I want to wish all my friends the Happiest of Thanksgiving!  Please enjoy this time with your family and friends.....I know I will.  This year is the first time in over 12 years that I'll be blessed with my family around me.  

Blessings!

I was up at my LNS this morning and came away with these two Just Another Button Co kits that I know I won't have time to do.  I'm offering these up for sale for what I paid for them.  These are complete kits....nothing has been removed.

Daisy's Scissor Fob

Kit includes:  Buttons and 2013 charm, pearl cotton and 

Handbehg Felts felt ball.  

You add needle and thread.

$22.50

Sew French Spoolkeep

Kit includes everything shown...you just add

needle and thread.

$19.50

I take Paypal only and the shipping is $1.50 for each of them.

Today is the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address given by Abraham Lincoln at the dedication of the Gettysburg Civil War Cemetary.  I have been there many times and it still gives me chills to see these words.  Take a moment of your time today to read these words that are still appropriate for today's world.

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Abraham Lincoln

November 19, 1863

It seems like forever since I posted anything!  I've been busy here around the  house and also in my sewing room.  Fall has arrived here in Florida and it always makes me bring out my knitting needles and crochet hooks.  I've made 3 shawls but I'm not going to post pics until I have them blocked.  

I've also been working to finish up my SAL for 2013 and below are my finishes.  The first one is for December and it was so much fun to stitch.  

The november one is in honor of my grandmother, Anna Grace, with a "grandmother's garden" hexagon quilting design.  The brass heart is just to show how much I loved her.  So now I'm finished with the SAL and I've had several members remark  about how they are going to carry on this tradition every year.  I think it's a fabulous idea!   I would like to start a book that shows all the different kinds of stitches I can do for cross stitch and embroidery and maybe even some knitting, crocheting and hardanger.  This I will have to think on some more to get it the way I want it.  I hope everyone has enjoyed the SAL and please, if you haven't gone over to check out the beautiful work, give yourself a treat and go take a peek.  It's very much worth it.

The kids went to Daytona Beach this morning about 5 am to see the sunrise.  I thought I would share some of the photos with you.  It's very beautiful till all the people get there.

I have always been fascinated by elderly peoples hands....call me weird....but I think you can see a person's life in their hands.  When I saw this picture on Pinterest, it immediately caught my attention and I wanted to share.  It's simply called "Amour".

Here is my October page for the SAL I'm hosting.  I found some really Halloweenish green Lugana in my stash and used that for both pieces.  The heart is a freebie which is suppose to have been for Valentines day but I noticed that no one has ever done a heart...that I can think of...for Halloween so this is my version.  I did the roses in a spiderweb stitch with silk ribbon for the leaves.  The hardanger was done using pearl cotton and the eyelets were done using a Gloriana silk in bewitching colors.  I added beads to the center of each square and I kind of like my Halloween Heart.  The little bat up in the corner is all beads and he was also a freebie.  

If you haven't been over to the SAL pages, please check them out and see what beautiful work is being done by all the stitchers.  I am very impressed every month by each and every one of them and we only have two months to go.  This year has gone fast!

Remember me mentioning the Sal that Nathalie was having....well this is the first part I have stitched.  I'm doing it in colors that I usually wouldn't pick and I think that's good.  The fibers are Au Ver A Soie 100/3 and it's being stitched on 32ct. Queen Anne's Lace Jobelan.  I love how this turned out and I'm impatiently awaiting the next part which will be released on Oct. 1 or 2....I can't remember.

Oh here's an interesting question.....if you were to stitch a sampler that represented black and white television from the 50's what color fabric and threads would you use?

B

Remember me posting about a challenge that Lori over at Notforgotten Farms was having....well here's my entry.  I stitched her design on light olive green 32ct. linen using a HDF silk that was varigated with black and dark olive green.  I love this color!  Then I started playing around and did some of the stitching types I like to do best.  There's quilting with the hexagon in upper right hand corner.....applique with the bat and machine embroidery with the spooky house and the cobweb.  The ribbon was torn and then burnt to give it a primitive look about it.  

I really enjoyed stitching this little design as I have all of Lori's.  I'm still plucking away on my hexagon quilt that's in shades of indigo blues.  I don't have that much more to do but I'm starting to get the knitting bug and crocheting bug again.  I can tell fall is coming.

I would like to share a story with you that means alot to me.  When I was a kid, my Uncle Roy and Aunt Helen lived on a farm that was only about 3 miles from our home.  We visited almost every weekend and I loved them dearly.  One of my favorite memories from my childhood happened there....well I should say 3 of them happened there.  My Aunt Helen churned her own butter and it was so sweet I swear I can still taste it.  She always gave me butter crackers when we visited and I loved them.  The second was my Uncle Roy.  He use to let me sit on his lap and take very small sips from his beer.  I think that's why I like beer even to this day.  The third was my cat Smokey.  Their cat had kittens and me and my younger brother were allowed to bring one home.  Smokey was the runt of the litter and we loved him so much.  I still think of him often.  

By now you are wondering what this has to do with the above picture.  Well when Uncle Roy retired from the farming, they moved into a much smaller home and I stitched this for them as a remembrance.  That was about 40 years ago.  It's a Told In The Garden design and I stitched it over one thread on 28ct natural linen so that it would fit in the frame.  I remember when I gave it to them that Uncle Roy had a funny look on his face.  I asked him what was wrong and his reply was, "but we're not Amish".  :o)

My Uncle Roy passed away about 10 years ago and he was in his 90's and had led a very full like.  This past August 6 I lost my Aunt Helen and she lived to be 102 years old.  She lived in a nursing home for the past few years and she always had this picture on her wall.  Well when she passed on, one of my cousins... her daughter...contacted me and asked if I would like to have the picture back.  Of course I said yes and it is now hanging in my kitchen and it's a sweet reminder of my childhood and my wonderful Uncle Roy and Aunt Helen.   I miss them dearly.