Tuesday, January 27, 2009

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.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Happy 2009

I have never been big on new year resolutions but I think this year I will have to come up with one for my stitching stash. There are so many UFOs in my stash that I need to make better progress in completing. Not only in getting the stitching done but also to get the finishing done either by me or someone more qualified.

This weekend I did have success in completing my stitching of the 2007 limited edition from Prairie Schooler called "Let It Snow". I now have 2005 - 2007 completed and need to start/finish 2008 in the next several months. I still hope to have all four of these pictures framed together in some sort of design.

Our holiday was wonderful and it was great to spend time with family and friends. The biggest highlight of our holiday was the new addition to our family. We have a new puppy, Brinkley who was born on November 1st. It is amazing how much we forgot about puppy care in the last 15 months since Josie came to us. She is being an amazing big sister to her new brother. So far they love to run and play and don't like to be apart. I think she will be a great help in the potty training area.


If I am not blogging as regular as I should be know that Brinkley must be keeping his mommy and daddy very busy. He loves to play and is amazed at all of the toys that are in the toy box that his big sister has accumulated in the last year. Here he is playing inside of the toy box in seventh heaven.


Happy Stitching and I hope your resolutions are reachable.