My Stitchalong

Winter does not officially start until tomorrow, but here on Long Island we have been buried under a blizzard! We were forecast to get 12 - 18 inches of snow, but boy, was the weatherman wrong! We got 27 inches! Have you ever seen what 27 inches of snow looks like? This was the view of the driveway from the front door. The front of MJ's car was almost completely buried by the white stuff! Shoveling all that snow was not fun, but were lucky that a neighbor with a snow blower took pity on us and came over to lend us a hand. One thing that we are blessed with is nice neighbors. After MJ got the front walkway shoveled the kids got all bundled up in their snow gear and headed out to have some fun! As you can see, the snow that MJ had shoveled is almost as tall as Z! When he walks through the snow on the grass in the yard it comes up to his waist and he has such a hard time walking because the snow is so high. They tried to be dad's helpers before they had fun by doing a lit...

I don't know about any of you, but the two weeks leading up to Christmas are just crazy here. Between doctor appointments, running around to get those last minute gifts and stocking stuffers, and activities for the kids, half the time I'm not sure if I'm coming or going. All I can say is thank goodness for my favorite chair and my stitching. I need to do something to keep me from going holiday crazy! Hang on though, because I have lots to share and lots of pictures for you to look at. Lat week at Sit and Stitch at the Lazy Daisy we had a little holiday party, and one of the new parts to this year's party was an ornament exchange. I think that we had 9 people participate and everyone got something nice. The ornament I received was made my Janet: The little Christmas tree front: And the back: Isn't it cute? This year, for the first time, I participated in ornament exchanges on two message boards that I belong to. I got this ornament from Sue (along with some...

This past weekend was Christmas tree day! As you can see, we have an artificial tree and the boys absolutely love to help their dad put it together: Here it is with all of the lights and ornaments: See that panda next to the tree? My mother-in-law bought that for me for my first Christmas that MJ and I were married (she knew the way to my heart) and it moves! The head and arms move when it's plugged in and turned on, and every year he sits right next to our tree. I love that little guy! This is my ornament tree: It's fiber optic, so it lights up and looks so nice. This belonged to my parents and I got it after they passed away. For the longest time I didn't use it because it's so small and I was not quite sure where to put it or what to do with it. Then, a few years ago, I decided to take all of my stitched ornaments off of the big Christmas tree and put them on that little tree. I had not really made alot of ornaments at that time, so that first year it looke...

I've been happily working along on Home of A Needleworker for the last week and I made some good progress: I have noticed, however, that my fabric seems to be a bit small and I could not, for the life of me, figure out how I screwed it up. I checked my calculations for the size of the finished design. I had measured the material three times before I cut it. That's a little OCD , I know, but I've saved myself from mistakes by checking just one last time. Where did I go wrong? Then, last night while I was watching a James Bond marathon, it came to me. I know that I need to have three inches on each side to allow for framing for a total of an additional six inches for the lenght and six inches for the width. I was thinking three inches, not six. So, instead of adding six inches to the size of the fabric, I only added three, half as much as I needed. And as I was thinking about it, I realized that I had done the same thing to the blue fabric that I'm planning on u...

Last time I posted I asked for your opinions on which is better: making clear progress on a WIP, or the thrill of starting something new. Well, I decided that I needed to have my cake and eat it too, so I did both! I guess I'm just one of those girls who wants it all. The first panda from HAED is becoming along and he almost has a head, which is really exciting: Lots of blues in the top of this design and the bottom has lots of greens, but it's nice to see progress being made on something so big. Now, on to the new starts and things that I've kitted up. The new start is from Little House Needleworks and is called Home Of A Needleworker: It's being stitched on 28 count off white evenweave with the Crescent Colors that are called for in the design. I love LHN designs because they are usually quick to stitch, and with two big projects on the the stitching bag it's nice to have something that is smaller to work on. The next piece that I've kitted up is by Han...

In my last post I said that I was getting tired of the ornaments, but had no desire to stitch on the two projects in my stitching bag, which left me with the option of rooting through my stash looking for something new to work on. Something that shouts to me that it needs to be taken out of the closet and worked on. I got alot of comments from people telling me that starting something new is great fun, which I agree with, and how much fun it is to look through stash to see what could be the next project of the day. But then, while I was cleaning up the den I took out the HAED piece and looked at where I was on that and somehow, that piece was the one that started calling the loudest. I spent Friday afternoon while the kids were at school and all day Saturday stitching on those pandas. I haven't had a day like that in a long time. With young kids it is hard to be able to do that, but somehow on Saturday all of the stars were in alignment and I got in a good stitching day. Or m...

Each week Z's class focuses on a color of the week. They learn to spell that word, sound it out, and do class work that includes that particular color. On Friday each child is to bring in a secret object in a bag, stand in front of the class and describe what they brought and the other kids have to try to guess what the secret object is. So far, it's been easy finding something that Z has that is the color of the week. Blue week was a blue Power Ranger. Red week was a Lightning McQueen car. Brown week was a brown Matchbox car. Easy, right? The color of the week this week? PINK!! Now, if I was the mother of girls pink would be no problem. I'm sure we would have a My Little Pony, or something belonging to some type of doll that was pink, but the good Lord chose to blessed me with boys and, to the perfectly honest, this house is sorely lacking in pink. There really was not anything that he had that could be considered pink. This morning we were still trying to fin...

We have a winner of the Noel Christmas ornament!! Here are all of the names, written on paper and mixed up in my pretty crystal bowl: MJ was reading a bed time story to Z, so we had a substitute name chooser: M! And the winner is (drum roll please)..... More drum roll please..... Renee G!!!!! Congratulations, Renee. I have already sent you an e-mail asking for your mailing address. Once I get that from you, I will be able to send you your ornament in the mail this week. We were upstate this weekend visiting M's brother and his family. They have two boys who have birthdays in the beginning of November, ages 6 and 1, so we were there celebrating two special birthdays. We had a good visit and were making great time getting home. We just get over the Tappan Zee bridge when Z tells me, "My chest hurts." Well, I didn't think much about it. The kids were rough housing with their cousins over the weekend and I thought that maybe he got a knee in the chest. Then, ab...

This is my 100th post! To celebrate, I have decided to have a giveaway, but there will be more on that later. I just finished a GREAT book. I have a neighbor who loves to read like I do, and we have very similar tastes in books. She lent me "Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett. It takes place in 12th century England. In the beginning introduces several groups of characters and as the book goes on, you see how all of these characters and their lives intertwine with each other. It was slow in the beginning, but as I got more into it, it was one of those books that I had a really hard time putting down. The neighbor who lent it to me told me that there is a sequel to it! She is reading that right now, and promised that I could borrow it when she is done with it. Hurray! A new book to read! I have not gotten a great deal of stitching done this week. A few stitches here, a few stitches there, but not much more than that. The reason? I had four ornaments that I needed...

I have been so busy. Now that the wedding is over and my kids are healthy again, it's time to get back to stitching. This is the one that I'm working on right now and I think that I will give it to the newlyweds : What could be nicer than "Love" for your first married Christmas? This one says "Home", a great thought during the holidays: I have to get fabric for the backs of these. I was going to use the red and green fabric that I bought for some of the other ornaments, but I was not happy with the way that I looked. I had a different fabric for these in my hand when I bought the other fabrics, but I put it back. I'll head over to Joanne's this week and see if the fabric that I originally saw is still there. I'm hoping that it will be. These are my little gingerbread men. M saw these and thought that they were "so cute" and was I really going to give them away? So, when I went to Lazy Daisy last week after he went back to school I boug...

Stitching took a back seat this past week as our family prepared for MJ's brother to get married. The weather was not quite as nice as we had hoped it would be. It got very rainy and cold the day before the wedding. The rain held out, the sun even came out at one point, but it was really cold for the middle of October. Since there are no stitching pictures this week to share, I have LOTS of wedding pictures to show off. MJ and me dancing at the reception: M with his favorite thing: FOOD! Z looking quite dapper in his little tuxedo: The happy bride and groom: It really was a nice wedding and I was so happy to be a part of it and share in their special day. I actually have become very good friends with my new sister-in-law and my kids just love their new aunt. I had so many things on my list of things to do this week, but apparently M had other plans. We just got back from the pediatrician's office and turns out that he has strep throat. So, he'll be home with...

My kids think I'm the strongest person in the world. If I'm so strong, why does one little HAED project send me a quivering? The thought of making another mistake and having to frog out all that work sends shivers up and down my stitching spine! Well, I quiver no more!!! Sheri was over a few Saturdays ago and talked me into picking up my poor panda bears and I am happy to report that page 2 is done! Only 67 more pages to go! Now if that is not a daunting thought, then I'm not sure what it. After finished page 2 of the HAED, not much stitching got done last week. It was just one of those weeks where the needle never seemed to make it into my hand. Hopefully, this week will be a little better in the stitching department. I did manage to start another ornament, and it's not far from being done. Once I get it this one stitching I want to start some of the finishing work on them and figure out which ones are going to be given to whom. Then I can figure out if I ne...

I took my sampler to Michael's to get framed two weeks ago. They are usually really fast, so I was waiting patiently for that phone call from the framing center telling me that my custom framing order is ready to be picked up at any time. A week goes by. A week and a half. Two weeks!! No phone call. Finally, yesterday afternoon I called to check on the status of the order and lo and behold - it was ready! I was out the door so fast poor MJ didn't have time to ask me where I was going. Ready to see my masterpiece? Drum roll please! MJ came out to help me carry it into the house when I got home and the first thing he said to me was, "Oh my God, this is HUGE!!" Good thing I had a wall large enough for it. A close up of the fame: The sampler on the dining room wall with the butterflies: When that sampler made it's way back into my house, it was a very happy day in my stitching life. This morning I came downstairs to start my day when I see this scene in ...

Wow! Fall has started to arrive here in my little corner of the world. Football season is in full swing and there is nothing I like better than sitting in my chair, stitching in hand, and a football game on on the television. When my kids were small I missed being able to do that, but now that they are bigger, Sundays mean football and stitching. I love it! Fall also means post season time for baseball, and my beloved Yankees are back in the postseason, baby!! Woo hoo! I am a happy girl! Stitching, you ask? Of course I've gotten some stitching done. I fit that in right along side getting the house cleaned up. Well, maybe the cleaning takes a back seat to stitching sometimes, but don't tell MJ! I have worked very hard convincing him that I am SO busy during the day while the kids are at school that I don't have time for myself. I don't think he believes me, though. I can't imagine why. Could it be the dust bunnies that tend to collect in some of the cor...