My corner of the world

I don't know what is the matter with me lately but I'm just so depressed.  Maybe it's because I don't have enough hands to do everything I want to work on.  I knit on the baby's blanket every chance I get in the car.  Most of the time it's when Peyton is driving and we're going to Disney World.  We live at the north west side of Orlando and that's way at the bottom in a different county so I usually get quite a few rows finished by the time we get there.  

I worked in my sewing room today and finished two new project bags.  I'm kitting up some patterns and I love using these.

This one was made using mini charm squares designed by Blackbird Designs for Moda.  I did a small machine embroidery on the bottom corner.  I love the colors in this one.

This is a fabric I found at Sewing Studio and the colors just popped right out at me.  It's a little larger than I usually make but that's good because I have a large project coming up and this will come in handy.

This is a pack of mini charm squares with two coordinating fabrics that will be made into a project bag.  I love violets and these color combinations are stunning.

This picture is of my angel not being an angel.  She decided to tear the stuffings out of her ball.  Needless to say the ball went bye bye.

And here she is on my stitching chair thinking that I don't need to sit down.....there's plenty of other chairs I can use.  She's a stinker.  LOL

Was over at Peyton's and John's this afternoon and Little John has gotten his very own motorcycle helmet which he had to show me.  He loves motorcycles and I swear he's going to be a daredevil when he grows up.

Ya'll know about me stitching Rapunzel, well I thought I would work my way up to such a large design.  This one is the design she created to celebrate her 25th years as a cross stitch designer and it's called Portrait of Antique Vines.  I'm stitching it on a 28ct very pale green Jobelan with the recommended Waterlillies.  I hate using DMC black so I'm using Rainbow Galleries Splendor Silk for that.  There are black beads and 3 treasures to be added so I'm sure this is going to be as spectacular as all her other designs are.

And for a laugh:

Well that's all that's going on in my part of the world.  I'm glad you stopped by to see what I've been up to and I hope I made your day a little brighter.  

Blessings, Barbara

A Finish and a Tantrum

I'm so happy you could stop in today to see what I've been up to.  Remarkably I have another finish and this one is from With Thy Needle and Thread.  I stitched it on 28ct. willow jobelan with DMC floss and the name of the design is "Strawberries and Stripes".  It's going to be finished into an ornament as soon as I get around to it.  

Now for my tantrum rant.  I'm thinking maybe some of you are followers of Games of Thrones and possibly as mad as I am about the series finale.  I can't believe how much time they put into this season and they couldn't come up with a better story line and ending.  I knew Dany had to die but I thought it would be by Tyrion's hand not Jon's.  Also the part of Bran just creeps me out and I'm not sure about him being king.  Another thing that botherered me was Tyrion being made The Hand to the king but Jon who is really the true king was banished to the north and never allowed to get married.  I was sad to see some of the characters get killed off but that's happened for the entire 8 seasons.  People come and go but this one the writer's really should of taken a second look at it before submitting it for production.  I'm sure I'm not the only one who is very upset about the ending but it's over and done with.  

I've started watching The Spanish Princess and Chernobyl and I'm finding them pretty interesting.  I'm finding it amazing how the USSR treated this accident and how they did nothing to help the people that lived near by.  

Well enough of my ranting on about a tv show that's over.  Guess things like this get under a person's skin and you just have to rant and rage to get over it.  

Have a wonderful week filled with lots of love and kindness from family and friends.

Blessings, Barbara

A Winner and a Finish

Wow!  I guess not too many stitchers like thread cards for holding their threads.  I used the random number generator.....

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:1

and it turns out that 

Catherine

is the winner.  Catherine please email me your snail mail address so I can get this in the mail to you asap.  Congratulations!

Now for my finish.  I have completed all of the 4 designs needed for the CEC Nativitiy and here's Mary in all her glory.

I really did enjoy stitching all of these designs and now to find a backing fabric that will go with all of them.  I'm thinking of a gold brocade but I'll take all of them to the fabric store and play.  

I'll leave you with a smile.

Blessings, Barbara

Time For A Giveaway

In honor of our little great-grand daughter who will make her appearance in August, I am having this giveaway of a sweet little kitten wooden thread keeper by Primitive Hare.  It is made of wood and the design is just darling.  If you have a hankering for this, please leave a response on this post only and I will draw a winner next Wednesday evening.  Let's keep this in the U.S. only this time.

Good Luck

Barbara

It's Nice To See Where You Come From

I hope everyone's week is going great so far.   I have a finish to share with you.  It's Baby Jesus of the Cricket Nativity I'm stitching and I love how she gave him curly hair by making french knots.  I have started on Mary and hopefully will have her finished pretty soon.  I'm having a hard time deciding how I want to finish these.  I've thought of them being made into stand ups of course, but what if I had them framed all in one frame with the angel at the top in the center with Baby Jesus below her and Mary and Joseph standing on either side of Him.  What do you think?  I'd love to hear some ideas.

We came across a jewel in one of my cousins homes.  She passed away last year and her daughter, who I went to school with and have kept in touch with, was cleaning out some of her Mother's things.  She came across an old photo album of my paternal Grandmother's and gave it to my oldest brother because he has been working on our family tree.  He told me about it on the phone and I just couldn't wait to see this.  It's over 100 years old and in very fragile condition but it made it here yesterday.  Allow me to show you some of these old pictures of my father's family.

This picture is of my Grandmother Anna Grace who taught me all about needlework with her husband, Andrew.  This was taken in 1917 and he will pass away in 1918 of the Spanish flu during that epidemic.  Don't ya just love that car!!!!!

It's hard to tell but there's a baby in the middle...the little girl on the left is looking at him....the baby is my father born in March 1917 and is about 2 months old.  He never knew his father because like I said before he passed away in 1918.

This picture took us completely by surprise.  It is my Great-Great-Grandfather.  We never knew a picture existed of him and was very happy to have found one.

This good looking student is my father.  I'm not sure what grade he was in but he looks about 8 or 9 years old.  

My father is standing on the right and to the left is his brother, Bill.  I love the clothes my father is wearing and wish I could tease him about them.  The knickers with the argyle socks and necktie just crack me up.

Thank you for letting me share some of these old photos with you.  Family and history are very important to me and it's wonderful to be able to combine them and see a story.  Now that I'm older there are so many questions that I think about and wish I had asked my Mother or Father about.  My brother says the same thing.  I guess when you're young you have other things on your mind and it's not till you get older and understand just how important family is.

Blessings to All, Barbara

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter and didn't eat too much candy.  I didn't make up baskets for the kids this year so we just bought each one a toy.  Better for their teeth and general health.  We did have a lovely dinner with them at their house.  Peyton makes a fantastic lasagna and I brought the salad.  We had a wonderful time but then we always do with them.

I have a finish to share with you.  It's another Hands On Design project and this one is called "Summer Night, The House On A Hill".  I stitched it on a light grey 28ct. Jobelan but I didn't have enough to make the band that is on the sides so I stitched the scissor fob on the back and placed the words going around it with my initials and date.  I don't think it turned out too too bad.  The pattern came with the WDW Overdyed Wool that is below the house.  I love how that part looks.

Now to find something new to stitch.  I must get back to the Cricket Nativity soon so I have them finished for this year's Christmas.  I thought and thought (got a headache) trying to come up with something to stitch for this new little girl's bedroom and make it something that she can keep.  I've decided to stitch "Rapunzel" by Mirabilia.  I have my LNS order the beads and treasures for me and that will be my large project for next year.  Here's what she looks like....

I'm not sure if the colors will remain the same....must talk that over with Peyton but I just love this design.

I will leave you with a chuckle...

All My Blessings, Barbara

Barbara

So Excited

Our whole family is just so excited about God granting the answer to our prayers and giving us a sweet little great-grand daughter to love.  Of course we must wait until the middle of August for this Blessed event but that doesn't stop me from furnishing her with just about every pink item I can find.  What makes this so sweet is that Little John's favorite color is pink so he must approve all the sleepers, onsies, blankets, hats and head bows purchased and they must all have some pink in them.  I don't think I mentioned what this sweet girl is going to be named.  They decided to choose family names so it's gonna be...

Evelyn (my husband's Mother's middle name)

Sandra (John's Mother's name)

John lost his Mother when he was a teenager and still feels the lost.  He was hoping for a little girl to be able to give her his Mother's name.  We haven't decided what her nick name will be but they are leaning towards Evie.

I do have a finish to share.  It's a Hand's On Design called "Stitch Over Two" and it was pretty time consuming for such a small design.  I had to stitch the two pieces on cream linen first then dye with walnut shells the part that I was stitching on that.

When I had that done then I cut the pieces apart for finishing.

And this is how it all came together.  The two little ones were for scissor fobs but I decided to make some twisted cord and just attach them to the pincushion.

I just started another Hands On Design called "The Summer Night".  It's a box shaped pincushion with a scissor fob which I will probably do something different with.

Until next time, take care and remember God does answer prayers.

Blessings, Barbara

Ta Da.....

We've been Blessed

Yeah! A Finish

I sincerely hope life has been treating you great and you have been able to do a lot of the things you love doing.  Whether it's stitching, walking your dog or spending time with family and friends....it's about what's important to you.

I have been lucky enough to be able to show you a finish which doesn't happen very often in this house so much anymore.   It's the Hands On Design....Life Needs More Chocolate Bunnies....with a small change.  Kathy had underneath the bunnies the same design for the carrot tops but I wanted my bunnies to be standing in grass so I did some improvising on the pattern.  I'm going to finish it into a large ornament to hang out at Easter time.  Remember this was stitched with Sulky 12wt cotton thread that the designer calls for and I discovered that Amazon carries all these threads.  You get one guess as to who is ordering them.

I'm also back working on an old BBD design.... Evening in the Garden.  This is being stitched with a wide variety of threads and I had forgotten how enjoyable it is.  I'm using HDF silks, Gloriana silks, Gentle Art Sampler Threads and just plain old DMC.

I'm looking to start a new one in a few days.  I want to do the newest snowman by Shepherd's Bush..Snow Queen.  I would love to have a wall in my house with all the snowmen from SB framed and on it.  There's not a one I don't love.

That's about all for now.  The stomach flu is making it's rounds thru our family.  I've had it for the last 2 days and before that Zane and Little John.  That will teach me to give out kisses so readily but I just can't help myself.

Here's one to bring a smile to your face.

Blessings, Barbara