Merry Stitching

Just in the Nick of time...barely...

2011-12-06T08:32:00.003-05:00

Hello and Happy Holidays! How is it December 6th already?!?! I have been stitching away and have finished up 4 ornaments for this year (just in the last 2 days!) so far (I have 1 more in the works, but time is running short now!) First up though, I wanted to show you some of my favorite stitched Christmas decorations - our Christmas Stockings. I started stitching each family member one of these the 1st year that Patrick and I got married. I have stitched them for my husband and I, our children, my parents, my Great Nana, and my sister and her family. The tradition is as each new baby is born they get their stocking for their first Christmas. Here are my families 5's stockings. I send the stitching off to a friend of mine in Kentucky and she whips up these beautiful stockings for me. They are so special to me and I look forward to hanging them with care every year.
I use a Santa Alphabet for the name and border the name with trees, M & P (my husband and I) and the year the stocking was made.

And, of course, the kids LOVE to see these filled with goodies on Christmas morning!

On the ornament front, I made 2 of the Merry Skaters from LHN. I LOVE this design.

One will stay with me and one will be a gift. (Here is the back.)

Another beautiful LHN Ornament. I love the crystal snowflakes on this and the not-so-traditional Christmas colors. (And, since I actually saw a BIG black bear about 1.5 miles from my house this summer, I think this a fabulous ornament for our tree! :-)

The back....

One more LHN - another favorite design! I tried to make the twig frame for it but didn't have much luck. Still, I like how this finishing turned out. I may have to stitch another one of these in the future and try the twig frame again...

Hope you all are well and enjoying this Christmas season with your family and friends! Thanks for visiting!!

Meredith

Oh my...it's been TOO long!

2011-08-13T12:12:00.006-04:00

First of all, hello and thank you for noticing that I posted something new and for visiting!!! I can't believe I haven't posted since January 18th! Where have the last 7 months gone??? I guess to kid's activities, work, a couple trips to NC to visit family and a wonderful week in Disney World. All along, I've been stitching when I can but it's ever so little these days and apparently I haven't had much time to update this blog.

However, I check all of yours DAILY!!! So, I decided it was time to post some pictures of a small WIP and 3 finishes...

First up, this little winter skater girl from LHN. I LOVE this design and happily it's stitching up rather quickly for me, given the time I have. I will probably end up making 2 of these - one for our Christmas Tree and one as a gift.
Here is another ornament by LHN. The design is just adorable and I am hoping to finish it like Vonna did for the model with a twig frame. I better get the kids searching for some nice twigs for me!!!

Here's an adorable little flower from a Spring issue of Just Cross Stitch. I believe it was Karen, SC (Thanks Karen!) that finished it in this little flower pot and I just had to copy that idea as well. I've actually made 2 of these - one I gave to my mother in law when we visited her for Easter. I had actually picked up 4 more pots for more of these...but the lack of time and other cute designs has caused me to move on...

This was a medium size finish for me a couple months ago. I started in on Feb. 12th. Now, I just need to finish-finish it. I found some gorgeous floral blue and green ribbon for the trim but need to find some backing material. I have some antique wooden yarn spools with the yarn still on them in a basket that I would love to add this to. Hopefully, one day soon...

So, that's it for now for me. This week starts 4 nights a week of football practice for my son (crazy!), a visit from cousins, a new babysitter for the next 3 weeks for while I'm at work. And, much too quickly I am beginning to sense the end of summer with teacher assignments due out on the 18th (two 3rd graders and a kindergartener!). As always, thank you for all the joy and inspiration you give me from your blogs! Happy hazy days of August!

Meredith

Tuesday Update

2011-01-18T12:28:00.004-05:00

A little update on this cold, icy Tuesday... I made up this little hanging pillow for a friend that loves to garden. The stitching took me 2 nights over the weekend and about an hour this morning to finish it into the pillow. I love this design by The Sampler Girl. I am going to stitch this again this week for another friend who loves to garden and just closed on a new home (and big backyard for gardening)!

I've also made a LITTLE progress on my last house in my LHN (you can see where I was in my post below). I have not had a lot of stitching time between a power outage last Tuesday, a snow day for my kids last Wed and no school yesterday.

Also, I've been spending a lot of time organizing/cleaning my house as I was supposed to start a new job today (after 8 years of being a stay-at-home mom)! However, due to the weather, my kids had a 2 hour delay and when I called my new employers to tell them I'd be in at 11 am rather than 9 they told me to just start tomorrow instead. They seem like a great group of people and I'm looking forward to starting tomorrow. I've been very blessed to stay home all these years and now I feel very blessed to have this wonderful part-time (26 hrs a week) opportunity land in my lap in perfect timing.

Thank you for visiting!

Meredith

Making a little progress...

2011-01-09T13:39:00.008-05:00

Hello! Happy Sunday! I haven't stitched much since Christmas but the little bit of stitching I've done I've worked on my LHN Little House Neighborhood. I am slowly working my way toward the bottom and then of course, have the whole border to do. I really love this piece and want to focus on it until it's done and hanging above our couch! I have personalized it a little bit so far by stitching a dog rather than the squirrel. I will add another pooch to the other side as well since we have 2 dogs. I just need to figure out the reverse of it...

This is where I am now - the final house. Since Christmas I've finished the bottom of the main section of the house, the two lower roofs and have started the left side to the house.

I am going to work on it some more now. My oldest daughter is at a birthday party all afternoon, my youngest daughter is napping and my husband and son are off cutting out his pinewood derby car for Boy Scouts. Ahhhhh...quiet time, stitching time... Hope to show you some progress later!

Thanks for visiting!

Meredith

Last 2 Finishes of 2010

2010-12-31T07:43:00.004-05:00

Welcome! Can't believe it's the last day of 2010!! Just in the nick of time - here is my Finish-finish of Peppermint Latte - it actually made it to the tree in time for Christmas! I used beads of the edging and I really love the little bit of sparkle they gave this little ornament.

I also finished Partride in a Pear Tree and it made it to the tree last night (a little late but still in 2010 :-) This is also a very cute design.

Well, that's it for me for 2010! It's been such a fun year of reading your blogs and trying new things. My "plan" for 2011 is to keep stitching when I can - to finish 2 big projects and keep going on stitching ornaments so that I have a lot more stitched ones for our tree next year. I am starting a part time job (about 25 hours a week) in mid-Jan. so it'll be interesting to see what happens to my stitching time. I don't want to put too many stitching goals on myself because I think it will just stress me out! I would love to finish the Angel of Grace by Mirabella and my Littlehouse Neighborhood by LHN for sure this year though.

I hope you all have a fun New Year's Eve and that 2011 is a year of filled with blessings for everyone! Thanks for visiting!

Meredith

The busier I am, the more (stitching!) I get done...

2010-12-20T08:21:00.005-05:00

Well, I think the old adage, "the busier you are the more you get done", is happening to me right now! I finished stitching 2 more small ornaments! This is A Partridge in a Pear Tree by Nancy Boyarsky of Glory Bee. I stitched it on 32 count linen (can't remember the name of it) using the recommended fibers. This was a quick stitch - 2 days total (VERY quick for me, I'm not a very quick stitcher!!) It is so cute!

And, here is Peppermint Latte. Even in the pure daylight my camera is having trouble photographing this cleanly, but you get the idea.

So, I'm hoping to get these finished into little hanging pillow ornaments by Christmas Eve...I don't think I'm going to let myself start anything else this week, as with all of us, I'm sure, there is SO MUCH else I need to be doing!!!

I hope I can post and show you these 2 last ornament finishes in the next couple of days but if I can't...thank you always for visiting and the warmest wishes to you and yours for a very, Merry Christmas!!!

Meredith

1 stitching finish, 1 ornament finish and a winter hanging pinkeep finish!

2010-12-17T21:14:00.008-05:00

Good evening! I'm happy to be able to show you a couple of finishes tonight! The first is Red House in Winter by LHN and I'm pretty pleased with the finish. At first I wasn't sure I loved the ribbon I chose for the bow but it is growing on me. I love the ribbon itself, just wasn't sure it was exactly right for this design. I'd tried to find a deep red gingham the other day and couldn't so I'm going with this for now. I'm keeping this one for myself, so I can always change it out later...

Next up is Going Sledding by The Sampler Girl. I stitched this piece last winter so I'm SO happy to finally be able to hang it up for the winter! I had the hardest time finding the little wooden sleighs - I tried the 2 different crafting stores I go to and neither had them available last winter or this year either. So, I ordered these little unfinished ones from a store online and then painted them. I ordered 10 to make it worth the shipping - they were really inexpensive so I definitely see more of this pattern in my future as some winter birthday presents...

I also finished stitching Peppermint Latte by Casey Buonaugurio Designs in the 2010 JCS Ornament Issue. For some reason my camera did not take good pictures of it at all tonight - I think the red fabric and light threads were throwing it off. I'll try again in the daylight tomorrow. So, I still need to finish-finish it. I want to do a bead border on it so I'm hoping I'll have time to run out and pick-up some beads for that. It was a pretty quick stitch and it's really cute!

So, the biggest lesson learned for me this year with my ornaments - FINISH AS I GO!!! I have really missed my actual stitching time these last few weeks as I've finished up these ornaments. Happy to say that my dining room table is almost back to looking like a dining room table again - well, except for the remnants of the army of 30 clothespin reindeer that have also been residing there all week - as the kids and I made them up for girl scouts, teachers and grandparents. This week will be devoted to finishing shopping, wrapping, cleaning china and prepping for Christmas Eve dinner which we are hosting this year. I'd love to stitch one more ornament I have all kitted up but it might need to wait for after Christmas at this point. We'll see... Have a great evening and thanks so much for visiting!!

Meredith

3 MORE Ornaments Finished!

2010-12-10T16:59:00.003-05:00

Hello! I finished up 3 more ornaments between yesterday and today. First up, Pear Tree by Little House Needleworks. I loved stitching this and will probably make myself one in January as I am giving this one to my Mom.
Next up in Sugar Plums by Country Cottage Needleworks.

Thirdly, I finished my second Day 1 by Monster Bubbles. I did everything the same except the hanger. The first time I fashioned a wire hanger around the "True Love" charm and the second time I made the hanger from the ribbon I used around the outside of the pinkeep. I really like it both ways. One is for my sister and one is for me...not sure who will get which one yet...

Two more to go - Gone Sledding by The Sampler Girl and Red House in Winger by LHN...maybe this weekend...

Hope you get to stitch some tonight! I'm not sure I will, I hope to be heading to the hospital soon as my sister is giving birth to her 3rd baby today! Can't wait to hear whether I have another niece or nephew!!! I have her 2 older girls here with me now so it's been an exciting day!

3 Ornaments Finished!

2010-12-08T10:16:00.004-05:00

Yesterday went super - I was able to finish up 3 ornaments! Two in the morning while my youngest was at pre-school and then napping and 1 last night after the kids went to bed. I'm pretty happy with these - I feel like I need some work on the hanger part but all in all they hang and look cute!

Freebie - Amish Poinsettia (I have to find the chart to see who the designer is - I stitched this last January!)
This is the first time I tried a beaded border. I really love this and will definitely do it again.

Fa La La by Little House Needleworks

(I think I made a few color changes based on what I had around)

Day 1 by Monster Bubbles (2009 JCS Ornament Issues with recommend fibers, beads and charm)

I have one more of these to finish as I loved it so much I made one as a gift and one for myself :-)

Hoping to get at least two more done today but haven't had as swift a start since I had to be out of the house at 7:30 this morning with the 3 kids for a meeting with a Board I'm on at the elementary school. It's 10:30 now and I'm about to start my next ornament.

Thanks for visiting!!!

Meredith

What I've been up to...and why I'm now feeling the stress!

2010-12-06T18:18:00.011-05:00

Hello! Hope you all are doing great and enjoying December so far! We had flurries ALL day today - nothing stuck, but it was pretty. Hard to believe that 2 weeks ago we were in sunny California for a week! My sister-in-law married a wonderful man the Sunday before Thanksgiving in Malibu and the 5 of us flew out there to be a part of their special day. The wedding was beautiful and elegant and we could truly feel the love in the air. And, of course, what's a trip to L.A. without a trip to Disneyland, Legoland, Santa Monica Pier, etc., etc...!!!

So, now we are home and I am feeling the STRESS because of the number of ornaments that need to be finished as Christmas presents (and several of them sent on their merry way across the US). Because, Christmas for us this year is going to be a very home-made because of the aforementioned trip!!!

I have loved stitching all these ornaments and can't wait to get them finished-up. I'm hoping to spend quite a bit of time tomorrow working on them. I've set up my dining room table as Christmas project central and hope that having all the pieces out and readily available will help make the finishing go fast.

I hope to be able to show you much progress soon! I'm also in the process of stitching Peppermint Latte from this years JCS 2010 Ornament Issue...and, have another one from the magazine kitted up as well. Nothing like leaving this to the last minute ;-)

Hope you are well and enjoying the Season so far! Thanks for stopping by!

Meredith

Is it really Nov. 3rd already???

2010-11-03T10:50:00.005-04:00

How can it be Nov. 3rd already? Time is a-flying this year!! Since my last post, I started "Pear Tree" by Little House Neighborhood. I just LOVE this ornament and it's going very quickly so far! I started it on Nov. 1st and have all the pears completed already - that's pretty fast for me!!

I finished Red House in Winter by Little House Neighborhood. This is a beautiful design.

I now have quite a few ornaments to finish. I think one day next week I'm going to set up my dining room table for a day of finishing. I need to get on the ball and get these finish-finished because it will be Dec. 1st before I know it!

And, here are the reasons I don't have much stitching time these days!

I love them so! It's been a great 1st semester of the school year for them and a busy (but fun!) fall. Flag football comes to an end this week so at least that free's up two evenings a week for a little while. It's getting cold here and snuggling under blankets is starting to sound nice!

Have a great week and I'll try to post as soon as I'm done with Pear Tree (maybe by the end of the weekend!!!) Thanks for visiting and for the inspiration!!

Meredith

A Frame, A Finish-finish and a New Start!

2010-09-30T11:22:00.007-04:00

Hello! I've actually been getting a little stitching done lately - woohoo! First up, Sunflower Inn all framed up - I love it! Right now it's sitting on the sideboard in our dining room but hopefully it will be hung soon!

Second, within a couple weeks (not too fast, but at least I got it done in time for this Fall!) I stitched and finished this freebie by The Stitcherhood.

Autumn (Freebie)

The Stitcherhood

piece of leftover linen I coffee died and threads I had around

I also added the leaf buttons I found in a craft store

Last, I started Red House in Winter by Little House Needleworks. I love this pattern and the houses in these ornaments remind me of the houses on the street we live. I am using a 32 count linen (I can't remember the name of it) rather than the recommended 30 so the ornament will be a little smaller than the model. I just like 32 count better to stitch on. I am using all the called for thread except for the Crecent Color Bing Cherry. My LHN didn't have that so I chose The Gentle Art's Current (0312) instead.

I have quite a few of these ornament patterns so I'll probably be working on them for the remainder of the year. I also have 6 ornaments (from various designers) that I need to finish-finish. I hope to start some of the finishing next week.

That's it for now. Thanks for visiting and inspiring me always!!!

Meredith

Sunflower Inn Finished and First Day of School!

2010-09-07T10:27:00.003-04:00

Hello! Well, it's Sept. 7th and the 1st Day of School here... I can't believe my twins started the 2nd grade today!!! So cliche...but where has the time gone??? They've only been gone since 8 am but I miss them already and can't wait to hear about their days when they get home. Wish I could be a fly on the wall at the school!!!
I finally finished up Sunflower Inn this past weekend - just in time to have it framed for 55% OFF at Michaels! I haven't had a piece framed in a while so I couldn't pass up this deal. I picked out a beautiful dark wood frame and I can't wait to see it put together.

I added my initials and the year next to the green lawn. I always have trouble figuring out where to put this info so sometimes I don't...but since this was going to be a framed piece I really wanted to have it on there. I think it looks ok and isn't too noticable.

Sunflower Inn

Little House Needleworks

Recommended fabric and threads

Started Summer 2009, took a winter hiatus on it, finished Summer 2010

Well, that's it for now. I am working on a little Autumn Freebie that I hope to finish up quickly since Autumn is here!!!

Thanks for visiting!

Meredith

Bound and Determined to get this finished...

2010-07-28T07:39:00.007-04:00

Good morning! I started Sunflower Inn by Little House Needlework last summer...and then put it down when the summer past, it wasn't finished and I was itching to do some fall stitching... But, I love this piece and the colors in it to me are the EXACT colors of August. So, I am determined to get this finished this August. Actually, I'd like to finish it in the next week so I can have it framed and hanging by the end of August but that may be a pie in the sky dream. I haven't had anything framed since I started doing my own pin keeps, pin pillows and pillows a year ago. But, this one is calling for a frame I think. I love the deep mahogany one that they show with the picture on the pattern cover.

If you're wondering why I'm not making much progress it's because of this - our backyard project...

We've made great progress on it but it's taken up every spare minute and by the time I sit down on the couch at night I usually read for a minute and then hit the bed by 9 pm... The above picture is of our first dinner outside in our new patio area. The kids love it as much as we do.

Well, that's it around here. I have to get stitching on Sunflower Inn because I have several LHN Ornaments kitted up and ready to stitch and several of the ornaments in the JCS Ornament Preview are calling my name already... Plus, I have 5 stitched ornaments that I have to finish-finish... I do want it to stay summer a little while longer!!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!!

Meredith

Thanks and One More Patriotic Finish

2010-07-12T06:32:00.005-04:00

Thank you SO much for birthday wishes!! I really appreciate them all! We had a nice weekend - went to dinner and saw Eclipse for our 11 year anniversary (I know my husband must really love me ;-), worked in the backyard, b-b-qued with family and generally just had a fantastic, productive family weekend.

On the stitching front...I had stitched this pattern for my son's teacher but had to make one for our home as well. I put the last stitch in on the morning of the 4th but just got it finished into a little hanging pillow last night.

And, here is a picture of the wall/patio area that my husband has been working SO diligently on. This is straight off the back of our house. I plan on putting our outdoor table/chairs here when it's finished and we'll get so much use of this new area. It will be filled with pea gravel and then blue stone pavers. When the pavers happen will depend on where we are in the budget - we may just have a gravel "patio" for a while. Behind the wall will be all grass.

So, that's it for today. I temp at a law firm occassionally so I'm off to work in a little bit. Have a great day and thanks again for visiting!!!

Meredith

A Patriotic Finish and new finish type for me!

2010-07-03T07:02:00.007-04:00

Good morning and Happy 4th of July weekend!

I have a small finish to share! This is God Bless America by The Sampler Girl (I left off the flowers at the bottom of the design and changed to colors around to ones I had in my stash.) I finished this as a small pillow. My first finish with fabric on the front! I LOVE it!!! I got this idea from so many of your blogs (I'm not very good at thinking up new finishes but I'm pretty good at copying what I see - so THANK YOU very much for sharing your beautiful stitching and finishing with me!!!)
I'm not sure whether I like better with or without the bow. Thoughts?

I stitched this all by hand. I don't know how to use a sewing machine but I am itching to learn. I'm looking into classes a local fabric/decorating store. When you finish pieces this way do you hand stitch or use a sewing machine?

That's it for today. We are in the process of building a decorative retaining wall and patio in our backyard so that's what most of today will entail (once the rest of the house wakes up!) Today is my husband and my 11th Anniversary so we have a dinner/movie date (Eclipse - he must really love me ;-) planned for tonight. The 4th is my birthday so while we'll still work on the wall in the morning we'll have a relaxing afternoon with swimming and b-b-queing at my parents house.

Have a Happy 4th of July and God Bless America! Thanks for visiting!

Love, Meredith

Oh my goodness, it's been awhile!!!

2010-06-24T06:38:00.013-04:00

WOW! It's been a while! Not sure why I haven't updated my blog since the fall...but I think I got so busy with the kids school, helping in their classrooms at least once a week, sports, girls scouts and boy scouts, my youngest's speech therapy, husband traveling, twins birthdays, my Nana's 90th birthday celebration weekend, etc...that any free time I had...I stitched.

But, the kid's last day of school for the summer is today so that means all extracurricular activities sans speech have stopped and we are ready to play and relax for the next 2 months - I'm hoping to be better about blogging!!! And, I hope to get to stitch while they practice their reading and math...

I have been stitching so here's a recap of what I've been working on... It's a little bit of everything...

The Sampler Girl - Long May She Wave

Black Bird Designs - Now I Know My ABC's

Monster Bubbles - Day One (I LOVE this design - I've stitched it twice!)

A bunch of Christmas Ornaments that need finishing

The Sampler Girl - Eat Your Carrots

Hare's Easter - Plum Street Samplers

Primitive Betty Freebies

I've also been working on my Little House Needleworks, Little House Neighborhood so that's coming along slowly but surely.

And, I spend much time looking at your blogs and drawing inspiration to stitch even when I'm tired at 9 pm or should be cleaning the house ;-)

Thanks for visiting and have a great day! Meredith

Wow, it's been a while...

2009-10-22T18:32:00.007-04:00

Wow, it's been a while since my last post. I have been stitching - but a bunch of other things took front seat for a while. There seemed to be a lot going on at my kid's schools, I organized our annual block party and I got completely HOOKED on the Twilight Series and literally spent every spare second of 6 days/nights straight reading the 4 books and then, of course I had to watch the movie (twice) and there was no way I could stitch during it... (Thanks, hubby for being SO understanding and sorry for being an absent-minded mommy during that time kids!)

So, now that I am grounded in reality again...here's a few small items I've worked on.

The first is one finish of the Halloween pattern from the Just Cross Stitch magazine. I actually made two of these and finished them slightly differently. I gave one to my sister but forget to take a picture of it. I'll try to remember to take one the next time I'm over there. I splurged and bought the JABC Halloweens Pins for these. I love them! I split them between her pinkeep and mine.

The other piece I've been working on is "Hen Party" by Little House Needleworks. I am making this for a friend who has a house and barn just like this that they have been restoring. Rather than Hen Party at the top I am going to put their last name.

Once I finish this up I think I'm going to start working on some Christmas ornaments. I think my best bet with all the holidays coming up, fall break for my kids, New Moon (the next Twilight movie coming out ;-) etc., is to keep my projects small for right now until after Christmas. This way I don't feel the pressure of trying to finish up big projects. Well, that's it for now. I have been enjoying all of your blogs and work! Thanks for all the inspiration!

Meredith

A little progress on 3 pieces...

2009-09-19T10:34:00.006-04:00

Hello! Hope you all are great! Well, my kids have been back to school for 1 week and 1 day and I had such high hopes for lots of stitching time but that has not been the case this last week!!! As it was my 3 year olds first week of school (3 mornings a week) her pre-school has a ramp-up start so I was with her the 3 days this week. I am class mom for my one daughter and have had meetings regarding that. It was back to school night at the pre-school Monday night, football Tuesday night, ballet Wednesday night, football Thursday night and Cub Scouts Friday night. Plus, my husband was away from Sunday through Friday. I'm beat!!!!

But, I did manage to get one little project started and finished!! It is the Halloween design by La-D-Da in the Just Cross Stitch Halloween issue. It has literally been all I've been thinking about stitching since I got the magazine and while I was working on other pieces. So, I finally gave in and I love it! I hope to get to a fabric store this week to get some backing and ribbon to go with it. I used some fabric that I had laying around and some brown and orange thread that I also had. I'm not even sure of the colors!
I've made a little progress on Sun Flower Inn. I think I'm having trouble working on this because all I really want to do is stitch Fall and Christmas stuff now! I'm considering putting this one away until early next summer.

And, here is My Lady's Quaker. Again, loving this but in a different frame of mind right now. I'm going to keep going on her though because I do feel accomplished after each little motif is done!

I am itching to get to a LNS that I've never been to before. It's called Where Victoria's Angel's Stitch and it's in Clifton, NJ which is about an hour from me. There are a couple fall pieces I really want and I want to get the materials to stitch the Sugar Plum ornament from the JCS Christmas issue for myself and several people. I am hoping to get there in the next couple of weeks once all this back to school craziness calms down a little bit.

Thank you so much for stopping by! Hope you have a great weekend!

Meredith

Finally, a Sun Flower!

2009-09-06T10:51:00.007-04:00

Good morning! I made a little progress the past few days on Sun Flower Inn and My Lady's Quaker. First, a sun flower!!! I feel like this flower has been a long time coming!! I love the yellows and greens though and hope to get this finished up quickly because August has already gone (I was trying to get in finished by the end of Aug.) and I'm ready to move on to stitching some Fall and Halloween pieces that I've seen in my Just Cross Stitch magazine.) Ai-yi-yi, more starts...what am I thinking :-)

And, a little stitching on My Lady's Quaker. I'm really enjoying this piece and am happy to be into some of the Quaker motifs now.

We are off to a b-b-que this afternoon so I'm not sure how much stitching I'll get done today but hoping for a little more tonight. Hope you all have a great Sunday and Happy Labor tomorrow.

Mere

New Start - however small it is...

2009-09-02T17:23:00.002-04:00

Hello! I wanted to share my very small new start...It is on My Lady's Quaker and I am really going to enjoy stitching her. I am part of a SAL so it's nice to be able to share our progress on the same piece. I am using DMC 315 and 3727. They are a purply-rosy color. A little different then what I usually choose but I layed out 4 different color combos each with 2 colors and my daughter Gracyn liked this the best. So, so do I!

Here she is...

I am going to stitch on her again tonight if my kids allow ;-) My 3 year old has been running a 101-102 fever for the past 2 days so she is pretty cranky (just a virus - had her ears and throat checked out yesterday) and my older two have gone about stir crazy since we haven't left the house/yard in two days now... Hoping they don't get this since school starts a week from tomorrow for them. The 1st grade!!!!

So, that's it for now. Stitch on her for tonight (fingers crossed) and then put a rotation into place!

Thanks for visitng and hope you are getting some stitching done too!

Mere

A small update

2009-08-31T07:46:00.003-04:00

Hello! Hope you are all well and enjoying the end of summer. I have made a little progress on my Sun Flower Inn. The house and fence are now done! (Aahh! I just noticed that I didn't stitch the two chimneys on the top yet...ok...it is almost done.) I am excited to move on to some color - that is what drew me to this piece, the hazy yellows and greens of the end of summer. I started the yellow front door this morning. Wouldn't you just love to have a yellow front door?!

Tomorrow I am starting a new piece. It is "My Lady's Quaker" and I'll be part of a stitch along over at this blog: http://myladysquaker.blogspot.com/ I need to get my fabric, colors ready for that today.

I now have enough nice pieces going (that will make 5!) that I am considering a rotation. A year ago I thought it was "illegal" to work on more than one project at once - that was until I found the cross stitch blogging world and all this new possibility opened up for me! Now I love that I can change up what I'm working on based on my mood!! And, I love all the new friends that I've made who inspire me daily! Thank you.

Hope you all have a wonderful day and happy stitching!

Mere

Progress on Sunflower Inn

2009-08-17T08:18:00.006-04:00

Hello! We are home from vacation. We had a wonderful time. Beach every day, boardwalk everynight. The kids loved it! The weather was perfect and it was a really great week.

I even got a little stitching done every morning. And, what was extra nice about that is that I got to stitch with my Mom! We are the early birds of the family so every morning we would meet outside on one of our front patios (we stayed in two different condo units) and stitch from about 6:15 am until the first of my kids appeared - usually around 7:30). I wish I had gotten a picture of us but since there was no one else up....and, that's what made it relaxing and fun, I never got a picture. We drank our coffee, chatted and stitched. What a nice way to start each vacation day. Here is what I got done last week.

And, here is my husband leading the kids to another night of adventures on the boardwalk.

This week is going to be another busy one - all 3 kids need physicals for school and sports on Tuesday, I am taking my oldest daughter for an orthodonture consultation on Wed. She's a big thumbsucker so she'll probalby need a palette expander this fall (there goes the stitching budget ;-) Then my son starts Flag Football - practice is every Tues, Wed and Thurs nights from 6-7:30 until school starts!!! It's my husband's and my father's birthday Wed night. And Thursday I am taking the kids to visit family in VA Beach for a long weekend. Somewhere in there I hope to get some stitching done!

Hope you are well and thank you so much for stopping by! Mere

Sunflower Inn and Vacation!

2009-08-07T15:06:00.011-04:00

Hello! I can't believe it's been a couple weeks since my last post already! Where is this summer going?!?!? Since my last post I've had several things going on. First, a new start... This is "Sunflower Inn" by Little House Needleworks. The house has been slow going but to be truthful there's been quite a few days where I haven't stitched at all (gasp!!!!) I miss it when I don't get to it but my husband's travel schedule has picked back up tremendously and when he's gone I find that I am zapped of all energy at night and too tired for 5:30 am stitching in the morning... I think once I get the house done I'll move along more quickly though.

I did get to finish my Patriotic-Amish Heart and it hangs in our entry way with pride!

My youngest, Charlotte Ilene, turned 3 on August 1st! How can my baby be 3 and off to pre-school 3 mornings a week in September. Again, time is moving too fast!!! !

And, of course I've been admiring all of YOUR work!!! So many pieces I want to make watching everyone whip them out!

So, that's it for now. We leave for vacation tomorrow for the week. We're off to Wildwood, NJ and looking forward to it. We've never been there but hear wonderful things about it. We are going with my parents and my sister's family and looking forward to playing in the sand and smelling the salt air!

Hope to have some progress to show you when I get back, although with 5 kids 6 years old and under along with us, I'm not holding out too much hope... :-)

Thanks for stopping by. Happy Stitching and see you soon!

Meredith

She Sells Seashells By the Seashore - Finished!!!

2009-07-15T20:59:00.005-04:00

Hello! After a busy couple of weeks of working (I temp at a law firm when the legal secretaries take vacation), sick kids and me being sick (we are all FINALLY well again), celebrating our 10th Annivesary on July 3rd and my 35th birthday on July 4th)....I've finally finished She Sells Seashells By the Seashore!

I love how it's turned out. I stitched it on 32 count Lambswool with the recommended thread. It was really fun to stitch and a pretty quick one (for me). I think this took me about 2 months - I'll have to start noting my start dates. I kow many of you could probably have whipped this out in a week but I seem to be very slow!!! I find I am so tired at night with these long summer days of non-stop activity with my kids that I've been getting up at 5:45 am and stitching until 7 am when the kids usually get up. I LOVE this quiet, "me time" in the morning with my coffee and cross stitch. Lately that's about the only time I get to work on it all day.

So, after a lot of thought, I've decided to have it framed in a shabby chic white frame. I am tempted to try Vonna's framing tutorial on framing (found here) but I think I want to try it with something smaller and squarer first.

I almost have my Amish Sytle Patriotic Flag finish-finished. Will show you that next time. Next up is Sun Flower House by Little House Needleworks. And, maybe some work on my Little House Neighborhood which I started with such a bang last August but have seriously neglected since November! Happy Summer Stitching! Meredith

Almost a finish..but I got side tracked...

2009-06-30T18:24:00.004-04:00

Well, I ALMOST have a finish to show... I have been working diligently on She Sells Sea Shells and am almost done. I have the sea shells to add on the bottom border, the white along the crest of the waves all the way across and some back stitching and the all the shells, the sign and the french knot buttons on the little girl's dress. I have really enjoyed stitching this and am now trying to decide how to finish it. Whether to frame it or finish it into a pin keep. I would love any other suggestions anyone has as framing is expensive but I worry about fading if I don't...

So, I thought I was going to work on this tonight but I got a a case of patriotic stitch-itis! I saw this freebie design on Just Another Stitching Blog (http://michele11wa.blogspot.com/) originally posted on Staci's blog (http://snippetsandstash.blogspot.com/) and have been itching to stitch it. So, I pulled some thread and fabric this afternoon and am going to start it as soon as Daddy gets the kids in the bath :-) Thanks for the great design Staci and bringing it to my attention, Michele!

We were away in NC visiting last week visiting my husband's family. We had much fun at the beach, on a Pirate Treasure Hunt, eating great seafood and spending fun times with our family there. It's good to be home and back into my stitching routine though!
Happy stitching! Meredith

Stitching pictures...finally!

2009-06-09T13:33:00.010-04:00

Hello! Believe it or not, I have been stitching...in between the end of school year activites for the kids and reading all of your wonderful blogs! Here's what I've been working on. I made ballerina necklaces for my daughter, her cousin and their friend for the their ballet recitals this past week. I took the ballerinas from Country Cottage Needlework's "Little Ballerinas" pattern and personalized them with each of the girls eye color. I also changed the tight color to the pale pink since I stitched these on some white fabric I had laying around. I backed them with cute pink fabric with little stars on it and added the daisy "ribbon" so thay could be worn as necklaces. I think the girls love them - I told them to wear them, use them, play with, whatever. So far, I know all three have been worn to school. If you see this "vogue" next year, you saw it here first ;-)

The other piece I have been working on is "She Sell Sea Shells" (that is even hard to type!!!) by CCN. It is coming along slowly. Once I finish up the water it will move along much faster. Sorry the picture of my actual work is so dark - if you live in the North East like me you'll know the rainly weather we've been having of late. I have feeling we're going to go from a chilly, rainy Spring straight to a 90 degree Summer...but I'll take it!!!

That's it for me today. Hope you all are well and thanks for keeping me inspired by your work! See you next time. Meredith

A wonderful Mother's Day and a FINISH!!!

2009-05-10T19:51:00.002-04:00

Hello! I hope you all had a wonderful Sunday and Happy Mother's Day! I had such a great day! It started at 6 am with an hour and a half of stitching before anyone got up. Then Matthew and Gracyn each gave me a card they made. So cute! Then it was off to breakfast at a diner and then a nursery. I picked out 4 new bushes (2 Golden Princess Spirea and 2 Royal Burgandy Bayberry) for our front flower bed and 2 hanging baskets for the front porch. Then it was home to get the flower bed ready for the new plants and a relaxing afternoon at home that included MORE stitching!!!!

So, I was able to finish You Are My Sunshine! I LOVE how this turned out - so happy and cheerful! I am going to have it framed for my husband for Father's Day as this is exactly how we feel about our 3 munchkins! (Of course, this will probably go along with another present - probably a drill :-)

Country Cottage Needleworks - You Are My Sunshine

32 count linen - Blue Whisper

Recommended threads

I did change the pattern by taking out the flower all the way to the right

and adding another little girl.

I also picked out what I'm going to work on next...It is called Fishes and Bait by Plum Steet Samplers and it is going to be for my sister and and her husband hopefully for their anniversary on June 1 (this may be a little ambitious for me but I'm going to try...) My brother in law, Chris, LOVES to fish and this just cracks me up! It's not something I would usually pick to stitch but it just makes me chuckle and I think they'll like it.

So, that's it for me. I hope you all had a great weekend and to have a start to show you on this soon (I better if it's going to be finished and framed by June 1!!!!!)

Meredith

You Are My Sunshine (although it's supposed to rain here for the rest of the week!!)

2009-05-04T06:54:00.003-04:00

Hello! Long time no post! It seems like Spring hit and my stitching time has gone down drastically!!! I am still making slow and steady progress on You Are My Sunshine by CCN though. Now that the tree, grass and fence is done I think the rest will go pretty quickly. I'm not sure I love the color of the little girl's dress (it's hard to see here). It is very purple-ish and doesn't seem to flow well with the rest of the palette. I may play aruond and see if I can find another color.

Hoping to get more work done on it this week although its another crazy week - ballet pics for my daughter today after school as well as ballet class, dentist for the littlest one, watch my sister's youngest for her oldest's Mother's Day Program at school, go to my own kids Mother Day Programs, teacher/parent conferences, t-ball, and then all the "regular" stuff - story time, play group, etc.... All fun stuff but a busy week! Happy Stitching!

I am here...

2009-04-28T21:48:00.003-04:00

I am here...stitching when I can, weeding. planning a 40th anniversary party for my parents, getting excited about t-ball season :-), organizing the house...and stitching when I can! I will try to post some pics tomorrow!

A quick post and some pics!

2009-04-09T13:08:00.007-04:00

Hello and Happy Spring! It's been a while since my last post. I have been so busy with the kid's school lately but I am stitching a little bit at night before I crash! Today is my twin's 6th b-day so I am going to have to keep this short - I have to get 50 cupcakes to school in 45 minutes!

These were a lot of fun to stitch and finish - they are presents for my sister and mom for Easter!

I have also been working a little on "You Are My Sunshine" but I forgot to take a picture of that. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a blessed and Happy Easter! Meredith

Busy couple of weeks but I have been stitching...

2009-03-16T18:55:00.002-04:00

Hello! It's been a busy couple of weeks around here but I have been stitching when I can... I sometimes temp for a law firm so I've been working the last two weeks while my kindergartners are at school and my sister watches my little one for me. LOVE the extra money but miss being at home (and that quiet stitching time during Charlotte's nap!!!) Tomorrow is my last day so it'll be nice to resume our normal routine.

Anyway... I got a little done on "You Are My Sunshine" and...

a little flower from a cross stitch calendar (a chart a day!) that my Mom gave me for Christmas. I am envisioning this as a little hanging pinkeep Easter present... I am really enjoying stitching these little pieces since I just discovered finishing and want to keep trying different things!

I also stitched one more of the 2 birds freebie from my post below but I forgot to take a picture of it and I have already sent it off as part of a birthday gift for a friend.

Well, that's about it around here. Hope to have more to show next post! Happy Stitching!

Two Finish Finishes!!

2009-03-02T14:00:00.008-05:00

Here they are...my finished birds. I am really pleased with how they turned out - especially the pink ones. These were fun to stitch and finish. I even bought a really pretty black and white floral fabric to do one more in black (310 DMC). These are going to be great little extras to two birthday presents I'm going to be mailing shortly.

We've had about 9 inches of snow today and the kids and hubby are home. My son, who has strep, is finally feeling better, but my husband just went to the EMC and found out he also has strep is not. So far, me and the girl's are hanging tight and fighting off this bug. Hope that continues. No stitching today yet but I hope to get a little in at some point. Thanks for visiting!

Mere

A new start...

2009-03-01T08:06:00.008-05:00

Well, I had meant to work on my Littlehouse Neigborhood this weekend but instead this Country Cottage Needleworks pattern has been calling my name all week so I finally broke down and started it last night. It is "You Are My Sunshine" and it is adorable! I think it should be a pretty quick stitch except for the fact that my son has strep, my husband feels crummy and I am temping for the next 2 weeks at a law firm where I occassionally work...but in my free time...

"You Are My Sunshine"

CCN

32 count Linen Blue Whisper (don't know who it's by)

Recommend Threads

I think I am going to change the flower all the way to the right into another little girl though - since we have 2 girls and a boy...we'll see...

In other news, I took my youngest to a nature preserve for a toddler class on Friday! It was our first time and despite the fact that she was EXTREMELY overdressed for stomping through the woods and learning about ice she LOVED it!! If you live in NJ this is a fantastic place with lots to do and learn about for kids as well as 400 acres of land with trails through it - all about 5 miles from our house. What a find!!!

So, here's hoping I get a little bit of stitching time today, that Matt feel's better, that my hubby doesn't get worse, that the girl's don't get sick and that the 8 -12 inches of SNOW we're supposed to get starting at 9 pm tonight does not come to fruition - I'm ready for Spring!!!

Happy stitching! Mere

What I've been working on...

2009-02-26T19:34:00.009-05:00

I found this great free cross stitch design on another blog http://litlaskvis.wordpress.com/ and I followed the link to this freebie on this blog: http://cargaudlabrico.canalblog.com/ I really enjoy Linda's blog and this pattern she lead me to is great! These have been fun to stitch but it made me realize two things:

1. I've been sitching so many straight across designs lately that I did a lot of ripping out on these little guys! Need to keep up my practice on these swirly-er (is that word?) designs. And,

2. I LOVE stitching on Linen now! I did the pink one on 16 count white aida first and really had to make myself keep going on it. The blue on 32 count linen went much quicker and was more enjoyable for me to stitch. I guess I'm officially a linen sitcher now!

So, tomorrow I am going to go try to find some backing fabric and ribbon to finish these into little round medallions. I hope I can find fabric and ribbon that match these!

Which brings me to a question - when working on designs like this do you find the backing fabric first and then pick the floss to match or pick the floss and then hope for the best with fabric? Since I'm new to finishing, I guess I'll find out tomorrow whether the latter works well or not!

Tonight I'm going to get back to my Littlehouse Neighborhood a little bit. Thanks for visiting and for any finishing hints you may have!!!

Meredith

My First Pinkeep - Woohoo!!!

2009-02-15T20:04:00.007-05:00

Hello! Hope you are having a great weekend! I am - I made my first Pinkeep this weekend and I LOVE it!!!! I am determined to stitch faster now so I can make more of these! Of course, I used the wonderful and inspirational, Vonna's Pinkeep Tutorial (found here: http://tts-tutorials.blogspot.com/2007/10/vonnas-pinkeep.html) I found this really fun fringe (I guess that's what it would be called) at Fabricland. I originally had planned on giving this to a friend for her birthday but since it's my first and I can't stop walking by it to look at it I may end just keeping it! (How bad is that!!!)

I also ALMOST finished filling in the red house on my Little House Neighborhood. I so wanted to finish it before posting but it didn't quite happen so maybe tonight after I post this.

I think I'll get up early tomorrow to stitch before the kids get up. They're off from school tomorrow so that will probably be my only chance. Have a great evening! Mere

First Post!

2009-02-07T20:35:00.000-05:00

Here is my first post on my new blog! I am very excited to be starting this. I have enjoyed so many of yours and also being a part of the Let's Stitch Blog as well as the Little House Neighborhood SAL, that I wanted to start one of my own. Please excuse me while I figure out the formatting, etc...

Here's a little bit about me - I am 34 years old and married for 9 years (10 in July) to my wonderful husband Patrick. We live in NJ and have 3 beautiful children, Matthew and Gracyn (5 year old twins) and Charlotte 2.5. I am a stay at home mom and wouldn't change that for the world!

I LOVE to cross stitch and try to do at least a little each day - usually first thing in the morning at 6 am before the kids get up, while the twins are at school and Charlotte is napping, or at night after they go to bed. Although by the time they're in bed at 8 pm I'm usually ready to hit the sack too!

Here is one of my WIP. It is Littlehouse Neighborhood by Little House Needlework. I have changed what should be a squirrel in the upper right corner to a dog (since we have two). I am making slow and steady progress on this as I have also finished 3 other pieces since I started this in August.

I finished Cherry Hill a couple weeks ago now and have been trying to decide what to do with it. I have only ever framed in the past but since I am finishing pieces more quickly now it is getting expensive to do all that framing! So, I am going to try my first Pinhold with this piece. I bought most of the materials today and hope to work on it on Monday when the kids are at school and Charlotte is napping.

Thanks again for stopping by and Happy Stitching! Mere