Happy 4th of July

God bless America, land that I love,

Stand beside her, and guide her,
Through the night, with the light from above,
From the mountains, to the prairies
To the oceans, white with foam

God bless America, my home sweet home,
God bless America! My Home Sweet Home!

- Irving Berlin, God Bless America

The house is decorated with buntings on the porch railings, all of my patriotic stitchery is scattered around, and of course a few old decorations. I just love the colors of red, white, and blue. Course, more of the old fashion muted tones. Looking around at what I have stitched I have a lot more that needs to be done. Sorry, not much to show but my mind is racing around thinking of what I forgot in the stash to stitch. Since it is a rainy cold night tonight I will have to stash dive tonight.

Over the weekend I got a chance to run to my local LNS with friends. Course, that means never leaving empty bag. So, the most important purchase had to be the newest Loose Feathers pattern called "It's Berry Time". I bought the material called for but made a change in the thread selection. I selected Gentle Arts Pomegranate. What do you think?

Sorry, guess the picture is kind of dark. I will have to try again after I start stitching it up. Not the greatest in picture taking.

Of course, I couldn't pass up a Lizzie Kate boxer kit. I just loved the saying and will have to put this one out for everyone to see and get a chuckle from. It is me.....

Okay, another bad picture. Guess that is a good indication of how my day went. Oh well.....

Lastly, I got another Shepherd's Bush kit called "Home". I love the hat that you attach to the sheep. Red, White, and Blue..... of course.



Not a lot done on the ABC Lessons but still wanted to provide an update of my progress.


This morning we woke up to find out that it had rained last night and that more of the lilies in the garden had bloomed. I had to run back into the house and grab the camera so I could share them with you. ENJOY....

Well, Brinkley and Josie are being pests and want me log off and play. Have a great holiday weekend and stay safe.

January Updates

As time slips by so does my ability to update the blog. What can I say.... Okay, a 12 week old puppy can keep you busy, keep you from sleeping, and drive you insane. Yes, Brinkley has been a handful and the only time I can get some stitching done is when I make it nap time or leave him with DH. I have to admit, we went to puppy class tonight for the first time and what a shock. He sat in my lap and watched all of the other puppies going nuts and amazed me that he wasn't. Course, wait and see what next week brings. I think he was just in shock.

I recently made trip out to visit one of my BFFs. What was amazing is that we found a local shop close to her home to visit and what a selection of patterns, material, and fibers. So, we had to make the most of our trip and find a few patterns that we had to add to our stashes. I had planned to only work on UFOs in 2009 and cut down the new additions but that went out the window as soon as we walked into the store. How can we explore a new local shop and not walk out with huge smiles on our faces.

I picked up the most amazing pattern called "Flying Geese and Chicken Feet" by Brenda Kocher. It incorporates patterns from four different quilts. It uses many different kinds of fibers and in the store they had it done in my most favorite color combinations. Green and purples.

I picked up the pattern and fibers and decided to do it on congress cloth. The store gave me a listing of the colors they used but after I got home I just couldn't figure out what was used where. So, when Monday rolled around I called the shop and they were so wonderful to take a picture of their finished sample and e-mail it to me. A two hour drive in the snow to their shop was out of the question. Here is the pattern book and a picture of their finished piece. Don't you just love it...... I do......

Course, this wasn't my only purchase. I also got the following pattern "Winter Blooms" by Hands to Work. This will have to be added to my stash and hopefully it will be finished before 2009 ends.

Spending the day with my BFFs was so much fun. With our busy lives and the distances apart we decided that since we cannot get together very often to stitch we would try something else. We have created our own SAL. Each Sunday we are to find time to sit and stitch on any Blackbird design in our stash. This is a great idea since I have a huge collection, okay I have the total collection of Loose Feathers club patterns which include fabric and fibers. So for the past two Sundays I have been able to steal away a couple of hours in the morning and late evening to work on started projects. As of Sunday I completed Loose Feathers Pattern 31 - Blessings & Kind Wishes. I did this on 28 count Sand Dune. Off to the framer it will go....

For next Sunday I will be picking up Loose Feathers Pattern 32 - Beyond My Heart. I will be doing this on 28 count Lavender Bliss. Here is what I had started and stashed.

Before I forget I did do one resolution so far for 2009. La-D-Da's Bushel & A Peck. Course, this project has not been in my stash that long but I had hoped to finish it for a gift during the holidays but that did not happen. I hope to get some help in getting it finished and I think it will make a special Valentine gift for someone special in my family. Stay tuned, I have ideas.

Hey not to bad for the last two weeks. Okay, not too good on getting the house cleaned but I did get the Christmas tree down and took advantage of how many naps a new puppy needs. Until next time and you know how bad I am, have fun stitching and stay tuned. The saga continues between which will come first, puppies and/or stitching.

Weekend Projects

This weekend has gone by fast but I have to say that I did enjoy myself by spending many hours doing nothing more than stitching. I have been working on "Blessings and Kind Wishes" by Blackbird Designs. Here is a picture of what I have gotten done this weekend.

I am doing this on 28 count Sand Dune. I love how the colors are popping on this fabric.


My other big "HUGE" accomplishment for the weekend is a hanging pillow that I have finished all by myself. I have to say that this took a lot longer to complete than I expected but the joy I have in knowing that I did this myself is amazing. This is a Workbasket pattern that I picked up in Utah a few weeks ago at the Shepherd's Bush Retreat. I stitched this with a piece of fabric I purchased at the retreat and I don't know what the count or fabric name is. I used Gentle Arts color Raspberry Parfait and attached a flower charm also purchased at the retreat. I made and added cording to this small pillow which was a first for me. I did some research on the Internet on how to make cording and I have to tell you that examples I found were all I needed in getting this accomplished.

I have a couple more projects completed but I want to finish them before I post a picture of what they are. Hopefully I will continue to have luck in my finishing endeavors. Stay tuned.

Josie wanted to be in the picture with Mommy's finished project. She has been such a good doggy lately that I could not turn down the chance to add her into the picture.