Haircut or no haircut????

 I think all of you have met Vallie and know that she's a Maltese....but did you know that a Maltese's hair can get up to 8 inches long!!!  She is so soft and cuddly with her hair long and it just falls into ringlets....so girly ya know.....but to brush her is a major undertaking.  She absolutely hates her ears brushed so we had to get them shaved they were so matted that I'm afraid she's gonna get these mats all over.  She will sit still for a few minutes and let me brush her but she's got this thing about no one touching her belly....weird right???  She's definitely not one of these dogs who lays on her back just waiting for a belly scratch.  No way!!!

As you can see by the above picture, her hair is getting quite long.  We did have her hair cut when she was about 4 months old but it's been growing ever since.  I love her hair long and the one good thing about a Maltese....they don't shed!!!  So my question is should I get her hair cut down to about 2 inches long?? I can't make up my mind so you ladies are going to make it up for me.  LOL  Let me know your suggestions  and at the end of one week, I'll put all the suggestions in a hat and have Vallie pull one and that person will get a surprise in the mail.  No it won't be the clippings from her, but something to do with cross stitch.  LOL

Hope everyone has a blessed weekend,

Barbara

Two Just Nan finishes

I've been working on two commissioned pieces for Ms. R. and I just finished them.  They are both Just Nan designs.....the one on the left is to Barnaby's Bride and the cute little mouse is to Minerva's Mouse.  They are so tiny!!  The mouse is only about 1 1/2 inches tall.   I hope she likes them.....fingers crossed!!!

Now as to what do I do next.....I haven't the foggiest idea.  I have some quakers I would like to stitch but I also have a few crochet items I would like to finish.  I have some new silks coming from Vikki at HDF so maybe I should wait till they arrive.  They are gorgeous!!!!  Doesn't it feel wonderful when you finish something and you get to start over fresh on a new piece of linen with some threads that you love.  Ahhhh.....the joy of needleworking!!!!  Now that brings out a new question for you all.  What is your favorite part of starting a new design.....Is it the design itself?......the fibers.....or the new piece of linen.  

Blessings as always,

Barbara

Granny has a gun.....yikes!!!!

True story from a Kansas State Highway Patrol officer:

I made a traffic stop on an elderly lady the other day for
speeding on U.S.166 Eastbound at Mile Marker 73 just East of
Salina KS .
I asked for her driver's license, registration, and proof of
insurance.
The lady took out the required information and handed it to me.
In with the cards I was somewhat surprised (due to her advanced age) to see she had a conceal carry permit. I looked at her and ask if she had a weapon in her possession at this time.
        
She responded that she indeed had a .45 automatic in her glove
box.

Something---body language, or the way she said it---made me want
to ask if she had any other firearms. She did admit to also having
a 9mm Glock in her center console. Now I had to ask one more
time if that was all. She responded once again that she did have
just one more, a ..38 special in her purse. I then asked her what
was she so afraid of.

She looked me right in the eye and said, "Not a damn thing!"

For some reason, this makes me feel very uncomfortable.  What do you think?

My Halloween Giveaway!!!!

Well I said my giveaway would start towards the end of this month and I think I made it on time.....for once.  LOL  I racked my small brain to come up with some goodies that would tempt all of you to enter.  The picture below is all of the goodies together and then I have separate pictures of all of them.  These should make a good start on your Halloween decorating.

 First off, there is a quilted candle mat using 2 different halloween prints and black.  And what use is a candle mat without a candle so I purchased one that smells like Sugar Cookies.....yummy!!!!

 Next up is a little glass jar filled with candy corn and the lid has been stitched with a little black owl surrounded with fall leaves....or would chocolate be better???  LOL

 Last but not least is a sweet little metal frame filled with a stitched pumpkin with leaves going around it stitched with HDF silks.

Now for the boring stuff.  

You have to be a follower of my blog and to get a second chance to win, post a link on your blog to mine and tell about the giveaway.   The ending day for posting for this giveaway will be next friday night.  I will pick a winner on saturday morning via random number generator.  Good luck to all who enter.  Oh....and there just might be a surprise thrown in for good measure.  :o)

Blessings as always,

Barbara

Giving up chocolate

I was walking down the street when I was accosted by a particularly dirty and shabby-looking homeless woman who asked me for a couple of dollars for dinner.

I took out my wallet, got out ten dollars and asked,'If I give you this money, will you buy chocolate with it instead of dinner?'

'No, I had to stop eating chocolate years ago', the homeless woman told me.
'Will you use it to go shopping instead of buying food?' I asked.

No, I don't waste time shopping,' the homeless woman said. 'I need to spend all my time trying to stay alive.'

'Will you spend this on a beauty salon instead of food?' I asked.

'Are you NUTS!' replied the homeless woman. I haven't had my hair done in 20 years!'

'Well, I said, 'I'm not going to give you the money.. Instead, I'm going to take you out for dinner with my husband and me tonight.'

The homeless Woman was shocked. 'Won't your husband be furious with you for doing that? I know I'm dirty, and I probably smell pretty disgusting.'

I said,'That's okay. It's important for him to see what a woman looks like after she has given up shopping, hair appointments, and chocolate.'

I had this on earlier today but I thought it might offend so I removed it.  Then I received emails wanting it back on so here it is.  I received this in an email from a friend who knows how much I adore chocolate.

Blessings as always,

Barbara

Carol's SAL update

Well I have finished this part of Carol's SAL and am loving it more with each passing part.  I hope everyone has a great saturday with lots and lots of stitchey time.

Blessings as always,

Barbara

Can We Talk?

 Well here it is friday again and I'm jumping for joy because hubby had off from work today and we got all the yard work finished.  Hooray!!!   Do you know what that means????  I will have plenty of stitching time this weekend with no interruptions.  I received the next part of Carol's SAL and I'm working on that now.  I'll post of picture after Carol does her magic to the pic so it can't be enlarged.  I just love how it's turning out and I'm starting to look around for the finishing fabric.  I want something floral but not overwhelming.  I'm not sure but I think that gives me a good reason to go to the Sewing Studio again.  LOL  As if I needed one.

 The above is a shawl I saw on Ravelry this morning and when I went to download the pattern, I found out it was in a book that I could purchase for my Kindle from Amazon.  Apparently, they are doing alot more of your knitting and crocheting books for the Kindle and I love it.  No more having to print off the pattern....just pull it up on the Kindle and use it right from there.  This book won't be available until October 11 so I do have some time to work on other things.

 The above is something I want to make for myself.  It's done out of fingering weight wool and I have a beautiful plum and burgundy that will look stunning in this design.  Where they have the contrast, I'm going to use a kid mohair I have that matches the plum in the yarn beautifully. 

 The above little sweater is made from 100% cotton and it's going to be for Peyton.  Pink is definitely not her color so I bought it in a stunning dark teal color which is one of her best colors to wear.  I don't think this will take too long to make....there are no seams that I can find and it's done all in one piece.  This will be a Christmas present so I can't wait too long to start it.

I'm a hopeless bag nut!!!  I have so many tote bags that I don't think I could count them all and here I am going to make another one.  I love the orange color that they used but I had to settle for a dark tan.  I haven't decided what color I'm going to use for the lining but just about anything will go with tan.  Maybe something with a print to it....autumn colors come to mind.  

Well that's all for right now.  I will post a picture of things once I get them started and my next giveaway will start on October 1st so check back.  It's going to have a little bit of Halloween....which seems to be very popular this year for stitchers for some reason.....and a smidgeon of autumn.  Everyone have a great stitchey weekend!!!
UPDATE:  The little sweater I had planned for Peyton....well the cotton yarn I purchased which is what the pattern called for is absolutely HORRIBLE!!!  It is so stiff I can hardly crochet with it.  I'm thinking it would be just as horrible to wear so that one is being put on the back burner.  Then I started the cape for myself....let's just say that pattern is the worst pattern I have ever tried and I've been crocheting since I was about 8 years old.  I believe that pattern will be put to the back of the drawer never to see daylight again.  I will use that great wool yarn I bought for it for something else.  Off to try something different.....again.  LOL

Blessings as always,

Barbara

Two finishes and a new SAL

Anyone who knows me knows I love Just Nan designs and this one is just too too cute.  It was a quick and easy stitch with a quick finish but it looks like you took alot of time.  I'm not quite sure how I'm going to display him so if you have any suggestions, I'm open to them.  I just don't want him to get buried in the pile of others smalls I have.

The above design is from Sam Sarah but I changed it quite alot.  They had several of these stitched on one piece of linen but I decided to stitch just one and make him into an ornie.  "G is for Ghost" is the title of it and I think it's so sweet how the included a tile with the letter G on it.  The finishing is different than what I usually do but I think it turned out rather cute.  Behind the stitched piece I placed a piece of wool felt that is an orange and black herringbone and then behind that is a colorful Halloween cotton print.  I pinked around both pieces and tied a bow out of the same cotton print in the front.  

I belong to a Yahoo group called "The Stitch Specialists" and this time the SAL is a darling little owl.  Below you can see the finished product and above my colors that I've chosen.  The fabric is WDW Bed Creek Brown 30ct. and all my fibers are either Gloriana silk or HDF silk.  This does seem to be the year for owls and I can't wait to get into this one.  This yahoo group concentrates on specialty stitches and everything associated with them.  If you are interested in joining such a group, you can find it here.  I will post the parts as I finish them so you can see how this progresses.

I hope everyone has had a great weekend doing what we all love to do.....stitch!!!  I'm sitting here waiting for my Nascar race to start which has been in rain delay for the past 5 hours.  Hopefully they will get it started sometime tonite if not, I get to watch a race tomorrow.

Blessings as always,

Barbara

Some new finishes.............

First off, I've finished part 4 of Carol's SAL.  I am really enjoying stitching this sampler and I can't wait to see it finished.  I've decided that I'm going to make it into a stitcher's case for myself and so I'm hoping there's a place for me to stitch my initials.   I also purchased myself a new pair of scissors.  These are fantastic!!!  They are Italian and have the sharpest points and blades of any scissor I've ever used.  They are ringlocks by Forbici Ricamo and I highly recommend them.  They are reasonably priced at $28.00 and I bought them from my LNS Needle Orts.  You can find her website by clicking on the name over to the right under places I love to visit.

 Next is the biscornu pattern I offered for free last week.  I stitched this with a thread that I usually don't use at all and that's Wildflowers.  I wanted it to have a "flat" look about it....not glossy at all and I was able to do that with this thread.  I used 3 different ones....Charcoal for the cats and the words Boo, Black Hills for the decorative stitches and Tumeric for the pumpkins.  The edging is where I really went weird.  I used 1/8" black ribbon and sewd this into loops along the edge.  I think it gives it a quirky finish don't you?  LOL

And last but not least is this very cute design by Cynthia Zittel of Drawn Thread.  You might recognize it but I stitched it in Halloween colors....black, purple and neon green.  I then stitched a black beaded border all the way around it.  You'll find both of these in my store if you are interested.

Well that's all for today.  I'm starting a new Halloween design by Sam Sarah and it shouldn't take too long to stitch it....famous last words.  LOL  I hope everyone gets to do some stitching this weekend and for those in the northeast, I'm jealous of the cooler weather you are starting to have.  Please don't forget that I'd love to receive some pics of autumn in the northeast or wherever you are.  I've been really homesick lately and I'm hoping these pictures will help.  Thank you.

Blessings as always,

Barbara

I won a giveaway!!!

Stitchin Sweet Sue had a giveaway on her blog for a coupon from Yankee Candle....buy 1 get 1 free.  Well everyone knows how expensive these candles are and with my love affair with candles, I just had to enter.  Well I received my coupon today and she also included one of her handmade tissue covers.  I don't use kleenex but I do use hankies of which most were my mother's and grandmother's.  These fit perfectly into the cover that she made and will now stay nice and neat inside my purse.  Thank you so much Sue for this great surprise in the mail today.  

I am currently working on my freebie pattern for the Halloween biscornu.  I hope to have this finished tomorrow sometime if all goes well.  I am doing something a little different with this one and I'll tell you all about it when I post the completed piece.  Don't forget, if you decide to stitch this design, please send me a picture so that I may share it with others.  

Blessings as always,

Barbara

New Free Halloween Design

Has anyone else gotten into the Halloween spirit yet?  Well I have and I came up with this free design that I thought might give everyone a smile.  It has alot of specialty stitches and you can use whatever threads you have handy.  I'm stitching this at the moment and I'll share it with you all when I'm done.  You can either click on the picture to get a larger graph or go to the pdf file here.  If you have any trouble just drop me an email and I'll be glad to send it your way.  Sometimes the Google Docs thingy just doesn't want to cooperate with me.  I know I can't be doing anything wrong.  LOL  Anyways, have fun with it and if you decide to stitch it, be sure to drop me a picture so I can share with others.  

Blessings as always,

Barbara

They just taunted me.....

I swear the people who make Oreos are out to get me!!!  I was in the grocery store today minding my own business.  I walked down the cookie aisle (granted that was a stupid thing to do) and it was like I was struck by lightning.  I came to a stop and turned very slowly and there right in front of me were these cookies.  Now two things came to mind right away.....first they were "pink" (one of my favorite colors) and they had the word "ice cream" in the name.  Now how is a lady suppose to pass something like this by?  I don't know about you but I couldn't.  I tried, I swear I really did but they ended up in my cart anyway.  So tonite I had my dessert.....one glass of ice cold milk and 3 (I swear only 3) of these new delicious cookies.  I give these two thumbs up and I'm hoping my skinny little grand daughter comes over soon to visit me so I can give the rest to her.  LOL

Blessings as always,

Barbara

Part Three of Carols SAL

I was able to stitch part 3 of Carol's SAL last nite while watching the race and I really love how this is turning out.  I'm a little anxious to finish this because I just know it's gonna make a gorgeous sewing case for myself.  If you want to see how other stitchers are doing theirs, check out Carol's Blog here.

Blessings as always,

Barbara

A Wedding Sampler Finish

A sweet friend asked me to stitch this for her son and his beautiful wife who are celebrating their 5th wedding anniversary.  According to her, they had a fairy tale wedding and this just cries "fairytale".  This is a Sisters and Best Friend design but if you don't like to work with beads, then this design is not for you.  I just wasn't sure when I started stitching this but after I started adding the beads it all came together.  There are crystal, gold, pearl beads and several different flower beads with a few leaf beads.  I can't wait to see how she decides to frame this.

This morning I received the 3rd installment from Carol for her SAL so that's what I'll be working on tonite. Then I want to stitch some Halloween ornies that have caught my attention.  I usually don't do too many halloween designs but the more I see them this year, the more I want to do them.  I even think one might work it's way into my October giveaway.

Blessings as always,

Barbara

Gardens of Paris Mandala

Have you seen this?  I am in love!!!!!!  I came across this on her blog and it's going to be a Yahoo group starting in December 2011 and going to November 2012.  Well you know of course I have to join this...it's a keeper!  If you are interested in reading about this, you can check it out here.  Now I know I have to get some things around here finished before this one starts and I think this would make a great Christmas gift to me.  LOL
Also, I just received my JCS Ornament Issue for this year and I was grossly disappointed.  Is this just me or did any of you feel the same way.  Usually there are at least 2 ornies that stick out and seem to say "stitch me" but this year I came away not wanting to stitch any of them.  Bummer!!!

Blessings as always,

Barbara

Some Halloween goodies and more

Who doesn't love stitching Halloween designs?  Not Me!!  I love the ugly colors...the wacky fabric and designs.  I really do think I went a little overboard though but how could I resist.  JCS came out with the beautiful Halloween ornament issue that has all the great designs from past years.  Everyone knows how popular owls are right now and Just Nan has some really cuties this year.  I even got my orange fabric for some ornies I hope to stitch....notice I said "hope".  

Not sure if you have ever heard of Piecework magazine, but I think it's a keeper.  It always has some fantastic articles about historical pieces  and it covers a large range of needlework.....from needlepoint to crochet to lacework.  I also had to get the two new JBW Christmas designs. 

Then from The Fat Quarter Shop today I received in the mail this new charm pack and two yards of coordinating fabrics.  I love this chocolate brown and it should make up some great fall patterns.

The purple thingy is a crocheted cover for my tape measure.  I found the pattern on Ravelry and it calls for 3 colors of wool sock weight yarn and I just happen to have two shades of purple and a green for the leaf. I loved doing it and it worked up really fast.  I added a sparkly button to the center of the tea rose just for fun.

I hope everyone has a safe holiday weekend and you get to do lots and lots of stitching.  I plan on doing just that while watching my racing.  

Blessings as always,

Barbara