A Stitcher's Giveaway

It's Time for a Giveaway!!!

I decided this time to concentrate on the sisterhood of stitchers.  When I came across this free pattern over on The Primitive Hare (click here), I knew that I had to stitch this design in celebration of what we all love.  I have met several stitchers since starting this blog that I consider my "sister" even though we've never met and maybe never will.  There are so many stitchers worldwide but it's a very close community and I love that part about it.  

So the first part of the giveaway is a sweet little pin pillow stitched on 30ct. Creek Bed Brown linen from WDW using Crescent Colors cotton floss.  The checked fabric at the bottom is a country blue homespun with a piece of cream aged cotton lace across the top.  I've sewn 3 olive green buttons on and added one of my bows in green/blue/cream.  The finished size is approx 5 x 6 inches.

 I was also up at my LNS this morning and saw this silver charm and I thought it would make a beautiful key chain.  The heart is about 1.5 inches across and has a nice weight to it.  I bought one for myself and one to include in this giveaway.

So this is what I need you to do.  Leave a comment on this post only and in one sentence, tell all of us what the stitching world has meant to you....if you want to.  You must be a follower of my blog and if you have a blog, post a comment on yours about this giveaway and then come back and leave another comment about it.  It will give you a second chance to win.

I will let this run for one week and next friday I will have the random generator pick a number for the winner.  This giveaway is open to all my followers worldwide because I believe that stitching makes this world a little bit smaller and friendlier.

My next project is a suggestion from my good buddy Sweet Sue.....

Blessings as always,

Barbara

Happy Birthday to Rhonda

 Remember a few months ago when I stitched Linda's Ort Bag for Rhonda?  Well today is her birthday and I can finally show you what I had made for her "special day".

I used the same fabric ....  28ct. Waterlilly Jobelan and the same Gloriana Silks and came up with a design that I took from the ort bag and turned it into a biscornu.  

I also made a little pouch for the little gold scissors I gave her with matching scissor fob.  Also on the back of the scissor case, there is a piece of matching wool felt where she can store her needle when not in use.

What is not shown on the above pictures is that JABC has these darling little stick pins out that are candles and I included them in the pincushion so it looked like a decorated birthday cake.  I wish I had taken a picture of them but oh well.  

I hope Rhonda has a very special day!!

I am working on a give away and will announce it soon so stay in touch.

Blessings as always,

Barbara

Something to share with you.....

I received something in the mail today that just blew me away.  A sweet friend named Stacie sent me these beautiful cards that she makes. 

I love each and every one of them and she really expects me to use these.  No way!!!!  I feel like having them framed they are so beautiful.  I had no idea that she did this type of work but I do understand she doesn't stitch anymore.  I have an email in to her about whether or not she sells them and when I hear from her, I will be sure to post a link if she wishes.  They really are professional work.

Thank you Stacie for sharing your work and talent with me.  

I hope all of you are starting off your new week with some stitchie time or maybe just some "Me" time which we all need.

Blessings as always,

Barbara

P.S. I just heard back from Stacie and if anyone is interested in seeing more of her beautiful work and contacting her, you can get in touch with her here:

http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/stacieolson/

Jenns Case is Finished

I had posted that I was going to make Jenn a case for her set of Harmony needles like mine and I just finished it.  There are some differences though.  On the outside of the case I used a design from Tante Zolder and placed Jenn's initials in the center.  She loves teals and browns and I was lucky enough to find a beautiful collection of fabrics which incorporated these colors.

 The next picture shows the outside of the case and the beautiful striped fabric I used.  This has teal, brown, olive greens and tans and in between the stripes are tiny stripes of gold metallic.  I love this fabric!!!

 The next pictures shows the zippered case at the bottom for her cables and I included a small case above that for her crochet hooks.  This I didn't include on mine and how I wish I had.  Oh well.....

 The next picture shows the place for her needles.  The bottom row will hold her straight needles and the top row will hold her double pointed needles.  I even found a pair of scissors that have the colors of this case in them so I made a place for them also.

 The last pictures shows the small case at the top for her little markers and such.  This was alot of fun to make and I love it when a plan comes together.  LOL

And now I'm faced with finding something else to work on.  Back to my sewing room I go.  LOL

I hope all of you are having a lovely week so far and that you've gotten plenty of stitchie time in.  I find it helps me maintain my sanity.

Blessings as always,

Barbara

Happy Mother's Day

I want to wish all of the Mom's out there the best Mother's Day ever.  

To the Mother's to be who will give birth to their first this year....

To the Mother who works outside the home as well as inside....

To the Mother who is lucky enough to be able to stay home....

To the Mother who is on her own....

To the Grand Mother's who are lucky enough to be able to hold the next generation on her knee....

And to the Mother's who have now gone onto a resting place....

I wish you all the best.

Blessings as always,

Barbara

Finished Needle Case.........

.....but it's not what you're thinking.  Normally when I say needles, I mean the tapestry kind that we use in cross stitch, but this time I mean the knitting needle kind.  

Remember these coordinating fabrics I had bought about a month ago at Sewing Studio?  Well it took me some time to come up with the perfect design to go with them and I think I hit it squarely.  I decided to lean towards the Parisian theme of the fabric and use Carol's design Sew Le Coeur De Paris (which can be found here).  I strayed away from her red and black and used black and a varigated gold silk from HDF.  They match the fabrics perfectly.

Below you can see the closed case.

 Below is the case opened and at the very top I have a small pocket which closes.

 It's the perfect size for all my stitch markers.

 Below is the middle of the case where the needles are stored and there's also a small pocket.

 Here you can see the beauty of these Harmony needles.  I LOVE THEM!!!!

 Below you see the pocket opened and it's where I store the ends for the cables.

 At the very bottom is a zippered pocket.

 In this pocket I keep my cables and the connectors.  Also are the size rings for the needles.

I absolutely love how this turned out and I'm very pleased that Carol had such a perfect design for it.  I have done several of her designs and not one has disappointed me.  

I'm not sure what my next project will be.  Did you ever have this happen to you?  You have so many patterns that you just don't know which one to do next.  I also purchased two new ones the other day.  A Quaker Needlework Box from Ellen Chester and Plum Pudding from Glendon Place.  I love both of these but I'm not in the mood to start a large project.  I think I'll go back to my sewing room and do some cleaning and maybe something will hit me.....in my room that could be literally.  LOL

Hope all of you are having a great Saturday so far and that you get to pick up a needle and thread for a few stitches.

Blessings as always,

Barbara

BUYING A MATURE WOMAN'S BATHING SUIT

When I was a child in the 1950s, the bathing suit for the

mature figure was-boned, trussed and reinforced, not so much

sewn as engineered. They were built to hold back and uplift,

and they did a good job. Today's stretch fabrics are

designed for the prepubescent girl with a figure carved from

a potato chip.

The mature woman has a choice, she can either go up front to

the maternity department and try on a floral suit with a

skirt, coming away looking like a hippopotamus that escaped

from Disney's Fantasia, or she can wander around every

run-of-the-mill department store trying to make a sensible

choice from what amounts to a designer range of fluorescent

rubber bands.

What choice did I have? I wandered around, made my sensible

choice and entered the chamber of horrors known as the

fitting room. The first thing I noticed was the

extraordinary tensile strength of the stretch material. The

Lycra used in bathing costumes was developed, I believe, by

NASA to launch small rockets from a slingshot, which gives

the added bonus that if you manage to actually lever

yourself into one, you would be protected from shark

attacks. Any shark taking a swipe at your passing midriff

would immediately suffer whiplash.

I fought my way into the bathing suit, but as I twanged the

shoulder strap in place I gasped in horror, my boobs had

disappeared! Eventually, I found one boob cowering under my

left armpit. It took a while to find the other. At last I

located it flattened beside my seventh rib.

The problem is that modern bathing suits have no bra cups.

The mature woman is meant to wear her boobs spread across

her chest like a speed bump. I realigned my speed bump and

lurched toward the mirror to take a full view assessment. I

was the proud owner of a uni-boob!

The bathing suit fit alright, but unfortunately it only fit

those bits of me willing to stay inside it. The rest of me

oozed out rebelliously from top, bottom and sides. I looked

like a lump of Playdoh wearing undersized cling wrap.

As I tried to work out where all those extra bits had come

from, the prepubescent sales girl popped her head through

the in, "Oh, there you are!" she said, admiring the

bathing suit.

I replied that I wasn't so sure and asked what else she had

to show me. I tried on a cream crinkled one that made me

look like a lump of masking tape, and a floral two-piece

that gave the appearance of an oversized napkin in a serving

ring.

I struggled into a pair of leopard-skin bathers with ragged

frills and came out looking like Tarzan's Jane, pregnant

with triplets and having a rough day.

I tried on a black number with a midriff and looked like a

jellyfish in mourning.

I tried on a bright pink pair with such a high cut leg I

thought I would have to wax my eyebrows to wear them.

Finally, I found a suit that fit, it was a two-piece affair

with a shorts-style bottom and a loose blouse-type top. It

was cheap, comfortable, and bulge-friendly, so I bought it.

My ridiculous search had a successful outcome, I figured.

When I got it home, I found a label that read, "Material

might become transparent in water."

So, if you happen to be on the beach or near any other body

of water this year and I'm there too, I'll be the one in

cut-off jeans and a T-shirt!

You'd better be laughing or rolling on the floor by this

time. Life isn't about how to survive the storm, but how to

dance in the rain, with or without a bathing suit!

I have to give credit for this hilarious commentary to my best buddy, Thellie.  She has it posted on her Facebook page and I said that I just had to post it on here.  If I have offended anyone, please accept my apology but I'm hoping everyone takes it as it was intended....a hilarious look at purchasing a bathing suit.

Blessings as always,

Barbara

A New Finish

I sincerely hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend filled with all kinds of leisure time for stitching.  I think we need to organize as women and demand....or ask nicely....for a week off from everything else just so we can sit there and stitch.  Wouldn't it be lovely not to have to think of anything else for a whole 7 days!!!  It wouldn't cost the DH's anything except some forgotten dinners and maybe some dirty clothes which I'm sure wouldn't bother most men.  LOL  Let's all give this some thought and maybe organize a "sit in" that takes place in our favorite stitching chair.  

I have been stitching on this for about a week and it's taken longer than I thought it would.  It's a Mary Garry pattern..."A Present for Sewing Well" stitching case.  The above picture shows the front of the case and you'll notice at the top you'll see some printed cotton sewn on there.  Well that was suppose to be stitched in a checkerboard pattern and I just didn't like it.  I decided to sew a piece of the coordinating fabric there and it can be seen from the front or the back which is pictured below.

 Below you'll see the inside which has a pocket, a piece of wool felt for needles and a gold ring to place fibers on if you so which.  I absolutely love how this turned out but I really don't need another one so you'll find this one in my store for sale.

My next project is coming up with something that goes with the black and cream fabric collection that I posted about.  I'm not sure what it's gonna be yet but I'll think of something.....I hope.

Well that's all for now....hope nobody has run into that frog that keeps visiting everyone...he's a pesty little bugger.

Blessings as always,

Barbara

Winner is..................

Kathy H.

The number generator came up with the number 6 and Kathy H. had written:

That chick is just the cutest thing. I would love to stitch it. Thanks for the chance in your giveaway. My to do list keeps getting longer too.


I have emailed Kathy to let her know of her winnings and I hope all of my followers will continue to be on the lookout for more giveaways,
Blessings as always,
Barbara

A "Tweet" finish

I do hope your week has started out fantastic and I want to thank all of you loyal followers who leave comments and to those who just read.  I love all of you and I hope that someday I get to meet at least some of you.  That is my wish!

I have a new finish and it was a quickie.  It's from JABCo and I picked it up at my LNS this morning so that shows you just how fast it is to stitch and finish.  The little feet are buttons and I noticed when I was posting this picture.....I forgot my bow at the top....or maybe it doesn't need it.  My mind isn't working just too great today and it's not a good day to make decisions.  LOL

If you would like this little chart, post a comment and I will draw a name this friday.  I also have a little Prairie Schooler freebie that has a little chick on it and I'll include that also.  You will have to purchase the feet buttons or maybe just use felt.  I think that would be cute also.

I've started a new stitching purse and I should have that finished by the end of the week.  It's done in dark olive greens and burgundys......yummy!

Well that's about all I have to report so far this week.  I went up to my LNS this morning and picked up some 22 count fabric.  I love stitching on this over 1 and I bought a navy and an olive green.  I haven't decided what I'm going to stitch on them yet but I'm sure something will come to me.  I also picked up the newest issue of Sampler & Antique Needlework.  I really haven't had a chance to really look thru it yet but that is one magazine I collect no matter what is in it.  I also bought the new issue of Piecework because it has got the most beautiful knitted shawl in it so that goes on my "todo" list.  I've noticed my "todo" list keeps getting longer and very few things get taken off of it.  Do you have the same problem?

I was also thinking of starting a SAL.  I would like your input for this.  I'm thinking of a Christmas design that is not too involved but something that we can stitch a few stitches every week and not get bogged down.  Let me know what you think.

Blessings as always,

Barbara