Christmas in July

Janet Perry just opened a web page for stitch guides. She says most stitch guides will be around $65.00. This is great news for Fred and his best mate, Ginger. Fred has been at a standstill for a while. I did get some great suggestions from Jane @ ChillyHollow as well. Hopefully, I can get something to kick me in the a$$ on this one. (btw... I was going to start this post with the snowman finish, hence the title, but an after thought to talk about Fred, brought his picture to the top and it refused to move down the page. Notice Ginger's picture did not even make it in.)

I finished my Snowman Christmas ornament over the long weekend. This was really more work than I had anticipated. It needs an iron but I will iron up all my ornaments once I am ready to take a trip to the cross stitch store which won't be until August. I just noticed my 1 looks like this ornament is from 2070 not 2010. I might have to do something about that. By 2070 I will be dead and as much as I hope I get to stitch in my afterlife, I am not counting on it.

Next weekend is our Guild meeting and we are going to teach people stitching at the library where we meet. I cannot remember if we were supposed to finish a bookmark or just bring some supplies. I am stitching something I will like in case this ends up just being for me or I can donate it to one of the literacy projects. This was a free pattern on About.com. I found it hard to find free bookmark patterns that were not a lot of work. This one is a great travel project since I got this far I no longer need a pattern. You can see I had some frogging because when I turned it over to finish off my thread, I found a big knot. You can't have that on something with an open back.

We had a great four day weekend. I really did not do all that much. Friday I ran a few errands. Saturday I took my nieces shopping and then dinner with family which was a lot of fun. Sunday was a stitching day and Monday we had some friends over from out of state.

On my last post I mentioned my husband was sailing on Thursday night. Here is a picture of our beautiful skyline from the lake. This was taken from his Blackberry. His picture is much better than mine using a real camera!!

Happy stitching!!

Happy 234th Birthday America

This was an exciting week for me. ScottLee arrived in the mail. I am not a huge Jean Hilton fan but I have loved this piece for a long time. I have been stalking Ebay for a year for this pattern. Jean's daughter allowed this pattern to be sold at Stitches From the Heart in IN. This pattern was only taught a short while so heavens knows what I would have had to pay on Ebay to get it. It is fairly priced from the store. I read the introduction and it is based on an oriental rug. That must be the reason I was so attracted to this piece. I ordered the pattern for my friend Margie @ Three Cool Pugs and Me so she can help be along if I get stuck.

Here is a picture of my latest Christmas ornament for my friends. They had a gas leak last Christmas and their house blew up. Everyone got out with minimal injuries but they lost everything. My Guild is helping me make ornaments so they will have something nice for the holiday season. Once this is done, I still want to make them some more but I also have to think about the ornament exchange with the Guild. Those finishing deadlines are coming up quickly.

My office is closed today and Monday so we get a nice long weekend. Last night was spent eating yummy sushi and I actually got a lot more done on the snowman. My husband was out sailing so it was nice to have the evening to myself. I am off to run a few errands. When I get back, I will spend the afternoon on the terrace stitching. Tomorrow is shopping with two of my nieces. We have to buy a dress for one who is turning 21 next month and the other one has some extra cash so she is ready to go.

Enjoy your 4th of July weekend. Travel safe, enjoy time with friend and family and maybe work in some time to play with your projects. Kelly