Christmas is over...already??

Why is it that we wish for Christmas to get here and it's gone in the blink of an eye? We had a really special Christmas this year as my DH's son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren came to spend the holiday with us in NJ. The drove up from Florida in the Blizzard of '09 and managed to make it here in one piece! We totally surprised my husband who had no idea that they were coming and we had a terrific time together. I managed to get off of work for a week and we spent the entire week together.

The children were able to play in the snow, we had 24 inches! They had never seen snow before so they went out and made snow angels and snow men. All in all it was a terrific holiday. They left today for the long drive back and we already miss them terribly. How many days til next Christmas???

Pillows Pillows Pillows

I am drowning in tuck pillows! I bought a bunch of premade tuck pillows from a seller on Ebay and decided to stitch a bunch of presents for Christmas. I have officially finished them all and pressed, stuffed and tucked them all into place. I think they turned out really cute and I enjoyed them all. The Santa's are from Prairie Schooler, the Sheep is from this years JCS Ornament issue and the two others are freebies from the Diabetes Tree fundraiser. Now to wrap them all...

Holiday Stitching

I am really proud of myself this year as I have a pretty good jump on my holiday stitching. I already finished Lizzie Kate Christmas ABC's and I'm working some Prairie Schooler Santa's to put in tuck pillows that I bought on EBay. I am never this early, I'm more likely to be stitching on Christmas Eve and framing/finishing on Christmas Day! Of course I'm not leaving out that option... :)

Here is Lizzie Kate's Christmas ABC's stitched on Sassy Fabrics, I have no idea what color!

This is Glendon Place's Monster March on Picture this Plus Echo and DMC.

Summer Vacations

Each Summer we take our annual family vacation to Florida and then Dylan and I go alone on a Mom and Dyl weekend to Wildwood NJ. These are a few pictures from those vacations. The first is Dylan on the Tilt a Whirl in Wildwood, all of the others are from Florida. The pictures don't do justice to the great time we have! I can't wait for next year already :)

Where did the Summer go??

The last time I was here it was just Spring and here it is now full on Autumn! This time of year is truly my favorite time of year and I enjoy decorating and stitching for Autumn and Halloween. I've also been caught up in the Quaker design craze and plan eventually to have a sampler wall going up my foyer stairwell. We shall see if that ever happens!

I have been stitching a lot though, most of my finishes are larger finishes so I don't feel like I'm as prolific as I've been in the past. Here are the latest and greatest since May 'til now :)

Here is Witching You Were Here by Glendon Place

This is Floral Quaker by Midnight Stitching

This is Lizzie Kate's ABC Lessons

These are Cats by Margaret Sherry from Cross Stitch Crazy Magazine

This is Quaker Samplings by By My Needle

This is my current WIP Monster March by Glendon Place

Happy Mother's Day

So many people think that holidays like Mother's Day is just a commercial way for the greeting card industry to make a few extra dollars. Maybe it is, but for me Mother's Day reminds me to remember my Mom and some of the things she's taught me.

My Mom made sure that I understood that in this world a woman needs to make their own way and needn't, no mustn't be soley dependent on anyone else.

She encouraged me to be independent, yet to be loving and giving to others.

She taught me that nice does matter.

She taught me that laughter could cure a lot of ills.

She taught me that hard work can open doors.

She taught me that failures are only life lessons.

Thanks Mom and thanks to all of the women in my life that have reinforced her lessons and helped me grow and learn to this day.

The Best Laid Plans...

See I set this blog up and am all gung ho and it's been almost two weeks since I last posted! In my defense it's been a busy few weeks leading up to my P.E.O. convention that was held this weekend. I attended with 4 other sisters and we had a really terrific time. Convention is a terrific way to rejuevenate enthusiasm about the organization and all the terrific things we do raising money to help women continue their educations.

Now that convention is over and I've finished stitching everything I stitched (and did NOT get pictures of!) it's time to get back to stitching. I'm still working on LK's ABC Lessons and it's moving along, not enough progress though to post a picture. I haven't touched my Mystery Quaker though, I do need to get back to that, my fingers are itching to work on it.

Dylan had his play in school on Friday and I had to miss it because I was away for convention. But his stepdad, Dad and stepmom were all there rooting him on. They said he did a terrific job and the pictures are cute :) He's come a long long way and is a ham like his Mom! Kudos to Dylan for a job well done!

Stitching for others

Right now I've put my WIPS aside to work on a few little side projects that my PEO sisters asked me to stitch to help out with their upcoming convention displays. Our current State President is an avid cross stitcher, since my sisters know how stitch crazy I am they asked if I would stitch some small things for their displays. I've finished one project and will move on to the next. I'll post pics of them all when I finally get finished.

I want to give a shout out to everyone that took the time to read my blog, it means a whole lot to me! Thanks!

A finish and some WIPS

I have been stitching a lot this year, but I've been doing bigger projects rather than my typical small ones. I decided that I've pretty much run out of space for smaller pieces and since larger ones take longer, I'll stitch those for awhile. Makes total sense to my stitcher brain, of course my DH wants to know what I'm going to do with all the BIG pieces. Pffffffffthhht to him!

The first picture is a piece I actually got paid to do, it's a baby sampler done stitching three pairs of Sue Hillis' baby shoes with the baby info. I stitched it on a blue Silkweaver's solo on 32 ct with one thread over two. I used DMC for this one.

The next is Lizzie Kate's ABC Lessons done on Platinum Cashel w/ Crescent Colors and DMC in the colors recommended by the designer.

Finally is my Weihenberg Mystery Sampler from 2008 which isn't a mystery anymore but I started stitching it this year. I stitched it on 35 ct. mushroom linen from HDF. I'm stitching it over two with one thread of HDF Acts of Violets with DMC variations for the letters.

So this is Anakin

This is our owner, Anakin. There is a story to our having him, of course everyone has a story about their animals right? I am a cat lover, have always been a cat lover but for about 7 years I didn't have a cat to love. When I divorced back in 2000 I had to farm out my two cats because in selling our house I moved to an apartment complex with a no pet clause. I had no choice, there was no where else to live. To say this broke my heart is an understatement, I couldn't even take them to their new homes, a good friend had to do it for me.

Fast forward a little, I'm now remarried and have a house and am loving life. New DH isn't a pet fan, and I knew this going into our marriage and agreed to no pets, partly because the loss of my boys was still pretty fresh. We do decide in a few years time that our son needs a pet and we get him a fish. It's not the same, but hey, it's a start! So one day our fish needs some supplies and I go during my lunchbreak with a girl from work to Petsmart. While there we happen to pass the cat adoption center and there are a bunch of cats that need homes. Well most of the cats ignore us, in true kitty fashion, but one cat comes right up to the glass and starts rubbing his head against the glass and patting my fingers with his paw through the glass as well. My heart melts, but I leave him there knowing that I'd agreed to just our little fish.

That day on my way to a dentist appointment I call DH since I hadn't talked to him all day and I mention the cat and how sweet he was. I must have sounded truly enamoured because my DH says "Do you really want that kitty?" My heart skipped several beats and I said "OH yes! The poor thing needs a home!" So he tells me to "Go back and bring him home on your way home from the dentist." Naturally that was the longest dentist appointment on record, but I made it back to Petsmart and ran back to the adoption center and there he was, and he still ran up to the glass to love on me. I filled out the paperwork and dropped it in the slot (of course I couldn't have him right then!) I got home, ate dinner and the phone rang, it was the adoption center saying they reviewed my paperwork and called my vet and everything checked out and I could come get him the next day! We picked him up the next day, it was December 21st, 2007. He was the best Christmas present I ever got.

TGIF

I can't believe how happy I am it's Friday! I am usually not this excited for the work week to end, but I've been fighting a cold and DH and DS are both sick as well. It's not been a great week in the Daly household. The good news is that we're all on the mend and Dylan is off to his Dad's for the weekend so DH and I are planning on doing NOTHING! I might go shopping for some clothes, nothing spectacular but a few tops and bottoms for dressier wear. Somehow all I have are jeans for around the house and scrubs for work.

I am hoping to get some more stitched on my LK ABC Lessons, I'm grooving along on it right now. I also need to work on my Weidenburg Quaker Sampler from last years Mystery. Hopefully I'll get some pictures up soon!

My Very First Entry

Why blog? I have no idea :) I think I want to use the blog as a way to keep track of my stitching habit and maybe as a journal of my everyday comings and goings. Mostly my life isn't exciting enough to share, but I'd like to remember some of the things that I'm doing and post pictures to go with them. Maybe I'll actually keep up with it! Now wouldn't that be amazing :)