Such a wonderful Christmas

It has been a lovely, wonderful day. We woke around 8:30 and got the ham and potatoes all ready to go into the oven. while we waited for Nana to get up (and warded off the kids pleas to open their presents) we enjoyed na nice fresh cup of Coffee. It is so nice having most of the kids here for Christmas.

I was happy to hear that my oldest, Angel, who is serving in Afghanastan, recieved her Package on Christmas Eve. She was able to call and briefly let us know that it had arrived and she got to wish us all a Merry Christmas. It made me miss her all the more.  Still, I was glad to hear her voice and the excitement in her voice made my heart happy.

The other three kids were all here and filled with high spirits. It has been a while since I knew that they would enjoy the presents I had chosen for them.

 DD#2 got part of her gifts last month, She needed winter tires for her car and with all of the snow that we have had it is a good thing that I we got them at the end of November. The rest of her presents were all car themed...welli n an obscure way...We got her a cute winter hat with ear flaps and ties. We told her that it was part of the car theme because it would keep her warm while she was out scrapping the snow off her car this winter. She also recieved a gift card to help buy a new car radio. overall the Auto was heavily featured in her ensamble. Nana got her a Wallyworld giftcard

DS recieved several gifts that all tied together as well. To begin he recieved a video camera. along with this he recieved 2GB of RAM for his laptop and a microphone that plugs into his computer. These went along with the program we got him. It is a video, music editing program. I hope that he will enjoy these. He aslo recieved a gift card for some movies from Nana

DD#3 got a Kindle, protective case, screen protector and a giftcard for some books. She also got two sweaters tht wse have to exchange. I am still buying for an 11 year-old...she is now 15...OMG she has "woman parts" that I forget to take into acount. From Nana she recieved the softest purple (her fav color) scarf

My Dear Man gecieved several gifts. DS and DD#3 each got him a nice thermal long sleeve shirt. DD#2 got him a gift card for I tunes....yea for music. His mother got him a Steelers sweatshirt. From me...well, we agreeded not to get each other gifts since we do so much for each other all through the year.

Nana opened many presents. From  TX she recieved a cool coco mix from Starbucks and a tin of their cocoa mix. From DD#2 she recieved her favorite thing...a bag of mixed Hershey's choclate candies. My DM and I got her a gift card for her favorite spa, and a calander that has pictures from Scotland.

I recieved some awesome gifts. DD#2 found me some lovely Lavander Smelling bath products and candles. My favorite scent! DS got me a wonderful floor lamp with an adjustable reading arm. I love it! DD#3 got me two new wall signs. They are part of the set started last year by DS. My kids are sooooo Awesome!!!!! My gift from Nana was a nice Wallyworld card. Got to look for a bargain on a new TV for the family room. The one we have now is way to small for the expanded living area; it makes my eyes hurt if I watch it from my chair.

All in all, we had a lovely day! Good food, even the critters got some Ham for Christmas. I must say however nice the day has been, I am really glad that this day is coming to an end. The preperation has been tough and my body aches. It was all worth it to see the enjoyment in the eyes of my kids. For the first time I have been able to get the kids some really great gifts that I know they will enjoy!!!!!

I hope that your Christmas was a joyful day! Enjoy the rest of 2010 with your loved ones.

Joyous Blessings to you all.

Merry Christmas!

We had a lovely Christmas Eve. Family is nice to reconnect with...especially when you are the one hosting! Not having to travel was nice. I was busy all week baking cookies and taking time to finish up a few special gifties. (I have plenty of sweets to hold us til the New Year).

I hope that everyone out in Bloglandia has a Joyous Holiday. May your gatherings be filled with happiness and your tummies with good food. Blessings of the season to you all.

Tina

Hardanger Happiness

I have been playing around with Hardanger. Mostly it is because I have a bunch of fabric laying around that I am trying to use up; It is also because I have been wanting to learn to do it for a long time. This piece is my own design using up bits and pieces of purl cotton and a piece of fabric of unknown origin.

I appologize for the fuzziness of the pictures, I am not a photographer by any stretch of the imagination.



complete piece


 

Heart Motif at ends



Detail of edging



Detail of Center Motif

 

Center Motif



I enjoyed this project for several reasons:

1. I am learning a new needleworking skill set.
2. The rythum and flow of the stitching is very calming and let my mind relax.
3. The feel of the fabric and the way it contrasts with the feel of the purl is a subtle variation.
4. It develops rather quickly (I finished this piece in less than 3 hours over two days).
5. I like the fall color scheme.

Overall, I think that I will continue to explore this new (to me) form. I have several ideas that I would like to explore. First I want to learn the other (there are only a few that I have seen) stitches. I have gotten much better at the center picots, but there are other variations that I still need to learn.

I hope that everyone enjoys their time with Family during the Thanksgiving holiday (at least it is here in the USA). Don't eat to very much, savor every bite and every moment.

Tina

A slightly late finish

I had actually finished this project about 2 weeks ago, but once again life got a bit hectic. Between Medical and Dental appointments I have been running around with the kids, All that time spent sitting in waiting rooms, now that theya re old enough to go in by themselves, gave me a lot of time to "play" with my "string".

I hope that every one enjoys looking at this little wall/door hanging as much as I enjoyed working on it.

Lenny the Lion

Manfred the Mummy

Count Carl

Gerry the ghost

Frightful Frankie

Wendy the Wistful Witch

Finished Hanging

Each of the characters was designed by me. If anyone would like the patterns for them please feel free to drop me an e-mail 

Thanks for stopping by, and have a Great Week!

Tina

A Halloween Finish

I have been doing very little stitching lately. The work we have been doing on the house has taken up so much of my time; I have been doing very little of anything.

One of the things that I did make time to work on is a cute fall table runner that I designed and stitched up one weekend.  I like the colors and the way that they felt stitched up. I will probably do a few more of these type of projects. I really enjoyed the whole process.

Here are a few pics:

This runner was just something I dreamed up. I hope that you like it.

The fabric is felt and the threads are DMC. I am not sure of the colors as I have been trying to use up the loose floss that I am finding as I continue to sort through the things in my craft room. I blanket stitched the leaves and pumpkin sections down and then did the detail stitches using backstitch.



Thanks for checking it out

Tina

out of commision for a while

Where have the months gone? It seems like Summer has slipped by. I have been so busy with things around here that I have not had time to post anything.
DS has passed his driver's education class. He can now take his test to get his license. YIKES! When did I get old enough for him to be driving?

DD#1 is still overseas in Afghanistan. She is doing well. I get at least one message from her a week, just to let me know that she is ok. Thank god for Text Messages. I don't know how my grandma and ma did it when they had loved ones overseas and they were waiting for a letter.

DD#2 is now working 2 jobs. She cane and asked us if she could get a puppy. After much discussion we said yes. On Monday we will be going to pick up Mandrake (who will be known as Drake) the Min-Pin. It will be interesting to see how Jack and Smokey take to the new family member.

DD#3 is driving me nuts. She has multi-colored hair and although it sets my teeth on edge I keep reminding myself that hair grows....eventually.

My SM is busy with work and doing the finishing of the baseboards and trim upstairs. I will have a new Craft Room within a week!!!!!!!

Me??? Well I have been busy getting Ma moved up here from NC and settled in. Doctor's appointments and such to get her set up and taking care of all the things that go along with moving. I am exhausted. Beyond that I have been busy in the garden. I will try to post pics in a few days.

Well, I have done NO stitching, quilting, drawing...etc. over the last few months. To busy with running everyone where they need to be. I am looking forward to school starting again, then I can get some things done. First I will need to set up my new craft/sewing room. I am so looking forward to having a dedicated place to do my thing. It will be a first. No more packing things up and having to unpack them to work. YEAH!!!!!!!

Pics long over due

I have to appologize to the two lovely ladies that were my partners in the pin pillow exchange that was sponsered by Becky over at BeckyBee's Stitching Hive.

I recieved a lovely sampler pin pillow from Sara over at Sara's Simple Stitching. here are my pics:

front

back

I am not sure what count the cloth is or what kind of thread was used. I love that the stitches are so even and neat. I wish I had the patience to work with backgrounds this small.

As for the pin pillow that I made, I mailed it out just before the Easter weekend. Ellen over at Fannie's Place recieved it and asked me to post some pics since she is not able to at this time. So here we go:

I have only taken a picture of the frount since the back is the pink satin that you can see peaking out from the spaces of the Hardanger.  I came up with the design after reading some books to learn how to do this type of stitching. For this being only my third time doing Hardanger work I feel that it came out very nicely. 

Designer: Tina

Fabric: 22 count white Hardanger

Thread: #5 and #8 DMC Perl Cotton: White

Stitched By: Tina

As for what else I have been working on, Well, Not much. The last few weeks have been a bit hectic. My DS partisipated in the State Compition with the Winter Percussion Ensamble. The School took second place. His younger Sis and I went and watched the compition. I must say, Bleachers are still the most uncomfortable thing to sit on. My poor backside ached for several days afterwards. (Is that TMI?)

In addition to running halfway across the state to watch the performances, closer to home I have been busy with gardening and such. As of yet I have not planted anything, still haven't reached the Last Expected Frost Date for Central New York. I have been slowly working my across my .95 acre to pick up all of the fallen branches and to clean up some of the deadfall trees (they will help heat my home well next winter) so that in a week or so I will be able to runn the lawn tractor over it with fresh new blades in the mower and not have to worry to much about the new blades being destroyed.

The days have been sunny and warm for the most part. the one day that we had rain here I did spend some time at my sewing machine. This is what I worked on:

 

My Snow Friends wall hanging is slowly taking shape. I am using blocks from the "Dear Hannah" program from Electronic Quilts. I am making the pieced blocks 3" x 3" and will be putting another strip of fabric between the blocks before I sew them together. I chose to paper piece the blocks because they are TINY, TINY  pieces and I wanted tehm to be very accurate. So far I think that I have accomplished this. (the thing that they are pinned to is a slab of foam insulation taht we had leftover from the upstairs bathroom remodel. I plan to cover it with some white felt soon and it will be my permanent design wall.) 

Pin Pillow Exchange sent, bathroom finished and a b-day wish

Well, I did it... I put the pin pillow in the mail. I will post some pics when i hear that it has arrived at its final destination.

I am going to post some pictures of my DD #2's bathroom. It is the upstairs bath and since she is the one living up there it is "her bathroom".

the view from the door

to the the left

The dual stage toilet and basin sink (the sink sits on a custom made stand, topped with white carrara marble,  that my SM made and I made the curtains for with DD#2's help)

note the lovely co-ordinated soap pump and trash can.

Teh vanity that was custom made by my SM. It is also topped with carrara marble and the DD#2 and I made the curtains. Again you will note the co-ordinated bath items. DD picked out her bath accecories Tissue cover, toothbrush holder and cup (she is using the cup to hold her cotton swabs) as well as trash can and soap dispenser. Her rugs are a lovely beige and her towels are a nice deep rose to co-ordinate with the floral print on the curtains. Finally she picked out a small lamp to sit on the vanity. Its shade matches the towels fairly well.

And last but not least.... The Shower Pod....

This shower has it all....

a rainfall shower,

a handheld shower,

6 body jets,

a foot massage and

an FM radio.

We could also hook up a phone line and a CD player to the unit. (A bit of overkill there)

It looks like an alien pod when all of the lights are on. LOL

Oh and a last Note: 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY COCO!!!!

Your momma luvs ya!!!!

20 years ago

You entered my life and made it brighter!

Second Day of Spring

I am so glad that Spring has arrived. We have been lucky enough to have beautiful weather here in CNY. We are curently snow free (KNOCK on WOOD).

DD#2 and DS

shoveling us out after the last February snowfall.

it is amazing to me that we have gone from so much snow just a few weeks ago to this...

The first blooms of SPRING

Jack posing in the sunshine. He wasn't quite sure what to think about the fact that he could run through the yard again.

I have felt so much better within the last week. I know that a lot of it is due to the sunshine and our mini-heatwave. It was above 50 F for 4 days this last week. I still kept the wood furnace stoked since the nights were down in the lower 30's F. The daylight hours were lovely. I was able to sit out on my enclosed porch and sip my morning coffee and not freeze my tush off.

Besides enjoying the weather we were busy working on refurbishing the upstairs bathroom. DD#2 is living at home and since we had the plumbing already run up there...it was there when we moved into the house 16 years ago...we had a plumber come in and make sure that it was okay to use. It passed the inspection and we have spent three weeks updatine the fixtures. With a new toilet, a basin sink and a space-age shower I wonder if the DD will ever decide to move out...LOL I will post some pics when we have it all set up and ready to go.

For now I hope that all of you in the Northern Hemisphere are enjoying Spring like weather. For those of you in the Southern Hemisphere I hope that your Autumn is a joyful time of harvest and plenty.

Peace,
Tina

Biscornu and Sissors Fob

I have been very busy over the last month. My SM and I have been doing some remodeling of my home. Since we have been together he has almost completely remodeled the first floor of my house. I have helped him when I was able, but he has done the majority of the work. My DS has learned quite a lot from the SM. He can now drive a nail straight and has learned how to hang drywall. By far the DS enjoys the de-construction the most.

Over the last month my SM hired a handyman/electrician/plumber to help him on several projects. The first project the two of them tackled was to remove 1/2 a wall to open up the kitchen into the livingroom. It was a bit messy but it was doen within 2 weeks. Since the house is over 100 years old (built in 1906) we have been suprised a time or two as we worked. For once the suprise was a plesent one. The wall we were taking down was thought to be a supporting wall. It turned out not to be!!!! YAY!

Taking down the wall

Getting ready to put in the beam

looking from the livingroom to the kitchen

I love my granite counter top

a bit blurry but these were the cabinets above the counter that we repurposed and built a toekick for. They hold all of my spices.

So that was the first project for the end of February. Since wer had to move several wires my computer was down quite a bit. I wasn't able to post as we worked so now I am playing catch-up.

We have began working on putting in a second bathroom. It is up-stairs directly above our old one. All of the pipes have been up there, but as far as I know they had never been put into use. Soooooo...the handyman has been going through and making sure that they are sound. So far we have only had one leak that was promptly repaired. The HM has also been working on the electrical. We are replacing all of the old wire (circa 1930's) with new. We actually have more than one outlet upstairs now!!!! (I will be able to move my sewing room up there soon!!!!

So...lets move from construction on my house to that I have been onstructing with my needle. I was given the oppertunity to stitch up the March Fob and Biscornu from "A Girl as Mad as Birds" I had a lot of fun doing this quick stitch. I spent about 3 hours total on it. I sould have had it finished earlier, but last Saturday I was up at Fort Drum to seem m DD#1. She is off to parts unknown and I was able to see her off. (sigh!!!)

Without further ado....

 This is a scan of the finshed stitchings.

Here is the front of the stitched and finished fob and Biscornu,

and here is the back.

I hope that you all will go over to Nic's blog and check out her other patterns. She sends them out via a PDF for free with a request from you...However I hope that all of you give a small donation, as per her request, to the MS Trust here. It is a very worthy cause!

Thanks for reading. Have a great day!

Tina

DD #2 graduated.

Last night my DD#2 graduated from her Dental Assistant program. It was a short ceremony...for which I am grateful! We were in and out within 45 minutes. Now all she has to do is find a job! She has had two interviews at an Oral Surgery practice. That is always a good sign. Please send up a little prayer for her to get a job...wether it is that one or another. That is my good news.

My not so good news...my DD#1 called in the middle of the ceremony. She is in the military. She found out when and where she is heading. I'm not going to say where or when...Loose lips sink ships...gotta love cliches. She does get to come home for several days prior to shipping out. That is a god send. I am a basket case. I know that she has to do her duty. After all, she was the one who signed up knowing what the situation is in the world.

As a mother I am terrified. As a Veteran I understand the duty aspect of it all. None of it is easy for me to accept. This is after all my baby girl. She will always be my baby...any mother knows exactally what I mean. All I can do is be here for her no matter what.


Okay, I have that off my chest. I just needed to rant. Thank you for taking the time to visit. I hope you all have a great day.

Pin Pillow Exchange

I am taking part in teh pin pillow exchange that is being hosted by BeckySC over at Becky Bee's Stitching Hive. I am looking forward to taking part in my very first exchange. I am having a hard time trying to decide what I will stitch up for this exchange.  I am going to have to buckle down and just pick something from my collection of magazines and books that will make a sweet pin pillow. I hate making decisions like this without knowing the person.

 Since I have started Blogging I have been fortunate enough to win a give away from Shell over at Tales from the Raspberry Rabbit. You can see posts about Mr. Rabbit here. I have still not decided where to place Mr. Hippy Hoppy Rabbit. My SM(Sweet Man) has taken to calling him TR, short for Traveling Rabbit.

In quilting news I am cutting the bands for both my blue and red "Snowfriends" wall hangings. With all the snow that we have had fall her in CNY (Central New York) I am feeling like putting them up for a bit. However, I want to get them done so that I don't feel guilty for not finishing them. My UFO's and WIP's are piling up. I have two Advent count down calanders and two other christmas items that I purchased for 75% off after Christmas. These 4 items are tucked away in a clearly labled box to be pulled out around October for finishing.

Speaking of the clearly labled box...I am striving to become more organized. My DM is a neat freak and I have a tendancy to leave things around the house. I do not want to drive him away so I am trying to curb my messy ways. I have been doing Flylady for about 4 years now and I am slowly taming my clutter and am to the point where I am mostly living with the things taht I love and use. She has helped me so much. If you do not know her go over to her website and check her out.

No new pics here, I haven't done much other than start to cut strips for the, above mentioned, wallhangings. The snow and cold make my joints ache and at times it is really hard for me to get moving. I am looking forward to Spring!!!! I will probably still be hurting but at least I will be able to sit out on the frount porch and soak in some sunshine as I drink my tea and do some stitching. I do miss the sunshine!

Well, enough of my bellyaching...I hope that you are all warm and cosy and getting to spend a bit of time on your stitching

Tina

Well, its about time...

A few weeks ago I won a give away from Shell at Tales from the Raspberry Rabbit.  I have been having such a hard time with electronics that I have not gotten around to posting the pics that I took.  Well, I am going to remedy that right now! So with no further delay, here is Mr Rabbit.

I am showing him in three different locations because I am having a hard time choosing his permanent home. I would love to hear what others think. : )

On a different track, I an SOOOOO sick of snow. Here in Syracuse, NY we have had snow on the ground for three months now. We have had at least trace amounts of snow every day since Christmas. For the most part is is just enough to be annoying. If I have to leave the house I ahve to sweep the snow off the car before I leave. After I get done (shopping at Hobby Lobby or Jo-Anns) I have to sweep the snow off again. ARGH!!!!!

So I figured that I would share a few snow pics with you all (well, maybe some day I will have a follower). 

This is what I have been dealing with. This bit of snow fell between 8:00 and 9:00 am.

 

I can tell that it fell between those times because DD#2 left for work at 7:35am and this is her empty parking space.

These three views are the view of my yard. There are only two houses back here in the woods, you can barely see my neighbor's house in the last photo.

Oh Well, I really should not complain. (I'll be knocking on wood as I say, Type?, this next bit) We have not lost power and for the first time in many a year we did not run out of wood for the wood burning furnace.  I have plenty of food and know that if anything did happen we would be warm and cosy. After all one of the big perks about having a wood burning furnace is that if all else fails I can cook on top of it (it would need to be something I normally make in the crock-pot, but it is possible).

Well, I have bent your ear for long enough. I hope you all have a good day, and as you stitch may your threads stay knot free.

Tina

Finally back

This last month has been very hard on me. It has been sbnowing almost every day since Christmas. When the weather is like this I end up feeling very blue. I have been hunkered down in my recliner and and have spent a lot of time working on my band sampler that Sharon B, over at pintangle, inspired me to begin. It has been a very enjoyable diversion from the weather.

I ahve also finished all of the embroidery on my snow friends blocks for my wall hangings. You can see the original post here. These are something that I have been working on for most of the month of January.

Here are the five red that will complete the red work wall  hanging.                                                                                                                                                             

  

Here are the 6 that will go into the blue work wall hanging.

I have picked out several fabrics to frame each and then to join them together into a nice wall hanging. I still need to block them. I am going to frame them out and make some smaller pieced blocks to square everything up.

I would love to know what you think of them.

peace, Tina