Stitching and Fun!

Hello friends,
How is everyone on this extremely hot Tuesday morning? I am staying inside in the air today. I am a little tired of sweating my a.... off. I am sure I am not alone in that.

Well, let's get started. I actually have finished things to show. Shocking, I know! These first 2 pieces I made for my mom and my sister. I don't think I have to tell you which is which. LOL! I made these to thank them for all they did for Madison and I on our weekend trip to NYC a few months ago.

The first pattern is a Little House pattern and the second one is Lizzie Kate. On both of these patterns I left off the border around them. Ithought by doing that they would be quicker to finish and I just wanted something small. I also liked the little houses. I like the way they turned out even with leaving the borders off. Btw, my mom and sister liked them alot.

I am working on the Cast a Spell by Blackbird Designs with my mom. I have 3 pieces done so far. The 2 at the top I did at our cottage. The bottom one I had already done. I am doing the small ones first because they are so quick to stitch. I hope to have it done and finished by Halloween. Only about 7 more to go!

In my last post I mentioned I was going to experiment with dyeing. The fabric did not turn out well so I gave up on that. The floss turned out fabulous. You can't really tell from the picture but you can really see the varigation in the threads and it was really fun to do. I can't wait to do more!  Since the fabric didn't work for me I am going to try trims instead. So stay tuned on that.

So on to a little fun. When I go up to the 1000 Islands I always have my camera with me because you never know what you may see. For instance, this gorgeous sail boat went by our cottage so I had to take a picture so you could see it. It was just so pretty!

Madison went kayaking for the first time. Pretty impressive, right! What is not noticeable in the picture is the water is shallow right in front of the cottage and my sister is actually in the water with her hanging on to the kayak. Since it is my sister's kayak she wanted to make sure nothing happened to it or Madison since she is not the best swimmer. She certainly did have fun.

She also has fun fishing with her papa. They did alot of that. God bless my dad for going down fishing with her everyday. What a trooper! Since I don't touch fish or worms, I am glad he was there.

That's all I have for today! I hope everyone finds a way to stay cool in this hot weather.

Have a great stitchy week!

~Maureen~

Stitching Away!

By stitching away I mean away from home. Sunday, Madison and I are leaving to go to our cottage at the 1000 Islands. I can't wait!! It is one of my most favorite places. My husband, not so much, so he gets to stay home with the dog.

So today I have no stitching to show but if you look at the picture below that is what I have packed to bring to the cottage. A little excessive, I know! I am only there for 4 days. The problem I run into when packing my stitching stuff is I am not sure what I am going to work on so I just bring everything. It's easier that way! Don't you think? I have a couple small things that I hope to be able to get done. I will show you what I accomplish

when I return. I better accomplish something, for goodness sake!! My mom will be up there as well and we are going to experiment with some floss and fabric and try dyeing it and see what happens. I thought it would be fun and There is lots of area up there to dry it.

Well..... last but not least. A friend of my mom's sometimes gives me some her stash that she does not want. Since there sometimes is so much that I will never be able to do everything, I would like to share this pattern.  It's a Shepherd's Bush called Buttoned Hearts and it comes with the buttons as you can see in the picture. Really cute! I just may never get the chance to stitch it so I would like to pass it on to someone who will. If you are interested please leave me a comment on this post telling me you are interested in receiving this pattern and please include your email if you know I don't have it. If there is more than one person interested I will draw a name on July 10.

Hope everyone has a great 4th of July and Happy Stitching!!!

~Maureen~

I'm Baaaack!!!

 Hello all,

Well, finally I am back! I have been with out a computer for a few weeks. Got a new one which I love and is so much better than the old one. Which was actually pretty old. I have found that things I couldn't do with the old one I now can with the new one and I am loving it! Now I don't have alot to show. being without a computer you would have thought I was stitching more and would have alot more done. But that was not the case! Anyway, here is what have .I finally finished Madison's  teacher's gift. just in the nick of time since next Tuesday is the last day of school. I stitched on the back
Love Madsion and the year. The pattern actually said teacher
but I put her name instead and coinciently it was the same number of letters.

 I had found a pattern in an old magazine for this little cutie. It's a corner bookmark! Isn't it just so adoreable! I just love how it turned out. The pattern the magazine had was blah! so I found this motif in my Stitcher's Journey book. I added my initial and Viola!! It's so cute it makes me want to make more. As gifts perhaps....Hmm...
The wheels are turning!

My Pay It Forwards are coming to a close. I will be sending those out by the end of this week. I received this lovely package of goodies from my good friend Erika. Thanks again Erika! There is a very useful tape measure (which I never have enough of), a stressball, a very pretty pin with the hospitality symbol for Va on it (which is the pineapple), a thread catcher that she made ( one can never have too many of these either) and a tool I can use for finishing called the purple thang. I can already think of 110 uses for each and everyone of these.

More to come since I am a little behind since not having a computer
But that is all I have for today. I need to get myself a little more organized.
Not quite sure why that is, I am usually very organized. Could be some distractions. We have some critter problems. Mice which my husband has found around the yard because he had put poison out. A skunk (YIKES!) which has been tearing up the lawn. He has been coming out when it is still light out. What's up with that! That freaks me out even more! When I take the dog out before I turn in I make sure I am very aware of my surrounding and I make it fast. Lastly, Madison has a little gold finch pecking at her window. Now he's cute. I don't mind him at all. In fact I stand there and watch him because he is so darn cute!

Ok that's it for today. Seriously, I am going now!
Have a great rest of the week!

~Maureen~

This n That

Hello,

I am a little late in posting this but Madison made her First Communion on May 12 and I wanted to show you all how pretty she looked. She did a wonderful job and her dad and I are so extremely proud of her. It was at a crowded 5pm mass but she wasn't alone. One of her friends from school also made her 1st communion that day as well. We had a nice celebration with family afterwards. Thank you Erika for the very special prayer card. I am going to have it framed for Madison so she will always have it. What a special gift.

 Part of Madison's 1st communion gift was this bike. We also gave her something that relates to the sacrament because this clearly does not. However, she outgrew her other one and needed a new one. A child with out a bike. That just doesn't work for me. It's great exercise! Now I need your help. Does anyone have any tips on teaching her to ride on 2 wheels? Any tricks you used on your kids or that your parents used on you. I am open for anything. She has been working on the balance thing so far.

The weather has been nice so I have been outside cleaning up my gardens. Not too much stitching happening this past week but I did manage to finish this little house  by Lizzie Kate. There is actually a word border that went around it but I just wanted the house. I am going to make it into a pillow to give to my sister.

The last thing for today is I was playing on the sewing machine a little. i figured the more I practice on it, the better I'll get and make the sewing machine my friend. I made up these little bags, One for accessories, one for my scissors, and one for orts or anything small you don't want to loose among all your stitchy stash. These were so fun to make and are going to look great in my stitching bag.
Still have lots of ideas in my head that I hope to make into something real soon. I better before I loose them. Although it doesn't take too long these days.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Happy Stitching!

~Maureen~

Finishes and Treasures

Hello friends,

Yeah!! I finally have some things to show you all and I finally found something that I have been looking for, since forever ago.
First up is this sweet little pin keep which I am going to save for a RAK.

Next is Remember Me by LHN. I have had this stitched since last year and just got around to finishing it. I decided to attach it with buttons to the little pillow instead of the beads included to sew all the way around it. Who has time for that? Not me! I just love this pattern. It is now on my stitching chair so I can admire whenever I want.

On to the treasures... I finally found myself a frog. I cannot tell you how excited I was when I had this in my hot little hands. I also found this jar of old white buttons which surely will come in handy with all my upcoming projects.

What antique store can I hit next? I've started a list of things I want to look for.

That's all I've got for now. My sewing machine is still not working so I will have lots more to show you later. Stay tuned....

Probably not much stitching this weekend :(
Madison is making her First Communion on Saturday
night and of course, Sunday is Mother's Day.

Happy Mother's Day Everyone! Enjoy the day!!

~Maureen~

A few bumps in the road

Hello friends,

I have a few bumps in the road. My sewing machine is not working quite well so I am unable to finish anything right now. Also, I went to download a picture to put on ebay and now my computer and my camera are not connecting. So I am also unable to show you all any pictures. It's driving me CRAZY!! I can't get anything done. I hope to have both fixed by next week so I hope to be able to show a few things later next week. I just wanted to give everyone a heads up on why I have not shown anything but YES! i am still stitching and have lots to finish now. YIKES!!!

Have a great weekend!

~Maureen~

Vacation and a Finish

 Hello Friends,

I am back from a fabulous vacatin in Mrytle Beach. So fabulous that it was very hard to come home knowing I had to go back to work. Here are a few pictures to show. Not too many as I don't want to bore anyone. This is the family picture someone took of us.

The next one is a picture of the sunrise. I love taking these. I also love taking pictures of the moon. There was one night the moon looked absolutely gorgeous on the water but alas... that one did not come out. Maybe next time.

There is this place called Broadway on the Beach. Anyone been there? I love it and this upside down house is a new exhibit they have. We didn't go in this visit bur I took a picture because I thought it looked pretty cool.





We found out while we were there that a friend of my husband's whom we haven't seen in about 13 years was about 15 minutes away from us. His family rented a house so we tookk an afternoon and went to visit them. We had a really good time. We talked while the kids played.
They have twin girls the same age as Madison so
they had a good time.

Anyway this little guy was nesting in a flower pot at the house they rented. I couldn't resist a picture. Isn't she so cute? You could get right up next to her and she didn't fly away but she did watch you very closely.

I did manage a little stitching while I was away and finished these darling flip flops by Sam Sarah. I just love them. I also started Lizzie Kate's Life's a Beach Kit from last year. I'll show that when I am finished.

That's it for now! Hope it is all getting warmer where you are. It's a little chilly in New York today. Now I am spoiled since being somplace warm. It better warm up soon!

Happy Spring Stitching!!

~Maureen~