Going Forward

A lot has been happening around our little neck of the woods. The youngest of our kids just graduated from high school (how did that happen - isn't he just 12? ) and has enlisted in the U.S. Navy. We are so very proud of him! He scored very high on the ASVAB and will pursue a career as an advanced electronics engineer. He is on a delayed entry program and won't leave until Nov. So, our life is really about to change. We are going from a hockey family to a military family. Also, I don't know if it is summer in your area, but summer seems to be lost in Michigan. I have had on a jacket every day this week! Today it rained and now this evening it is creepy foggy. I would like it a little warmer please. But not too much. I would be ok with not having to turn on my a.c.! We will be hosting a graduation/ anchors aweigh party for Chris the middle of July so I am planning all that. Also, started working full-time on a temporary basis at my work. It is a pilot program that goes until Aug 3 and I am not sure if it will continue after that. It's ok either way. Working full-time does put a crimp in my crafting, shopping, cooking, laundry and cleaning. Will leave you with a picture of our graduate.

Oh, and I am back to blogging. Honest!

Epic Fail :(

Well, I tried. I apologize to the people waiting for the package of really great patterns, but someone has really messed up what was going to be alot of fun. It's so disappointing - I really needed this as a pick-me-up, but I knew in the back of my mind that there was a chance that someone wouldn't be a team player. I am not going to even email the person that last got the patterns. I am going to have the attitude that I hope you enjoy the patterns. I really mean that - I am not being catty. I hope that they really needed them. I can get more but I guess I just thought that it would be such a great thing and I would end up with some new patterns, while sharing my old ones. Well, it is what it is. I will be positive about it, I guess. This is why I am hesitant to join any stitching swap or something like that. You do all this work and then end up with nothing. Arghh.
On to other things. I am working on my master bedroom and I hope to have a few in progress pictures to share soon. I need to anchor my headboard to the wall. It was my grandparent's bed and I am so happy to have some family pieces. I am having so much fun doing it. It's slow, but coming along. I am doing it in brown, turquoise, and white. There is also some black in there, too. So far, so good. See, I am ending on a happy note!

Pattern Pass-Along update

I am not sure what happened to the pattern pack. It left Canada and was delivered to someone in the states, but I haevn't heard from them or had the packet returned to me. There was a person in between this person and myself and i planned to reload it and send it to the next one. There is a master list in the package and I thought I kept a copy but I can't find it. If you have the package, please send it along. I was so looking forward to some new patterns!!
 It is disappointing that others are waiting on it, but I know that sometimes life happens. Just let us know where it is! Thanks!!

Pass Along Progress

The pattern pack has landed in Canada and will be mailed to the next recipient on Monday! So exciting!! When you get it, be sure to email me so I can update the blog on progress!!

Pass-Along List

Ok, we had a few interested people so here is the list of names. Colleen Henderson, Joanne Leuci, me, and Connie Walasek. Anyone else? I can still add a name or two. I will mail out on Monday - it's going to Colleen first because she is in Canada and it might take a little longer to get there. Then, she will mail it to the next person on the list. It's a surprise, so watch your mailbox! Try to make it a fast turn around and post a comment when you get it and when you send it out. Then we can keep track of it. Indicate if you are interested in going around a second time. I have lots of patterns and could probably do it several times over! LOL! I am so excited about this!!

Tomorrow is the Last Day to Sign Up!

Tomorrow is the last day to sign up for the pattern pass-along! I have 4 already, including me so we have room for a few more. If not, we will just start on the 10th (or maybe earlier) and maybe send it around twice? I am so excited about this!! Tell your friends - put it on your blog or whatever! So fun! Just what I needed after a stressful holiday!!

Pattern Pass-Along!

OK, with three positive responses I will start a pattern pass-along. Here's the deal but email with other suggestions if you think of something. We will sign up and you will email me your mailing address. I will make a master list. I will start the package with the patterns. When you get the package, you can look through and take out what you would like to keep. However, you must add the same number of patterns to the package that you take. I get the package - there's 2 patterns I would like to do. So, I take them out and add 2 before mailing to the next person. I will put them in a Tyvek envelope because they are waterproof. You will need to mail it to the next person in the same kind of envelope so the charts stay in good shape. Sound good? Email me and I will start a list. You will need to send me your name, your email, your blog if you have one and your mailing address. I will keep the list open until Jan 5 and will mail out by Jan 10th. There should be a quick turn around on the package, since it's just looking through and deciding what you want. Try to get it back in the mail asap. If we have a large number of people, I may start two envelopes. Will see. Oh, this seems fun!!
Tell your friends!!

A question

Hopefully now that the Christmas season is over, I will get to blog a little more. Until then, I have a question. I have a lot of cross stitch charts and I need to get rid of them so I can get more! LOL! I tried ebay, but that takes up too much time and I don't want to just throw them in a garage sale box. What do you think about a pattern pass-along? People would sign up and then I would mail a package of charts. You can take one or more charts, but you must put one or more back in and mail to the next person. But, would that violate some sort of copyright laws or whatever? To me, it's just like offering them to a friend or selling them in a garage sale. Opinions? Anyone interested? I have a wide variety of charts, too. Well, will see what the comments are like and then I will let you know. Hopefully, we can start a little trade here, Thanks! Pictures coming soon - major holiday stitching!!!

Silver Bells

No, not the song, although they are sneaking in Christmas music with the other music they play at my work - It's the Big 25 for Big Daddy and I next week. 25 Years is a long time. But sometimes it seems like it was just yesterday. We have 5 kids that are around 2 years apart, so those early years were just simply survival, to be honest. Now that they are older and some of them are older and out of the house, there is a different dynamic. It's nice to have time on our own. He's a wonderful guy and I feel really blessed that we were able to work hard and get to this point in our marriage. That's the one thing that I think people don't want to do anymore. They think that they always have the option to get divorced if it doesn't work out. Well, I think that usually means that they didn't want to work it out. Of course, I don't mean abusive spouses or anything like that. If you are in that situation, then you need to get out of it PDQ. Honestly, we were too busy and had too many bills to think about divorcing! LOL! Well, sorry for the nattering on. I was just in a contemplative mood. Stitching pictures soon!!

Unsettled

Did you ever have one of those days where you just felt unsettled?? Just not right. I have been having more and more of those days lately. Maybe I am pre-menopausal or something, but I really want to ditch this feeling. Maybe it's my crazy obsession with the news - the hurricane, the election, the economy... Yeah, that could do it. Or maybe I am just in a blue mood. Either way, I need to stop. I don't even want to be around me! LOL!
So, I got the giveaway package and it is so funny, cause the winner lives fairly close to me!! Who knew? Blogging is so neat! My next project is to list some of my old patterns on ebay and I am signing up to do Country Cottage Needleworks Santa's Village. There will be one pattern a month. The first one is really cute. I am not doing them all on one piece of fabric - I think I will make them individually and make ornaments. I would love to someday have a tree with just my stitched ornaments on it. I have alot, but it takes a ton! I will stitch on Halloween until Black Friday and then I will make the transition over to Christmas. Sometimes I stitch an autumn or thanksgiving theme, but I really haven't found anything this year to float my boat. This year's obsession is definately Halloween! I will probably stitch something Halloween all year round.
We are still getting the garage in order and then I will post more pictures of house progress. We have a few projects that I need to get done before the holidays, so I need to get myself in gear. My hours are picking up at work - I work retail- and I usually take all the hours I can to pay for Christmas. Just a note - when you are Christmas or holiday shopping this year, please remember that the sales person isn't responsible for you waiting till the last minute to find the perfect gift and I really don't like picking up coffee cups from the tables of merchandise. Be nice. You would be surprised at the way some people act.
Getting lots of stitching done and will probably have some pics on Friday. I think I will have one finished today! It's a quick stitch, again from the JCS magazine!! What is everyone else out there stitching??

And the Winner is...........

I put the number 8 in random generator and the winner is .......
Comment #2!
Deb said:

DebOctober 31, 2012 6:05 PM

I'd love to be entered!!! I meant to comment on your earlier post today about the crazy weather. It's really hard to believe that we could be affected so far away, but those winds were really something on Monday and I can imagine they were even worse where you live.

Thanks for the change on the giveaway - oh, and I'm a stitcher

 

Deb - email your address to

jeffandlisaclarke@gmail.com and your package will go out Monday! Congratulations and thanks to all that entered!

It's Giveaway Time!

I just got the urge to have a giveaway!! It's a mystery - just a few little things to hopefully make someone smile. Leave a comment on this post only and tell me if you are a stitcher or not. Then, I can gear the winnings to the winner! Please post on your blog and you get a bonus entry! Just leave a separate entry to tell me that you did. This is for U.S. residents only, please. The deadline to enter is midnight E.S.T on Friday Nov. 2. I will draw a name on Saturday sometime and mail out on Monday! Good luck!!

Storm Stitching

Who knew that a hurricane would affect those of us here in Michigan? While we are no where near as devastated as the people on the Eastern coast, we did have a scary night here. We are very close to Lake Huron and there were reported 20 foot waves. All around us, people were losing their power. We were lucky and only lost our internet, phone and cable for a day and a half and a few trees. The youngest hasn't been in school for the last two days because the school doesn't have power. It has calmed down here ALOT and looks as though the trick or treaters will be able to do their thing. We got our garage cabinets installed last week and the storage is fantastic. With all the weather issues, I haven't had time to get all the shelves in, but that is on the list for tomorrow.  See all the storage?

 

Hockey season has started here and that is the time that I get alot of stitching done. There is so much time spent waiting at the rink. I also got alot of stitching done when the cable was out. These are the two - one I finished and the other I should finish tonight. Loved them both! I will Halloween stitch until about the middle of November then will start on Thanksgiving or Christmas.

 

Take care, friends! Talk to you soon!!

I'm A Winner! And Some Finishes!!

A great big thanks to Jeanine from http://okiobdesigns.blogspot.com/ - I won a giveaway on her blog and the package was so wonderful! Here's a pic of the beautiful package I didn't want to spoil by opening, but when I opened it, there were some great treasures! Go check out her blog - it's great!

I decided to do a picture wall down the hallway to the bedrooms. I like the idea of a picture wall, but the placement of the pictures was very scary. Finally, after WAY too much thought, I decided to close my eyes and hang the first picture and go from there. So far, so good. There is no rhyme or reason to it - just what I think looks good and the pictures are just the ones that made me smile. I am sure it will be a work in progress, since I will want to update pictures along the way. It is hard to take a picture of the hallway, but here is a shot from one end and a shot from the other. I am happy with it!
It's not done yet - there are more pictures yet to frame so I hope that the wall will be filled with family. It makes me smile every time I walk to my room. Success! Too many times I see things on Pinterest or blogs and just agonize over how to do it the "right" way. I should just DO IT already and stop with all the over-analysis. Next project is to paint the downstairs bathroom and I have a great idea for a wall in our bar area. I am going to paint it with chalkboard paint so that guests can doodle on it. Yep, another Pinterest idea. Oh, that site will be the death of me!! But I love it - so happy there are alot of people out there alot more creative than me!
 Finally, here are some finishes, but not the complete finish. I like to finish my smalls with a vintage button on the back or in the design. I am auditioning buttons for these finishes, but the are ready for the final touches. Some of them had been sitting for awhile, so I am glad to get them done.

Almost done!

Love the colors in this!

So happy to find the perfect backing fabric for a project. Taking these colors and using them in the master bedroom. LOVE!
 

Well, thanks for stopping by. Stay tuned for the painting of the bathroom saga - wait till you see the color! Yikes!

It's Done!!

I am so happy!! I LOVED this chart when I first saw it - and I love, love, love candy corn (the regular kind, who ever came up with gourmet kinds??) and just knew I had to stitch it. Got it on Saturday and finished it last night.

Behind it are two of the finishes from this year. This is on the table in the entry way. I am going to try to get some more house pictures as I go through and get things done. I got  the glass pumpkin years ago at Walmart on clearance for $3.00 (actually I got 3 of them) and they are so great! I fill them with fall leaves, candy, cookie cutters, whatever but now it's filled with candy corn! Not sure how long it will last, since it's so easy to just grab a handful on your way out the door, but for now it looks pretty! I think we are going to paint the downstairs bathroom in the next few days. This should be interesting - stay tuned!

Still Organizing, but Almost There!

The floss organization is coming along nicely! Thanks for the comments on how you store your floss. There are alot of "accessories" when you cross stitch or craft, and I am so lucky to have a craft room. I hope to show pictures of it when I get done with the floss organization, but that would mean cleaning it, soooo...... Well, I might.

Here are some pics of the stitching I have been stitching on. Still working my way through the magazine, but when I was organizing, I came across some other projects that needed just a few stitches. Also, I have an insane love of candy corn,so I bought "Death by Candy Corn" and hope to finsh it today. Well, off to put laundry in the dryer and then it's stitching time!

Floss Storage

Can we just chat a moment about floss storage? I have been stitching a long time and I have never really had the perfect floss storage system. I started out with a fishing tackle box. The Plano one? Anyone remember that or have one? That was OK but then, somewhere along the line, I got more floss. And more floss. Maybe it grows in the dark? Yeah, that's the one I am going with. It certainly isn't that I am too lazy to look for floss, so I just buy what the project needs. No, ma'am, I would not do that :) So I started to organize in the little plastic floss boxes. Ugh. This is what I have at the moment in the stitching room.

So, here's the plan. I am having a box for the 100's, the 200's, etc. of DMC. If there are duplicates, I am planning to store those in a box, after I make a list. Not sure how I have duplicates..... yeah, right. Then, when I use up a skein, I will look to see if I have a duplicate in the box and if not, THEN I buy. I have almost all the DMC colors. I will have a full set when I am done organizing. Oh, and here's a tidbit that I am sure you all know. I am always late to the party. If you write on the floss boxes in permanent marker and you need to change what you wrote or erase, you can easily erase with a magic eraser. I used the kind from the Dollar Tree and it worked just fine. So, that's my plan. I am stitching alot - here are some snaps. Will update my stitching through JCS Halloween issue later - I was planning to finish 26 projects! Yikes! Any comments on floss storage? What's your favorite system?

 

Stitching away!

Had some internet issues ( not going to think about that again, since I am having a good day and don't want to ruin it), but finally able to post some progress with stitching through JCS Halloween issue. Plus, I stitched a little design from The Prairie Schooler that I really liked. Here are the pics. Moving on to the next designs. I am jumping around a little through the magazine and I am not stitching all of the patterns. Just the ones that will fit in with my decorating. It is starting to feel a little like fall here in Michigan, so I am starting on my fall decorating. I love Fall! Here is the wreath I made today and the start of the front porch decorating!

I plan on adding mums and a bigger scarecrow and possibly a hay bale or two. I really look forward to our first fall in this house. We have alot of trees in the back yard and I think they will look very pretty in fall colors. Any fall or Halloween patterns out there that anyone recommends? I am really on a stash diet (more like a fast), but I could possibly make an exception for a really great pattern. My birthday is coming up so that is a good time to add to the stash, as well. That will be my only exception to the fast. I really need to de-stash. Maybe when things slow down a little. I still have boxes to unpack from the move! Well, take care friends - see you next time!!!

First update of progress

Really enjoying stitching through the Halloween issue. I have all the back issues and have done this before, but never really got through the whole issue. I also want to do this with the Christmas Ornament issue. These issues are the main source for my stitching and I love it when the issues come out. Here's what I did so far. Finished one while camping and started on two more two days ago. I like to switch between two designs. The finished one isn't ironed or anything. I stitched it on Aida (I know, but I have ALOT of it and want to use it in the ornaments) and the other picture is the two I have started. I will wait and have a big finishing day for the ones I get done. This is so much fun!! What are you stitching on?

Stitching My Way Through JCS Halloween 2012

Often when I go on vacation or on a hockey trip, I will start a new project. It makes me look forward to my time away from home. I was so excited to get my copy of JCS Halloween 2012 and I started a project notebook to organize the charts I wanted to stitch. They are all wonderful, but some do not fit my house or my taste, but that's not to say that they aren't wonderful. So, I am going to stitch my way through the magazine. I started with Happy Halloween on page 15 and finished that on my camping trip last week. Now I am on Mr. Whiskers on page 14. I will update as I continue through the magazine. I planned to go exactly through the magazine, but I think I will skip around some. Anybody else out there stitching these great projects?