F&S 6 Exchange

Sonda in OR sent me these pretty squares! The pattern is "Thanks a Bunch" by Just Nan. I really love this design. I'm going to have to look for the pattern!

We've been getting a lot (I mean a lot) of rain the last couple of days. It's nice to see us climbing out of our drought situation. Most of the rain has come with some thunder boomers which I like.

I also want to thank everyone who views my blog. Since April 1st I've had 300 hits! I really didn't think I had so many people around who viewed my blog. I hope to keep it interesting for you!

As usual, happy stitching! Malinda

I Love Spring

Good Morning! Spring is in full force here in NC! I love this time of year. We've been having really nice days - temps in the high 40's in the morning and getting up to the mid-70's in the afternoon with some rain coming in throughout the day. I love thunderstorms, especially in the spring and summer. There's something about the beauty of seeing the sunshine and then dark clouds roll in and darken the sky. Everything looks so new and green with that kind of backdrop - I just love it! I just want to sit outside and watch if all! Unfortunately the lightning becomes a problem :) On evenings like that I just love to sit and stitch and listen to the thunder and rain - its so relaxing.

I'm so excited our trip is so close I can taste it! The upper 2 pictures are of the place we'll be going. Talk about seclusion! We'll have about 3-4 miles all to ourselves. My only requirement for this trip was palm trees and that blue water. I must say Bruce really searched high and low for the right place and I think he found heaven! I haven't even been there yet, but I just know it's going to gorgeous!

Well we bit the bullet and bought a really snazzy digital camera with an image stabilizer. Not sure what all that stuff means, but it takes some really nice closeup pictures - hence the bunny photo. I took a picture of this little fellow (well he's not that little!!) last night.

I've been stitching as usual. I received my kits for Blackbird's Where my heart blooms and Rites of spring early this week. I couldn't wait to start Where my heart blooms. I decided these will most likely be the pieces I'll be taking with me on our trip. I don't have a WIP picture yet, but maybe I can get one this weekend for you. I don't know if it's just me or some you feel the same way, but I just don't get into taking WIP pictures at the beginning of a project. I hate just seeing a small portion of a piece and not being able to tell what it's suppose to be. I have a hard time seeing the bigger picture - oh well :)

I mentioned in past posts that I would be working on With my Needle's Alphabet Sampler Book during my vacation, and I've already started the piece. I've about finished the 1st two pages of the book. I've run into a problem with personalizing the 1st page with my initials. I'm either very off with the placement of my 1st initial "M" or it's just too big to fit that space. So I put it down until I can figure out what to do - which knowing me, will most likely be a few weeks.

Happy Stitching for now!

Malinda

Let's take a quiz...

I saw this in Sweat Pea's blog and thought I'd sit back and answer these questions myself!!

1) How do you hold your fabric? I usually stitch in hand

2) Floss licker? Yep!!!!

3) How do you thread your needle? I'm a floss licker :)

4) What needle do you like best? Love JJ's......haven't found another needle I like better

5) Are you a needle loser? I've have a cat so I try extra hard not to loose them needles!

6) What fabric do you prefer to stitch on? Linen - Cashel is my favorite (28 ct)

7) Bobbins or floss bags? both -I use bobbins for most of my floss except for my overdyed's. I'll use the floss bags for stitching projects.

8) Are you a scissors collector? not really - of course there's some scissors I haven't bought yet but would love too. I do have a lot of little scissors - I use to put a pair with each of my projects but now I just keep a tool bag.

9) Do you do your own framing, and if so, do you lace or pin? I'll frame my smaller pieces and I actually do both pinning and lacing - I'm obsessive sometimes :)

10) Are you a floss floozy? I think I would consider myself a floss floozy! I love overdyed floss and usually can't leave the LNS with at least 1 skein of floss.

11) Silk? Love them - wish I could afford them all the time :)

12) Railroader? Tried it and it slowed me down.

13) Are you a pattern or designer snob? Not really! I tend to collect patterns from certain designers but I also collect whatever catches my eye.

14) Do you get antsy when you give someone a stitched gift? I used to but now I only stitch for folks that really appreciate it. Love doing stitching exchanges so I tend to stitch those pieces really quick because I can't wait to send it onto my exchange partner :)

15) Have you reached S.A.B.L.E.? I don't think so by my husband would beg to differ :)

16) Do you wash your projects? No - I try not to.....

Sunny Days!!

Sunny Day's are finally upon us! Dear FIL is finally coming home today - WooHoo!!! It's been about 2-1/2 weeks since he went into the hospital. He's doing much better, but will have a lot of doctor & dialysis visits still to come. He's spirits have been high through all this but he wanted to be home and I tell ya when he found out about going home - he's whole demeanor changed! We are all so thankful for all the prayers!

My Dad and Stepmother got their new puppy last night - he'll be a little brother to the one pictured above (that's Happy, BTW). I'm hoping he likes his new brother, Bugsey, right from the beginning!

Can't share too much on the stitching front. I've been working on 2 exchange pieces this week. Finished the second one last night! Now just need to do the final touches and get them to the post. I've got lots of little pieces that need to be finished so hopefully I'll be able to work on those this weekend and have some pics to share.

I joined MaryKathryn's Loose Feathers Club yesterday and I can't wait to get the Rites of Spring and Where my Heart Blooms kits! She's also got a really nice blog if you have checked it out yet. Even though I said I'd be working on the Alphabet Sampler on my vacation, I really can't wait to start something else.

Until next time - Happy Stitching :)

Finished LeNS

I'm sorry it took so long to get these finished pictures of LeNouveau Sampler up. The pictures aren't the best, but they still show how pretty this piece came out. It will look much better once it's framed. I'm thinking of going with a dark wood frame and no matting. I've got a big trip coming up and need to save my pennies for that. The colors and beading are so pretty!

I also wanted to share my floss toss and WIP pic of the Alphabet Sampler Book. I plan on stitching this while in the Bahamas. I decided to use Lakeside Linen - Vintage Luna and the recommended DMC colors. The picture really doesn't show the fabric color very well. It's kind of peachy in color. I really didn't realize how much fabric this piece was going to take - I had to order more fabric last week. As you can tell I'm very bad at measuring fabric! I think I cut my linen pieces way too big!

I've also been working on some small pieces lately. I can't share those - their for a few exchanges I'm involved in. As soon as they're received I'll share some pictures.

My FIL is doing much better, but he's still in the hospital. Not sure when he'll get out of there, but please keep your prayers coming. They may have to do a biopsy tomorrow, but it's a wait and see kind of deal. All of your prayers mean so much to my. I can't express it in words! Thanks so much!

Now I'm off to finish watching LOR - Two Towers :)

See - I have been stitching some :)

First I need to Thank all of you who have sent prayers our way! It means the world to me. The past week has been kindof rough for my FIL. He's starting to get better. He did great through the surgery and then his kidney's started giving him problems. Please keep the prayer's coming - they are a great help!! I'll keep you posted on his recovery.

I've been stitching some small projects recently. I finished the 3 above about a week ago. They are all quick stitches and were fun. The Lark & Cat patterns are so versatile - you can pick what ever fabrics and fibers you want! I love those types of patterns. I'll probably stitch these again. The designer is JBW. I can't remember the designer of the middle pattern right of hand. I received this pattern in the welcome package from last year's PAL's Myrtle Beach Retreat. I decided to use Lakeside Linen's Vintage Luna fabric and the fibers called for in the pattern. It turned out nice - I wasn't sure about the fabric, but I like how it came out.