Recent finishes and current WIP.

First up I have 2 bathtup scenes that I titled RELAX and LEISURE. 

They are from Crossed Eyed Cricket Bed & Bath I & II.

These are birthday presents for my sister. She loves the clawfooted tubs!

 And to celebrate the fourth of July I am stitching July Cottage by Country Cottage Needleworks. Every year I stitch something red, white, and blue for the 4th of July and this is what I have chosen for this year. Something small since I stitched the huge flag last year and it took 7 months for that one. This one will be done in just a few short days.

 And to celebrate my birthday on July 2nd, here is a cupcake for all to share!

Boy how time flies!
I can't believe it's been almost 6 months since I last updated my blog, but then again, I can. I have a virus in my computer that doesn't allow me to access my blog most of the time. I can't updated it. I also can't get on google or yahoo to search anything. Money has been tight and therefore the computer has taken a back seat when it comes to how the money gets spent. At the beginning of June my family moved into an apartment and so this month has been especially slow in the finance department. We are on borrowed pennies to make it til the end of the month. Nervous about getting utility bills for our first month especially since the temps have been in the 100's and we are enjoying the AC albeit very cautiously.
Now that I have been able to get back on my blog, I will try to get some pictures posted. Next week is my birthday and I have stitched a cupcake to share with everyone. It's my 50th birthday and I don't want to celebrate quietly.
I have also started stitching the Indian from the previous post, for the 2nd time. It took me a while to find another piece of fabric close to the original solo piece from Silkweaver. The bad thing is that this one has shrunk during the dying process so it'll be slightly smaller. I'm aggrivated working on tiny stitches but am pushing thru that bit. I definitely need to use readers for this one. It's still a great piece to stitch.
Until later!

The fight over the Indian

When I began stitching this Indian and had only a portion of the face and some hair completed, my step-daughter asked if it was for anybody and I told her no. She asked how big would it be, I told her. Then she asked if she could have it. Wow, coming from her, that was a big compliment and of course I told her yes! She likes "white" for her home decor, just a few decorative touches on the walls, so this really was a shocker to hear her ask for it, she's never asked for any of my stitching items before although she has always admired my work.

As soon as I finished it, I posted a picture on facebook and my cousin immediately commented on it and soon got around to asking about having it. His house is a southwest decor and he loves indians so I expected him to like it, but he fell in love with it so much and really wanted it badly, so I told him that I would stitch one for him but I wouldn't start it for several months. He was really happy and I pictured him doing a happy dance as if he just won an ebay auction at the last second!

Then, I sent a picture of it to my sister so she could show the picture to my mom, who doesn't have a computer. My sister said it was beautiful and when will she get it! Ohhh myyy! No, I'm not stitching one for her, it's not part of her home's decor and besides, I have a large project in mind for her, a Victorian Lady called Perfect Poise from the Cross Stitch Collection British magazine, issue 202. It's more her style and I haven't given her anything in a few years, so the next project is for her.

Well, my husband and I showed my step-daughter the finished Indian and she loved it. Then my husband told her about the other people who wanted it and she said they could have it, but we informed her that no, it's for her and I'll stitch another for my cousin. Then she got excited again and did a little jig about it. Makes me feel so good! Here's the completed picture:

It is stitched on 32 ct. Belfast, hand-dyed by Silkweaver linen called Cinnamon Roll. The lighter splotches you see in the picture are actually on the fabric and looks like it is a painted on suede. I waited years to find the right fabric for this piece and I whole heartedly love how well they go together!

Since it's my husband's daughter, he wants a hand in it and will make a frame for it. We've been looking for some wood and so far haven't found what we have in mind. By looking, I mean out in the woods, down by the creeks and streams. Not wood from Home Depot or Lowe's. We may have spotted some wood but we have to ask permission to get on the property. Will post a picture of it framed when that happens. Now on to a few fast projects before that Victorian Lady starts to come to life.

Alright, let's get busy

Here is my first start and finish for the new year. It's Lizzie*Kate's Winter Fob and I stitched the year at the bottom instead of the wreath and swirly wind.

I like the colors she used, not normally something I would put together so I'm glad I didn't change them, other than the placement in the houses.

My big project is the portrait of an American Indian. I was truly hoping to have finished it in 2011 but the last few weeks of the year brought an out of town funeral and upon return, a cold. Trying to get back in the groove, but still have the cold.

The fabric is an oops piece from Silkweaver Fabrics, it's 32 ct. Belfast dyed Cinnamon Roll. The picture isn't acurate because the color is more rust like the face. It's turning out beautifully, I now have the shoulders complete and need the rest of the bust, then up to the top to add the feather. This is a design that I have never stitched before, meaning an Indian. I always thought him captivating, the chart is dated 1989 so I've been waiting for the right fabric and now I've found it. My step daughter has asked if she could have it so it already has a home to go to.

My New Year's Resolution? to figure out how to make my blog look more fun. One day, I keep saying that about my blog. Maybe, one day in 2012. Who knows? Until next time, keep those needles flying!

God Bless America

I love the 4th of July for two primary reasons: 1) My birthday is on the 2nd of July and I always look forward to that and then there's a major holiday right after it and everyone is in a good mood in spite of the heat. 2) It's a major holiday celebrating our freedom and basically being a great country to live in and let's face it, it's a beautiful country where you can travel all over and see beautiful sites and scenery and for the most part, people are friendly and intriguing where ever you roam.

Every year I stitch something patriotic, usually after the 4th (heehee). I always hang my stitched piece of America by Jean Farish that I completed on July 4th, 2007. I am proud of this design because it represents something unique to each state. Here's a picture below:

And here are a few close up pictures:

Here's the middle section:

and here's the bottom, what's funny about the bottom is I made a booboo. I didn't consult the chart when stitching the box for the bottom and made it the same height as all 50 boxes, then when I started stitching "Land that We Love" I discovered my mistake. So I changed the words to say "Land That I Love" and inserted a flag mounted in the "land" (with flowers) surrounded by "sea to shining sea". I couldn't believe how well it turned out and am so proud of the whole thing in general. Such a fun piece to stitch on, if you have this pattern do it!

Here's a couple of other smaller designs that I display:

This one is titled "Boston Tea Party", I get a kick out of the titles of some designs, they just make you want to stitch them and this one makes me laugh:

Those were all a Secret Needle Night design from The Silver Needle, so cute.

This last one to me, represents the whole summer:

Hope you enjoyed these lovely pieces. If you like Landy Antebellum's music listen to "Perfect Day", that's how I feel about the 4th, carefree!

Happy 4th of July Y'all!

Celtic Spring - before and after the snow/ice storm

OK, I believe I am back on the "able to post an image" again! I have been trying all sorts of things to get my computer unblocked from posting pics. I finally just left it alone a few weeks and stitched, stitched, stitched. Much progress there and now all of a sudden, I can post pictures again. So, on to my update.
Here is the before picture of Celtic Spring in January 2011, before any of the cold spells swept the desert land of El Paso:

The above picture is of the bottom portion of the skirt, the very top of the picture is the rest of the fabric rolled on the scroll rod.
Now, here is current picture after the snow/ice storm from early Feb 2011, plus 10 days more:

I still have a little bit more to fill in the scrolls near the bottom of the skirt, then the ornamentation along the sides. Then, the fun part. BEADS! I am giving myself a deadline of 2 weeks and 2 days, which will be March 6th, my mom's birthday. I want to start another large project on that day and it's a date I'll remember.

The bad thing is the fabric I ordered for the next project was in December stupidly expecting it to come in that month and I would have a New Year's start, but it didn't come in. In January, I was told the fabric was shipped to the United States from Zweigart and will be dyed. Well, mid February I was told the dying process was complete so I might be expecting shipment soon. Great! I'll be done with Celtic Spring by then. Now I'm getting nervous about the cost of this piece of fabric, I think I ordered a yard, it's to stitch a flag with each of the states listed in order that they joined the union, starts with Delaware and ends with Alaska. I'm imposing a very ambitous finish date of July 4th for this one. Hopefully, July 4, 2011 and not 2012! Wish me luck.

I'm going to post a picture of the humongous cactus in our backyard that has "fallen" from the incredibly cold temps from early in Feb. El Paso set a record low of 1 degree. For this region that is extremly low. I realize other areas can have temps lower than that, but this is a desert region and the vegetation cannot handle that temp.

I tried to clean up the cactus expecting to cut it up and make it look attractive (small) but the cactus literally attacked me, first I got a thorn in my right hand and had to go inside to have my husband take out the thorn but the very tip broke off in my skin and it hurt like the dickens. Had to get my nurse instructor in class to dig in and remove it - it really hurt! But when I went back to finish my task, I was hatching at some of it and juice was flying everywhere, ok, well mostly in my face. I kept at it until it spit some of that juice right in my eye and I had to take off the gloves and use my shirt to wipe my eye. Then I spoke to the cactus and said, "let me finish chopping this one little area that I started and I'll leave you to thaw out and return to upright position." Things went well after that. I picked up all the pieces that had frozen off and left the cactus to heal itself.

Driving around town, many of the cactus are still wilted over. It seems as though ours is beginning to stand up a little bit again so I'll post updates. Every year in May, this cactus has the most beautiful, vibrant yellow flowers. One day I counted 135 flowers in bloom, not counting the ones that had already closed up, nor the buds that had yet to open up. It's a big cactus! A neighbor has a giant sequoia in the front yard and another on the side of his house and today I noticed that it looks brown like it's burnt from the cold. I really hope they both survive. Each year I take pictures of the blooms that happen only one a year for about a week. Beautiful white flowers like a crown on the top of the cactus. Very unique! Pray for them too!!

This post is long in lengh and long overdue! Happy stitching and enjoy the spring like temps!
S~

Happy 1/11/11

Today is a much anticipated day for different reasons. First off, the obvious: the abbreviated date with all the ones - 1/11/11. Then, my son has been waiting to update his phone since Nov and our contract will allow it later in Jan so he has been patiently waiting, and today Verizon has announced the iPhone will be available early in Feb. My son has been anticipating this moment since iPhone first came out 3 yrs ago but at the time we were under contract with T-Mobile. We had to switch although we could have gone to AT&T, the fees were higher and my son decided on a Droid at Verizon and so we signed with them last year.
Verizon's press conference was at 11 am, on 1/11/11! Then, driving him to school this morning, this very anticipated day, there were white pigeon doves on the electrical lines crossing the street above us. That was very unusual because the birds on a wire are almost always a black or dark color and these were all white, can't say I've seen that before. Then, for some unexplained reason, I decided to count them and lo and behold, there were 11 "white" pigeon doves! We both could not believe the irony of that number. We are praying that is a good sign and not a bad one like 9/11 turned out to be.
Needless to say, I had to text him with the info from Verizon's announcement. He was hoping that the iPhone would be in a white color and I was hoping for a Verizon Red. We expected the 3G network which is fine with me because 4G costs more. No tears lost here!!! He's a little disappointed they didn't mention white (his favorite color) but now he'll finally get an iPhone, his little dream come true. Now, we'll have an extra itouch that is less than a year old.
What a fun day, yes? So happy 1/11/11, make it a great and memorable day! Blessings to you and your needle.
ps. I still can't add images to my post and so far, my pc hasn't crashed - yea!

Here Goes Another Year - both going and coming

What a whirlwind of a year 2010 has been. First off, it was an adjustment of going through each month without my sweet dad and his humor and wise words. He is missed beyond words and tears still sting my eyes often just thinking of him but none more than his birthday, Dec 16th. That was hard. Then there was the very unexpected death of my brother in law and helping my sister and the kids get through these past 2 months. It really seems like it's been 6 months. Wow! hard to believe it is only 2 months. The days seem longer.
Then, there was a major life adjustment as my husband and I started nursing school and going full blast into that before my husband got sick and landed in the hospital with complications of a kidney stone. Forced us to drop out of school after 6 months while we dealt with his complication and treatment. Then we started another school in the fall and are doing well in it.
I spent the majority of the summer stitching while we were waiting for classes to begin in the fall. Got a beautiful piece finished for my aunt ( The Art Nouveau lady) and then started another beauty (Classy Lady) for my cousin. Was nearly finished when my BIL passed away and then I didn't get to stitch for a whole month after that. But, lo and behold, it is completed and framed. I have to make time to meet with her and give it to her.
For Christmas, I had two Shepherd's Bush pieces framed for my mom and gave them to her for Christmas and she is really pleased with them. They turned out beautiful in matching frames and complimentary mats. They are Sophie's Roses and Peter's Patch. I bought more stash this year and seemed to stitch less but I am a happy stitcher with my stash!
My stitching goal for 2011 is to stitch more meaningful pieces, especially from my stash, and to clear out alot of older patterns that are piling up and I've lost interest in them. I still intend to continue my collection of Gingher Designer Scissors and GAST threads as I have the complete line of threads and many of the Limited Edition skeins which I realized that there are more LE skeins than the regular line now. That's ok, I stitch from both and my collection of Weeks Dye Works is growing. I am not trying to get the complete set of WDW as there are many colors that I'm not interested in.
I don't know what's going on with my computer and blogspot, I am not able to insert any pictures lately. That makes for some boring blogs. What's going on? I really hope my computer isn't about to crash.
So, Happy New Year to all and many blessings to everyone. I wish for everyone to stay safe, healthy and to find ways to help other people! God Bless!!

Merry Christmas to All

Wanted to wish everyone reading a very Merry Christmas and look forward to a prosperous 2011.
Finally this day is here and gifts are wrapped and under the tree. The size of the presents are small but the price is not. The kids are too eager to open presents and excited to see the looks on the faces on other people as they open their presents. My son did most of the wrapping as he has in previous years. He's such a good elf and gets excited with the decorating and the Christmas music. I love all the love in his heart!
Keep safe and enjoy the celebration of Jesus' birth, keep Him close to your heart!

Some of my old favorite stitched pieces

While I was looking over some of my pictures, I came across pictures of some of my favorite stitched pieces that I have hanging on the wall. Here are three of a set that are my first pieces using overdyed threads from back in the 90's. My father-in-law liked them and made frames for them, they were not ironed or stretched and I didn't want to take them apart to do that because he took the pieces and gave them back to me framed. I thought that was so endearing and it's a great memory I have of him.

This last one actually looks like my father-in-law from the back (although he was not from an Indian descent). He was a great character who wore hats and had a presence about him.

Oldies but goodies! They are dear to my heart for many reasons but also because I used "overdyed's" that were new to the stitching world at the time. You should see my stash of GAST and WDW plus a nice selection of silks too! They really have changed the stitching world!

Happy Thanksgiving - alot to celebrate

We are truly thankful for our health, our family, our friends, our support system and to God for blessing us in many areas. We acknowledge that "things" in our life are just luxuries to enjoy but does not define who we are, what matters is having Jesus live in our hearts and having His Spirit to guide us. We are fortunate that we have the extra funds to make Christmas purchases for the kids (son, nieces, nephews, grandsons and great-grandbaby girl) and are able to spend time with family.

Our Thanksgiving feast was just that, a feast! We were blessed with two complete thanksgiving dinners and we had already purchased our BIG turkey, 21.21 lbs! So we blessed another family with one of the given dinners and felt really happy to be able to do that for a family that didn't know how they were going to serve a turkey meal. We believe that we are blessed to be a blessing and as we get older, we enjoy giving and look for ways in which we can help other people. Sometimes it's a word of encouragement, other times it's what we can do for them. Helping out someone is rewarding and keeps our hearts light and a smile on our faces. We truly have alot to celebrate, not just today, but every day.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I Miss You Dad!

I can't believe it's been a whole year since my sweet dad passed away. He wasn't ready to leave us and tried his hardest to stay but his body couldn't do it anymore. What is the saddest part was him leaving my mom. He loved that woman with everything that he had and it's hard for her to keep going without him. Her life isn't as enjoyable as it used to be. She puts up a good front, but on the surface she's just being brave and trying to be happy.

I've come to hate hearing that cliche, "time heals all wounds". A wound is never completely mended, it's masked by a scar, a cover up, but the hurt of missing someone is always present. Really, what hurts the most is having my parents separated by two different worlds, knowing my mom is missing her mate and life long partner.

In their wedding photo from 1953, my mom made her wedding dress and the night before the wedding, my dad helped her sew on the roses onto the veil because she had decided to decorate it. Then, before the wedding, he couldn't contain his excitement and went into the bedroom where she and all the bridesmaids were so he could see her and everyone was trying to shoo him out saying it was bad luck to see the bride before the wedding but he paid no attention to that and went to see his "girl".

November 16th will always be a sad day until they are reunited again.

In the meantime, we reminisce about his wit and humor and funny jokes and antics. We miss his calm nature and easy to get along with attitude, and his never letting things get to him. Most importantly I miss teasing him about the Redskins. A die hard fan to the end who didn't like the Cowboys but never missed a game. It's just not fair that this year the Redskins have a winning season and the Cowboys don't. It's just not fair that he missed that, it would have been a fun football season to have him tease me back this once.

I try not to cry over missing him, but I'll allow some tears this day. It's the first year without him and life was better with him on earth for our own selfish reasons. I know there are many angels laughing at his jokes in the eternal heavens!

I miss you, I miss all your jokes and all your stories. I miss looking out for you and taking care of you, it was always me that benefitted from our extra time together those last 7 years. Thank you for everything Chacho! I love you Dad!

It's Looking Like Fall

We've had a couple of windy days in El Paso and the yellow leaves are starting to blanket the ground. I went outside this morning and took a couple of pictures of our little Brindle Pug in her first fall photo of her life! She posed easily, I think she likes the colors too!

Then Little Ray joined us in the fun and I couldn't help but get a picture of these two best buds!

So, as we say in Texas, "Happy Fall, Y'all!!"

RIP George (Jorge)

Here is a picture of my brother-in-law who passed away Oct 24, 2010 after having a bad reaction to an antidepressant he was recently prescribed. This picture was taken after he got this Chevrolet. He traded in a pick-up truck he had because his new job assignment was far from home and he wanted to save as much as he could on gas. It was a small vehicle for him but it was when gas prices were pretty high and he was very happy with the trade-in. This car was planned to be handed over to his son when the time was right.

There are so many people who are devasted by his very unexpected passing. It was a complete shock and there was no time to help him. He was a great family man, loving husband, friendly and willing to help anyone who asked. One of the best things about him is that he was always making jokes.

He was a police officer at our local community college. It was his dream to become a police officer and he loved his job. His family consisted of my sister, his son and daughter (both kids are teenagers), and plenty of brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces, etc. We are very much in shock but have lots of great memories.
God Bless You George!

My Mom has been busy!

Getting ready for our first craft show of the 2010 season. Pulled out the totes from the garage and started sorting to see what we have to work with. Now comes the fun part, pricing!

Since our first show is at an elementary school, I had her make a couple of hat and scarf sets for little girls. plus she has alot of scarves and capes that will be great for teacher gifts.

This lady is non-stop! She's more accurate than a machine!

Her fingers are hurting her more so she's slowing down. It takes her a whole week to knit a sweater coat where it used to take 4 days of good Yankees Baseball to watch.

She says this will be her last year for the shows, she says that every year :-)

Pray for us to have fantastic sales this season!

A whole skein of DMC 3823!

I'm really loving this lady! It's alot of fun to stitch using these beautiful colors. I was able to fill in the background and finished one whole skein of DMC 3823 and took a picture. I've always wondered how far one skein goes and this gave me a great idea since it's pretty much solid stitching.

My camera isn't that great at capturing the detail and then the sun was really bright on the bottom left corner but here's another picture of the whole picture up to the same point:

It's nearly completed and I'll have the backstitching and beads to complete. I've decided to give it to my aunt, her birthday is next week. She'll have to receive it late but I know her reaction will be well worth the wait. Aside from my mom and sister, she is the recepient of alot of my stitched gifts and she has them all hanging on her walls.

Now that nursing classes have begun again, my stitching time has quickly diminished but I am determined to push forward. Keep praying for my endeavors!

Happy 15th Anniversary

We wouldn't have an anniversary if it weren't for our son. He's the glue that has kept us a family unit though all the rough times. He's such an awesome kid that we couldn't break up this family during the toughest times, but we have since made a commitment to stick and stay and so now the rough edges are smoothed out and we have a great family environment now.

I never thought we would make it to 5 years of marriage and here we are celebrating 15 years! The last 10 have been much better. Big Ray has let me know how much he loves me and how much he doesn't want to start over without me. And now, we are beginning (continuing) our medical studies next week and are very comfortable being together round the clock.

We celebrated with dinner at our favorite restaurant, Outback Steakhouse. We are regulars there so even if we're not celebrating, that's our choice to go out for dinner. The staff, although it changes periodically, always remembers us and they gave us a complimentary dessert of a sampler of carrot cake, brownie, and cheesecake. We sat in the bar area so we could watch the first half of the opening NFL game: New Orleans Saints vs. Minnesota Vikings and Bret Farve. Happily, the Saints won.

When we got home, my son and husband gave me an anniversary present. They gave me a medical scrub top that has hearts on it (and really great pockets). That is such a thoughtful and very practical gift and I was completely surprised that they thought that out. They are great guys, worth keeping!

Happy stitching and new pictures will be posted soon!

Look what we ate!

I took a picture of the pineapple upside down cake that I baked for my son's birthday. The first picture is the setting of the pineapples and cherries before I poured the batter in my favorite Pampered Chef 9X13 baker. The next pictures are after it was taken out of the pan, followed by the lighting of the candles.

I also took a picture of the lasagna that I made. He wanted 2 lasagnas because there is never any left over. He was right, there was none left over from one pan and we had a whole pan left for the next day.

Again, I used my favorite Pampered Chef pan for one of them. I cannot tell you how many meals I have made in this pan, and all the pineapple upside down cakes that have been baked in this. It's funny because the men in my family that I bake birthday cakes for all request the pineapple upside down cake. And they also want lasagna: my son, my husband, my brother-inlaw, and my dad before he passed away. My nephew requests the cake but not the lasagna, he prefers to go out for steak. What's wrong with that guy????

I failed to take a picture of the toasted French bread that my husband made in the cast iron skillet. By that point, I was ready to eat and not thinking of pictures. It was delicious!!

I'll go ahead and show you the cinnamon roll I made for breakfast on my son's birthday. (Okay, it wasn't his whole breakfast - it was a treat).

I thought it was funny that my husband stuck a candle in it. We were in a hurry to leave for school. Silly guy!

What a fun day his birthday always is. Here's to many, many more! Susan~