Made It Through the Hurricane with a lot of Stitching!

This is my home before the hurricane and it still looks the same. Okay the yard is now littered with branches, sticks and leaves but no trees coming out of my roof! I have spent spent 2 days cleaning up and there is more to do. We just got our power back 3 hours ago. I am luckier than most because I have a total house generator. Without power I would have no water or anything else. With the generator, I have water (hot), the refrigerator stays working, microwave, lights in the bedroom, family room and part of the kitchen and TV. I feel very lucky.
This is a picture of the garage showing how wooded it is behind it. The picture below is the 2 trees that came down behind the garage. It hit the garage but did no damage. Thankfully. I also had a tree go down near the mail box. The tree company's will be out this week to give a price to cut up and clear the property. Again, I was so lucky.

On to the stitchy stuff, I finished this last week, but blogger wouldn't let me post it. It is a BBD design from the 2005 book maned Trix or Treat. Using 32 ct mystery fabric and suggested fibers. It's a great book and I will be doing more from it.
We lost cable with this storm, so a lot of stitching was done, as well as kindle reading. This A breath of autumn by Chessie and Me. I am using the suggested belle soie silks (love them) and 32 ct vintage exampler. Love this! The floral is done in over one as is the wording. You can click on any of the pics for a better view.
For my birthday I received gift certificates. They didn't stay long in my possession. This is the Halloween selection.
And this is the general selection. So many wonderful designs, so little time. Thanks to everyone who gifted me and you know who you are. You all know that my BFF is Cheryl and last week she underwent knee replacement surgery. She came home just before the hurricane hit. She has a bunch of services coming for awhile and she is doing well. I will be going over tomorrow to do some cleaning for her. She lives with 3 men who don't really clean. You know how guys are. They think that they are helping but.... I will be posting soon with my giveaway. A hint is that it will involve one of the charts in the pics above. Which one will it be? Check back soon! Until next time....Happy Stiching! Deborah

A Bunch of Stitchy Stuff

First I would like to thank everyone for all the birthday wishes. I was overwhelmed by all my comments. Loved and appreciated them all. My BD week did finally end. I went to lunch with my friend, Kathy and we had a great time. Talked for hours. She gave me a beautiful piece of pottery from Ireland. I have collected pottery for years and she has enhanced my collection many times. Over the week-end a few of us went to see Mary Chapin Carpenter in concert at a beautiful venue in New Bedford, MA. The girl puts on a great show. I have done some stitching, mostly little things. Did the little squirrel from JBW. I will be putting him in a small frame, I think.
This is a LK from last year. I love the pinky lavender fabric that came with it. I will probably make it into a pin keep.
I framed Boris (yes I can frame, I just don't like it) in a plain black frame that I had in my stash. Isn't he the cutest?

A couple of weeks ago I saw Fancey Blackett on Siobhan's blog and fell for her. Had to have her. Got right on line and ordered up the pdh file. I love everything about this design. I am using 32 ct maritime white by LSL with DMC fibers. I love this fabric. It's not white at all. You see all the variations in color in the fabric. You can click on any of the pics for a better view. Below is a close up of Fancey dancing with the squirrel. How cool.

Diane, Phyllis, Dottie and I took a road trip to ABC Stitch Therapy in NH yesterday. We didn't home until after 8pm and a good day was had by all. We all got some new new stash. I bought fabric and NPI silks. The fabric is 32 ct Luna, Days Gone By and Vanilla Gold, as well as, 36 ct Butter cream. All beautiful and all different regardless of how the picture looks. We were alittle disappointed because they had none of the new stuff in the store. They had alot of it but we were told that it was for the on-line orders not for the store. We all expected that the fabric selection would be larger. None of us got the fabric we wanted. We still managed to all get stuff and we had fun. Had lunch/dinner had a place in Hanover, NH. We were starving and the place didn't open until 4:30. We waited and the wait was worth it. Excellent food. Of course, I forgot to take pics of the store and the restaurant. We are gearing up here for the hurricane. It's been a while since we have been hit. I am taking in all the patio furniture and closing the screen porch of the season. I live on a beautiful heavily wooded lot and my hope is the all that beauty doesn't land in my home. Wish us luck. I have put together a giveaway for having 500 followers, but I am going to put off posting it until after the hurricane. To everyone in the path of Irene, stay safe! Until next time....Happy Stitching! Deborah

Birthday Week!

Before,I start with the birthday stuff, I wanted to show my progress on my Wednesday SAL. I love fall and so far this is my favorite part. I will admit that the squirrel is alittle scary but over all I love it. I have done done some other stitching but I will post about that later in the week.

Saturday was my birthday. And what a great time it has been. Went out to dinner with friends for Italian food. Yummy! This was my cake. My friends don't bake, so they bought me a very good chocolate cake.

I will only bore you with my stitchy gifts. Who doesn't need a new stitching bag? This is a Vera Bradley and it holds so much. Love it.

I needed something to hold my cross stitch magazines. Again, Vera came through. I love this pattern. They came 2 to a pack. I also received 2 very generous gift certificates to my favorite on-line stores. These will come in handy in the very near future because of all the great things that are coming out of Baltimore. Love the BBD pieces and the Chessie and Me designs. I need to thank Joanne, Sammi and my other friends who have made my birthday special. It is going on, Thursday I will have lunch and presents with Kathy. Her BD was a couple of weeks ago.

Last Wednesday we had a guest at stitching. Nancy is a blogging friend who comes to the area every August. We had a great time. During one of the conversations it was mentioned that she knew someone who used to work at the Borders in our area. That would be a dear friend who is in my Thursday stitching group. Small world. So I invited her to come on Thursday to see Linda. Nancy fits right in. Some of us are going on a road trip next week to ABC in NH and she's going with us. I will take pictures.

Lastly, I see that I have 501 followers. WOW! I will be putting together a fall giveaway in the next few days. Check back. I do have a question, I need help. I can't see my followers nor can I see yours. Does anyone know how to get them back. I have tried emailing blogger, which has been a waste of my time. Please help me!

Until next time.....Happy Stitching! Deborah

RAK, Framing and WIPs

Karen does 2 ornaments a month, one for her and one for a very lucky follower. I was the recipient of her July ornament. It's a beautiful humbug. Three sides are beaded. The picture is the Christmas tree side. So lovely. The picture below is the bottom. Click on any of the pics for a larger view. This ornament is so beautifully done and will have a place of honor on my tree. Karen, thanks so very much!

I had the acorn sampler framed and I couldn't be happier with the results. I can't tell how much I love this piece. Sorry about the pictures today. We have had rainy weather for the last 2 days. Very dark and dreary.

A close up of the frame, which I think looks log cabin like. Very woody.

I am almost done with summer on my Wednesday SAL. Just have to do the flower band and then we are on to Fall.

A little closer view. This week at my Wednesday group we are having a guest. One of my followers, Nancy (no blog) is visiting her family in the area for a month. She wanted to get together, so I thought that coming to group would be fun. Stitching and food is always a good time. It will be fun to meet one of my blog friends in person.

This is Autumn by With Thy Needle. Haven't gotten to far. The fabric is 32 ct dirty linen using the GA threads called for. Love this piece a lot and can't wait to really get into it. The reason I have been busy is that Joanne had surgery last week on her foot. I have been busy taking care of her. She is doing much better now and can bear some weight on the foot. She is hoping to go to work on Thursday. We don't know if she will be able to drive yet, so I might be driving her for awhile. We will see.

Have a great week. Until next time.....Happy Stitching! Deborah

Boris and Tusal.

I almost forgot the new moon and my Tusal for the month. Pic's below. Had a great week-end here in Eastern MA. The weather was hot but that didn't us from having some fun. Spent some time with my freind, Kathy celebrating her birthday. For about 3 weeks she is older than me. Yeah! We have been friends for over 30 years. While we were celebrating , her husband Mike was putting up a new clothes line for me. He had to replace all of the parts. What a guy! He does all my man kind of things since my DH died. (he passed away 6 years ago) This has nothing to do with the picture of Boris. I did this wonderful piece the last few days. It is small and worked up quickly. I did Olga last year and now they will spend the fall together in perfect harmony. I used 36 ct v. examplar linen and the suggested CC fibers.

A close up of Boris. You call click on any of the pics for a closer view.

This is my new start. The autumn sampler from With Thy Needle. I see a trend here. I am using 32 ct dirty linen and the suggested fibers from GA. The leaves and acorns are hanging in the air because I am waiting for floss. I will probably substitute the trees with something else. I am impatient and have been waiting acouple of weeks for the floss. At least I know my faults. LOL

Last, but not least, is my jar of orts. I will probably need alittle larger jar.

Thanks for visiting my little part of the world. I love the comments and appreciate them all. Until next time...Happy Stitching! Deborah

Another week has gone by. Where does the time go? It's just flying along. I finished Mighty Oak Sampler and just love it! It was so much fun to do. I did frog all the bottoms of the acorns because they were done in a limey green that I just didn't like. I went for the basic beige. Like them much better.

Little squirrel over one.

Love the kitty! So cute.

Had August stretched and poped it into the frame that I am using for all the months.

A close up of the lazt daisys. One is better that the other.

Progress on the Wednesday SAL. Summer is started. Not a lot to show.

Finished September by DT. Love this one. The leaves are beautiful and the panels on the door are cushioned stitched, very fun to do. I have started Boris by PSS but really haven't done enough to show.

We have had a weather reprieve this past week. It has been pleasant with lower humidity. A nice change. Today is gray and we are going to have thunder storms. We do need the rain.
Until next time... Happy Stitching! Deborah

WIPs and Wonderful Stitchy Stuff!

First up is my latest start, The Mighty Oak Sampler. I love this design and it's such a great stitch. The fabric is 30 ct weeks fabric called parchment. It's a yellow color with wonderful variation in color, not the color that the picture shows. I am using belle soie silks. I love the silks. They are a dream. There is quite a bit of over one stitching, which I love.

All the words, letters and the little animals and birds are over one. How cute is that squirrel?

And the birds.

I have finished Spring and will be starting Summer next Wednesday at group. There are different specialty stitches in this one and they make it interesting. This sampler will be gorgeous when finished. I have already found a place to hang it. You can click on any of the pics for a larger view.

I love all things stitchy related. I tried to resist this box but finally just gave in. It is so wonderful. The painting is perfect. I am going to keep my NPI silks in it. A wonderful addition to the craft room.

All my friends know that I have a thing for scissors. Really, who doesn't? I loved the new daisy scissors and the bunny needleminder. Had to have them. The other pair has become one of my favs. Scissors with jewerly. Does it get any better. The little crystal is green in color, which is my birthstone. Had to have them. See, I can justify anything. But really, aren't they just lovely.

A couple of new patterns. Brenda of With Thy Needle and Thread is becoming one of my favorite designers. Love the new Fall sampler. I need some floss before I start this beauty.

Lastly, I can't wait to do one of Donna's little designs. I bought the scissor fob to put it in. Very sea like with sand dollors and sea shells on it.

That's all I have for today. Hope I didn't bore you. Thanks for all the kind comments on my last post. I appreciate them. Stay cool. It's 100 here today and I am thankful for the central air. Until next time....Happy Stitching! Deborah