I Got Mail and update

Hi!  Parsley from Seasons of My Mind,  put a challenge for her readers to show a picture of ourselves.  So I figure,  what the heck, why not? I rarely put pictures of myself because majority of the time I am the one taking the pictures, even at family gatherings. This is my recent picture of me when I was at Sandwich, Cape Cod, taken by my aunt this past August.

I did some more fabric dyeing a couple weekends ago. It has been gorgeous lately on the weekends.  I went with a blue theme.  The fabric on the left  was dyed with Rit Evening Blue, the middle one was brush painted with Mediterranean Blue acrylic paint and the right fabric was Rit Aquamarine Blue with a dash of Evening Blue.  I wanted more of  a bluish color, instead of a blue-green color. I love how they came out.

 On October 15, my nephew, Anthony, turned 7 years old. My sister hired a magician for Anthony and his friends.  The magician put Anthony in this get-up. Doesn't he look ridiculous? Of course, I had to take a picture. I think its my favorite one.  I going to get a 4x6 picture for this one to  put in my room.

 There was cupcakes instead of a cake this year.  Dawne made the cupcakes, Amy frosted them and I decorated them.  There was a pinata,too, a SpongeBob Squarepants.  There was one last year and they weren't going do another one but the night before, Anthony started bawling because he wanted a pinata again.  So his dad went out to  get one. When it came time to hit Sponge Bob, Anthony went first and then the next kid went and gave it a big whack, and BOOM!, candy went flying out.  No other kid got a chance to whack it,but they did get candy!

Here is Anthony right before we sang Happy Birthday to him.   The balloon next to him also sings and Anthony kept hitting it.  He loved it.  When I got home, there was a package waiting for me.

Meet Carver the Pumpkin!  He is adorable!  My Secret Pen Pal send it to me.  He is now sitting in my basket with my other stuffed toys.  Thank you so much!  Than Monday came along, and I had went to the store and came back, and there were 5 packages waiting for me. It was Christmas in October for me.  One was a small order for a couple gifts, and another was a secret exchange which I can't show until I get the word its okay to do so. However, here is the other 3 packages.

This  lovely package came from Carissa of the i-love-cross-stitch Yahoo group for the 10th Anniversary exchange.  The group  has been  around for 10 years and I have been a member since 2003.  It was the first group I ever joined and I had met so many friends in  this group.  Carissa send me DMC satin threads(which I never used before), 2 Carrie's threads, Stitchy Kitty "The Hamster Did It" pattern, Angel Stitchin  "Long May She Wave" pattern, a Silkweaver solo piece with a needle, a card she made and a bookmark, which is in a book I am reading and didn't made in the picture.  Thank you Carissa!

 This package came from Mary from The Stitcherhood group.  The exchange was a Halloween Treasure hunt which we had to find items to represent Halloween from a list we were given.  For the pumpkin, it was the Pez candy which cracked me up, plus it glows in the dark.  For the witch was a Mill Hill needleminder,   candy corn  was a dish shape as a candy corn and a bag of candy corn, cats was a pair of cat earrings.  (Sorry Mary I have to give them to someone else.  I am allergic to earrings),  And for Happy Halloween saying was a spool of ribbon. I love everything and it was so creative.  Thank you Mary!

 This package came from Cindy B.  for the Fall Exchange from the ILCSing Yahoo group.   She send 2 patterns, Lizzie Kate Flip-Its October and November and a package of needles.  She had 123Stitch send them to me directly and when I opened it, I was thinking it was my order.  I am looking at the items and thinking "This is not what I ordered", then I looked at the slip and saw Cindy's name and I went "Duh!"   Just a senior moment for me,  lol!  Thank you Cindy! 

Last night I got my Halloween ornament from Viv of UK from the ILCSing group. She stitched me a Mill Hill Spooking ornament and included a Mill Hill Kitty Treats with some candy and a card filled with Halloween confetti.  I have the ornament hanging from my bookshelfs.  Viv knows I love Mill Hill kits and  I love it.  I can't wait to start on the Kittys.  Thank you Viv!

I can show you a finish. I stitched this for Mary from KraftersKorners group.  We had to stitched a freebie, finish it off and add 3 specialty threads. I found this SanMan Autumn freebie in my stash and I finished it as an ornament.  I  uses Carrie's threads Autumn for the wording and gold beads for the hanger. 

This finish is Sandy's RR, the Snowbaby from Ellen Maurer-Stroh.  I had this done awhile ago, but I forgot to post it.  I used the beads instead of confetti stitches for the snowflakes.  I think it came out wonderful.  I sure hope Sandy likes it.

I want to thank all of you for your good thoughts on my upcoming surgery.  I appreciate all of them.  I saw the surgeon on Oct 6th.  The surgery has been delayed for 6 months, but for a good reason.  The doctor, also,  does the gastric bypass but won't be taking my insurance for another 6 months to do the procedure.  I do want to  have the gastric bypass done and trying to avoid to put me under twice, it will be better to wait.  However,if my gallbladder does act up too bad before than, he will do the surgeries separately.  It makes sense to me.  I do need this gastric bypass done because I know it will change my life for the good of  things.  I have told my family  and I have their support and love.  I know I can do this, just playing the waiting game for now. 

I will be going to Virginia after Christmas. My friends are going to Florida in January and they want to house and pet sit for them.  They said I could come  even if they do not go, so my trip has been delayed for another 2 months. That means I could save up more money.

I have reached 200 followers, so I will be doing a Christmas giveaway in a couple weeks.  It will be so much fun!

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Friday Night Sew In~August

For the Friday Night Sew In, I stitched Lizzie Kate ABC Lessons.  It is a fast stitch.  I think it is coming along great. 

As this week, I started two new projects.  The first one is Summer is Sweet by Waxing Moon Designs.  It is a freebie I got from the retreat.  The second one is Lizzie Kate Dog Lessons for People.  I am stitching this one on my hand dyed pink evenweave. 

The two pieces above are pieces of material I had dyed.  The first piece is sprayed paint in green apple and fuchsia.  I love how it came out.  I am going to use it for my Owl SAL, when I start it, hopefully soon.  The second  piece is painted with a pink shade of acrylic paint.  The pictures are not great.  It is the same piece I am using for Dog Lessons, and that picture is more to its truer color.

I am at Cape Cod and heading to the beach. I am leaving home tomorrow so I will have another update in a few days.

Stitching and Exchanges

 This is the Easter/Spring SAL Carole from Novalee 02 les croix et moi I joined when it came out.  I first started  it on a dark rose linen, but when I got to Part 3, I didn't like how the pinks were looking, so I started over on Fairy Dreams (a light cream color) 28 count lugana.  I finished it about a week or two after Easter.   I was in Virginia and my friend like it.  I am thinking finishing as a hanging picture on the wall.  I have some pretty fabric to use in the back.

 My friend has birdhouses as her kitchen decor.  She has been collecting birdhouses.  When I realize I was going back, there was 2 weeks before I left and didn't  have time to stitch something.  I had to run into  JoAnns and spotted a bunch of plain wooden birdhouses.  Light inside of me clicked on and decided to paint a birdhouse for my friend's kitchen.  I like how it came out since it is my first time painting on wood.  I liked it a lot and might do a bigger one later.  My friend loved it and it sits on her glass table.
The picture below is the back of the birdhouse and there are flowers on the sides too. 

I joined the Lizzie Kate exchange in i-love-cross-stitch yahoo group.  It went to Azzie in England.  I picked a freebie from LK website.  It was stitched on a 14 count pink aida with DMC threads.  I added pink beads instead stitching green Xs above and below the words, and I added a pink flower. I made it into an ornament and added 3 Carrie Creations Threads to complete the exchange.

 This lovely package came  from Azzie.  She stitched "Think Spring" into a bookmark.  It is very wide, so I am going add a ribbon on the back and hang it up on my   wall.  She added 2 Dragon Floss and 3 Sweet Six  Strand threads.  I haven't received SSS in a long time.  Are they still in business?   I love it!  Thank you Azzie!









 
The next 2 exchanges were in the KraftersKorner group.  The first exchange was a monogrammed magnet with two items starting with the initial.  I had Jennifer as my partner.  I was stump at first for a second item.  She hinted jewelry in her information.  I have a few journals in my room, and when I was writing in one, I realize Duh! A journal!, lol.

 

Mary send me this wonderful package.  She stitched a V with a flower.  it almost looks like she got it from  the same magazine I got the J for my magnet, lol.  She included a V charm, a "visual" journal, and violet glitter.  Everything is so pretty.  Thank you Mary!

The next exchange  was a hand-dye material, which the member had to hand-dye, with 3 skeins of floss.  I hand-dyed a piece of aida in purple for Georgena.  The first time I dyed the material, it was so light, it looked it was white.  I redid it, making the mixture a darker purple, and this is what came out.  It is a couple shades darker than the picture shows, but not much.

 

 This lovely piece of fabric came from Tara.  She used arylaric paint to dye it.  I forgot how she did it, but it is very beautiful.  The picture does not do its justice.  Thank you Tara!

I finished stitching LHN 2010 Under the Tree when I was in VA.  I just added the beads a few days ago.  I wanted to finish it at the retreat, but just did not get to it.  I did change the color of the dress on the girl. I don't remember the color of the  fabric,  but it is on 28 ct lugana.  I kept the 2010 because it came from the 2010 collection, plus after a year or two, no one is going to know when I  stitched.

Same thing with LHN  2010 Joy. It was stitched in VA.  Matter of fact, I started this March, my first time in VA.  I did not pick it back up until May.  It is stitches on the recommended WDW 30 count material.  I added the beads for the snowflakes.


I am stitching LHN Liberty Belles.  It is going fast and hoping to have it done by Monday, depending if life gets in the way.  Today I spent the day looking for a color in my pile of unorganized threads. I end up organizing them and I found 2 skeins of the color I needed.  YAH!!



I did take pictures of my new treasures from the retreat, but this blog got very long.  Next time I won't wait s long.  I did finish another exchange and received my package, but I can't show anything until everyone gets their package.  It will probably be a couple more weeks, since a few of us had waited for the Canada mail strike to be over, including me.

If  I don't post my lastest finish by Monday, I hope everyone has a wonderful and happy 4th of July!