Christmas exchange with Courtney

I received a wonderful package from Courtney. We met over on the livejournal cross stitch blog awhile ago... so we have been able to get to know each other, and I am so glad that we have! We decided to do a Christmas ornament exchange this year, and she sent me this! I love it :) She says she hasn't done much finishing, but I think she's been doing it a lot, because it's perfect.

Courtney also sent some pretty silk thread, and bead containers, it's great! Thank you!

So for Christmas this year Santa brought us a new pet. If you call it a pet! Curren got a baby iguana. He named it Bullet... why? "because it's cool!" Here he is (if it is a he?) He's fast too, so Bullet is an appropriate name for this little green guy. We haven't let the dog anywhere near it, I am sure he'd be a quick snack if we did LOL!

Gina, Queen of the Sea WIP

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas! We enjoyed our long weekend together. We stayed home and played with our new toys, took naps and just relaxed. It was awesome :)

I’ve picked up a new chart to stitch a few weeks ago. I went into Acorns & Threads, and they had this really great thread pack from Carrie’s Creations. I was carrying it around, and then asked what chart it was for. They pointed to Gina, Queen of the Sea by Ink Circles. I loved it! So, of course I got it :) I haven’t really looked closely at the Ink Circles designs, but find that I like them.
So, I’ve been working on this for a few weeks off and on. I like it so far, it’s been a fun one to stitch. I like the celtic knots that you follow all over the design, it’s pretty!
Starting in a few days I am going to begin Carriage House Samplings, Shores of Hawk Run Hollow. I picked up the charts and fabric for it this past summer, and just haven’t had an opportunity to start it yet. My friend Charissa already did! Does anybody want to join in on a stitch along with me? Even if you’ve already started it, we can all keep tabs on our progress and maybe keep each other motivated to work on it weekly? Let me know if you are interested :) I am super excited to begin working on it.
This past week I also worked on the blocks for the American Pie quilt, I’ve got them half way sewed… that’s pretty good progress on it so far :)

Stiching 2009 goals!

Cross Stitching Goals for 2009 :D


Karen, once again, is motivating me to stitch from my "stash" I have all of the charts for the lists below, and most of the fabrics... so now I just need lots of time. I went through the list I made last year, and I didn't do all that well about getting things off of my list(I did a few), I stitched a lot of things that were not there, but that is okay. I finished three HUGE projects this year (The Four Seasons, Mermaids, NRR) so therefore, I give myself some pats on the back! :) Here is my list, to see how good I do in 2009.

My Current WIP:
1. Ink Circles: Gina, Queen of the Sea (currently WIP)
2. Hillside Samplings: Bittersweet Farm (currently WIP)
3. Old McMary’s Farm: The Workbasket (currently WIP)
4. Bent Creek Snappers (currently WIP)
5. Shepherd’s Bush: A Mother’s Heart (currently WIP)
6. Bent Creek: Snapperville (currently WIP)




See if I can do it! Come on dare me to! :)
7. Forest Snowfall: Little House Needleworks
8. Pineapple Threadpack: LHN
9. Acorns Threadpack: LHN
10. Christmas Mosaic Ornament: M Designs
11. Bent Creek: Summer Snapperville
12. Shepherds Bush: Sail
13 Forest Snowfall: Little House Needleworks
14 Shepherd’s Bush: Bee’s Fob
15 Shepherd’s Bush: Christmas Ornament
16 Birds of a Feather: Bloom Where You are Planted
17 Shepherd’s Bush: Americana Needleroll
18. CHS: Shores of Hawk Run Hollow
19 Hinzeit: Dash Away All
20. Sam Sarah: Bloom Where You Are Planted
21. Tournitocon: Christmas tree
22. La D Da: Sunshine
23. Homespun Elegance: Plant Kindness
24. CCN: Gingerbread Cottage


I'd love to be able to stitch some ornaments too, we'll see how I do on that. I was a lousy ornament stitcher this year. I hope to do at least 6 of them. I have some I could finish too. Leena mentioned she should "kit some up" so I think I'll do that, it's a good idea!

Gazebo quilt done!

I finished my Schnibbles quilt yesterday. The pattern is called Gazebo. I love it, it is so cute. I hung it in Jessie's room on her wall. All of our bedrooms have vaulted ceilings. Perfect to hang quilts on in my opinion.

I made my first attempt to free motion quilt on this one. I got a new sewing machine a few weeks ago, and it has that feature yay! It was kind of fun to do, it sure isn't perfect, but it's a start at least.

Also, this was stitched a few months ago. It's Little House Needleworks, Pure in Heart. I finished it into a big pinkeep. I gave it to my friend for Christmas. I like how it turned out!


Portland has been getting so much snow. Well, really it's a few inches. But for Portland, that is a lot! The kids have had all week off of school because of it :) Here's Jessie making a snow angel! Fun!!

The Stockings were hung

I've been brave this year and have tried lots of new things. Here is another new project I took on. I offered to make my babysitter some stockings, knowing full well that I had no clue how to make a stocking... but how hard could it be right? Yes... well it was a bit confusing at first. Luckily I made three, so each one got progressivly better :) I had a lot of fun making them, and want to make some for us next year.

She wanted a traditional looking stocking, and so that is what I made. The white fabric on top is really cool, it's shiny, but thin... it looks nice. I tried to get a good photo of it, but "shiny" is hard to photograph.

I will deliver them over to her house later tonight. Are you guys ready for Christmas? I got most of my shopping done now. I am trying to just relax the weekend. I did go to the mall this morning, but got the heck out of there by 11:00. It was already very busy by the time we left.

I hope you are enjoying this Christmas season :)

My quilting goals for 2009

I went through the list I had made for this year, and I did pretty good. There were some that I still have languishing in my WIP pile, but that doesn’t bother me at all. Quilting takes time for me, and so I just kind of go with the flow. I got into make lots of small stuff at the end of the year with tablerunners and bags and stuff, so the bigger quilts got put on the backburner.

Here is kind of what I mapped out for the upcoming year. There is no way I’ll get them all done, but I can try!

Finish my current WIP:
Pinwheels QuiltAmerican Pie Quilt
Cherie’s Quilt
Victorian Garden Quilt

Send out to get quilted, because the tops are done:
Blue/Yellow log Cabin
Star Lights Quilt

What I have kitted up:
Mermaid quilt, find a good pattern for these fabrics…
Heather Bailey fabric, use Living Large Book
Flannel winter blanket, make a rag quilt
3 Schnibbles patterns are kitted up
Blue Frost quilt kit
Amy Butler Blue/Green quilt kit

I am so excited about all of these quilts I am making, many of them are breaking out of my “usual” fabrics, so this coming year is going to be a lot of fun, with bright fabrics and prints.

November Review / December Goals

November Review
Finish one Carpenter Star Quilt *finished both!*
Bind Curren's quilt *yes*
Mail Von's NRR *yes*
Mail Thanksgiving Exchange *yes*
Finish Christmas Exchange *yes*
Work on Old McMary's *yes*
Work on Winter Stack *yes, finished it*
Stitch one block on Snapperville *stitched ½ a block…*

Also made several bags and pouches, finished a project bag, made the Gazebo quilt top, and worked on Cherie’s Quilt, and worked on the American Pie quilt. I was a machine in November, I am not sure what got into me? I couldn’t stop! :D

December Goals
Finish Gazebo Quilt
Work on American Pie Quilt
Work on Cherie’s Quilt
Stitch one block on Snapperville

I don’t want to overdo it this month, too much going on :)

I have lots of quilting & cross stitching projects lined up for next year, time to plan those goals for the new year!

Another project bag

I got together with a friend and we decided to do a Christmas exchange. I stitched her a chart from My Aunt's Attic, and made it into a project bag. After making one for Leena, I had to try another one!


This one was hard to mail, I wanted to keep it :D

My sister is visiting right now, we've been having a good time going shopping and watching movies. Back to sewing now!