Nancy's Needle Notes

I know this is a stitching blog, but I have to start out with the fact that we are consistently having 80 degree days in March and everything is about 5-6 weeks ahead of schedule around here! That and the fact our furnace has been off for a week and we have been leaving the windows open at night too!

I've been missing lately because of work on my craft room and having a 9 day vacation to California. My room is coming along and right now I can only show my desk and wall unit, as the rest of the room isn't finished yet. It's all painted, but I need to get some more things installed and then rehang my photos. Now that the weather is so nice, it's being ignored again! This picture is right after painting the purple and green walls.
This one is the desk I put together.














I took some ideas off the internet for material storage and ribbon storage. This is my wall unit and close ups of my finishing materials and the bottom is my cross stitch material. If you look closely you can see some of the stitching gifts I have received over the years.














Our vacation was great. Stayed with some old friends for a few days and then headed on to Palm Springs for 5 days. The weather was awesome, the mountains beautiful and we golfed twice at 2 very different courses. I did almost have a heart attack though while sitting by the pool the wind gusted very strongly and the plastic bag I used to carry all 3 projects I took with me ended up floating in the pool!!! Luckily the water didn't get inside the open bag and it blew across the pool to the other side where I could retrieve it!

I did finish my March cottage from CCN, I used some satin stitches and french knots for the sheep.

I finished Afraid of the Dark by Blue Ribbon Designs. I know, not much of a stitching update, but really I have been busy with other things lately!

We had a St Pats party last weekend and here's a photo of me and my husband. No Amberlyn update, I guess as she gets older I'm not taking as many photos....or the fact she doesn't sit still! She has been potty trained and that really makes her seem like a big girl now! Well that's it for now, hopefully I won't stay away so long next time and I hope to have more photos of my room and stitching, of course! Happy, happy Spring to all!!!!

Either that or I can't figure out what holiday I want stitch right now. I have finished a Christmas ornament, a Valentine piece and I started a Halloween piece!
First up is the tiny ornament from LHN 2011 series "snow in love" stitched over one on PTP 25 ct Earthen. I seem to be having trouble getting a fabric dark enough to really show the white nicely. I placed the quarter to get a feel for the size.

I finished the February cottage several weeks ago but I couldn't find the right color green felt anywhere. Little did I know there was a website that had EVERY color (thanks to Vonna for the tip) So today I did some finishing using her directions for a flat felt ornament. I did the snowmen ornie first and I like how the cottage felt looks with my 2nd try.  There is a technique to get the cuts just right. I think I need to take my time on stitching these cottages up. I got so many good ideas AFTER  mine was done from the SAL blog . Like using Rhodes Hearts to do the hearts instead of cross stitches. I already have an idea for March but I haven't gotten the pattern yet!! So I need to see if my idea will work or not.
More photos and angles of this finish can be seen here.

I was going through my material and found a nice piece of PTP Lava so I started Afraid of the Dark by Blue Ribbon Designs. I didn't have any of the recommended floss, so I just pulled threads from my stash and so far I think they look good. My tombstones look blue in this photo, but they are gray. (3-16-12somehow Multiply lost this photo...look for an update of it finished soon)

I have started my craft room remodel. The computer desk got moved, and today I finished removing all the wallpaper.(seen in the first photo and the border around the room) The next step is in my husbands hands, since he does the painting. We are repainting the ceiling then I need to pick out 2 colors. It's going to take more than a gallon so I'm going to do 2 colors. These are before pictures.....I wanted to show what a mess it was.































 When I start putting things back in there, I will be destashing....so stay tuned. I will probably just want enough money to cover the postage. I hope by the next blog update I will be putting things back in place  and show some progress photos!!


It's been a weird winter here in MI, the Farmers Almanac said we were to have a record setting snowy winter and so far it's the end of January and I can see all of the grass and Sunday we even had a thunderstorm!!! For some reason the cold is easier to take if you're not dealing with snow all the time.
Thanks for stopping by! I love to have you visit.

  Now granted, it wasn't started just this year. So I don't want anyone getting their panties in a bunch and say how fast I was!!!! I started it in Dec and I just couldn't seem to put it down! These are so fun to stitch after working on a Mystic or something where you constantly have to be counting. I can outline these and fill in the colors! This is stitched on PTP Doubloon Belfast 32 ct. It measures about 10 X12. Do they make that size frame???

I have my CCN February cottage waiting to be started. I picked a rosey/pink material  from PTP called Truffle to use for it. But it doesn't even seem like winter around here. Yesterday was 50 and I walked the dog in beautiful sun and a spring coat.

The Detroit Lions are in the playoffs for the first time since 1999 and they play tonight. So we are having friends over to watch the game. I'm not real confident that they will beat the Saints....but at least we are there! We always root for the home team, even when they went 0-16.


I have my shelves all bought and I've been looking up organizational ideas on Pinterest and have found several ideas. One of the easiest is to buy small tension rods to put all my rolls of trim on! I bought one unit that has several cubbies and I am going to put my material on mini bolts just like you see at the fabric stores too!  I need to empty my computer desk and then remove the wallpaper and paint before anything gets put back into its new home. That is my winter project and it will take LOTS of time since I seem to have accumulated lots of stitchy stuff that needs a proper home.

I have to say that 2011 hasn't been the best of years (losing my Dad) but I am looking forward to what 2012 brings!!! I'm not one of those that makes resolutions or even a list of things that I want to stitch. I will just update you with my resent WIP and finishes.And I'll just surprise you with what I can come up with in 2012.

I did one final ornament for Amberlyn. She loves horses so I did this one from the JCS 2009 ornament issue.

Next, I finished another page on my Mystic! 14 pages done and 7 left to do. This was started mid 2010.

I got a little bored with all the blue, so I picked out a material from my stash (I really don't like doing that part) and started the Lizzie Kate 6 Fat Men Series. I'm doing them all on one piece of fabric. It's on PTP Doubloon 32 ct Belfast linen. They are taking only 1-2 days to complete each pattern.

And I had Carl remove the painted apple tree off my wooden calendar my Dad made me and I finished my January cottage in the CCN Cottage SAL to put on my Calendar.I used a scrap piece of 40 ct opalescent material I had, and the snowflakes and snowman don't shop up real well in photos. It is slightly better in person, but it works for me. I am officially ready for January 1!!!

From my family to yours, I hope the New Year brings joy and peace to all my blogging friends!

I wanted to do something besides framing so I tried this technique. It's not awesome, but if I decide after the years I don't like it, I can always get it framed....so here are some photos to try and capture the beauty. Which photos really don't do!




And here is Amberlyn helping decorate our tree last weekend. I have one more tree to put up and hope to do that today while she is here. All of her ornaments ended up on 2 branches, so after she left I had to do just a bit of rearranging! LOL Hope everyone has a happy Holiday! 

I lost the whole month of November! Oh well, this will just be jam packed with photos then.

First let me share my works Halloween costumes....and yes we worked in them ALL day. And if you didn't know I work in an Orthodontic office. I am Peppermint Patty, standing next to Charlie Brown (the boss!)

And then to get you into the Christmas mood, here is my view as I was driving into work on Nov 30th.
That should do the trick!


Now the stitching....here is a progress picture of one more page finished on my Mystic- Seasonal Collide. I am actually close to completing another one, but I'll save that for when it's completed.


Now onto the title of this blog. I have taken a break from stitching for a few days and gotten some
finishing done. Here are all the fruits of my labor.

A freebie from Madame La Fee.

Another freebie....that I have NO idea where I got it! I used Carries Joy Noel threads. If anyone recognizes it, please let me know where it came from!
This one I changed the pattern to make it a red bird instead of white and a blue box instead of green. It's call Frosty Flakes by LHN, my only pillow type finish of the year.
This is from the JCS 2010 Ornie magazine Festive Quaker Tree by Rosewood manor stitched over one on 28 ct. Using the charted flosses.From the 2007 JCS Ornie issue, Joyous Noel by Cat Whiskers.The material its laying on is what the backing is.
From the 2008 JCS ornie magazine by Midsummer Nights Designs. I added metallic threads both purple and silver that are hard to see in the photo. This is for the daughters of a fellow cross-stitcher who lost her life WAY too early. So far I have sent them an ornament every year in her memory.
This the from the 2006 JCS magazine. I changed the color of the dog to match a golden retriever and added the dogs name in the stocking. This will be a gift for the family that has watched my dog this fall when we have traveled.
Some of these are gifts and some are staying with me and some I am giving to my daughter who now has 2 trees of her own and needs some more to fill them up!!!

Here is Amberlyn the first time she saw my curio filled with Santas. Well she actually does this every time she comes over too! She just loves looking at them!!
With all that is going on this month, I doubt I'll have another post....but I do hope to put the finishing  touches on my MH Houses RR so that I can hang it soon! I really procrastinated on that one. But I have everything cut and mounted. I just need to add the trim and put it together. I will probably just post a quick photo of it when it's done. I also joined the new SAL that Vonna put together for the CCN Cottage Series, I think there are a few spots left, so if you like cottages, come join us!

I'm thankful for all my followers and commentors and I hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday season and makes lots of memories to last throughout the year!

Only 9 more to go!! I have 2 pages on this right side and then one whole row across the bottom.Photo is clickable to enlarge

I just haven't been in the blogging mood! Figures when I offer to give away a chart, I get lazy! Anyway the winner is.....Carissa. She entered on my blogspot blog. So Carissa, email me your address and I will get it off in the mail to you!
Onto what I've been up to for the last 6 weeks now! First up,  I framed Witches Wheel. I think this is the exact frame they used for the chart photo.I don't want to rush summer away, but I really want to put this one out of display. The last time Amberlyn was over she was standing on my couch looking at one of my Paula Vaughn cross stitch pictures and starts saying "kitty, kitty". Then I notice that it's the one with cats on the quilts! So I want to see if she can see the designs in this one. I also tried a new finishing technique that will substitute for framing. I just picked a material to put on foam core and then mounted my stitched piece to that and added a cording. It's hard to see the cording in the full picture, so I added a close-up. I am going to put ribbon on the corners with a bow to hang it.
Then I finished the roof area on Amsterdam and mailed it back to it's owner. I only did the roof on the right. It's much more involved than it looks! My hat is off to Gabi for finishing hers!


The piece that has my attention is my Mystic. This picture was taken the end of August and I am now only about 200 stitches away from finishing the last page on the top row! So just double the size of that blue edge and that's really where I am now.  I will hopefully post when I get that page done. Each page is a finish in my book!


I know I showed a picture of my patio already. But since my last post we bought some new furniture for it. We decided on 4 chairs and a coffee table type set and not the "eat on" type table. We have really enjoyed it lately with the cooler temps. And this week we even put the hot tub back on the patio and have it filled!! The temperature outside dropped 15 degrees today so tonight while its' in the 50's may be the break-in time for us!


I'm pretty sure that catches you up with my stitching. I'll leave you with a photo of Amberlyn using Grandma as a pony!

Next Saturday I'm taking her, my daughter and my Mom on a girls vacation for the week. We are only going to Illinois (someplace close that Amberlyn could handle her car seat for that long). But the resort looks nice and has an indoor pool, lake, fishing, boats, mini putt and several other things that should keep her happy. One day we are going to drive into Chicago and visit the Brookfield Zoo too! Thanks for stopping in again and I hope you enjoy our return to fall (for those in the Northern Hemisphere!)
Go Detroit Tigers.....we are on the road to the World Series!

I really don't know how some people can post updates weekly, or more! I guess it's not my favorite thing to do, although I do read other peoples updates daily!
1st up....I have two finishes! Witches Wheel by Glendon Place was completed in July sometime. I ordered the frame for it today, so it should be done WAY before it needs to be hung for Halloween. The material for this is really what sold the pattern to me. It was the first time I had seen any material dyed this way Picture This Plus is a fantastic store for hand dyed fabrics!
You can see more closeups in this album: WW there are 5 more photos.
2nd- I was the lucky winner of a blog giveaway of Kate's from Australia.
This is Lizzie Kate's 2010 snowman. She mailed the pattern to me on Monday, I received it Thursday and I finished it on Sunday! He is just so cute I couldn't resist. Not only did Kate send me the chart she also sent a GC for $20 to 123stitch for me to buy the material for it! Little did she know I pulled out threads and material from my stash and started it right away! I didn't have 2 buttons it called for, but I did find one that matched the aqua, so he's a one button snowman. Since I received this pattern in a giveaway, I'm going to offer it to YOU!! One stipulation though! If you win it you must finish it within a months time and then offer it on your blog to another. If you don't have a blog, let me know you've finished it and I will repost it for availability! Giveaways are nice, but I hate seeing the pattern just go into a stash pile! Are you up for the challenge???



Then the only other thing that got worked on is Anne's Amsterdam piece. I got some more done of the roof of the red building. But my work is put to shame after seeing how much Gabi has gotten done on hers! WOW. Check out her BLOG.

And lastly, I left you with my house with deck removed and one big dirt pile. We had a stamped concrete patio put in. I had NO idea the process involved in getting to the finished product. So if you are interested I tried to get all the steps involved to show you! Here is the patio with the pouring forms ready for concrete delivery the next day.


This next picture shows the concrete, which has a custom color already added to it. We picked a yellow/tan base. The red you see is the "release" powder they throw on and then they "stamp" the pattern into the concrete before it cures all the way. The powder is finer than baby powder and it got EVERYWHERE! In the garage, on the cars, the rugs in the garage, the siding, the grass, the DOG!!!!! They had never used red before and they swear they won't offer it again!! LOL Can you see the red all over the house?? Well just multiply that by 20, for how much was in the grass where the dog walked.
This is a picture of the whole patio poured, stamped and released. It has to set like this for 24 hours.

 Then they come back with a pressure washer and wash the red off and this is what you get! The last picture is just what the pattern looks like all over.It reminds me of "Tuscany" and I hope to find lots of cool accessories next year. All the patio stuff is gone already this season! Or the things that are left isn't what I had in mind. I hope you liked my stamped concrete tutorial!!!!
We (my mom, Lauren and Amberlyn) were lucky enough to visit Lake MI in Holland in July. The last 3 pictures are from there. It didn't take more than 15 minutes on the lake and Amberlyn was naked. She really doesn't like her clothes! Enjoy!!!

Thanks for stopping by my corner of the world! Until next time.........

And don't faint because I have 2 posts in 2 days!!!I spent the last couple days putting the finishing touches on these pieces. I used ruched ribbon technique for the first time and I also made a button for it. The bottom ornament I used my Crop-a-dile and threaded ribbon thru the front and back. Both ornaments are backed in the material they are laying on.

What's happened since last post? Well my bedroom is finally DONE!!! Funny how one picture (over the bed) inspired my accent colors. I'm happy with it and that's all that counts.

 Now the outside project begins. All I have is before pictures since the concrete won't be done until later this week. Keeping my fingers crossed. You know how contractors can be! This is what it looked like before we took the deck down.And this is what it looks like now, with no deck. Just love letting the dog out now so she can bring in all that dirt when the grass is damp in the mornings and evenings!!

On to the stitching:
As most people, not a ton of stitching going on in the summer. But I did manage a finish or two and worked on a couple more pieces. I finished the 2nd piece for my bedroom (another My Aunt's Attic freebie) and took it up to my LNS for matting and to my surprise, it had closed!!! I took my pieces into Hobby Lobby and looked at mats. The mat colors there are slim pickings so I'm going to have to find some other options out there.

My other finish was the Mill Hill Southwest Santa. I worked on my Mystic for a few hours while we were camping out in the basement since we were in-between Air Conditioners a few weeks ago. And I have Anne's Amsterdam piece that I told her I would work on, but I really should only ask for these pieces in the winter when I am actually doing more stitching. All I have gotten done is the building to the right, so far.
This post I'll leave you with a picture of us with our son. We went to Toledo (Tigers AAA team) for his birthday on July 3.

It's been a long time since my last update and there has been lots going on around here, so hope you can stay for the ride!
In May my husband and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary! He bought me diamond and pearl earrings (Pearl is for 30 apparently-he googled it!) If you click the link you can see the other goodies I got too. We went to Pittsburgh for the weekend and stayed with friends and toured the city and took in a Tigers/Pirates baseball game. This is us before our anniversary dinner and then the skyline of the city. May was also my birthday month and I had told Carl about wanting a cross stitch floor stand. So he told me to buy one for my birthday. Well I will be honest and say I actually got it in March (you know, to see if I liked it!!!) and wasn't supposed to really use it much until then. But I didn't put it away! He said at least he knows it's something I like! It's a Needlework System 4 and so far I just love it. It's very light weight too, so I can see me taking it with me if need be and it's not the travel stand either. What was the first thing I put in the stand?? Well of course my Mystic, Seasonal Collide. I got another page finished. So that's 10 down and 11 to go.
Early in May Carl had some minor out pt surgery and I took another one of my pre-kitted ornaments with me and got this finished up! I really love the kitted things. I just don't see myself doing it for myself!!
And since I am changing my bedroom colors I did finish one piece to match the picture I bought (which is above the bed) and I started on the 2nd one. They are both freebies from My Aunt's Attic.  Still don't have the carpet in, Home Depot got the wrong size in and so it had to be reordered. Going on over a month now waiting!!!
I think that catches you up on my stitching lately.
Remember that tree we had to take down last year because it had that Emerald Ash boarer? Well we finally got a replacement! After we planted it, it rained for several days, so it's looking very healthy so far. We've decided we are taking our deck down in the backyard and replacing it with stamped concrete, so maybe next update I'll have some before and after pictures of that! Here's some of my roses last month, they are even more flower covered now!
And lastly....my Granddaughter turned 2 on June 6!  Wow, does time fly. We got her a powered Jeep as one of her presents and she is just getting the hang of how to make it go. This one my daughter took at their house after a hard day of playing outside!
Hope you made it to the end and thanks for stopping in!!!

They keep trying to tell us there is global warming, but try and tell that to those that live in Michigan. I think it will be June before our trees have leaves! Here it is May 4th and the leaves are just barely budding out. The trees still look like winter! Temperatures rarely get into the 60's and that is just not right! Since there isn't much to do outside I'm taking advantage and stitching as much as possible. My 2 projects the past few weeks is Witches Wheel which is now 1/2 stitched (minus all the beads) and Seasonal Collide. I now have 9 pages complete, only 12 to go! LOL And silly me, I bought 4 more Mystics this week!

Our remodeling is coming closer to the end. We have carpet picked out (just need an appt to lay it) and the shower door was the wrong size, so we are waiting for the right size to come in. I bought a new picture for the bedroom and I am going to use some of the free patterns from the Tantes Zolder Blog and make some cross stitch pictures to match. Here is our new sink, we had 2 sinks before and decided we only needed one, so we liked the effect of this one. We took Amberlyn to our friends that own horses and where Carl hunts and she loved the horses and didn't have a scared bone in her body. She would have climbed through the fence, had I let her! Here is the horse taking a little nibble of her hair and she couldn't care less!
She'll be 2 a month from today!
I hope the next time I update I can talk about how warm it's been!! Hope everyone in the U.S. has a great Mother's Day. Thanks for stopping by!

and things have changed in my family. I lost my Dad on April 7. He was a part of the "greatest generation" and he proudly served as a navigator in a B25 in WWII. He had a great life of 85 years and I will miss him dearly. The last few months I had the pleasure to spend a couple days each week with him and I will treasure that time I had. I got to say goodbye too, which some people never get to do and I am thankful for that.....as hard as it was to do. My husband didn't get that opportunity.

Now onto the stitching since that is what probably brought you here! I took my stitching with me to my parents and finished a couple pieces while there. My 2 year Mill Hill RR is done. I finished the bakery and then I added all the buttons (except one that broke). My plan is to mount it onto another piece of foam core that is wrapped in Christmas material. If I don't like it, I can always change my mind, but that's my idea for now.
Some of my XS friends decided to do an ornament kit exchange. You pick a pattern and then supply all the material to complete it. I took Lyne's kit with me one weekend and I finished it. It was perfect for traveling since I knew all I had to take was a needle and scissors!! This one came from the 2010 JCS Ornament Magazine.
I joined a Halloween SAL that was supposed to be the week my Dad passed, so I have been working on it the last few days. It's the Witches Wheel. I think I'm going to start adding the beads soon, so I can see how those will add to it.
A long time ago I finished a birthday gift for Carolyn's 55th birthday, but I couldn't share it until her birthday (which happened after the last blog post), so now that she's received it I can share that finish too! If you click on her link you can see how I personalized it. My picture doesn't show it!
We are still in the process of remodeling our bed and bathroom.....but painting is done, some fixtures have been changed out, but we still need new carpeting and the vanity and sink installed. Pictures will have to wait until it's done. And I'm going to have to break my streak of posting Amberlyn photos. We have seen her, but haven't been taking any photos lately. But she's just a cute as ever but is getting just a bit more of an attitude!! :-)
Thanks for stopping by!

Well since my last post I got all the beads on the house and I have started the last house. I will have this done WAY before Christmas, but I might need all that time to figure out if I'm framing or something else.
I also finished another section on my Mystic. It's the same page but I stopped right at the black design break.
I decided to start on Witches Wheel and I finished a full page. I think there are 6 pages, total but not all are full pages.
We have begun some updating around the house and bought a new foyer and dining room light. Had to get rid of the glass and polished brass from when we built the house 16 years ago. Wonder why you can't find a single polished brass fixture anymore! LOL Before
After, and yes that is my Chatelaine Tuscany Town Mandala hanging on the wall.

We are also redoing our bedroom and bathroom, but those photos will have to come later when we actually get some good progress.
We've had Amberlyn quite a bit the last week or so. Had her spend the night one night, had her over one evening since my daughter had her wisdom teeth out and then on Saturday we took her for the full day to see my parents, my son and went shopping and out to eat. A FULL day for the 3 of us! We all know why we have kids when we are young! Here she is on the bike we bought her for Christmas and it's still too cold outside to ride!!!

After being gone for 2 years.....it's finally returned home and it looks incredible. I know how much time each of these kits take. The stitching, back stitching and beading!!! I appreciate every person that worked on it for me!!! I have a whole album of progress photos and close ups of all the buildings HERE.
I have just 2 buildings to stitch and it WILL be finished for this Christmas. I love the idea so much I have just purchased 3 of the Halloween Buttons and Bead kits for a smaller version to have this fall. They have the slate blue background and not the brown. I used this weekend's Super Bowl sales to get them.

Somehow during the New Year I think I lost my stitching Mojo....don't know exactly why. It might be because my Dad's health is failing and I am spending more time at their house, or if it's just a phase. But I did have a deadline to get a birthday present done (which I presented in the last entry). Now my problem was "finishing" it. Both my Mom and my MIL can sew. I asked both of them if they would make my butterflies into a pillow. Both were too scared to ruin my stitching......hmmmm, what's a girl to do? Well I guess you bite the bullet and try something new. So since we had a blizzard, I used my "snow day" to try my hand at a pillow. Here is a photo, but I have a whole album on Multiply where you can see what I did step by step. It's really easier than it appears and I am very pleased with the outcome.
Then I have had another piece of finished work (Stephanie's) that she gave me almost a year ago and wanted me to do "something" with it. I've been carrying it around with me trying to find a coordinating material and trims. Well I think I finally came up with a good combo. That color of linen was REALLY hard to match, not beige, kinda green, also grayish....or in other words a nightmare! There is also an album to show all the sides to this no sew cube.
Here is a photo of Amberlyn at our local ice festival a couple weeks ago. They had this big St. Bernard that she got to pet. He was as big (or bigger ) than she was! She is now 20 months old!

As you can see....this is our first real snow of the year and it's the wet, stick to the trees kind! Very pretty, but glad it came on a Sunday and I can stay inside.

Lots of stitching photos to catch up on since the last post! First up I had Lauren pick out Amberlyn's ornament for the year and she picked one from the JCS 10th Anniv. ornament book. The hair took me over 2 nights to do! I don't like cutting oval forms and it has me looking to find what I can buy to cut perfect ovals. I'm really not interested in cutting my own mats for framing, but I do want to cut perfect shapes.  I guess I need to see what my options are. Anyone have suggestions? Next up is a new start and finish! In one of my groups we started a "mystery" start. If you guess what it is, you get to start a mystery. I've had this pattern for at least a couple years and just never got around to doing it. So I started, and finished! I have the buttons on order. He should be holding 3 snowballs. Then I'll turn him into a flatfold.
I did a bit more on Natalie's RR, so here is when I got it and then what it looks like now.





And then the only other thing I worked on was my Mystic- Seasonal Collide. I'm still working on the first tree (which I think is the most boring one as colors go) I am almost done with this page.


Preparing for Christmas is going like it probably is for everyone else. You never feel like you're ready, but it comes no matter what and you get through it. All 3 of my trees are up and my house has been transformed to enjoy for the next few weeks.
I'll leave you with a picture of Amberlyn checking out the first tree I put up this year. I hope everyone has a happy holiday!

Before I get to the good stuff  I have to say that I got back on a roll with my Mystic and worked on it pretty much exclusively the end of Oct and beginning of Nov. I don't know why these pieces are so hard to put down. There wasn't lots of confetti so I made some nice progress.
But the most exciting thing is that 5 of my stitching friends (from 5 different states!) took time out of their busy schedules to come to Michigan and spend some quality time together. We met at my house, did some hot tubbing, wine drinking and non-stop conversation. The next day we headed over to the West side of the state and stopped at Stitching Bits and Bobs. Spent almost 3 hours there and then to South Haven (on Lake Michigan) where we had rented 2 cottages. We shared our WIP, purchases at the store and finishes. We even had a couple finishes over the weekend. A cube and and a flatfold. I learned a new finish and got a lesson from Karen on how to make a beaded scissor fob. Isn't it pretty? There really wasn't very much stitching going on. I have found I do my best stitching alone!! LOL
I gave each person a mitten ornament (to symbolize the state of Michigan).
I persuaded Karen to bring her HAED World Tree so I could work on it. I actually finished the 2nd page for her. I guess I should ask when she wants it back!
I have finished 2 more ornaments that were stitched awhile ago and I had my stocking finished for Amberlyn. You can't see it, but the stocking has beautiful blue velvet on the back! Here is the link to my 2010 finishes album if you want to see other angles of the finishes.
And I haven't gotten any new photos of Amberlyn since Halloween, so here she is as a witch...and chewing on her glow stick.I hope everyone has a calm beginning to the holiday season and can enjoy all the little moments!!! Thanks for stopping by!!

I did even more finishing this week. I finished a LHN piece into a flatfold for ME! I've done several and have never kept one. I still need to get some trim for around the edge, but once I find it, it will be quick to finish. Every photo should be clickable to enlarge.


And then I finished another ornament. I don't know why the left side looks lopsided, it really doesn't look like that in real life. Maybe it was the way it was laying on the counter.   I have only 2 stitched ornaments and one little wine piece to "finish" into something and ALL my things are completed!!! No stitched pieces languishing in a drawer somewhere.
This week most of my time was spent on my Chatelaine Fairy Flower Garden. I am now 1/3 of the way done. The whole bottom is finished except for the crystals which go on last.
















I also received the final RR of the year. Natalie's 2nd piece to go around, since the first one was done!!!! It's 2nd chances by Ink Circles. I have finished 6 motifs just this week! I love the shades of purple used in it. Plus it's using my favorite floss, Carries!!! 

And since last time I posted I didn't have any photos of Amberlyn, I'll show you this one from this week. I took the picture myself while holding her. She got the boo boo at home a couple days earlier and NOT at Grandmas!!!!