It's My Birthday!

Well, today is my 44th B-day ~ woo hoo! I'm am really starting to feel my age ~ everything creaks and pops when I stand up LOL ~ I guess I'm just like a box of Rice Crispies ~ snap, crackle, pop!


I completed some more cross stitches (WIPs) these past couple of days. Peaceful Ways (La-D-Da), Scatter Christmas (Shepherd's Bush), If the Broom Fits (Lizzie Kate).

Nancy left a comment in my webshots album of 2007/2008 finishes asking if they were, indeed, "finished" or lying in a drawer....I plead guilty to the latter! To be honest, a good portion of those pieces have been sold on eBay (I stitch to "keep me off the streets" and then sell some of the pieces so I can buy more stash!) I do have a few pieces out that I haven't photographed yet ~ on my ever expanding to-do list!

However, up until just recently, the only finish I knew was to take it to the framer and pay out the nose for custom framing. I have a love/hate relationship with my sewing machine and am a frustrated quilter (I can piece the top, but am scared to death to actually quilt it). But now that I've seen so many cute finishes, I'm inspired. I think I'm going to make it my goal to finish one piece each month! I might be asking for ideas....in fact, starting now, I believe I will post one piece each month and ask for ideas on how to finish it! After all, there is not a creative fiber in my body ~ I can't even hang pictures on the wall without a committee!

So, here's the piece for the month of September! We'll start small. Blessings (by Heart in Hand). The dimensions of the piece are 3.25 x 4.25. I'd love to hear from y'all on how you would finish it. Then, I'll muster up every ounce of will-power and courage in my body and I'll finish it AND post pictures.



If I have a chance this week, I am going to buy myself a birthday present! I desperately need a new camera ~ mine is literally, truly falling apart. I have to tape the battery compartment closed to keep the batteries in the camera and touching the contacts so it will work. I believe it was the cheapest model available at WalMart a few years ago when I bought it.....some things you just have to spend a little bit more money on ~ lesson learned!

BTW, I just purchased an 8x8 q-snap cover (snap wrap) from that lady on eBay ~ here's the link to her store.... http://stores.ebay.com/TrulyN2Stitching-Designs . $4.75 plus $1.50 S/H definitely beats $18 plus S/H! I'll let y'all know how I like it.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week ~ and prayers out there to the folks affected by Gustav! Here in Georgia, we're starting to eye Hanna...last report I heard was officials in Savannah were considering evacuations. The only good thing about this is we might get some much needed rain here in the southeast where we've been under a drought for the past couple of years.

Hugs to you all!

Just My 25 Cents Worth....

Today, the news story du jour, besides Hurricane Gustav, is the fact that the 17-year-old daughter of Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin, Senator John McCain's VP pick, is pregnant (and unmarried). Reading some of the comments made on the story, I'm burning with shame that I live among people who, in 21st Century America, would stoop to make such disparaging remarks about a wonderful, accomplished, no nonsense American woman. "She should go home and tend to her own family." "What wonderful family values she has ~ not!" "What a horrible example this is for all our teenage girls in America." Excuse me! Exactly what plant have they been smoking? Please someone tell me how you control the actions of a 17-year-old 24 hours a day? I can tell you I was not a perfect child (nor were my parents perfect), but I have only myself to blame for the bad decisions I made. I made decisions that broke the heart of my mom, who prayed for me every day (and still does, by the way). Does that mean she was a horrible mother? Not by a long shot. I have a 22-year-old and a 19-year-old who make bad decisions (some very costly) and yet I know they were raised to know and do better. Am I to blame for that? I think not. Do I love them less? No! Remember the saying, "There but for the grace of God go I..."

***Intemperate thought.....imagine if Senator McCain's VP pick had been a man and this situation had come up? Would people be saying he needed to go home and take care of his family first? Just thought I would throw that out there. The hypocrisy of those comments is stunning....

In a country where more than 40 million babies have been sacrificed on the altar of convenience, it IS refreshing to see a young woman make a very courageous decision when she could have so easily taken the easy way out (and would have then been applauded by the very people who are so "shocked" and "scandalized" by her behavior). She is going to, "gasp", marry the father of her child. It will be very difficult to be a mother at that age, but she is surrounded by loving parents and extended family who support her decision. Do we want our children to be in situations like this? No. Do we want them to have to grow up faster than they already are? No. But in an age where our Hollywood idols download children at a whim without a thought to marrying the father, it is wonderful to see that these young people own up to making a bad decision and then taking responsibility for their actions and providing their baby (who is NOT A MISTAKE) a mother and a father. I would much rather have her as a role model for my children (someone who takes responsibility for her actions), than those selfish, vapid, self-absorbed Hollywood and pop culture icons who make a mockery of marriage and parenthood.

I wish Governor Palin and her family all the best. I will remember her family in my prayers. I just ask the Lord to give them an extra measure of grace and fortitude for the difficult two months ahead of them.

Stepping off my soap box.....

My Wish List

In order to keep my blog a bit "cleaner", I've decided to create this as a post and then as a link....hopefully it will work! My thanks to Meari for the inspiration ~ don't you just love love love her blog???

My wish list ~ I'll be adding to it and, hopefully, removing items as I acquire them LOL!

• Red Snowman ~ PATTERN ONLY (Shepherd's Bush)
• Pumpkin Topiary (Knotted Tree)
  
• Flower Urn Scissor Companion (Ewe & Eye)
  
• Fanciful Blooms (Ewe & Eye)
  
• Love Letters (Ewe & Eye)
  
• Spring Spot (Ewe & Eye)
  
• Woodland Spot (Ewe & Eye)
  
• Christmas Spot Sampler (Ewe & Eye)
• Hanging Peacock Pin Keep (Stacy Nash)
  
• Mulberry (Shepherd's Bush) ~ photo not available
• Rowanberry (Shepherd's Bush) ~ photo not available
• Buttercups (Shepherd's Bush) ~ photo not available
• Shepherd's Bush Sterling Silver Charms ~ Star, Inn, Moon, & Rosebud

WIP Is Now Complete!

This will be just an incredibly blah post. It's been so busy this week ~ I've hardly had a chance to catch my breath. Lot of work (and I'm not complaining) so I haven't had much of a chance to stitch. But, I did manage to put the finishing touches on a WIP, Pumpkin Whiskers by Lizzie Kate. I stitched it on 26 ct Hickory Heatherfield using GAST, an adorable star button from JABC, and black seed beads for the eyes. Sorry for the wavy look on the fabric ~ it doesn't lay flat on the scanner because of the button and beads. But isn't it adorable? Love the kitty cat "pumpkin"!



The blog is going to be a work in progress as I first of all find time to work on it, and then as I learn how to navigate around, figure out what kind of design suits my personality best so forgive the mess!

Through the day, I've tried to take peaks at other's blogs and pictures from members of ILCS ~ I don't have much of a chance at all to comment, but I am just so awed by all the talent out there, and some of the posts have put a smile on my face.

It's bedtime for me right now ~ another big day tomorrow and hopefully some time this weekend to stitch!

I Hate Mondays.....

Mondays are a horribly carpy way to spent 1/7th of your week. Today was no exception. With all the damp weather down here (Tropical Storm Fay moving up from Florida), I have been aching all over and then developed one of those dull headaches that are invincible against anything but a Darvocet (which I can't take because I'll fall asleep). I did not want to work today ~ thankfully there was not much work today to do and I was finished by 7 p.m.

Got to spend a little time stitching one of my WIPs, Gentle Words/Peaceful Ways (La-D-Da). Almost finished! I coffee-dyed/distressed my linen and it looks so old and brown!

I am hoping to participate in an ornament exchange in a new group I've joined (ILCS) ~ so I've been flipping through some ornament patterns to see if any catch my fancy and are fairly uncomplicated so I have a chance to get it finished and submitted in time. There were a few I saw that I just love.....

Is it Friday yet?

I didn't think this week would ever end! Work is stacked up on my desk....I'm not complaining. I'm very thankful I have work that allows me to stay at home and still make fairly decent money to pay the bills. Youngest DD has returned to college Tuesday and the house is so quiet now. Of course, she calls about 8-10 times a day, so there's really no peace in the house with the phone ringing all the time.

I've been trying to get some stitching done while the housecleaning stays UNDONE! I'm learning to just step over the piles. One day I'll feel like cleaning again or else come up with the $$ to hire someone else to do it LOL! I'm sure I can find that $$ somewhere!

I'm working on two projects right now, Shepherd Bush's "Scatter Christmas" and La-D-Da's "Peaceful Ways". I ran out of my GAST Tarnished Gold right in the middle of it (I could have sworn I had another matching skein around here but I can't find it). Of course GAST's colors are not consistent. The skein I do have at hand does not match AT ALL! Will do some frogging tonight.....

A brief introduction......

My first blog post! I'm going to be learning this as I go, so please be patient and bear with my mistakes!

I wanted to become part of the blogging community and hopefully meet other women who share my love of cross stitch. I want to share my work, and learn from others. I need to be inspired to do more than simply stitch the piece! I need finishing ideas and encouragement to then actually finish my work!

Here's an example of a beautiful sampler I stitched in 2005 and never finished. Of course, to be fair, custom framing costs a fortune and seldom does a cross stitch piece fit into a conventional-sized frame.

Hugs,

Lauralee >^.^<