One Thousand Gifts

Here is something new (for me) that I found today while looking around at different blogs. This blog is the sweetest ever, I just love her sence of peace and the comforting way she 'talks'. So I thought I would start blogging my own 'Monday blessings' and see if after a while, I too, could come up with 1000 blessings:)

1. Snow - even though I really dislike the cold, we really needed the moisture. Now the wheat fields and pasture land that surrounds us will get the moisture they so desperately need.

2. Snow :) Okay, this is two fold, because while I don't like it, my dd LOVES it. She is out in it for the second time today, and no, school isn't getting done as much as I'd like, well, tomorrow will be too cold for her to be out in it, and we can make up the couple things we didn't get to today:)

3. Homeschooling. Goes back to the last one:) While we do have a list of what needs done everyday, we also have some wiggle room for days like today when the white fluffy stuff outside calls her name. And on the first days of warm spring and on the last days of lovely autumn. Not only do we get to learn together, but we have the time and flexabilty to enjoy all that comes our way:) (And while some kids got the whole day off, we still did get some schooling in:).

4. Cats. One batch of kittens that was born early this summer just got their first peek at snow this morning. It was really funny!!! First they tried to attack it, then realized that their paws were cold and wet and tried shaking them off with every step they took!! :)

Now that I try and think of daily blessings, I could list lots and lots:) I guess this will be all for now though. I will have another post this evening for my stitching.

Crazy Stitching Challenge Days 7 and 8

Sorry for the absence yesterday and most of today (if I type really fast, I'll just squeek this in today - Jan 8th:). So really quick I'll post what my projects for yesterday and today were and hopefully I'll have time to post tomorrow too - another busy day tomorrow, but then it quiets down around here for a few days:)

Yesterday I closed my eyes and fumbled around in my basket and I pulled out Country Sampler 'Seek Goodness' Pinkeep Drum by Stacy Nash Primitives. Stacy is another designer that I've never stitched, but have wanted to for a while. I love this design and it is really quick and easy with it being all one color and DMC at that. I am stitching this on 32 ct raw linen.
And for today I pulled out Flower and Bird Sewing Roll from Chessie and Me. I found this chart in the clearance bin at my LNS and couldn't decide if I wanted it or not. I didn't like the white fabric the model what stitched on, but figured that for the price (and an extra 15% off as the store was having a sale) that I would just get it and stitch it later if I decided that I wanted to. Well, after shopping and leaving the store with my SIL, Marianne Meyer of Midnight Stitching, she started thinking of flosses and fabrics and on and on until we ended up back at the store with me buying what I needed for this chart:) She is so BAD!!! So, now it is part of my crazy challenge and I think I'm really going to like this one!!! I am using the threads the chart calls for, but am using 30ct WDW 'Straw' for the fabric.

OPPS, looks like I just missed getting this post in on time:( hehehe. I guess today, Jan 9th now:), will have to be a two post day. Though the next post will have to wait for normal human hours!!! Off to bed now, good-night:)

Crazy Jan Challenge - Day 6

I'm so glad I decided to finish the fob yesterday because this challenge was starting to get to me. So many starts and not getting back to stitching on any of the ones I've started yet. But after finishing that little bitty one, I'm feeling much better about it all and am having fun again:)

Today I reached in my basket and pulled this one out (actually, I was looking for this one:). This is Small Token from BBD and I'm stitching it on 32ct Jobelan 'Sandcastle', which is my favorite fabric:) So very soft and I love the color dye on it. I got a bit more time to stitch today than usual because my dd had gymnastics today, so I always take a small project with me to work on while I'm watching her work:) I'm thinking that this is now my favorite project!!!
I'm off to bed, still fighting this cold/bug/whatever it is. Really it's not very bad, just a little annoying and making me feel a bit run down. I don't have anything I'm really wanting to stitch on tomorrow, so I'll just grab out of the basket and surprise myself (I'm pretty forgetful, so this isn't hard to do:) LOL

Stitchy Challenge day 4 and 5

Sorry about not posting yesterday. I did start a new project and got some stitching done on it, but by the time evening rolled around, I just wasn't feeling well enough to stay up and post pics. I had a bad head ache, a cough, and congestion. But I'm doing much better now:) thank goodness for Mucinex and Vit C/Echinacea drops!!! Still have a bit of congestions, but it's all pretty much gone:)

I started 'Acorn Fob' by Chessie and Me yesterday, and as you can see I also finished it!!! Actually I finished it today, wouldn't even start a new one today until I had this one finished, and I LOVE IT!!! This was a 'freebie' handed out to group members of a stitching group at a get-together. I tried looking for a website, hoping I could give you a link to the freebie, but couldn't even find a website for Chessie and Me at all:( Anyway, I stitched this on 32ct Lambswool that I coffee stained. The chart called for silk threads, but I don't have any, so I used DMC instead.
This is the same project before I finished it into a fob. I did add the year to the side with my initials as well.

And this is my start for today. It is Winter Band Sampler from LHN. I am doing this one on 30ct natural raw linen and I changed all the DMC threads that it called for to various overdyed threads (if you'd like to know what I used, let me know:). I think this one will be a pretty quick project.

Well, this is all I'm going to get done today. We are having an early dinner and then dd and I go off to Awana where she had class and I do crafts with the youngest class (3-5 year old 'Cubbies'). It's a lot of fun, but I'm usually pretty worn out afterwards:) Until tomorrow...

Day 3 of Stitching Challenge

I had meant to post a pic yesterday of not only what I stitched, but also a pic of what the project should look like when I'm done with it:) Not sure how I missed that one, but here is a pic of Prairie Schooler's "All Hearts Come Home". My camera is not doing well on close up pics, I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but this pic was the least fuzzy of the 10 or so my dh and I tried taking:) And this is what I picked out of my stitching basket for today. This is Pumpkin Hollow Farms from Little House Needleworks and I'm stitching this one on 32 ct Sandcastle. I'm only planning on stitching the top half of this design. My LNS has one done like that and I really like it:) I'm changing a few colors by adding a bit more color to the tree leaves and using a darker orange for the pumpkins. I did have more stitching time today, but still didn't get much done as I kept having to fix silly little mistakes I was making. Clearly I wasn't focusing any better than my camera, LOL :)

And just to add something a little different, here are our two puppy dogs:) Okay, they aren't puppies, but they are our big babies!!! Their names are Gracie (yellow lab) and Titus (brown lab).

I'm planning to pick a smaller project to start tomorrow and see how much I can get done on it. I have a couple projects in there that may only take a day or two if I really focus on them and it would feel nice to get one at least close to done:) I am also hoping to get a few min to stitch some more on Sarah Tobias. So far that one is my favorite!! :) Okay, until tomorrow...

Jan Challenge - Day 2

Day 2 of this month's challenge turned out to be harder to find time to stitch. With dh going back to work tomorrow and my trying to get things organized for that (laundry, lunch things made up and started to get packed, etc.), and wanting to hang out with him and dd all together, stitching didn't take priority today:) That's okay though, as dh is back on overtime again, and that means more stitching time.

So today I reached in my stitching basket and pulled this one out. This is from Prairie Schooler book #86 - At Christmas All Hearts Go Home. I am doing this over one on 28ct antique white fabric. Those trees are VERY teeny tiny:) Sorry about the crappy pic, it is pretty dark in my house at night:0)
I also worked just a bit on BBD's Sarah Tobias, but didn't get much done on it. Maybe there will be enough change on it by the end of the week to show an update on it.
Well, it will be an early day tomorrow so I'm off to bed, but will be back tomorrow with Day 3 of January's Crazy Challenge:) Have a good night!!!

January Crazy Stitching Challenge

Nope, I haven't forgotten about this. I've just been busy stitching:) I have two projects for today because two different stitching groups had a January 1st challenge. This first one is 'Peony' and is my first Nora Corbett design to stitch. I've always wanted to stitch one of her fairies and just needed someone who would want the finished product. Well, my dd really loves bright colors and she really liked this one, so here I am stitching it:) I'm doing this one on 32ct antique white fabric and that little bit of stitching at the bottom of the pic is all that I got done so far today.
This one I've been waiting to do for some time now. I am stitching it on 32 ct cream Belfast, lightly overdyed with coffee. I am working this over one. My plan is to make this into a pouch to carry scissors, tape measure, needles, etc.

Because I have a really hard time following directions;0) and because I went a little nuts with this challenge, I will be posting a project for every day this month. Some of the ones at the end of the month will be projects that I had previously started, but most of them (I believe 23 of them) are new starts:) I have no idea how many I can actually finish in a year, but I figured, since I already owned most of the charts I will be starting, that it couldn't hurt to go ahead and start them!!!

That's all for today, I'll have a new project to post about tomorrow:)