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.)