What are you doing New Year's Eve?

I am all nestled in for a quiet evening.

I will be watching a movie, most appropriate, 'New Year's Eve'.  

Then it will be time to watch the ball in NYC Times Square drop along with the thousands that will be there.  I hope they are wearing long johns, it will be a frosty one!!  I prefer to be all cuddled up, watching it on TV.

While I still had some projects that were not yet complete, I went thru my posts from the past year and was happy to see that I did get a few things accomplished!  :D

2012 finishes

 2012 was my first year of blogging and I want to thank all of you who read my ramblings and take the time to leave comments.  It has been wonderful to get to know all of you and for us all to share our passion for stitching. 

So out with the old year and in with the new year!

2013 is already shaping up to be a fun, stitch-y year.  

I have a few projects lined up and will share those with you in...

I wish you the HAPPIEST of NEW YEARS, 

full of good HEALTH and HAPPINESS, PEACE and JOY!!

Cheers and Happy Stitching!!  xxxxx

A Christmas full of Memories

I hope you all got everything you wished for under the tree :D

We had a nice celebration with the entire family, 25 of us in all.
It was quite a full house!

In recent years I have started making special photo books for gifts from all of the thousands(!) of family photos I have scanned.  I have photos dating back to the late 1800s and it is a treasure to have them, but even better to have them printed out for everyone to enjoy.  

One of my blogging friends had asked to see some of my photos from the book so I thought I would share a few of the pages with you.  This year I decided to do a book of all Christmas and Winter photos and for fun also use some holiday songs and lyrics to present them.  Above is a photo from about 1954 of my Mom (left) with her sisters.  Pictures in front of the Christmas tree is a family tradition, every year many are taken...each family, all the cousins, all the siblings, all the cousins with the grandparents... I think you get the idea!   I just love how everyone got so dressed up back in the day!

This photo above is one of my favorites, from the '30s of my great grandmother throwing a snowball :D 

It looks like she has quite a few at her feet, she is ready for action!  

Aren't these Santa photos so CUTE?!

These are my Aunts, on either side hmmm... about 1950? and then they are young teens in the middle pic.  

Reminds me so much of Miracle on 34th Street.  

Here is another of my favorites~ oh how to choose, really, I love them ALL!

This one is of my grandparents from about 1957.

Here is some old-time, snowman-making FUN!  

And here are a few of me when I was about 5 years old.  

These were taken on Candlewood Lake in New Fairfield CT.  

We all loved to ice skate... even the dog!

In the bottom right is me and my Mom and upper right is me and my Dad. 

I hope you enjoyed some of my favorite holiday and winter family photos!

Oh, and I have been stitching too!  Here is my progress on SDW...

The more I stitch on this one, the more I love it.  I especially love the Lamb of God with the red banner.  I am still lagging a bit behind in the group but now that Christmas is over I have more time to devote to stitching again.  

Enjoy your weekend!!  

Happy Stitching!!

xxxxx

Wishing you a Very...

I wish you Joy and Peace in your corner of the world!  

Merry Christmas!!

A Simple Sentiment

that says so much...

Joy and Peace Ornament, LHN
dmc on perforated paper

I am glad I could finally show you this cute ornament.  It was for my co-worker and we did our exchange on Thursday.  I love this sweet design, anything with a cardinal is hard for me to resist!

Unfortunately, I do not have much more to show right now.  It has been a busy time readying for the holidays, but now that things are pretty much set, I can finally sit and stitch a bit! Yay!

I hope you are enjoying this holiday season and also ready to relax and enjoy!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Happy stitchings!! xxxxx

It's Only Rock and Roll...

And I LOVE it!  

Ok, so no stitching in this post, only guitars, dancing, music, rock legends, and sheer JOY!

Thursday evening I got to see my favorite band, the ROLLING STONES, once more.  

It was a rockin' good time and I got to spend some time with all my Stones friends and catch up, it has been a long five years since the last time!  

And they certainly did not disappoint this time around....they may be old, but they can still rock like years ago!  Here are a few snaps from the night...

A view of the stage, however not from my seat... had to keep climbing! lol!

Lots of great hits!  

Get off of my Cloud

Paint it Black

It's Only Rock and Roll but I like it

Wild Horses

Mick still has boundless energy.... always on the move and always dancing

Classic Gimme Shelter done here with Lisa Fischer...

Special guest John Mayer was there to jam on Respectable, awesome guitar work!

Satisfaction...Jumping Jack Flash...

I got some video of Around and Around...A classic not played in years... 

This was a real fun one, Mick dancing like he did in the '60s :D

Keith had a fun time.....

...jamming out with Ronnie Wood...

...and even Mick Taylor from long ago joined them for a song...

Mick is a frontman like no other, 

keeps the crowd on their feet and dancing for hours!

And hearing You Can't Always Get What You Want with full choir was the icing on the cake!

Sometimes, you do get what you need :D

This evening is the Stones pay-per-view special and if you love their music I promise you it is well worth it!  I know where I will be at 9pm, breaking out my Moves like Jagger while following the original!  Won't you dance with me? :D  cause you never know when it will be the Last Time.

Have a rockin' weekend everyone!

Another Senseless Tragedy

How and why can something so horrific happen? and all around our country.  You never think it will happen where you are, and then it does.  No place is immune to this kind of evil.  I live only 10 minutes from Newtown.  I know people who live there and I pray that all of their loved ones are okay.  

My thoughts and prayers and tears are for all of the victims and their families of this horrible and senseless tragedy.  

Peace

Hi Everyone!  I can't believe it has been a few weeks already since my last post, time is really flying!  I have felt like a hamster on a wheel trying to get ready for the holidays and finish last minute gifts.  And while I have not stitched a bit on my current samplers (so bad!) I have finished some ornaments finally!  Here is one that I can show you for now....

Peace Pin Button by Jeanette Douglas Designs, JCS 2012 Ornaments
on perforated paper w dmc 3856 and NPI 605, dmc 902, dmc 924

When I saw this ornament in this year's JCS Ornament issue I really loved it.... However, the tricky part was dealing with the over one parts on the perforated paper... so I did the over one as the regular cross stitch and then the white snowflake part I did over two as all smyrna crosses.  I love final effect.  In effect, it doubled the size of the pattern to about 4-1/2 inches, perfect for an ornament.   All of it is in dmc except for the purple 'Peace' which I pulled out some NPI silk I had.  Love working with the silk.  I will have to plan to do more in it.  

I love this time of year, with everything all decorated, and all of the holiday tunes and shows playing... it is all so cheery!  In the next week, I will share pics from my neighborhood, there has been quite a lot of decking the halls here.  Here is one for now, this is our living Christmas Tree on the Town Green where I work.........

Tonight I am settling in, stitching, and watching the special 12.12.12 concert, what an amazing group of talent for such an important cause.  And tomorrow I am off and headed to New Jersey to see the ROLLING STONES, woohoo!!  It's only Rock 'n' Roll but I love it!!  It has been a long 5 years since I have seen them last so I am SO excited!!   I hope to get a pic or two to share with you all  :D  

Enjoy your evening! and Happy Stitching!!  xxxx

New Year Planning

TGIF, my friends!
In between working on some Christmas ornaments, I have made some progress on the german sampler, SM 1678.  I think another week or two and it will be complete :)

SM 1678

My new favorite thing is doing these pic collages.  I had wondered how many of you did this on your blogs and finally have found a great site, PicMonkey, that creates collages without downloading any programs (I am always hesitant to download things, you never know!).  Nowadays you can find anything on google!   What did we do before Google?!?

And on to the exciting news about Nicola's challenge!

About a month ago, I started thinking about 2013 and planning which designs I wanted to work on and had quite a pile lined up... and then along came Nicola's Scarlet Letter Year Challenge!  

Soooooo, my original plan was put on hold when I saw all the wonderful designs that the Scarlet Letter has to choose from!   The challenge is to celebrate Nicola's special birthday year by stitching Scarlet Letter patterns, either a WIP or new start, throughout the year.  She is having AMAZING monthly giveaways to celebrate thru the year.  There are already 70 participants and each sampler I see is more enticing than the next!  It will be so much fun all of us stitching together and sharing, and meeting new friends with the same passion.  I hope you will join in on the fun, there is a link in my sidebar that will take you to the blog where all the details are posted.  Caution!  It is easily addictive when you see all the beautiful samplers the group will be working on!   I am jumping in with both a WIP and a new start!

My WIP, SDW Sampler, is coming along, it is a SAL project I dedicate time to once a week.

SDW Sampler

And then I have ordered up some new charts as well.... Dona Dorothea, Dorothy Walpole, and the first one I am planning to stitch, Ann Grimshaw 1818!

Ann Grimshaw 1818

What a GORGEOUS quaker!  It is charted with black thread, although I am thinking of switching that up and perhaps using a complimentary color from my Mary Wigham sampler.   I can't tell you the countless hours I have spent looking at colors!  Crazy, I know!  Around and around in my head, pick a color!, pick a color! lol!   If you have a suggestion, I am open to all!   What is easiest is to just stick to the instructions! :D

Today I received a package from Gabi!  I was fortunate to win her giveaway, it was a Little House Needleworks chart, The North Wind.  What a sweet design, I love anything with birds on it, so I will have fun stitching this one for sure.  Thank you so much, Gabi!!!

We are expecting some snow here this weekend, perfect for staying in and stitching!  And, I will get to the movies I am sure, another time at Skyfall, and I am too embarrassed to say how many that is!, but I have a BIG crush on Mr. Bond  :)    

I hope you have a fun and stitch-y weekend!  xxxxxx

This and That and Thanksgiving Wishes...

Hello Everyone!  

Can you even believe it is Thanksgiving time already?

The dish that I usually make for holidays is the green bean casserole, and I love the turkey too, but my favorite is apple and raisin stuffing.  It was one that Pepperidge Farm used to do, easy-peasy right in the box, but was discontinued (isn't that always the way??!), so now when I make it it is from scratch, but so worth it!  Do you have a favorite holiday dish??   

I have had a fun time the past week, I have continued my catch up with SDW.

I love all the colors in this one.  I really wanted to finish the lion but ran out of time yesterday.

My lion seems to be turning out a bit different from the rest in my SAL group, it seems that the dmc colors have changed a bit over time and it is giving it a bit of a gray color but I think it works well.  

I love his mane and that tongue... makes me think of... yep, the Rolling Stones :D

I will put SDW back into the once-a-week rotation now and get back to my flower sampler and work on some necessary Christmas ornaments as we are in the countdown!

This past Saturday, my family had it's 3rd annual soup contest.  It was the first one that I attended, and I got to be a judge.  There were 7 chefs in all, all with delicious soups. 

Soups included wonton, shrimp and dumpling, cabbage, spinach tortelloni, zucchini gorgonzola, and the two  winners - there was a tie! - beef bourginon soup and sausage and bean soup!  

That's a LOT of soup!

It was a yummy good time!

Earlier this week, I received a belated birthday gift from a special friend.

It was the Led Zeppelin Celebration Day set.  I was very excited to find this in the mail, I had seen the movie of this concert recently and it was fantastic. 

Yes, it's been a long time since they have rock 'n' rolled, but they still can!

Led Zep is a big fave and if you had ever wished to see them live this is possibly the best way. 

And, if you have any rockers on your holiday gift list it will be a big hit!

********************************************************************

I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving with your friends and family.  

I am thankful for the friends and family in my life, 

and that I will be able to spend time with my family celebrating this special holiday.   

I am thankful for your friendships.  Hugs to you all.  

Have a wonderful holiday and weekend!  xxxx

Take Two

Did you all have a great weekend?  Mine was quite stitch-y!

And also included some James Bond action, the new Skyfall was AWESOME!

Definitely, a must see if you like the action flicks!

A few weeks back you may have remembered I started a german sampler, SDW.

WELL....

I finally made a decision to start over.  I was not happy with the stiff Wichelt linen I was using, I could barely get my needle through the stuff!  I was breaking needles, stabbing myself, it was a bad scene!

There was no way I could continue with it on such a loooooong project.  

So after getting some awesome advice from my Sampler World fb buddies on linens, I went with 36ct flax Edinborough linen and it is like a dream to stitch on!  

So I have caught up and gone a bit farther, and will continue until I catch back up with the group.  

And, while waiting for the new fabric to arrive, I kept going on SM 1678.

The alphas are all done now. I REALLY love this one!

Today is Tusal time again... where did that month go??

And here is some new stash I have gotten from here, there, and everywhere :D

The wheels are already turning for the new year!

Have a great night!  I am looking forward to watching some Dancing with the Stars and stitching the night away.  Hmmmm, wonder who will be sent home tonight??  

Enjoy your evening!  

Happy Stitchings!  xxxxx

Wacky Weather!

Hi Everyone!  Hope you are all safe and warm and cozy!

It has been a crazy busy week, another storm after the big storm! 

Yesterday's Nor'easter brought some early snow...

i do love snow <3 just not so much driving in it!

this morning looked like a winter wonderland outside

with some traces of autumn still here and there

and this evening there was the most GORGEOUS sunset!

And then I came home to a package at my door, the candle I won from Shirlee's giveaway!  

The scent is Christmas Cheer, a little spicy and touch of pine, very Christmas-ey and comforting on this cold and windy night!  Thank you SO much Shirlee, I love it!  

So this is all there is for this week, no stitching at all unfortunately.  

I will be catching up on that this long weekend, along with the seeing the new Bond movie :D

I hope you all enjoy a long, relaxing and stitch-y weekend too!  

xxxxx

  

Today You Have A Say!

TGIF!!

My week started out with these beautiful flowers I received at work for my birthday.  

It was such a sweet surprise.  

And then came Sandy.  It was a terrible time here in the northwest CT area, lots of damage from wind and trees down and power outages, but we fared much better than most everywhere else.  The devastation, as you have all seen I imagine, is unbelievable.  It is heartbreaking to see all of these places that I know so well, that feel like home for me, in such a state.  I cannot stop the tears.  

I am grateful that my friends and family have all weathered the storm, and my heart goes out to all of those that have been affected by this horrific event.  

I hope that all of you and your families are all safe and sound too.

So, thankfully, I only had to deal with a power outage which is frustrating but inconsequential in comparison to what others are dealing with.  

I remembered I had a battery powered light and kept busy thru the darkness with stitching.  

It helped to keep me calm and pass the time quickly.  

I kept working on SM 1678 and I am still loving every moment of it.  

I love the alphabet, and actually, this sampler can be presented either vertically with the alphabet at the top or on it's side with the alphabet on it's side to the left.  

I believe I will keep it at the top but will wait til the end to decide for sure although then my crosses will be in the wrong direction from all my other pieces, that may drive me crazy!

And here is my start on the SAL of the SDW german sampler from last weekend.  The plan is to spend time on it once a week.  I am not so sure about that blackwork pattern at the top, it is to run the whole length of the top of the sampler so I will decide on it further along on the project.  

I am looking forward to stitching again on it tomorrow.  

So that is about all for this week.  Highs and lows... too many lows!

I am glad it is the end of the week.  

I am going to settle in to stitch and watch the special concert this evening for the Hurricane relief, what a great way to raise money for this cause.   I will be texting in for sure.  

I hope you enjoy your weekend and have fun stitching!

oh, and Nancy at Victorian Motto is having an awesome giveway, go check it out! :)

Hugs to you all!

The Calm Before the Storm

Happy Weekend to you all!

I've been stitching away on my flower sampler and will show you when I have more done after the weekend.  But I will spend some time today with a new start....the SDW Sampler SAL.  I saw Nicola's post on this beautiful sampler last week and it peaked my interest since I love German samplers.  

It will be so much fun to stitch this one with a group.   

I received my fabric just yesterday, 35ct lambswool, and while I would have liked to have splurged on silks for this big project, my budget was busted this week after getting Rolling Stones tickets :D
...it's only rock 'n' roll but i like it!

SO instead I am using DMC and love all the colors, especially that pop of red and blue!

SDW is a super loooooong one, over 44 inches long!  It will be a fun journey!

SDW Sampler

And I want to thank Nicola for this surprise thank you package I received this past week, with lovely pink fabric, a really sweet JBW pattern, threads, and a book with Cornish recipes :)  

Thank you so much, Nicola!  It was such a surprise!

It looks like Hurricane Sandy is headed this way expecting to hit around Monday.  It was exactly this time last year that we were also hit with a crazy snow storm, Winter Storm Alfred... on Oct. 29th, which happens to be my birthday!  Looks like another stormy birthday!  

The Alfred Storm really affected CT and parts of NY but this one coming looks like it is really going to be affecting most of the Northeast.  I know many of you live in this part of the country too, Margaret, Deb, Sue, Ma, Catherine, I am thinking of all of you, and I hope we all weather the storm safe and sound.  I am hoping that instead of taking a left turn it turns right and goes out to sea!

After dealing with loss of electricity for 5 days last time, I am all set with the batteries, blankets, lantern, and non-perishables.... I stocked up with some good things, like apples and bananas, and some better things like chocolate and wine! lol! :D

Have a good weekend everyone! 

I hope to see you after the weekend unless I have no internet for days, oh what will I do then?!

Happy Stitchings!

xxxxx