got a little dark and suddenly this rainbow appeared.

In October I will be attending the Stitching Retreat in New Hampshire. I am trying to make a set of Halloween stitching accessories to take with me. This is all I have stitched so far.

I am trying to make a biscornu, scissor fob, and may be a needle book. I have the cutest new pair of scissors to make a fob for. I will show you those when I get the fob done. Meantime I have another exchange piece to finish.

Have you all been busy packing away all your white shoes, purses and pants now that Labor Day is over. Being born in Virginia from a very eastern family I grew up with no white after Labor Day. Here in California it is mostly unheard of. Especially since we are still in the 100 degrees and will be for awhile. Do you stop wearing white now?

Always keep love in your stitches,

Teresa

It Opened!

"Joy is the feeling of

grinning inside."

Melba Colgrin

Boy was I grinning from the inside out as I left the house this morning. This was the day my new Michael's opened up. The big official day is Sunday where the first 200 will get tote bags but I will be in church then. Today was even better than a tote bag because very few knew. I along with 2 other ladies was there when the doors opened up. No crowds so you got to see everything all shiny and new. It is so much larger than my old store.

I first headed to see the floss section. I wanted to see what it looked like before everyone messed it up, where all the colors were available. Just take a look for your self.

It was just so pretty and colorful. I was the first customer to see it. I just stood there looking.

Look how pretty all the colorful felt squares look. I don't think I have ever seen that many colors together.

This is a room where they will hold demonstrations. You could have a birthday party there were your guests would all make a project. If I had my birthday there would you come?

When my husband and I were shopping in the one of the dollar stores this week, a little boy in front us asked his dad "do you want me to buy one more thing". We thought it was so cute on how he asked. Not begging but asking nicely. So before I left this morning I asked my husband "do you want me to buy more things". He just smiled at me and said  "yes I want you to buy more things".  He's just the sweetest sometimes. He has been retired for about a year and a half. Don't get me wrong we get along great and I enjoy having him home (most of the time). His work as hired him back part time to help solve old cases. This was his first week back so I now have 3 days a week to myself. When my daughter was here this week he did tell her go shopping with your mom I have more money coming in. Isn't it sweet of him to go back to work to help support my craft addition.

I have been stitching but for exchanges. Unfortunately I don't have any thing to show today. Thank you for stopping by, I really appreciate all your comments. I am trying to get better at answering them.

"The greatness of a craft consists firstly in how it

brings comradeship to men."

Antoine de Saint

Always keep love in your stitches,

Teresa