A New Week Begins Again

Good Morning dear friends. I'm feeling quite chipper :) The weekend was busy with football games (flag and high school playoffs) and practices. And work. And a bit of cleaning. And raking leaves...Way Too Many Leaves! I've sent all my darlings to work and school. And while the washer and dryer are busy, I'll be stitching away. Well, as soon as the bathrooms see my attention, lol.

Was checking my archives, and this time last year I hadn't even started ornament stitching yet. But I was still ahead of the game since I had stitched-but-never-finished ornaments tucked away in a drawer :)

This was my first time making my own cording. I'm so lazy that I just buy it. Now I know how easy it is to do!!!

Quaint Sampling and Heirloom Ornaments

Leisure Arts' Best 250 Christmas Quickies

fabric: 32ct lambswool linen

fibers: DMC

Mill Hill Seed Beads #02012

Well my lovelies, I'm off! Thanks for stopping by my neck of the woods and for all your wonderful comments! Sending you all a little Colorado Sunshine!!!

Bliss

Hello there......just pausing to show you what I'm up to. Trying to find my bliss, that's what. Sometimes I get so caught up with my list of gifts to make, that I forget to enjoy the process. The list this year is long, and for some reason I feel rushed. Chastising myself for waiting till now to start...

I checked out a few holiday books from the library ("Colorado Christmas", "An Old Fashioned Christmas", and "Christmas Poems, Stories, and Carols".) Reading some of these tales of Christmases past has re-awakened the Christmas Spirit in me.

Gone are the days when handmade gifts filled ones stocking and there might be the rare treat of a storebought gift. How easy it is to buy that certain something from a store, or even online! But how much thought and care really go into purchasing that special gift card?

I've been relishing my time with my needles, crafting my humble little gifts. Time is such a precious commodity...can we ever have enough of it? And I think that's what a handmade gift symbolizes...that the recipient is worth your precious time. That you've thought about them throughout the entire process, and woven good wishes with each little stitch.

Bliss. That's what I feel when I see each little completed project. And that's what I've relearned to feel while making them too.

Wishing you many sweet hours of blissful stitching :)

October's SALsuffit

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! Today is the final day of Blogtoberfest, yay! I missed two days of blogging, so 29 out of 31. That's a whole lot of posting. I usually only post when I have something to share; whereas with posting everyday, I have to find something to post about. And that takes more planning on my part :) A GREAT BIG THANK YOU to ALL of YOU who visited and left comments, I really appreciate it!

I joined TempusFugit's SALsuffit. Starting in October through June, in which you try to use what you have, and post your completed projects on the last day of the month. What I really love about this idea in particular, is that the completed projects can be anything. Cross stitch, quilting, knitting, embroidery, etc. And also, you aren't restricted about buying new stash :) You can read all the details here.

So, here's a run down of my SALsuffit projects for the month of Oct:

Spring Lace Shawl

Berroco Sox

New York socks

Mausimom's freebie

Midsomer Mitts

There are links below the pics to take you to the original posts with all the pertinent info :) Have a Spooktacular Halloween everyone! Thanks for stopping by my neck of the woods!!!

My lucky stars

have aligned! Have you seen all the generous giveaways around the blogosphere this month? How could you miss them, seems there's a new one (or two) every day. Bloggers really are the most generous souls. And I have been so, so lucky to win some of these lovelies!!!

This arrived from Barbara in a record two days!!! That's right, from the Netherlands to the US in TWO days :) Thank you so much Barbara, I really adore the Sampler Girl's designs.

Then Adrienne had this book. I'm a big fan of Alice Starmore and have quite a few of her books. I thought it would be the cat's meow to have this one too :) And it certainly is, can't you tell by that hilarious postcard??? Thanks again Adrienne, it was the perfect read for a snow day.

And if that wasn't enough, check out the motherlode of giveaways I received from Annette! It was quite stunning to open the box and have All Of This fall out!!! I'm giddy with excitement :) Thank you so much for your generosity Annette!

Wow! What a way to end the week :) And in case you're wondering what I'm working on right now. I'm sorta bouncing around between the gift-making (which is progressing extraordinarily well) and the selfish stuff. And I'm loving this basket, and can be caught gazing at it frequently...

Rainbow-colored dishcloths to brighten one's kitchen duties!!! These are destined for the gift-list, but I seriously think I need some too. And if you saw the sad, bland state of my dishcloths right now, you'd agree that I need a punch of color :)

Thanks for stopping by my neck of the woods and for all your warm comments :) IT'S FRIDAY!!! Have a good one!

Snow Day

Good Morning dear friends! It's a cold and snowy one here. No school today, so it's pajama day:) This is the earliest snow day since I've had school age kids. Our district was one of the very few in the area that were open yesterday.

No more teasing here's the finish...

Old Testament Ornaments

designed by Mary Beale

Christmas Traditions by Leisure Arts

fabric: 32ct "staci-dyed" linen

fibers: DMC

(more info about the book in yesterday's post)

And here's a couple pics from my window. These were taken yesterday afternoon and it's been snowing ever since. If you click on them, you might be able to make out the flakes falling...big fluffy ones!

Thanks for coming by my snow-filled neck of the woods! Wishing you a cozy day :)

I hope they're wrong.

Depending on which weather channel you listen to, we could be seeing as much as 16 inches of snow by tomorrow afternoon. I have a sneaking suspicion that they may have gotten it right since the snow started last night like they predicted. I Am Not Ready for Winter...what happened to fall? But never fear, I have my stitching to keep me company (and the laundry to keep me busy.)

Oh, so naughty! I know you want to see more :) And it's actually finished (the stitching part at least.) Except my pics are a little blurry. I'm hoping for a chance to get better ones, but it's not looking too promising.

The book is a good one, so of course it's out of print. I hope you have it, because I checked Amazon, Ebay and Abebooks and no copies of it lying around. "Christmas Traditions", book #21 of the Christmas Remembered series by Leisure Arts. ISBN# 1-57486-187-5

Hope your day is full of stitchy goodness...have a good one!