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 Very Big Finish!

TGIF everyone!  

It has been a busy week with work and I also went to see the movie The Birds up on the big screen... 

I just LOVE that TCM is showing the classics in the theaters  :D

And here she is~  My Mary Wigham finish!  WooHoo!

Mary Wigham by Needleprint
dmc thread / 32ct lambswool linen

My needle really seemed to fly in the last month, and I really think it is because of reading the chart from my laptop.  It has been so much better on my eyes!

Here is that top corner... I love the gold much better than the ecru.  

It was worth all the trouble of frogging!

I did make Mary my own by using some colors not called for... 

all dmc, my choices were 680, 3722, 712, 3740, and 3041in addition to most of those charted.

I also chose to do a special personalization.  

Instead of using the initials Mary originally stitched, I decided to use this sampler, which originates from the UK, to commemorate my trip to the UK in 2007 when I visited to see the Rolling Stones on tour!  

I met a great group of friends on that trip so I stitched all of their initials into Mary!

Thanks for stopping by, I love reading all of your comments!  

And welcome to my new followers, I look forward to reading all of your blogs too.  

I have hit the 100 mark, so I think a giveaway will be fun, I will post the details in my next post! :)

I wish you all a wonderful weekend!  

Happy Friday and Happy Stitchings!!

xxxxx

Almost to the finish line...

Yes!  I am so VERY close to finishing Miss Mary Wigham :D

Here's a quick little peek.

I have rounded the final corner!!  I have been working this pattern counter-clockwise for some reason, and have found that my stitches look best now when I work from bottom to top.  

I feel like I have breezed thru the rest of this one and I think it is partly because I have started reading the chart right from my computer screen!  It sits way in front of me on my coffee table at a high magnification, like 300% and now I do not stop every few minutes to pick up the chart all squinty-eyed!  

I have been playing with the colors, right to the very end, switching things here and there, and also plan to change out the color of this one here... it is just too much like the fabric color and I am not liking it! 

So, two steps forward and one step back!

Have a great day with miles of smiles

and remember......

Happy stitchings!  

xxxxx

Wordless Wednesday

Summertime Fun!

Greetings everyone!  I hope you all have been enjoying your summer and keeping cool!  

It sure has been a *HOT* one here, too much so for me!  

It has been a busy and fun summer and I have not gotten much stitching done, imagine??  But finally this weekend I was ready to stitch, stitch, stitch!  WooHoo!
So I went back to Mary Wigham and did 3 more motifs, the pale pink, green, and blue/black combo.  Love the crown in that one....

And the big picture.....    

Also, a few months back, I was the lucky winner of a giveaway from Nicole at Northern Expressions.  I won my choice of 2 of her fantastic designs, and I chose Celtic Garden and My Mother's Garden 2, and BONUS! she also sent me a copy of the Just Cross Stitch issue with her new pattern in it!  

Thank you again, Nicole, SO much! :D

So the summer has been a lot of fun, I saw some great concerts... 

Neil Diamond at Jones Beach, Long Island...

Bonnie Raitt at Mohegan Sun in CT.... 

And Charlie Watts doing some boogie woogie jazz in NYC... 

Also saw some lighthouses this summer, this one was in the Long Island Sound....

And went to an open day at Maywood Gardens in Bridgewater CT.  

What gorgeous gardens! 

So that is a little of what I did this summer.  

I have been been visiting your blogs as well, and you all seem to be having fun too ;)  

Thanks for visiting!!

Have a fantastic week!  

Keep stitching, and Keep Cool!!  :)

xxxxxxxxxxx

Some Progress, and a Finish!

I know, it has been a few weeks!  I have not been stitching as much as I would like, but have done another three motifs on Mary Wigham.....

I am happy with how she is coming out, and still on target for finishing her this year.  I am still on the fence over the yellow, but will wait 'til the end to decide to switch it out possibly???? 

Another project I did was for my cousin's new baby, Gianna Rose.  Her Christening was this past Sunday, so I am now able to share it with you.  Since the theme in the baby's bedroom is Winnie-the-Pooh, I found a sweet pattern called Pooh and Piglet's Room online from the UK.  

It seemed very girl-ie to me, lots of pink and purple :D

While the pattern did not call for personalization aside from the name in the pink ribbon, I decided to put the birth date and weight in the dandelion that Pooh and Piglet are blowing into the wind :) 

....and lots of french knots!  Love them! 

I hope the piece brings her lots of joy and smiles!  :D

So now I will be switching back to Rachel Hyde and the neglected Elizabeth Hancock....trying to get to the finish line on that one soon!  

Thanks so much for stopping by! 

Have a wonderful week and Happy Stitching!! xx

A Stitchin' and Rockin' Weekend!

Helloooooo!  Happy Monday!  

My weekend IHSW update is a little late, but I had today off so for me it is still the weekend! :D   Tomorrow - back to reality!  

There wasn't much hermitting going on but I did get a few stitches in. 

I have been working on Mary Wigham again for the facebook Sampler World group SAL.  I got another motif done... trying to keep up with my goal of at least one motif each weekend so it will be done by the end of the year.  

And I also got started with the Papillon SAL.  

Here are the colors I chose, the pattern called for 3 shades of green and 8 floral colors.  The whole idea of picking colors for a pattern I can't see just makes me twitch!  LOL  

Now to decide which color is A, B, C, D, etc.  I think I will need some wine first!  :D  or maybe I should try eenie, meenie, minee, moe!  LOL

It is TUSAL time again, and I am a few days late but I was away for the weekend so here we go... at this rate, mine will hopefully be filled by the end of the year! 

This past weekend was a fun and rockin' one!  

I went to Atlantic City to see a concert, Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones with friends.  What a fantastic show, Ronnie rocked the place!!  

Here are a few pics I snapped.

He played some of his own hits and, of course, some Stones classics... 

It's Only Rock and Roll but I like it, like it, yes I DO!  

Ronnie Wood with Friends
Golden Nugget ~ Atlantic City, NJ
4/21/2012

So, it was a lot of fun and great times, but back to work tomorrow!

I hope everyone has a wonderful new week and happy stitchings! xxxxx

A Bird and Bloom

It is feeling like spring here today!  

I think March's lion has already come and gone.

This week I got started on Rachel Hyde with the center flower.  I am working on 32 ct LL vintage maple sugar with dmc threads.....

I am loving all the rice stitches in this design, it gives such amazing texture!

and I haven't forgotten about Mary Wigham, here is a new bird  :D

I hope you are all having a GREAT week.  

Today is my TGIF, well TGIW really, because I am off of work tomorrow and headed to the Philadelphia Flower show for the day :D  

So, I hope to have some pretty flowers to share with you by the weekend!

Thanks so much for all of your wonderful comments!!

Enjoy the rest of your week and Happy Stitching!!! xxxxxx

Happy Weekend!

I hope you have all had a great week.  In Connecticut, March came in like a LION when winter came again with snow and ice.  My thoughts though are with those in the Mid East states affected by the tornadoes.  It has been terrible news and I know many of my blogging friends live in those states so I hope you are all okay. 

For the past week I have switched over to working on my Mary Wigham SAL again, and happy I have reached the middle :D

I am loving the colors in this right now, so bright and cheery, pink, coral, purple, yellows...

A couple of days ago, I decided I needed a color check, so I laid out all of the colors where they were charted for so I could see the BIG picture!  It was difficult to visualize how the colors were going to be, every motif I was starting I kept saying to myself "really? this color AGAIN??"  

So I am glad I did this so I could do some swap outs....

I am looking forward to a lazy kind of stitch-y weekend.  I will do a new start on another SAL ~~ yes, another SAL I have joined.  I just can't help myself! LOL

It is The Rachel Hyde sampler with the Ellen Chester With My Needle and Pen yahoo group.  

Here is a photo of what the finished sampler will look like.....

Rachel Hyde 1775 Sampler by Threads Through Time

So back and forth, Mary to Rachel and Rachel to Mary I will spend my weekend.  

I am also going to try making eggplant parmagiana this evening.  For some reason, I have always thought eggplant was difficult to make but I have found an easy recipe to try.  I will let you know how it all comes out!

Also, for any of you who enjoy classic movies like me, Turner Classic channel is showing Some Like it Hot this evening... will be a fun one to stitch to!

Enjoy your weekend!  Happy stitching! xxxxx

Stitching and a Shopping Spree!

Hello everyone!  I hope you all enjoyed your weekend.  Thank you so much for all the great comments! It was a busy weekend for me, but I did manage to get some stitching accomplished....

I finished up my christmas partridge pinkeep pillow, although I still need to actually make it into a pillow...

Christmas Partridge Pinkeep Pillow
designed by Stacy Nash Primitives
28 ct lambswool with dmc as charted

And since I am still waiting on Elizabeth Hancock to arrive....she is now somewhere between Canada and Connecticut :D.... I kept rolling along on Mary... 

I am loving the purple I added in and now the squirrel (?) to me looks like he is playing in a vineyard :D

One thing I did find out this weekend was that stitching and watching tennis does not really mix for me!  Tennis is not a sport I can just listen to, which was okay since the Australian Open was on at 4am, I don't do too much stitching at that hour, but I didn't get much sleeping in either!

On Saturday, I went on a road trip and shopping spree at Thistle Needleworks!  Woo-hoo!

Thistle Needleworks
Glastonbury, CT

Omg, what an amazing shop!  I spent almost THREE hours browsing thru the racks and racks of patterns, and threads and linens.  I picked up some linens, stocked up on my twin pointed needles (which I can hardly find anywhere!), and of course picked out some new patterns for my stash!  Some Blackbird Designs, Plum Street Samplers, Mirabilia, r&r, e&e&f.......

I love that Blackbird in the middle of the pic... it looks like a stained glass design.  And even though I don't tend toward the Mirabilia's since they are so big, I just love this Sabrina pattern since it reminds me of the Audrey Hepburn movie.  I am thinking of trying that one over one so that it will not be such a HUGE project size-wise.  The R&R is the Jane Stone yuletide sampler.  I was really taken by all of the verses on that one.   LOTS more for my to-do list :D   For sure, I will be going back to Thistle again and again! 

And, another lovely Valentine giveaway to enter... Barbara at To Stitch or Not to Stitch is giving away a lovely Valentine sachet that she made!  Stop by and see! :D

Have a wonderful week filled with miles of smiles! :D
Thanks for stopping by...   Happy Stitching!!  xxxxxxxxxxx

New Friends and a Finish!

Thanks so much to all of my new blogging friends visiting my page and leaving me comments, I love reading them all.  It is great to meet up with other stitchers who love this hobby as much as I do!!

It was a freezing cold weekend here in Connecticut, BRRRR!!, perfect weather for staying in and for stitching, stitching, and more stitching!! :)

On Friday I finished the Small Sampler #1, my first for the new year, woohoo!

Small Sampler #1 by Ewe & Eye & Friends

32 count unknown evenweave

WDW and dmc threads

This was a real fun stitch, it had some over one, satin stitches, and eye stitches too.  I think I would like to make it into a small pillow instead of framing, so a trip to the fabric store will be in order to find a nice backing piece. 

On Saturday, I got some more stash in the mail!!  With my Needle and Thread Friendship Samplers, Birds of a Feather Kindness Sampler..... and the new Colonial Garden by Plum Street Sampler, which will definitely have to be added to my list for this year, I just LOVE it!  :)

Today, I was fortunate to have off for the holiday and since I was feeling stir crazy from being in most of the weekend, I decided to treat myself to another movie. After watching the Golden Globes last night, I decided I just had to see The Descendants to see how it possibly could have beaten out my pick, Moneyball.   And sooooo, I still stand by my pick and if you haven't seen it I recommend it highly, but, I really did enjoy the movie and the scenery was beautiful, how could Hawaii (and Mr. Clooney) not be! Especially when it is freezing cold here, it made me want to pack my bags and jump on the next plane outta here!

My weekend would not have been complete without working on Mary Wigham some more (especially since Elizabeth Hancock has still not arrived - I am afraid she took a detour somewhere!).  A few more motifs are done, and one of them finally in the PURPLE I switched in :)

I am still not sure about that spot of yellow in there but will wait until I get further on 'til I decide to take it out or not.  Hopefully, the yellow will blend in nicely as I progress further into it. 

I wish you all a wonderful week and thanks so much for stopping by!  Keep cozy warm!
Happy Stitchings to you all!!

A Busy Stitching Week!

Thanks so much to all of you who have stopped by and commented on my new blog.  It has been fun reading all of your comments and seeing everyone's stitchings!

I finally put together my 2012 challenge list and will hope for the best!
I am still waiting on many supplies to arrive and Elizabeth Hancock has been delayed (oh no!!), but I have PLENTY to work on in the meantime!

It has been a BUSY week of stitching for me!  I had two more starts during the week...
I started one of my smaller projects, Small Sampler #1 from E&E&F.  I really enjoyed starting this one with the alphabet over one on 32 ct.....

and my Alessandra Adelaide 'Albero Della Neve'...sorry for the wrinkles! 

I am doing this on 32 ct linen, using WDW Icicle and GAST Cidermill Brown. I swapped the threads out since I wanted a more wintery feel to it.  The pattern originally called for Chameleon Brand thread??  I could not find that anywhere.

This weekend has been another movie weekend for me... I love this time of year, the Oscar race is on!!  There are so many fantastic movies to see.  This weekend I saw Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (with my fave Daniel Craig :)), and Rooney Mara was unbelievable!  I think they did a good job of staying in line with the book for the most part, there was so much to cover in that book.

And, I also spent my weekend working on Mary.  I am happy to get in another three motifs, it is really such a colorful design.  I love it!!

Thanks again for stopping by!  I wish you all a wonderful week of stitching!!