And the winner is......

Before I announce the winner, I want to thank everyone that commented and posted about my giveaway. I'm a relatively new blogger and I appreciate your participation and comments. Thanks to you, I have "discovered" many new and interesting blogs and have added them to my list of favorites. This was fun so I'll be doing lots more giveaways in the future.

Okay, drum roll please..................... the winner of the JSC Ornie issue and the Angels charts is Deb, creator of the wonderful blog, The Thread Gatherer http://threadgatherer.blogspot.com Deb, if you would email me your snail mail addy, I'll send this out to you right away.

Thanks again to everyone for participating! Enjoy your day!

The new ornie issue is here, time for a giveaway!!!!!

I've just received the Just Crossstitch Ornament issue and and it has made my day! I have eagerly awaited the yearly arrival of this magazine since I first discovered it. And, since my Hope Angel made the cover this year, and since I have been such a poor blogger lately, I am having my first blog giveaway.

I will be giving away one copy of the magazine, along with one each of my four Angel Ornament crossstitch charts. That way, the winner will have the entire set of angels to stitch. To enter, please leave a comment on this post. If you post about the contest on your blog, you will get entered a second time. I'll announce the winner next Thursday. Good luck!!!

More about the magazine, lots of great ornies in there to stitch. So many of my favorite designers are included this year, all with wonderful designs. I have kitted up six already and will start stitching the first this afternoon while waiting on the school pick up line for my kids.

This brings me to the reason that I have been a poor blogger, my kids went back to public school for the first time in four years. It has been a real change. They love their new adventure, new friends, new teachers, band, dances, etc. They do not enjoy homework, getting up at 6:00 am (mommy really doesn't enjoy that one, it's still dark here at 6:00 am, ugh!!!) or busy work. All in all, it has been a good experience so far. We'll have to see how we do on our first quarter report cards. Until then, if anyone has any ideas on how to motivate kids to get out of bed on the first call, please let me know. The "time to get up" song doesn't seem to be working as well as it did the first couple of weeks. :)

I do actually have some stitching to show, I'll post pics next time. Thanks for stopping by!!!

Happy 4th of July!!!!

This is one of my early freebies, I've always liked it and it fits in with the theme of the day. Click on the picture to download. Enjoy!!

The angels are coming....

My angel ornament series, that is. I'm printing the charts as I type this and soon they will be winging (slightly lame pun intended) their way to the shops and my distributors. They should be available in shops and on my Etsy site by the middle of next week. They are stitched on 30 count with just a little over one stitching and I love them. I enjoyed every part of the design process with these, even the finishing which I usually don't absolutely love doing. I can see them decorating a feather wreath or stitched one above the other on a bellpull. I have the threads pulled for the bellpull idea but haven't started stitching it yet.

In other news, the weather has been hot and sunny and the kids and I have been spending some time down by the lake, which is too good for words. It's a tiny lake but you'd never know it to see how much fun the kids have there. I've also started walking/jogging everyday. I've been inspired by some of you fellow stitchers that manage to work, take care of family, stitch and exercise and make it sound so easy. I used to run years ago, and hope to get back to where I actually can run 5 miles and make it look easy.

My printer is beeping at me so I'm off for now. Thanks for stopping by!!

Progress...

First, thanks for all the comments about Miss Mary Mac's Sewing Roll. I'm working on another pin cushion and sewing roll set and will have pics soon (keep in mind that soon is a somewhat relative term on this blog). Between a new puppy showing up at the house (with 4 dogs already) insisting that this is where she should live and the first week of really nice weather, I've not had much daylight time up here in the studio. I have had lots of lovely early morning chats with my daughter on the porch and evening chats with my sister and nieces in the same spot. Family is a very good thing.

I do have a few things to show. First, my CHS SAL, I didn't forget this week Annemarie, I'm just hopelessly late at getting up to the studio to blog. I'm stitching it over two on 40 count as I am hoping to put it in a shadow box style frame. It will be too teeny for a real stocking. The fabric color is dangerously close to Noah's haircolor, so he may have a bit of a dye job before I am through. Oh, and I changed his coat color as well. More progress next week, I promise.

I also finished CCN Summer Bungalows yesterday. My chronic case of startitis caused me to finish this one, so I could have the stitching frame for my next design. Seven stitching frames and something on every one of them. Lots of solid areas of stitching on this one, which I normally don't do well with, but the soft colors made it easy to stick with. I apologize for the wrinkles.

In other stitching news, I found out that my ornament design for the 2009 Just Crossstitch Ornament issue will be on the cover and I am very excited about that. I can't show you the design but you'll be able to see it soon enough. It's my favorite out of all of the designs that I have done for the magazine.

My son turned 12 last week and I think that I am in shock. How can he already be 12, it seems he was just a toddler not so long ago. He spent his weekend doing guy stuff with two of his best buds, dirtbiking and the new Star Trek movie. We're celebrating his dad's birthday tomorow as he was out of town on his real day. Lots of birthday cake for our family in May, and lots of fun!Thanks for stopping by!

Miss Mary Mac's Sewing Roll

I just finished the chart for Miss Mary Mac's newest design. It's a sweet little sewing roll to go with her pincushion. It was fun to stitch and easy to finish into the roll. I love doing these small designs and have several more in the works. This one will go out to shops the first of next week and the distributors will get them soon after that. So, I'll be folding and packaging this weekend, in between doing family stuff.

I had planned to post my progress on my CHS no pressure stocking stitch along, but as there is no progress, there is no post. The day is still young, though, and I could surprise myself. Thanks for visiting!

Finally, some sunshine!!!

It is a beautiful day here in middle Tennessee, and we are enjoying it. The kids are getting into their Summer mode, which means doing everything possible outside instead of in. I tried to get pics of the human children and the furry children but as you can see, the dogs, especially my corgie Max would not cooperate. Most of the

pictures look like the first picture, with dogs going every which way, but I did get a couple with all faces forward. The other smiling girl is our dear friend Saxon who is staying with us for a few days.

I actually have some stitching to show you as well. I'm not quite getting the hang of taking pics as I go, but I am trying. The first one is Birds of a Feather's A Very Fine Sampler which I have been working on for years. I pick it up and put a few stitches in it, then put it aside. I'm not sure why it is taking me so long to finish it, I think that it's because I love stitching on it so much and I don't want it to end. The colors are wonderful, and I love the way that unfinished areas are designed into the piece, making it look like a beautiful old sampler.

I'm also working on Summer Rentals, it's a little faded in the pic but I didn't want to take it off the scroll frame to shoot it. It's taking a bit longer than I'd like, lots of solid areas of color always slow me down, but it is for my resort, beachy wall in the studio. I LOVE the shore, any shore and have been collecting beachy charts for my wall. I've got my The Sun Sets design hanging and my Summer At the Shore and this one will fit in nicely. And lastly, I'm working on this bright little pelican canvas. It's small, the perfect size to put on a beach tote. I've got some great stripey fabric to use when it's finished. Okay, has anyone else noticed that I am in a beach mindset? Time to sneak away to the shore for a few days, if only I could. Hubby has a big show next week, no where near water and the kids have spring show the week after that. Aghhhhhhh!!!! Maybe mid May........ Until then, expect more wishful beachy stitching.

Thanks for stopping by!