And The Winner Is…

On July 4th I used Random.org to draw a name for my 4th of July Give-A-Way and then immediately started stitching the person’s initials onto the almost completed piece. On Sunday I spent much of the day working on the finishing and am happy to announce that the winner of this Blackbird Design Thread Keeper is…

Michelle H.

Congratulations Michelle, please email me with your mailing address so that I can get this in the mail to you!

I received these very festive blocks from Melita D. who was my Fair & Square partner in the 4th of July round. Thanks so very much Melita, you did a fantastic job on these great squares.

Here are the squares that I sent Melita:

I am happy to say that both of my sons have arrived safely in the northeast. They traveled 1,677 miles in 3 days, stopping in New Orleans, North Carolina and NJ. When I drove down here this past February, it took me 5 days but then again I was making essential stops at quilting and needlework shops along the way. I am certain that they passed right by these! They are now safe and sound in the northeast and they are both greatly missed here in the south.

Thanks to all those that make time to stop by my blog, I am always glad that you come for a visit and look forward to your return.

Until next time...

OH SAY CAN YOU SEE…

This wonderful Patriotic Exchange that I received from Carol S. It certainly is a beauty, take a look…

FTT: Patriotic Exchange

Designer: San Man Originals

Stitched by: Carol S.

Opening her package was the highlight of my day! Carol’s does such gorgeous work I could not have been happier to see her name on the return address. She selected a very nice design by San Man Originals and finished it as a pinkeep; I love it! In addition, she sent me beautiful Gingher scissors, patriotic dishtowels, very pretty bookplates, and tasty mints.

Carol your generosity is amazing, I cannot thank you enough for all that you sent! You certainly made this an extra special exchange!

Dear sweet Vonna will be celebrating a birthday very soon so I decided to send this little gift off a bit early so that she could display it over the 4th of July (we know how she loves all things patriotic). When I saw this Annalee Patriotic Elf he was screaming Vonna’s name. I also knew that a Pinkeep would fit perfectly in his hands so I stitch this Birthday Pinkeep...

The Pinkeep is reversible with the other side looking like this:

I absolutely love how this turned out, cute huh?

When I saw this next design I knew immediately that I had to stitch it for my cousin. I call her my "direct link to God" and call upon her to "pray for me" with every "crisis" that I encounter. :) Now that I live far away from her I want to make sure that she constantly thinks of me (not sure that will happen but I am going to try). I am hoping each time she glances at this two things happen:

1) She thinks of me

AND

2) Smiles...Smiles BIG!

"When This You See Pray For Me"

There is another person in my life that is deserving of this same design and when I find the time, I am going to stitch it again! I seem to be doing quite a bit of that lately.

Only about a week left until my Blackbird Design give-a-way. If you are interested you need to leave a comment on my previous post before July 4th.

Tomorrow both boys will be leaving, can you hear me sobbing??? They are taking the long 1,677 mile "road trip" back to the northeast. I know that they are excited about their adventure but I'm not ~ they will be missed. I did have my son install a Web Cam on my computer so that I can video chat with them (can you say "helicopter Mom?"). Let’s hope that they answer when I “video ring” them!

"If you cross a state or county line when traveling in a land vehicle, make a wish three times out loud. This is one of the few times when custom allows you to speak your wish out loud" (from Wishing)

~Have a wonderful weekend~

Until next time...

So Many Beautiful Exchanges

As promised, I will share with you the many beautiful exchanges that have been rolling in...

The first Exchange arrived all the way from New Zealand. It was beautifully stitched and finished into a Bourse by Margaret S. My very first Bourse and it is a beauty!

• Friends Through Threads
• Blackbird Design Exchange

• BBD Exchange
• Design: My Pink House
• Stitched by: Margaret S.
• Finish: Bourse

Margaret also stitched a very cute Scissor Fob using the strawberry design pictured and she even included those great scissors! She made the matching pincushion and included needles, sticky notes, quilter's wheel, and scented bath bag.

Thank you again Margaret for this fantastic exchange.

Here is what I stitched for Ronel in the BBD Exchange:

FTT: BBD Exchange

Threads: VMST (love this thread)

Stitched for: Ronel W.

Finish: Floss Tag

Friends Through Threads

Seasonal Exchange ~ Spring

My second FTT Exchange traveled all the way from Germany and was stitched by Gaby M. She selected a design from one on my favorite designers, Prairie Schooler, and finished it into a two-flanged pillow ~ how cute is this...

FTT: Seasonal Exchange ~ Spring

Designer: Prairie Schooler

Stitched by: Gaby M.

Finish: Pillow

As you can imagine the box that arrived was quite large and packed with so many extras: A magazine, book (it is always exciting to receive these from other countries), fabric x 2, silk thread, honey soap, delicious candy, a cute little ladybug for my key chain, and last but not least a very special bookmark made by Simon!

Thank you so much Gaby for the extra special exchange!

Here is what I stitched for the FTT Seasonal Exchange:

FTT: Seasonal Exchange ~ Spring

Designer: Blackbird Design

Threads: VMST

Stitched for: Gaby M.

Finish: Floss Tag

Look familiar? I just love this design and love stitching it, I really do! I love it so much that I am offering a "give-a-way" just so that I can stitch it again. :D Post a comment and leave your first/last initial and I will include you in the July 4th drawing for the Blackbird Design Floss Tag.

The third exchange arrived from Canada and was stitched by Wendy B. She stitched for me in the Prairie Schooler All Year Long Exchange and I could not be happier, just take a look:

PS All Year Long

Round #2

PS All Year Long #2

Stitched by: Wendy B.

Finish: Needle Book

I love the Needle Book finish, it is perfect for this design. I really like Wendy's technique and recently used it to complete a needle book for a patriotic exchange. The PS All Year Long is one of my favorite exchanges. I love that we always stitch a PS design and am happy that we do not include extras. A special thank you to Becky SC for organizing this exchange group.

Thank you again Wendy for the beautiful, and much needed, needle book!

Here is what I stitched for the PS All Year Long Round #2 exchange:

PS All Year Long #2

Design: Prairie Fairie

Stitched for: Janet H.

Finish: Pinkeep

Fair & Square Exchange

Here is what I sent to Jen R. ~

And what I sent to Jenn F. ~

And the beautiful squares that Jenn F. sent my way...

Fair & Square round #13

Stitched by: Jenn F.

I am anxious to try Jenn's hand dyed threads, they look beautiful! I love that Jenn stitched the Texas heart, thanks again Jenn!

This was a long post but I had so many exchange pictures to share...thanks for hanging in till the end!

I am off to work on a Penny Rug project.

Until next time...

I Just Had To...

What, no stitching pictures???

Nope, not today ~ sorry. Please indulge me, if only for a second, as I share these memorable moments...

VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY

COLD AND DAMP BUT NO RAIN

GRADUATING CLASS OF 2009

A QUICK WAVE

PIZZA DELIVERY

A MESSAGE ON THE CAP

I love this picture of my son and his girlfriend (she too was graduating from the School of Business). The night before graduation I asked my son to mark the top of his Cap so that I would be able to identify him in the crowd...actually the "shades" did the trick...Well, to my surprise, he did mark his Cap with a message for me: "Thanks A Bajil" ~

It is still so very hard to believe that he has graduated, where did the time go? My very dear friend told me when he entered High School that it would fly by; she failed to tell me that his college years would go by even faster. For those of you that will be sending your DS/DD off to college this fall, hang on it's a fast ride!

I returned home to find three wonderful exchanges that I am anxious to share so stay tuned I will be sharing pictures of them in my next post.

Until next time...

Time Flies

It seems like yesterday he was eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich...

And on Sunday he will be graduating from college!

I will be heading off to Pennsylvania today to attend my son’s graduation from Villanova University this weekend. It is so hard for me to believe that he is graduating. It seems like yesterday that we were taking a campus tour and discussing how impressed he was with the University. Then again, it seems like yesterday that he was eating that sandwich!

I am truly looking forward to seeing both of my sons. I have never lived so far away from them and am not liking that too much. Fortunately, the younger one will be returning home for the summer and I could not be happier. The older one has a new job (close to NYC) and will remain in the northeast. Now that he is graduating what are the odds that he will ever return home? Slim, I know.

I do not expect to get much stitching done since I will be busy helping him locate an apartment and moving…yes, more moving! I did pack my HEAD stitching in hopes of making a little progress on that huge design. I am not certain when I will be returning home; it will depend on how fast he gets an apartment.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend and as always I thank you for making time in your busy day to stop by!

Until next time...

What A Treat...

To open a box from Paula C. and find all of this….

I could not get over her generosity. How lucky I was to win her Blogiversary! Would you believe that I remember reading Paula’s very first post? I have enjoyed it ever since! Thank you so much Paula for this amazing Give-A-Way, I especially love the stacked pincushion that you made and shall treasure forever.

Can you believe that I also won one of the 2nd place prizes on the Blackbird Design Blog?

Yup, I was one of the 133 people that entered a picture of my stitched Petites Lettres Rouges sampler and my name was drawn. Seriously, I can’t win a cake in a cakewalk maybe my luck has changed. Can you believe that 133 people stitched up this sampler? 132 of them probably linked to it from Vonna’s blog! Thanks for sharing Vonna; you are always so good about that. I shall post a picture of the card from Paris that I won when it arrives.

I am very happy to say that four of the stitched pieces that were almost accidentally discarded by my DH are now at the frame shop being framed. I decided that, for their protection, they needed to be framed and mounted on the wall. I still have about five more that need some form of finishing; they have been safely tucked away in my sewing room where no “man” dare enter!

There’s a new blog in town: Cross Stitch in the Garden by Beth…you may know her from Fanci That Designs. Actually, Beth is not new to blogging; she is returning to the blog world so stop on over and take a look... Welcome back Beth! :D

I was reading Heather’s blog and she mentioned that she has been doing far more quilting these days than cross-stitch…I remember those days, I had put down my tapestry needle in exchange for the tiny quilting needle and gave up on cross stitch for a number of years (so very hard to believe). In 2007 I switched back and have done very little quilt making, however, I am seriously considering starting this quilt:

Spinning Wheels Quilt

What is holding me back? Could it be the many unfinished quilt tops and bags of quilt blocks that I already have? Why YES! I don’t know, this quilt is calling my name and I am not sure how much longer I can ignore it~ time will tell.

Have you visited the All People Quilt website? There are some great quilting/crafting freebie projects, video instructions, tips, and much more. I have found instructions for projects that I can modify and use in my cross stitch finishing. I printed out the instructions for this Sewing Roll so that I could use it to finish one of my cross stitch pieces:

Instructions for Sewing Roll

Thanks to those that shared with me their “dog” stories, I found them helpful and encouraging. Lily now has her crate and does not seem to mind going inside when I leave but then again who knows if she is howling while I am gone…let’s hope not. As for the messed up wall ~ well, it is being fix thanks to my DH and his million gadgets and tools.

Have a great day!

Until next time...

Fair & Square from Jen

My "collection" of Fair & Square blocks continues to grow, with the newest addition arriving from Jen R. What a wonderful block, I adore this sweet birdhouse design and love those tiny buttons. I wish that I could share with you what I plan to do with these beautiful blocks but for now, I have no idea so I shall merely share this picture:

Fair & Square ~ round #12 from Jen R

Now, how cute is that? Thank you so much Jen for the amazing blocks I love them.

My "cute" little dog is driving me NUTS! Unlike any other dog that I have owned, this one chews and does not like being left alone. I was out and about for a mere 2 hours and when I returned and opened the laundry room door this is what I came home to:

She must have scratched at it!!! I use to leave her in the master bath until she chewed on the corner of the vanity! Now when I leave I put both dogs in the laundry room (Misha is a good girl and does not need to be in there but I am fearful of what Lily would do without her) this is the 1st time that she has done any damage and it shall be the last. I am going to end this post so that I can read about "crating" and check for some type of a corral to keep her in. I have plans to attend a quilt show on Friday and had planned on leaving her in the laundry room, now I am afraid....very afraid~

Thanks for stopping by~

Until next time...