I didn't realize how much time as gone by since my last post!

Autumn is always busy around my house plus my camera has been on the no show list. It just doesn't feel like a real post without a picture.

I finished the Autumn exchange and also the BeCause it is Pink Exchange. I can't show the pink because I don't have a picture plus it hasn't arrived at its new home. I'm really hoping that its new owner will take pity on me and let me have a picture.

I have one more exchange (due in January) and I'm taking a break until after the new year. I need to concentrate on Christmas presents.

I am working on a Nora Corbett - letter J for my daughter. I'm also working on Amazing Grace by My Big Toe. I'm doing it over one on 32 count so the work is a bit slower. I much prefer working with one thread instead of two. As soon as my camera is back to liking me again then I can take a picture.

I have received some cute exchanges. I was able to take a picture of BeCause it is Pink from Jill. She sent me a floss tag and scissor fob plus some extras.

I also received an autumn exchange from Maggee. It is from Autumnology. Yes, I'm going to once again say that I don't have a picture. She did the square which says Autumn and made it to hang.I have some ornaments I want to do before Christmas and a couple of other things. Definitely enough to keep me busy.

Some how my household has expanded and is going slightly nuts. My daughter is moving home, my grandmother is coming for 5 or 6 months and my sister is going to stay with us during the week for a couple of months. We are going from our nice quiet household of 1 husband, 1 wife and 1 teenage son to a household of 6.

I will post some pictures when I have a camera back. I hope everyone is having a wonderful Autumn season so far!

I received my exchange piece from Catherine for the BBE

It is so cute! Her stitching is beautiful. Thanks, Catherine!

I got official word that my exchange piece arrived overseas

I can finally post a picture!

It is a The Prairie Schooler design. It is a small pouch and I put some dried Oregon lavender in it from my garden. It turned out really cute. I attached by ribbon a stitched tag.
Right now I'm working on Amazing Grace by My Big Toe. I'm doing it on 32 count over 1 which is taking more time then usual because my linen is a bit more uneven then I originally thought. It is going to be beautiful when done. I'm waiting for a few patterns to arrive at Acorns and Threads (our local store) then I'll be starting some other ones.

Today, I have some apples to turn into apple sauce, zucchini and carrots into muffin batter (which I'm freezing for later use), grapes for juice and cabbage from my garden that I'm making into bleu cheese coleslaw which is the best coleslaw ever. I'll have to get out a roast to make bbq sandwiches to put with the coleslaw. yum.

I'm going on a field trip.

Don't you just love field trips!

Especially field trips to the local cross stitch store. Acorns and Threads is located in Beaverton, OR. We are very, very lucky to have it and all the ladies are so nice. They are holding two patterns for me which I'm going to pick up tomorrow. The first one is for the Smalls SAL that Becky started recently (autumn themed for the first round). I keep changing my mind about which one to do :). I'm thinking about making one of the squares into a scissor fob.

Then I also had to have Amazing Grace by My Big Toe. I love this hymn and think it will be a Christmas present for some special friends. Assuming I get it done in time, anyway.

I'm still waiting to hear from my exchange partner with the Year Long Prairie Schooler exchange. I'm going to give up by Monday and stitch a replacement piece and this time send it with tracking I guess. I'm really bummed because it was so cute. Ok, enough whining. I have two more exchanges to do and then I think I will take a break for the year and concentrate on some other things.

Baby report....

My baby (well, mine monday through friday from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. anyway) is growing up way to fast. He can stand holding onto anything solid, cut his first two teeth in the last couple of days, and has stood by himself twice now. In a few days he will officially be 8 1/2 months old.

Have a great day everyone!

Received a package from The Year Long Prairie Schooler exchange

Bonnie sent me a very nice pinkeep. The backing fabric is blue with stars. Thanks Bonnie! It is very nicely done.We are having another beautiful day in Oregon and I should be outside weeding flower beds (which I actually enjoy doing). Instead I will probably start cleaning out the garage. We are in a constant state of remodelling here. We painted the ceiling in the dining room last night and today will be doing the walls. So far in the last few years we have remodelled the kitchen (ya hoo!), the main bath, put in pergo floors, and more. The house is shaping up slowly but surely.

I'm still waiting to hear from TYLPS exchange partner to whom I sent a package. It has been 3 weeks and I'm getting pretty nervous about it being lost in the mail. I'm going to wait one more week and then start stitching a replacement piece. The piece turned out really cute so I hope it isn't lost in never, never mail land.

Home Alone

This week it is just me and the dog (I try hard to ignore the cat). The dog is great company except for the fact that he was sprayed by a skunk AGAIN. I keep telling him that the cute black and white kitty that comes through the yard does not want to play! So, I'm living with the slight aroma of skunk.

Anyway.....I'm home alone. The husband is off on the east coast for business and the teenager is leading a squadron at Civil Air Patrol encampment. I don't even have baby duties this week. Now, wouldn't you think I'd be stitching my little fingers to the bone? Nope, instead I'm helping the daughter paint her new bedroom at her new apt. I did manage to freeze the peaches I picked the other day so I guess I have accomplished something. It is supposed to be close to 100 degrees tomorrow so I'm thinking that it would be a great day to stitch.

I have worked on a couple of things though. I finished the needle book and somewhere in the process lost the little pair of scissors I was going to attach above the writing.

I will have to find something else to put there. I made a scissor fob to go with it.

I have also worked on the I Wait For The Lord. I need to finish it so it can get framed in the next month. I think it is going to be very nice when it is done.

I finished stitching the LHN exchange piece but haven't done any finishing work on it. I'm still contemplating what to do with it. My exchange piece for TPS exchange is taking forever to arrive. It really turned out cute and I wish I could post a picture of it. I will as soon as I get a message from her that it arrived.

Blogs are interesting things. I'm still trying to figure out how the formatting works. Things just don't seem to end up in the place that I originally put them. Maybe I'm blog challenged!

BBD has arrived at its new home!

Stacy emailed me this morning to let me know that she received it so I can finally post a picture of it. I had never done a finish like this one before. I saw one in our local store (acorns and threads) and came home to recreate it. Before last year I didn't really do these types of finishes. My stitching was always framed pictures, pillows, ornaments, etc. I'm enjoying the world of "smalls" and other finishes.

Here is how it was SUPPOSED to look. We had a slight problem with a water cup left overnight by my grandmother and a teenage boy who wasn't looking at where his feet were residing (NOT supposed to be residing on the coffee table). Needless to say that overnight, nobody noticed that the cup was spilled under the book and it soaked 3/4 quarters of the way up into the journal. The water damage ruined both the book and my coffee table. Luckily I was able to remove the stitching and finish it another way.

I'm glad that Stacy likes her gift. Thanks, Stacy for letting me know you received it.

Berries and more berries plus kids

Every year my neighbor and I head out to the fields for u-pick berries. We freeze them (what we don't eat anyway) for the winter. So far I have some marionberries, raspberries and blueberries stored away. Soon it will be time for blackberries. I also pick apples and pears. I love the smell of apple sauce cooking in the winter!

As for cross stitching.....the packages I sent out for exchanges haven't arrived at their new homes yet so I can't post pictures but I was very pleased with both projects. I'm working on the LHN exchange which should be totally finished in a few weeks.

I can't believe summer is almost finished. I'm not ready!

Since I don't have any pictures of cross stitching right now I thought I would end this with some pictures of my kids. The first picture is my future daredevil. At 7 months he knows what he wants and doesn't mind going to get it. He definitely wanted to play x-box!

I am his surrogate gran'ma and babysit him during the day.

Then comes my newly turned 15 yo son and my soon to be 5 yo. They are best buddies. I have babysat this guy since he was 11 months old. Sadly, he is going to preschool this year and I don't have him full time anymore. It was sorta like losing one of my own. Last is my daughter (age 22) and my other little guy who is 4 months. The babies are first cousins and I have babysat them both this summer but this little guy is headed to a full time permanent sitter closer to home. It has been fun to do babies this summer but very tiring! My daughter loves to come home and play with them. She lives on her own and works as a nanny parttime and also for HeadStart parttime. My son really enjoys the babies too but isn't quite man enough to change a diaper. I'm working on him though.

As soon as the exchanges arrive at their new homes I will post some pictures. I'm thinking it will be soon.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Joined a new exchange and started a new project

Thank you ladies for allowing me to join the Little House Needleworks exchange. I'm already planning and plotting :)

I started a sampler this weekend to give to some friends for their anniversary. I'm enjoying working on it. It is by Hands To Work and titled - I Wait For The Lord. I am not doing the entire design but instead I'm taking out parts in order to have it completed in time. I'm using a hand dyed silk by Silk 'N Colors named Bronze Age Green.

I need to mail my two exchanges that are completed for The Prairie Schooler and Black Bird Designs. I'm embarrassed to say that I'm a bit overzealous and had one of them stitched before I even received my exchange partners name. Now I just need to get them in the mail box.

The weather has been crazy here in Oregon. We definitely aren't used to 104 degree temperatures! It was actually 90 degrees at 10:00 in morning one day and never went under 75 degrees that night. sigh. I'm afraid that I don't do those temperatures very well. Even my dog is going stir crazy. We are on a streak of 8 or 9 days over 90 degrees right now. The weeds are growing wonderfully in all my flower beds and garden but I refuse to go outside until the weather cools down. Good cross stitching weather though!

It was a wonderful weekend at the coast

Life has been very busy in my house. I'm trying to keep up with the vegetable garden, berry bushes, flower gardens and tend babies too. Fitting in cross stitching has been a challenge lately. We went to the coast to ride quads in the sand dunes. We had a lot of fun and the weather was beautiful. My husband rode his dirt bike and our friends brought a quad for me to ride. This has become an annual trip for the four of us and we enjoy "getting away".

As for cross stitching, I have been working on my exchange projects but I can't show them yet. I have also been working on a gift for a lady in Texas. It is a needlebook and fob and I'm almost ready to start the finishing work on the book. I have a bit of stitching left and then I have to attach some felt. It is turning out really nicely. I combined two patterns...one for the stitching and one for the needlebook pattern. The wording on the inside is in spanish and says "needles and pins". I put some small yellow beads in the middle of the flower on the cover and a pair of scissors as a trinket inside.
I have another project that I just started that I'm hoping to finish before November for an anniversary present for some friends. I am also working on the letter J from Nora Corbett for my daughter. When I have to go somewhere I take along my "Schoolgirl Lessons" pattern from Little House Needleworks. I'm getting close to being finished so I will have to find another small project as my "take along" stitching.

Wild weather in Oregon!

We are having the most incredible weather in our normally mild state! Severe thunderstorms, hail the size of pennies, trees limbs coming down. I was driving down a larger highway when it was starting and the radio people were telling everyone to get off of that stretch as fast as possible. That was enough to scare the dickens out of anyone! I have been a very bad blogger lately. Possibly it is because only a handful of people even know I have a blog :) so I don't feel compelled to keep it active. Possibly it is because I have been caring for a 5 month old baby and I have forgotten how very tiring it is! Or, it is because I have been landscaping my front and backyard which are both turning out very nicely.

I have few new pictures. I finished my exchange for the BlackBird exchange and was VERY unhappy with the results.

I also finished the exchange for the Year long Prairie Schooler exchange. Due to circumstances within my control but not heeding my own common sense I had to start all over just 3 days before the deadline. I ended up changing the design a bit due to time but I think it turned out ok in the end.

I received my two exchanges. I have pictures of one of them and will try to do pictures of the other soon. This owl is from the Prairie Schooler exchange. The fabric on the back is adorable.

Right now, I am working on a small piece as a surprise for my grandmother. She has a beautiful cross stitch stand and I found a freebie pattern of a lady stitching at her stand that I thought would be cute. I will post a picture as soon as I get it done.

I am already brainstorming the next round of exchange. It is alot of fun to see everyones designs!

A finished and delivered teapot

The Teapot is done!

I finally finished the teapot and backed it with some rose fabric I found at a thrift store in Portland. This thrift store is all about fabric, beads, buttons, knitting supplies, cross stitch, antique fabrics, quilts and more.

I also found some little flower buttons at the store and put five on each side on the upper edges of the design. The whole thing is finished with some pink ribbon around it, some nice pins and a bow. I delivered it to my friend and I hope she likes it!

I received my name for the next round of Year Long Prairie Schooler exchange. A name for the BlackBird Design exchange should be coming today or tomorrow. I'm looking forward to getting started on both of them.

I'm also going to begin my gran'ma's and my mom's project. They are both lengthy and will take a while. Here is what they will look like when done.

Gran'ma wanted the dancing people. My mom chose the girl in the garden picture which is from a book of poems that she enjoyed from her childhood. I still need to start my daughter's letter J from Nora Corbett. I was waiting from some thread to arrive from our local store, Acorns and Threads. I will go pick them up this weekend.

It will be hard to decided which one to begin first!

It is rainy here in the NW. Great cross stitch weather. I have some tomatoes and garlic roasting in the oven so it smells delicious in my house right now. I am experimenting with roasting tomatoes that I put in the freezer from the garden last summer. They probably will have to much water content to roast well but they will still work wonderfully in homemade spaghetti sauce.

Have a great day!

Sheril

I almost forgot.....

.....to post a picture of the pinkeep I did for the Year Long Prairie Schooler exchange. It isn't a great picture but I think it turned out ok generally. I hadn't ever stitched a Prairie Schooler design when I ran across this exchange but I liked a lot of the patterns so I joined. I received a beautiful pincushion from my exchange partner which I will post a picture of another time when the light is good and I can take a better picture of it. This was also my very first pinkeep creation. The fabric was hand dyed and tinted a bit more yellow then the picture shows. I'm looking forward to the next round of the exchange.

I will also be part of the Blackbird design exchange coming up in April. Goodness, with the two exchanges, the teapot, a Nora Corbett design (letter J), and two very large pieces I'm starting from Scarlett Quince for my gran'ma and mother, I should be busy for awhile. It is hard to put down one to work on another!

Gran'ma's cross stitching project is done!

Today is a lazy day in the Pacific Northwest. The weather is to lazy to make an actual effort to either rain or sunshine. We get a bit of rain occassionally followed by some sun followed by some more light rain. Our household is doing the same. A bit of cross stitch, some housework and some homemade scones. My boy is up on the mountain snowboarding and my husband is listening to a motocross race on the net. Nobody has much ambition but we are getting a little bit done here and there.

My grandmother lives with us. She is 93 and moved in at the end of '08. Last summer I showed her how to cross stitch. She started off on stamped but quickly moved to Aida cloth. Her first project was on 11 count and was finished on a photo album to be given to a new baby when he is born. She will stitch his name below the horse and attached it when we are sure of his name. On a humorous note....the expecting couple are thinking of naming the baby Ryder which we didn't know at the time that gran'ma picked the horse. We couldn't have planned it better!
Next she made a very pretty bookmark that I haven't taken a picture of yet.

After that she started working on a pattern that I found in an online cross stitch magazine and had been saving it for another time. She made it into a needlebook.

She put white felt on the inside to hold her pins and needles.

I thought it was cute so I had to make my own! I'm going to send it to a friend. The linen is 28 count that has a bit of stiffness to it and I also made a scissor fob using the same linen but I did it with one floss thread over one linen thread. It is only a couple of inches tall.

I put a tangerine colored feltish fabric on the inside and finished it with a blanket stitch. On the back I stitched my initials and her intials with the date. Her name is on the back of the scissor fob.

Last but definitely not least.....

I'm working on a teapot that I found in a Just Cross stitch magazine. I love our local library. I have access to 3 different cross stitch magazines and a multitude of books. When I saw this picture I immediately thought of a friend of mine. She collects teacups, teapots and loves the color pink. I think I will finish it like a pinkeep but bigger. I have some really pretty pins that will go nicely with it. The poor teapot doesn't have a handle at the moment (it should be on the left side of the pot) because I have ripped it out 3 times. I am not happy with how the light pink is laying down. I might have to change the color.

Later I will post my grandmother's new project. She also likes teapots and picked a hand dyed pink sparkly Aida cloth to put one on. The pattern is from a series of teapots that came out last year by Just Another Button company. I believe it was for June.

Have a great day!

Sheril

Ok, this is the last post for today

I am finding that my picture taking abilities leave something to be desired. I'll definitely be working on that!

I really enjoyed working on this piece. I have an aversion to 1/2 and 1/4 stitches of which this piece has none. This will get framed at some point and hung on a wall at my house. Can you believe that after over 20 years of cross stitching it will be my first major piece that I have kept? I wish now that I had created it on linen but I was still in an aida cloth stage of life and hadn't found the wonderful world of linen.

I regret .....

I regret the fact that over the years I was remiss in taking pictures of most of my projects before giving them to others. I will try to post pictures for the few I do have and I will definitely be taking more pictures from now on!

I haven't decided on the finish for this design yet. I found the pattern while on vacation in New Jersey. I'm sure most of you will understand when I say that the first thing I did was located the nearest cross stitch store and went shopping!

New to blogging!

Ok, this is my maiden blog voyage so forgive me if it takes awhile to figure things out. I love these horses so I thought they could be my first official picture post.