Oh What Fun!

"The moments of happiness we enjoy takes us by surprise.

It is not that we seize them, but they seize us."

Ashley Montaqu

I had so much fun opening all the fun tissue paper and finding each surprise.  You see the give away I won from Cathy at Tolentreasures arrived. The give away was for one of her four square jean mats and maybe something extra. Boy was I spoiled with all the something extra.

Cathy not only enclosed her wonderful jean mat, but all this wonderful goodies. The mat is the perfect colors of our trailer I will use it on the table next to my side of the bed and place my tea cup on it. She knitted a cowl scarf and I love it. I am not a fan of scarves because I seem to get the ends in everything, this is just perfect. She makes these cute little hearts and then she tea stained them, or maybe it is coffee. I am so happy to get one, you know I love hearts. Cathy decorated a nice towel for the kitchen. On her blog she talks about going to second hand stores and buying old wool coats and things that she cuts up and makes into fun stuff. I got this nice pillow with her penny rounds on it. I am imagining what it was before it became my fun little pillow. Cathy tole paints the most wonderful things and now I am lucky enough to have one of her ornaments.
Thank you so much Cathy for just spoiling rotten.

This is what happens when you step away after taking the pictures. Annabelle is my little helper. Do you have a helper too?
Usually she sleeps most of the day. This is what I found the other day when I went to make up the bed.

I joined the traveling pattern ABCD from La-D-Da. Jennifer at Confessions of a serial starter is hosting it. Edgar from Blacksheep's Bit of the Web had it last and sent it to me. I got it on Friday but had a busy weekend and didn't have time to stitch much. Yesterday when I was on letter "H" I saw a problem way back at letter "D".  That's right I had to frog back to "D". Now I am back to starting at "H" again so not much progress. When I am done with the pattern I will log in the journal and then send it on to Kathy, Kathy's sit and stitch. It is fun to look through the journal and see how others have chosen colors. Here is mine, the material behind it will give you a clue to my colors.

I have been working on "Bunny Hop". I am almost done and only have the grass left. Unfortunately there is lots of grass so stitching the "ABCD" will be a nice break. I am going to make it into a pillow and the material behind it will be the colors.

Thank you so much to all my old and new followers for the wonderful comments.

Always keep love in your stitches,
Teresa



Surprises sent and received.

"I cannot count the number of times I have been

strengthened by another woman's heartfelt hug,

appreciative note, surprise gift or caring questions....

my friends are on oasis to me, encouraging me to go on.

They are essential to my well being."

Dee Brestin

I cannot tell you how the blogging world has been such a friend to me. Your comments mean so much to me.  Thank you.

When my SIL was sick and we were traveling back and forth to Pasadena I always took my stitching with me. It gave me comfort and keep me busy. During this time I emailed Pam many times and she was always there to listen to me. It was in laws I was dealing with and sometimes I just needed a place to vent. The piece I was stitching always reminded me of my friendship with Pam. I had in mind what I wanted to do with the piece but didn't have a pattern so I had to make one up.

Pam is still working but wants to stay home and stitch all day (don't we all). I wanted to make this piece into a bag she could take to work with her stitching in to work on at lunch time. The LHN pattern had two cats on it and I knew she was a dog person so I changed one. Pam loves acorns so with the saying and the acorn tree I knew this would be a perfect piece to stitch for her. The hard part was not telling her what I was stitching. She would asked and I would say not much stitching now but secretly I was.

This is the front to the stitching pouch.

Inside has a small pocket, wool piece for needles, a zippered pouch for  her stitching and the back a place for patterns.

I surprised her by mailing it to her with my "Thanks" for always being there.

Then I was surprised when I received this gift from Cathey from Pumpkin Patch & Co.

She saw that at Chrismas time Pam had sent me my first Christmas Ornament magazine. Cathey had two of these and passed this one on to me. What fun I have had just looking at all the ormaments I could stitch. I am sure a couple will be added to my long list of to do's.  Thank you so much Cathey for the wonderful surprise.

Mouse was my pen pal in a exchange. She sent me a nice letter in the mail and we are going to continue on with mailing to each other. It is so nice to receive a letter in the mail. It is especially fun to get one from so far away. Thank you Mouse I will be sending out a letter to you real soon.

I learned today that I won a give away from Cathy at Tolentreasures. How exciting is that. Edgar at Blacksheep's bit of the web has finished with the traveling pattern I joined and he will now be passing it on to me. Looking forward to receiving both of these in the mail soon.

Plant the seeds of kindness and grow a garden of friendship. I can say my garden is overflowing.

Always keep love in your stitches,
Teresa

One more finish and a first.

"Make every effort to add to your faith goodness;

and to goodness, knowledge: and to knowledge,

self-control; and to self-control, perseverance.

For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure,

they will keep you from being ineffective and

unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."

2 Peter 1:5-6

I have finished another project in my basket. Well really I did two but one is for an exchange and I can't show that one just yet. I am a sucker for those kits all made up with all the goodies included. I know they cost more but they come all packaged up and are so cute. I purchased a Shepherd's Bush scissor fob kit at the fall retreat. Those scissor fob kits get me every time. I really enjoyed stitching this one. It had a couple of different stitches other than the traditional cross stitch, one I had not done before and was happy with the way it turned out. I finished it just as the pattern called for.

I loved the saying on this one.

Front: My scissors I'll keep

Back: Like a sheperd his sheep.

The blue line at the top was the new stitch for me, the double backstitch.

Now for the first in my title. Last week my husband and I went for a drive to Seal Beach to have lunch because the weather was so nice. I knew it was about 15 minutes away from a wonderful stitch shop. I took my list of threads I needed to finish packing up 10 of the projects I had in my basket. I was so good, I did not buy a single new pattern while I was there. I don't think I have ever been in a shop and not bought a pattern. OK I wasn't all that good, the cute little pair of scissors with my fob was a new purchase. I know the kit even came with purple scissors (not my favorite color) but those were so small and cute. I left with 18 new threads, a pair of scissors and some linen. As I checked out she was showing my the new patterns by the register and I had to say I am sorry but I have to finish projects in my basket before any new ones come to my home. She just laughed and said "I hear that alot in Januray".  With my new threads I have started CC - Bunny Hop.

How are you doing on your stitching resolutions for the new year?

A heartfelt thank you for all your wonderful comments. Each one puts a smile on my face.

Always keep love in your stitches,

Teresa







 

Trying to be good

"God gave us a spirit not of fear

but of power and love and self-control."

2 Timothy 1:7

Self control is what I am praying for. Why because I have so much stash and I want more. Pam  (Confessions of a Southern Stitcher) and I made a pact. We would each pick out 12 projects that we already have and kit them up with everything we need to finish them. Over the next year we were to finish these projects. Here lays the problem, when I started going through my seemingly endless supplies of patterns I couldn't decided on which ones. In the end I have right now  22 complete projects ready to go, 11 more that only need the DMC threads pulled for them and 10 LHN and CC patterns that have just the fabric with them and some of the threads. I am sure you are saying that's not too many patterns to have laying around, I still have plenty more but ran out of fabric.

Here they are all ready to be stitched sitting in a basket in the corner of my stitching room. When I got them all together like this is was kind of scary knowing how much I really had. I think I had night mares that night. Knowing I have so many to work on has been in incentive to get busy.  The first project I pulled out was a kit I got last year on sale. It is my first needle roll.

This was my first time doing this hem stitch on each end for the ribbon. OK now that I got that done lets start something else. I picked another kit (we all know they cost a little more so I am feeling guilty). I really should read the directions more before I purchase some of theses pieces. I thought this will be a fast easy project til I saw it was 0/0. It is a tin cover and came with the small tin of mints so I really should have known better by the size of the tin.

I put the sugar packet by it so you could get an idea how crazy I was doing this. I think I can see again.

I have also started a fob kit I had and will have pictures of it  later.

Deborah from Cranberry Samplings was so nice and sent me this "Thinking of You" card. Thank you so much Deborah it was a very pleasant surprise.



In my Christmas package from Pam I forgot to show what else she sent me. To be honest at first I wasn't sure what to do with them. They are the most beautiful colors and so soft. Then this week I saw them on the LHN page where they were sewed around an ornament and I instantly feel in love with the look. Now I can't wait to use my new chenille trimming.

At the end of March Pam and I are meeting up again and attending a stither's camp in Tulsa, OK. It is sponsored by Silver Needle. We are both so looking forward to getting away and seeing each other again. Have you ever seen the Silver Needle website? The store looks huge. That is one of the main reasons I am trying hard to get some of my stash stitched. I know I will have no self control in that store.

Things are starting to get back to somewhat of a normal life around here. I am so happy to back to reading and commenting on a daily basis. Thank you go much for all your kind words and prayers.

Crafty bloggers have got to me the nicest people on this planet.

Always keep love in your stitches,

Teresa



Ready for a Fresh Start

I watch out my window as the planes take off into space.

Oh, that I could fly away and start fresh.

But I must realize that fresh starts also come

in pretty wrapped gifts called "tomorrow".

Arthur Unknown

First I need to thank everyone for their kind words and prayers for the passing of my husband's sister. It really was so comforting to hear. With her passing, the holidays, in-laws in town I am really ready for a fresh new start. I am hoping with the changing of the calendar I am bringing in a fresh new year.

Over the holidays I found out who my Pen Pal was, Maria the Cross Stitch Queen had been writing to me. She revealed herself in a Christmas Card that included a Lizzie Kate pattern "Remember".  It is so we can remember our Pen Pal relationship. I will always remember my wonderful letters, thank you Maria.

Another gift that help brighten up my days was a package from Pam - Confessions of a Southern Stitcher. She sent a box full of wonderful goodies.

She did the gift in themes. First was a gingerbread. I confess I did not have time to try out the gingerbread recipe but look at the cute measuring tools.

Next was a tea theme. She knows how much I love to have a nice cup of tea and stitch. My daughter is also a tea lover so it was hard keeping her from stealing these.

There was also this jar of Louisiana Swamp Water. She suggested trying it over cream cheese, YUM !
She also sent me my first Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament magazine.  I must confess that there was also this cute snowman cookie in the package. Well he was delicious, I ate him with a cup of tea as I looked thru my magazine. Cross stitch magazines to me are like cookbooks, I may never get to cook or stitch everything in them but I sure love to just sit and look thru them.

Thank you Pam for helping brighten up my holidays.

On Mondays I go to church with several other ladies. Our group is called "Crafts for Christ". Most of the ladies knit or crochet and make prayer blankets for shut ins. A couple of us make beaded ornaments. The first of December we spend a day putting the ornaments on little trees to give to the shut ins.

Each tree has about a dozen hand made ormanments with a few extra balls. I help make the ornaments all year and this year I also made the tree skirts.

This year 6 people received our little trees. My SIL was on the recipents.

I didn't get a lot of stitching done but I did manage to stitch these. My other SIL was in town and she told me once she would love a name badge she could wear to her bridge games. She spends part of her year living in Scotland so I made her one with the Scottish Thissel with a matching scissor fob.
Lainey might recongize the pattern on the name badge, she sent me a Scottish pattern and I took it from it.

I wish all of you a wondeful new year full of stitching time. I have been working on my New Year's list of projects. Stayed tuned for my goals this year and an upcoming stitching outing.

Always keep love in your stitches,
Teresa