Thursday, December 31, 2009

My Prairie Schooler Christmas and new beginnings!

For Christmas this year I got a lot of what I wanted without even asking for it! How about that! Mike gave me 5 Prairie Schooler patterns for Christmas and I had gotten a 30.00 gift certificate from my advent exchange partner at 123stitch.com so I stocked up a little on thread and got 3 Schooler patterns as well and then last but not least my good friend Mary Loiuse sent me a belated Christmas gift that had the Schooler chart Santas and Snowmen and the chart for the stocking SAL I am taking part in in the new year! The charts I got are as follows November, December, Santa and Friends, When Witches go Riding, Birdsong ll, Daffodils, Stars and Stripes and the 12 days of Christmas the book I got was days 9 through 12 so at a later time I will have to get days 1 through 8. I also got Seasonigs Greetings from Bent Creek. I am so thrilled at all I got that I do not have to worry about not having anything to do now!

I set up some stitching goals for the new year. I have signed up to take part of a stocking SAL for the new year. It is a pattern from the better homes and gardens collection. I am doing the stocking Stitchers studio and if I feel really inspired I might do seamstress' cuff as well. When I am done with these I plan on giving them away as Christmas gifts next year. I have a few in mind that would love these. My main goal is to try to have a finish a month if possible in between working on other things. So hopefully that goes well!

The last few weeks...

Well I have been busy and trying to catch up on things. My Christmas was good. It was a meager one here at home but it was still great because I was with Mike and James my 2 favorite men in the world to be with! Later that day we went to in mylaws for brunch it was great as well but I was glad to get home. I did take pics of some of the gifts I made to give away to family but James deleted them before I could download the pics so I have nothing to show! Mostly for the adults this year I kept it simple and made all the gifts. For my inlaws I made them a chocolate chip cookie mixture in a jar and made a few ornaments that I attached to the jar with some chocolate dipped spoons for when they drink hot chocolate. I gave the chocolate dipped spoons with hot cocoa packets to everyone on my list with the pointsetta ornament I made. It is in one of my posts here from earlier in the month. The children on my list they got 10.00 a piece seeing as I have 8 kids to shop for on top of mine that was even too much for my budget. I have been finally stitching away and got one finish done by LHN and am alomost done with another I hope to post those finishes some time this weekend! In closing I want to say thank you to all who follows my blog. I hope everyone has a great new year ahead!

Monday, December 21, 2009

Some finishes



This week is Christmas and things are slowly starting to wind down here, thank heavens! I have been a busy bee this month with making things to give as gifts to friends and family. Last week I spent my Thursday evening making up 15 goodie bags for my son to give to his teachers, principal, bus driver and such at school. I decided to make for all of them chocolate dipped spoons and a few packets of hot chocolate to go with it. I figure this is what I am going to do for Mike's cousins and uncle for Christmas as well. For the most part I have made ornaments for most of the family. On Thursday me and James will get his grandparents gift made up. I decided to give them a chocolate chip cookie mix in a mason jar and dress it up with ornaments I made for them. To have to buy gifts for everyone in the family I simply cannot do because we have fallen on hard times over the years and are working back up to where we used to be so making the gifts this year has been a lot of work on me but at the same time a huge money saver and I fully intend to do this again next year! There are a few finishes I want to share as well. The first one is something I made for my husband Mike a little sappy but oh well, it describes what I feel about him. The summer will be 14 years we have been together and we have been through our share of hardships but seem to have walked away from it even stronger. This pattern is by the Sunflower Seed and the second one is an ornament I made for my son James to put on his tree. I know he will like this because he had seen this pattern a few months ago when he was helping me to decide what ornaments to make for family and he mentioned how much he liked it. He loves penguins and I think it turned out cute. This pattern came from the book called The Big Book of Christmas Quickies by Leisure Arts. This is all I can share for now but will have more updates in the days to follow. Thanks for stopping by.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Finish for myself!



I spent the week off and on stitching a pattern I came across for a tissue box. I put the finishing touches on it this evening and have it in my room now! I love cross stitch that is my first passion as many as you ladies can agree, but once in a blue moon I will do something that is plastic canvas and that is what I did. I am showing what it looks like from the front and side. Now back to finishing holiday stitching and making more gifts. The more I think about this week the more I panic because I still have too much to do! Have a great week!

Friday, December 4, 2009

Holiday gifts






Well I have been busy even though I have not been posting. I sent out my sisters package on Monday and she already got it so I can show that off. I made her a ornament and gave her some hang tags that she can use to dress up a gift or put them on her tree if she likes. I also have made some simple little ornaments that I am going to dress up a gift bag with for some of my friends. I made 11 of these little things! I have more stitched but can't show off yet because they have not been given so I look forward to showing that off later this month! I have been putting finishing touches on ornaments to give to family for Christmas and made a door hanger for my father but can't show that yet either! So far December has been good. I have been getting Christmas cards in the mail from my stitching friends and some have had little surprises in them! I am also taking part of an advent exchange in the cross stitching group I am in. I am thankful that my partner came through and I got my package in a timely manner. Some of the ladies in the group are still waiting for theirs to arrive so I am hoping their packages arrive quickly so they can take part of it as well and have fun. I have been a little disappointed with the exchange I don't know what to say so I won't. The gifts have been wrapped very pretty though and I love the paper the gifts have been wrapped in. As you can see Lana is having fun laying in my stash and in the next picture my baby Bela is hanging with her sister Lana. Bela is growing up fast! On January 4 she gets fixed finally. I can't afford to get her declawed but getting her fixed is the most important as all of my other cats and dog are. The last picture I could not resist because it is rare to have all my babies in one picture. Here they are at feeding time! Hope everyone is having a great week so far!

Finally I can start posting!~Ornament exchange



Me and Sadie decided to do a ornament exchange this year between the 2 of us and last week we both got our ornaments! I made Sadie a Santa ornament called Pere Noel. I got the pattern from a leisure arts book I checked out of the library. Sadie made me a Prairie Schooler Santa! I love it!

Monday, November 9, 2009

Some belated Halloween stitching to show off



It has been a while since I have been here to post. Our Halloween was good James had a lot of fun that weekend between the school dance and then a party that weekend with friends and sleepover and such. I barely seen him Halloween eve and the day of Halloween because he was busy with all this. All the good times caught up with him though because he woke up the day after Halloween really sick. He had gotten the flu and by that evening his germs had rubbed off on me. So needless to say I was feeling too poopy for most of the week to do anything. I finally picked up my stitching on Saturday and got a lot accomplished! After this post I won't be able to update too much with stitchy updates because I am in the process of making ornaments for family and friends and since a lot of them take a peek at my blog I can't really show any pics of what I am doing until everyone has gotten what I made.

The first piece I finished is called Candy Corn by the Sunflower Seed and the second is a freebie pattern that I have from the Primitive Needle. Thanks for stopping by!

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween!






Happy Halloween everyone! Friday night my husband carved pumpkins. We were not going to but Mike decided to at the last minute. He has been doing the patterns from the book called Pumpkin Masters for years now. These are the 3 he decided to do. Mike had a little helper of sorts last night as well. Our newest baby Bela that we got back in the summer for some reason was very interested in what Mike was doing so she kept getting in his way and sat on the coffee table and watched him carve away! I hope everyone has a great and safe Halloween today!

Sunday, October 25, 2009

A few finishes




I got a few finishes in this week. The first one is a Halloween themed one it is called Happy Hauntings. I got this pattern from a book I checked out of my local library. The book is called Happy Holidays in cross stitch. The second piece is a saying that I heard a while ago and I loved the saying so much that I kept meaning to stitch it. I finally got around to it after 3 years! With Halloween being less than a week away now there is a small piece that I want to stitch before starting Christmas stitching. I am hoping to be done with my last Halloween piece in time for the weekend! Thanks for looking!

My Anniversary


Well today is the 25th and that means one thing for me, it is my 12th wedding anniversary! Twelve years ago I married the man that managed to sweep me off of my feet! Just like with any marriage we have had our ups and downs but in between that we have had many happy times as well that has given me many fond memories. When I met Mike I fell head over heels for him and was a goner after that! Throughout the years he has been a good provider, and loving husband and father and I could not ask for anything more. He is everything I want and need and I am thankful for the good life we live together each day and thank the lord everyday for bringing this wonderful man into my life and for giving me my son who is too much like his father!

Friday, October 16, 2009

The face of a class president!


There has been so much going on that I forgot to mention that last week my son was elected class president! He was thrilled he came home that day from school grinning ear to ear! We are happy for him! His first act as president was to see about having a school dance which he was able to work out with the principal for October 30. He has a special girl in mind but is being bashful about asking her. I tell him though if he waits too long someone else will ask her and then it will be too late! It is a Halloween party the kids will get to dress up if they like.

A start, and a finish, etc.




I have been meaning to post on my blog of my latest finish and such but so much has been going on that has kept me from doing what I need to do and want to do and instead I put many things on the back burner this week but am slowly climbing back up and getting everything done. On Monday I had finished a piece for my dad for his Birthday called "Thank You For Serving" by The Sunflower Seed. I have way too many birthdays in the summer and they trickle down to November and then in between that I have Christmas shopping to do so this year I put on my thinking cap and decided that for the adults for Christmas I am making everyone something and I decided to make my dad's birthday gift as well. That was where I ran into a few snags at first only because he is very hard to shop for and he has a hard time with manners at times and instead of biting his tongue when he gets something he does not like and lie he will be blunt and tell you he does not like it. So I was shopping online for quite some time looking at possible patterns that I may like that pertain to him and FINALLY I found this pattern that best describes my father. He dropped out of school to join the army and served in Vietnam from 1966 to 1969. Through the years even though he was not overseas he still remained active with the United States Army and was gone a lot. I hate to say this but I am not sure what it was he did all those years in the Army forgive me if this sounds bad! He more than liked it when I gave this to him on Monday evening. When he looked at this he actually cried and told me this means a lot coming from me and this is better than any gift I could have bought. All that caught me by surprise but I am thrilled he loved it so much now my only problem is how do I top this for Christmas? I hope I find a winner of a pattern like I did for his birthday! I also have been working off and on on another Halloween piece that is called Happy Hauntings. This is a pattern I got from a book that I checked out at my local library the book is called Happy Holidays in cross stitch. Last but not least I am also putting the finishing touches on another Lizzy Kate piece that I am mailing out to friend. It is called If the Broom Fits I had done this one for myself earlier in the month so it was an easy stitch. I want to finish Happy Hauntings because I need to start on another piece that I want to have done for next weekend. It is my 12th wedding anniversary on the 25th so I found a little something I want to make and give to my husband as well as a gift card to gamestop of course. Then there are a few small Halloween pieces I want to do before it is time to start Christmas stitching! Can you believe it?

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Not a stitchy update this time around~ next one will be though






For some of my friends that know me I am an avid animal lover and have pets of my own. Yesterday my cat Annie died. She was 16. I had gotten her as a gift for my 16th birthday. She was a peach fuzzed little cutie. Over the years we grew up and changed together with all the changes that life threw our way. When I was single she used to be a big old grump and hated my boyfriends she would growl and hiss at them and not let them come anywhere near her. That all changed when I met Mike my husband. she turned into a big sweetheart after meeting him and turned into an even bigger softie after my son was born. When James was a baby she would sleep under his crib every night and then when he was old enough to sleep in a real bed then she would climb into bed with him every night and occasionally sneak under the covers with him as well. She was s good girl and a part of our family. It was hard to see her suffer and even harder to see her pass away because towards the end she was in so much pain. I like to think that she is at peace now and no longer in pain. This week has been hard and stressful for me because I have so much going on here as well that today was one of those days that I just wanted to be left alone and I stayed in bed most of the day after I got James on the bus this morning. The following pictures are of my Annie girl when she was a baby and when I was a teenager and her with my husband and son over the years.

In the next day or so I will post a update on what I am working on. I finished a very special piece for my father and I think many will like this one! Thanks for stopping by.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Finally some finishes!






It has been a few weeks since I posted anything and I wanted to try to post once a week with a finish of some sorts if possible but the last few weeks have been very chaotic here and stressful as well. I am not sure if I will be able to post too much with the coming weeks because I have a lot of things going on so that will also throw a wrench into my stitching as well so I will have to see what kind of progress I make with my time being limited. I have four small finishes to share 2 of them are Lizzy Kate patterns called Don't Bug Me and If the Broom Fits. The next one I am not sure of the designers name or what the pattern is called this is one where I misplaced the pattern after finishing this and the last one is a small little fall scene that I got from a pattern book called Thru the Seasons by Sandi Gore Evans. I am also showing a picture of what little progress I have made on a new project that I will be putting to the side for a bit. It is called Patchwork Christmas by Willow Ridge Designs. Thanks for looking!

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

My Lizzie Kate week






Well last week was a busy but productive week for me. I had the week off of work last week so after I got my husband off to work and my son to school I had the place to myself so in between I caught up on house work and did a ton of stitching. I stitched 5 ornies last week and just put the finishing touches on them today. I made 5 altogether. Four of them were Lizzy Kate's and the other one was a pattern that I had grabbed from a Donna Kooler book. The first 4 ornies are Lizzy Kate's of course. They are as follow: Welcome Fall, Spooky time(my husband loves this one the most), the next is a new pattern from Lizzy Kate that is called a Quick it. I love how this came out so I am going to do the Quick it that was just released for Christmas for myself and then the last one is a Halloween one. Lucky for me these patterns I got a hold of for free! Turns out my dads girlfriend is a big Lizzy Kate fan and has her bedroom decked out in Finished Lizzy Kate pieces. So since she already stitched these out she gave me the patterns as well as many others! The last ornie was a pattern from a Donna Kooler book called Cat Lovers Welcome Here. As always thanks for stopping by and all the comments that I have been getting it always makes me feel good about my stitching! Happy Fall everyone!

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Stopping by for a moment

Well this week was a busy but relaxing one for me. I had the week off of work so I spent most of my time this week stitching and I got a lot done! Mike's hours are always funky and his work schedule is not the same every week. One day he can work at 5am to 2pm and then the next day be back at 3pm til midnight. Working in retail his hours are always jumbled on top of his classes starting back up his free time is very limited and it has him gone a lot instead of being home. James being back in school and then after school activities it is like a ghost town around here so that is why I got a lot done this week. If I did not keep myself busy like I do I think I would go nuts! This week I got 5 ornaments stitched I don't have any pics to post today because I want to put the finishing touches on them first before I post pics of them completed. I will probably do that on Tuesday. I have to go to work tomorrow and grocery shop and then head to my inlaws for dinner so I doubt I will have a lot of time tomorrow to get anything accomplished.

The ornaments I have done this week have a theme. They are all Halloween themed except for one. The one is a ornament for my son of three cats side by side saying cat lovers welcome here and the other 4 are Lizzy Kate ornaments that are Halloween themed. I am hoping to post pics on Tuesday after I got them finished off. Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Monday, September 14, 2009

New finish~ Shaker Hearts


Another quick finish, this is called Shaker Hearts. This pattern caught my eye because it is done in various shades of red which I really love! My bedroom is decorated in red so this was just perfect for me. I have to admit that at first as I kept stitching I was not really liking it and was considering dumping this one but I kept stitching on to see if I would take a better liking to it. I have to admit after it is all fixed up I really do like it! I want to eventually make some more pillows that are decorative for my bed but I have plenty of time to do that. I already started stitching a new piece on Saturday night so I am hoping to be done with that by the weekend. Thanks for looking!

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Lana in my crafting mess again


As always Lana loves to lay down in my crafting mess while I am busy working.

Today was my day of putting finishing touches on completed works






Today I put the finishing touches on some pieces that I completed. I hate to finish up anything I do because it is time consuming and at times I am afraid that my work does not fare up as well as others. I framed Matilda by Moonlight, the camera kept giving off a glare so don't mind that. I also finished up my moose and bear wall hanging. The next piece Cherish each new day is a gift for my dad's girlfriend. I turned this into a little sachet that she can hang on a door knob and last but not least I made 2 Christmas ornaments for my tree the finishing is not that great but seeing as it is for me I don't need to knock myself out with details. The first ornament is called Cardinal Christmas and the other is Pere Noel. Hope you like. Sometimes I feel so inferior to the other ladies because they seem to do such bang up jobs on their work.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Back to school!


Yesterday was back to school finally for James. He normally would start at the end of August but this summer his school had to have a lot of needed renovations done which delayed school starting. He had a good first day a lot of new kids this year but some returning faces as well. This year his school added a few things and are doing some things differently as well. We went to orientation on Thursday afternoon and after the principal got done speaking we were allowed to look around the school and find our child's homeroom. The classrooms are very roomy more so than they have ever had in the past. The kids have their own lockers and for each class they have they switch back to different rooms instead of everything being in one classroom. I really like the layout this year it is just like junior high. For anyone that is confused by what I am saying I know these are things that occur in regular schools but seeing as this is a special needs school things are different. For years they worked in a small building that accommodated the staff and children but they could have used more space as well. The classrooms were so tiny and cramped and to have 3 teachers in there as well it was a challenge at times. So that is why I was thrilled that the school is more like a regular school for the kids this year. They even are thinking of holding a dance for the children. I think that would be neat as well.

As you can see behind James all my crafting clutter. My living room is a big mess right now and will probably be for a while!

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

A few finishes & halfway through with another






I hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend! My son had a really fun time camping, he was bummed out about coming home. I spent my weekend for the most part just like I wanted to all by myself watching my favorite dvds while stitching the weekend away and boy did it go by fast! Both finishes are plastic canvas finishes. It has been about a year since I have done any plastic canvas I have been cross stitching mainly through the year. The first finish like I mentioned earlier was supposed to be a set of placemats but I didn't want to do that for a few reasons. My husband has such funky hours with work and school most days it is just me and James. We use our coffee table as our table at dinner time. So I just turned this into a hanging that could be displayed anywhere. I attached some homespun fabric to it and have it hanging over my tv trays as the one picture shows. The other finish is coasters. Like I said I love the rustic/lodge look so I love my 2 finishes a lot. The last piece I worked on this weekend as well is a cross stitch piece called Shaker Hearts. This is a pattern I came across from a book I checked out at the library. It is more than halfway done. There are 3 squares left to stitch. 2 of them will have a quilt design and the last square will have some more flowers in it. It is a little different but easy and I think it will look good once done. I was thinking of finishing this off by making it a pillow to display on my bed and maybe in time make a few more cross stitch pieces and turn them into pillows as well for the bed. I should bring this to a close it is 3:30 and I need to head to bed for a bit because I need to be back up at 6 to cook breakfast. First day of school today finally! Yea!