Some Updates

Hello my fellow stitcher's.  Has everyone recovered from the frenzy of Christmas?  We had a wonderful quiet day with Peyton and John and the two little sweethearts, Little John and Zane.

I started a new project from Little House Needleworks called "My Needle Work".  

This is what I have finished so far:

I'm stitching it with the Crescent Colors that it came with and so far I'm enjoying it very much.

I have a wonderful husband who loves to work with wood.  He's been in his shop working on something lately and I found out Christmas morning.  When hurricane Irma came thru here and knocked some pretty large branches off of our maple tree, he kept part of one and made this beautiful dish out of it for me.  He knows how much that tree meant to me and now I have a piece of it forever.  Here it is empty and you can see the beautiful grain going thru it.

And here it is filled with some of my little pillows.  I'm loving it!!!

I also was able to do the finishing work on the BBD "With This You See" pincushion.  Not sure if everyone has heard about this but the pattern by Barb Adams was a project to raise money for UNICEF for Christmas.  I loved stitching this beautiful design and also being able to contribute to a worthwhile organization at the same time.

I machine embroidered on the bottom "Remember Me, BAW, 2017".  I guess I should of done it by hand but I liked the look of this in the gold thread.  

That's all for now.  I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Blessings,  Barbara

Wishing all my family and friends the merriest of Christmas' and the happiest of New Year's.  

Blessings from Above,

Barbara

It's been awhile

Hello my little elves.  I hope everyone is staying warm on this Sunday afternoon.  We had temps down in the 30's last nite and poor little Vallie was shivering.  She's not use to these kind of temps and usually she doesn't sleep under the blankets but last nite she did.  It's only gotten into the 50's today so I'm glad I didn't have anywhere to go.  

I was able to finish a Cricket design that I've admired for years but just never seemed to have the time to do it.  Well I buckled down and did it and I love it.  It's called "Be Ye Thankful" and we truly have been blessed this past year.  DH came thru his lung surgery fine, Peyton and John's wedding and the birth of our second great/grandson.  How could it be any better?

I don't know if any of you are a member of the Fans of Blackbird Designs group on Facebook but I am and BBD designed a special pattern for sale and all the proceeds go to Unicef.  Well being a fan I had to get it and it's just stunning.  I ordered the Lupine linen by Picture This Plus from Frog and Stitch and the matching fabric from The Fat Quarter Shop.  This is my next project and I can't wait to start it.  It's made into a little pinkeep and it's going to be one of this type of finishes for me in a long time.  I'm looking forward to it and of course they give fabulous directions.

Everyone have their shopping done?  I ordered the last item this morning and I'm having it shipped Priority so I receive it in time.  The great/grandsons were easy this year.  We are just giving them something small and then adding to their college fund.  We probably won't be around when they do go to college but we want to help while we can.  

I hope each and every one of you has a fantastic week.  Stay warm, build a snowman if you have snow, take a nice walk in it at nite and enjoy the quiet, have hot chocolate with lots of gooey marshmallows and please most of all, stay safe.

Blessings, Barbara

Black Friday Shopping

I hope you all have recovered from the Thanksgiving bloat and have not gained as much weight as I have.  Oh my sweet tooth was working overtime yesterday and you just can't say NO.....at least I can't.  Then today you get to eat the wonderful leftovers which I think taste better than the original meal.  I still haven't figured that one out.

Today I met the kids at the Altamonte Mall and did some Black Friday shopping.  One of my favorite stores is Pandora.  I have two bracelets....one for my family and holiday charms and one for my Disney Princess charms.  The second one I am collecting for Peyton but now that she has two boys, I don't know what she'll do with it.  Today I was able to purchase one of their rings, a teddy bear charm to go with Zane's picture charm and the third item was free.  I left Peyton pick out a ring and she got a really cute silver one with a bow on top and a small white pearl in the center of the bow.  If you've never had a chance to look at Pandora's jewelry, take a moment because it's really nicely made and I've never had a issue with any that I've purchased.

Next up I finished a cowl yesterday and I just took it off the blocking mats.  This one is made of a fine wool in three different colors but they all remind me of Indian Corn so that's what I've named it.  It's about 6 inches wide and about 30 inches around.  You can find it in my store.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and one thing I was Thankful for yesterday was all my loyal readers and followers.  I hope your day was filled with love, laughter and family.

Blessings, Barbara

To all my loyal followers and friends....

Barbara and Family

Zane and Project Bags

Good Sunday to all of you who have stopped by.  Nothing is greater than getting to hold a baby that is part of your family and knowing that it will grow up being loved.  My DH and I went over yesterday to welcome the new addition into our little family.  He is so precious and don't you just love that new baby smell!  Here is a picture of our Little Zane sleeping peacefully.  Doesn't he look like a doll?  He has a large piece of my heart already.

We all went out for BBQ to a restaurant named The Mission.  If you have one of these near you, I highly recommend it.  Their theme is the military and veterans and yesterday being Veterans Day, they had bagpipes and all veterans ate free.  They have fabulous food and the price is very reasonable.  

I was busy yesterday and today finishing up some project bags for my store.  I've been in the mood to do some sewing and these I came up with.

Babs Bunny

11 x 12

Petunia Pig

10.5 x 12

Bette Davis

11 x 11

Perfect Rose

11 x 12

Winter Wreath

11 x 12

I always have fun finding that right pattern to suit the cotton fabric and this time especially.  The bunny I just fell in love with her.  She looks so shy and bashful.  Up north there is a wild flower called Queen Anne's Lace and it's one of my favorites and I love how Petunia is holding one.  The Winter Wreath is a no brainer with the beautiful red cardinals against the snowy background.  The Perfect Rose because it reminds me of the rose bushes my Mother had  and Bette Davis because when I first saw this pattern she instantly came to mind.  She's my all time favorite actress from the 30's and 40's.  You'll find all of these in the Project Bags for Sale store.  

I hope each and every one of you has a fantastic week ahead and is able to hug and tell a family member you love them.  

Blessings, Barbara

Zane Brantley

I'd like to introduce Zane Brantley.....our newest addition to the family and our second great/grandson.  Mom, Dad and Little Zane are doing fine.  

Blessings Abound, Barbara

A finish and a shocker

Good Saturday afternoon to all my fellow stitchers.  I hope you are doing better than I am.  I woke up yesterday with another case of bronchitis.  This is twice this fall and I am never this sick so often.  Old age will kill you!

My finish is a project bag celebrating the fall season.  It has a machine embroidered pumpkin with lots of curly cues and the fabric has blackbirds.  Now how can you go wrong with that combination?  It turned out about 10 x 12 and is lined in a black checked primitive cotton fabric and is padded with Warm and Natural cotton batting.  If you are interested, you'll find this in my store of Finished Project Bags for Sale.

This past week was Little John's first trip to the dentist.  I'm telling you this little boy continues to shock us 24/7.  He sat in that big chair like he owned it and wasn't afraid and did everything the Dentist asked him to do.  He wasn't even afraid of the pick instrument that they jab you with.  Here's our big boy in the chair.  The sunglasses are so the light doesn't hurt their eyes.

I thought I'd give you an update on Belle.  They discovered that she is allergic to chicken protein and that's why she was breaking out in little pimples.  Since going on a special diet, her coat is beautiful and here's her and Little John taking a nap on her bed.

Then there's my little brat... Vallie.  I've left her coat grow a little longer with winter coming and she's so fluffy!!!

That's all for now.  Between the sore throat and the body aches....bed is calling my name.  I hope all of you are doing well and continue thru the season of flu.

Blessings, Barbara

A Winner and some updates

First off I want to thank all you beautiful stitchers out there that read my blog.  I've been doing it for quite some now but it's always nice to hear from you.  We have a winner for the DMC floss and it's

Rose Heck

I used the number generator and the winner was number 4.  Rose, please email me with your shipping information so I can get these in the mail to you asap.

For you that are wondering if I've heard anything from DMC about my tin, the answer is no.  I'm very disappointed in them  and will think twice before purchasing anything else from them in the future.  I'm going to post a picture of the damage to Facebook so that other's are aware of this.  I guess in this case it was buyer beware.

I do have a finish to show you.  Do you have finished stitching and you just don't know what to do with it?  Well I had one of The Primitive Hare's designs and I found the cutest fabric to go with it.  I used the name of the fabric collection to add a label to my finished project bag.

Also, I've been working hard on my Lizzie Kate Christmas Mystery SAL so I'll give you a glimpse of what it looks like.

I was up at Needle Orts and picked up a new sampler by Nicky's Creation called Alphabet Garden.  I'm going to be changing the colors to more of a primitive look but I love the alphabet.

That's all for now.  I hope everyone has had a peaceful weekend and you have lots of "ME" time this upcoming week.  We all need that sometimes.

Blessings, Barbara

Let's Have a Giveaway

Hello my fine stitchers!  I guess everyone by now knows about DMC coming out with some new colors.  Well I ordered my tin with the skeins and this is how I received it.

Well I wasn't too happy and I notified them but haven't heard back from them yet and probably never will.  My DH says he can fix it and that's just fine with me.  I went thru the new colors and there were several that I know I will never use so I thought I'd let someone else have them.  They are all pastel colors in beautiful shades of green, purples, pinks, blues and yellows.....16 in all.

If you are interested in these, please make a comment to this post and I'll pick a winner this Sunday evening.  Let's make this world wide because the shipping will be quite low.  Also, please be one of my followers.  Good Luck

Blessed Be, Barbara