Christmas is Coming!!

I figured I'd better get in a bit of a post before I had so much to talk about that it would feel overwhelming!

I'm almost finished Christmas decorating! I love Christmas decorations, and this year will be the first time in this house that I'm going to try to put most of my stuff out - and I have a LOT of stuff! LOL I have my village up and my stitching tree decorated. My main tree is almost finished, just need to add the poinsettias I always use to "tie" the tree together. I've got garland to hang and my Santa collection to put out and I think I'll be done.

I was joking with DH that I really need another tree - my main one is so full, I decided to not put the regular balls up. Maybe we'll get one in an after Christmas clearance sale and stick it in the kitchen :) I'd like to have a Santa tree - I have SO many Santa ornaments and I think that would be fun.

I wanted to post about the wonderful Christmas exchange package I got from Angela!!! She stitched me my very first Bourse!! It's Black Bird Designs Evergreen, but she changed the colors to match my favorite Christmas burgundy & dark green. She also sent some lovely burgundy cotton fabric that will be perfect for finishing and two charts off my wish list - Indigo Rose Beads, Buttons & Bows, and the one I was REALLY thrilled about, Just Nan's Holly Noel! That chart has been on my wish list since it came out in 2004 and I didn't even think it was still available any more. She also sent some German marzipan - I LOVE marzipan!!






Here's a closeup of the inside of the Bourse.











And the outside. Isn't it beautiful? The only problem is both sides are so pretty, I'm not sure how to display it - I'll probably alternate between the two - LOL.

Thanks again Angela for the beautiful Christmas package! I can't wait 'till all my presents are made and I can start on Holly Noel for myself!!!


My Christmas exchange package is winging it's way to it's recipient, and I hope she's just as happy with her package as I was was mine.

A Slightly Late "Happy Halloween"!!

Only two days late, so not TOO bad! LOL I've been down for almost a week with a bad case of food poisoning, or I would have gotten this posted sooner. The irony of the whole thing is that I recently started a new eating plan, and in the process switched from ground beef to ground turkey, and I think that's what ended up making me sick. I think I'll go back to beef!





Anyway, I never posted about the Halloween exchange I was in. I sent to Laura this year, which is great, because she LOVES Halloween!! I had a fun time finding stuff for her, including eyeball and finger candy - LOL








The piece I stitched her is from Autumn Minis by Waxing Moon Designs. I added leaves that I found in the Scrapbooking section to a plain black frame - quick and easy!!









And my Stamp Club made the cutest Halloween projects for October! The card is a pop-up card that folds down flat. You can find the directions for the technique here. And the bag was really fun - we stamped the image, colored it, and then sprayed it with water to make it run. I liked the projects so much, I made two sets - I knew I had to send them to Laura, but I wanted to keep them for myself too! LOL






And I got a fabulous package all the way from Germany from Gaby! I was just blown away by everything she made me!









She made this adorable pillow (I've GOT to try this finishing technique sometime!) . The chart is from German designer Gisela Suskind. It was originally charted as a monochrome design, and Gaby added the colors - I love it!






She also made this clever scissor holder - complete with a beautiful beaded scissor fob and these great Halloween colored scissors! This is a wonderful addition to my scissor/fob collection :)

Thanks again Gaby for the great Halloween package!!









And I finally got the light situation fixed on my holiday tree. It actually meant several hours of cutting off the original lights and replacing them with LED's, but I'm glad that I now have a fully lit tree, and these lights should last for years! So here is my 2008 Halloween Tree :)

Time for a Monthly Update!

I can't believe I started this update 10 days ago! Where on earth does the time go?



First I want to share a beaded set that I made for Jodi for her birthday (yes, it was in July, and yes, I was late with it, but luckily, Jodi is very understanding, especially when it comes to jewelry - LOL). The necklace & bracelet patterns came from the book The Beader's Palette, which Jodi sent me this summer. I asked her what her favorite project was and this is the one she picked, so hopefully she wasn't lying to me! :) I had to come up with something for matching earrings since there wasn't a pattern, and I'm quite pleased what I came up with. I wish the colors would show up better - this really is stunning in person (IMHO!)







And speaking of Jodi and jewelery, I made a necklace out of my Bead Retreat Family Tree bracelet (which you can see at the bottom of this post) for Jodi's mom.









Here's a close-up. I can't wait to hear how her mom likes it!! My step-mom was quite taken with it, so when I get my replacement bracelet in and the kit retires, I'll be making another one.










So, on the stitching front, I'm working on SALexandre with some of the ladies in my Yahoo group. I'm using Anchor 1206 on an unknown 32 ct ivory fabric from my stash. We're suppose to SAL every Saturday, and I try to make sure I get at least a few stitches in!









And I'm still keeping up with with my Papillon Creations Mystery Sampler! This is though part 9. Just a few more months and it'll be finished!!









And I actually pulled out a project from the 2006 Shepherd's Bush Retreat! This is the Haunted Needle House from Charland Designs. I had started the project in class on the kit fabric, but since I don't like evenweave OR blue, I decided to change it out and start over again (luckily, I hadn't gotten very far!). I have no idea what this fabric is, but it matches the pumpkin fabric for the inner box perfectly! At the retreat, my roommates and I did some dying - one of them brought this huge piece of linen that she hated the color of and wanted to try dying it. Several of us loved it and wouldn't let her - LOL - so she cut it up and gave it away! I can't remember if it was Jill or Tracy or someone else, but whoever it was, thanks again for the fabby - it's looking great!!


Here are some close-ups of the front, back and one side.

















I hope to get the rest of the stitching finished this weekend and HOPEFULLY will have the chance to do the finishing before Halloween!!

The Rest of the Story

I finally got pics taken of the rest of the stuff I've been working on lately! I was hoping to get that post in by the end of August, but we'll call this a good start to September! LOL So, I started this post on September 1st, and here it is the 15th, and of course, by now I have more to share, but we'll just start with this :)






First up is a pic of the Scavenger Hunt package I sent to Juli. I had more fun with this exchange! I can't wait to do another one. The first picture shows everything wrapped up complete with tags showing her words. The second picture shows what's inside all the packages.









Juli's seven words were:

purplebee ( local huckleberry honey from Cox Honeyland and a scissor fob I made), tree (a giant colored pencil made from a tree branch which I found in a gift shop in Bear Lake), sunshine (ribbon), frog (growing frog), sheep (Spirt Goat soap), daisy (cosmetic case, frame & punch), and garden (address book).




Here's a closeup of the scissor fob. I've wanted to try making a combination stitched and beaded fob for a while now, and this was the perfect opportunity! The little motif is from Répertoire des Motifs by Valerie Lejune.

I've gotten a head start on Halloween stitching! DH took me to Shepherd's Bush last month while we were in Ogden - I only had 10 minutes 'till they closed, but I managed to pick out a few things. The real reason I went there was to get something for my Halloween Exchange partner, but I really loved this little piece and got the chart and all the materials for it.



It's the October Baubles from Samsarah Designs. Shepherd's Bush made a couple of color changes and added some different buttons, so I went with the same changes. I started it that night and had it finished in just a few days. Now I just need to frame it!



And speaking of Shepherd's Bush, another recent finish (started before the Baubles, but finished after - LOL) is Shepherd's Bush Apple Kissed Autumn. I just love there kits! I'd like to frame this, but it's so skinny, I'll have to have one specially made.




At the beginning of August, my stamp club had our semi-annual Stamp Camp. I made 5 projects this time.





A cover for a tablet of paper...





















A packet of six note cards in a matching folder...








A gift card holder with matching gift bag...
















A medium sized gift bag...











And my favorite project, an altered tin to hold recipes!

Our next Stamp Camp will be the Christmas one in December. I'm anxious to see what the projects will be, but I'm in no way anxious for it to be the Holidays again already!!

Has it been over a month already?

So much for my idea of doing weekly updates - LOL!

And I have so much to share too. :)

One really exciting thing, I got a Round Robin back!! It's Chatelaine's Sampler Mystery I. Now all I have left to do is the beads.



It's stunning! And it'll be even more so when it's completely finished!! Now, the only thing I have to do is find the rest of the kit! ROFLOL Thanks SO much to everyone who stitched on this: Laura, Jodi, Dot, Veronica, Juli, Jennifer and especially Ming and Leigh who weren't even in the round but offered to stitch on it anyway. All of their initials are on either side of the house and my initials will go under the house when I'm finished. I will truly treasure this!








Speaking of mystery samplers, here is my progress on the Papillon Creations Mystery Sampler - I'm still keeping up, believe it or not! And I'm still loving it! The next part will be released in mid September. I can't wait!










And I have my scavenger hunt package to share!! We did a scavenger hunt in my Yahoo group and it was SO much fun!! I received from Jodi and she sent me a great package. She even started a sampler that I can use for a RR - I might make it into a "Scavenger Hunt" sampler and pick certain motif types I'd like stitched :).

So, my words were Paris (fabric and Ina Garten note cards), Dragon (little green bead), Lilac (essential oil with fragrance pottery, stitched motif and beads), Peacock (stitched motif and charm), Swan (stitched motif), Chef (spreaders) and Hedgehog (pin). She also got me a crochet hedgehog pattern from Etsy. I can't wait to try making him - he's too cute!!

My package was just received by Juli, but I'll show the pics next time - we're playing a game with people trying to guess the words :)

I am working on some other things, but I haven't taken pics yet - I figured if I had to wait until I got those pics taken, it might be another month!!

I'm up and running with my Bead Retreat business and I'm LOVING it!! It's definitely keeping me busy, and cutting into my stitching time, but it's so much fun, I hardly notice! I even have a website - YAY!!

896 Stairs!!

Sunday we went to Bear Lake and drove up to Minnetonka Cave. It was the first time I'd ever been in a cave and I was pretty impressed. It was about a 90 minute guided tour and there were 448 stairs going up and down back through the 9 rooms, which meant 448 coming back out again too. The hardest stretch was "The Stairway to Heaven", which was 73 steps straight down, which of course meant that we had to go up them on the way out - LOL.





It was cool to hear what some of the different formations were called. This was in the "Dwarf Room" and the formations in the center are the 7 Dwarfs - can you see Grumpy's face at the left?










And this was the "Treasure Room" because it looks like a pile of coins.











When we got to the end, there was the "Bride and Groom" - the Bride is at the top and the Groom is at the bottom. As the decades pass, they grow closer to each other and someday they will connect.






At this point, the guide turned out the lights and we got to experience TOTAL darkness - kinda freaky! Then we had the option to walk back to the next room in the blackness holding on the hand rails, which was interesting, in an unnerving sort of way. LOL

I had a great time and now I'd really like to go to Timpanogos Cave. Maybe we could go in the fall when it's not so hot.





On another note, the ornament I made for the Christmas in July exchange has been received. I stitched for Ming, and although it's not a Christmas design, she was very pleased with it.



This is Iris Window Garden by Calico Crossroads. I stitched it on 40 count over two with the recommended threads and finished it as a pinkeep ornament. It was fun to watch it come to life as I added the black backstitching. I may have to stitch this again some time.

I'm still working on Part 6 of the Papillon Creations Mystery Sampler, and I hope to have it done before Part 7 is released in the next few days.

At The Hop!

Last week I went on a Quilt Shop Hop with some friends from my local stitching group. Even though I don't quilt (yet!), I had a great time and still managed to come away with some fun stuff! Here's a link to the site that shows all the shops in the hop. We went to 14 shops over 2 days, and I hit the 15th here in town on Saturday. If you complete your passport by visiting all the shops, your name goes into a drawing - and guess what? I won a $100 Gift Certificate to any of the shop in the hop! I was SOOOOO excited when I got the message. Now to decide which store and what to buy!



So, here's the stuff I bought over the two days. My favorite is this fantastic Zelda's Fancy Hat from Crabapple Hill Studio. At every store we went to, I was so drawn to this designer. I'm definately going to have to pick up more of her designs! I also got some wool appliqué stuff. One was a kit from Konfetti's called Hearts Journal Cover. The other is a book from Indigo Junction called Folk Art Jingle. I picked up wool kits for the Heart and Mistletoe ornaments. And I was actually able to find some yarn and knitting needles at two different stores. The yarn is Cascades Yarns Nikki which is made in Italy and hand spun. I got a scarf almost finished while we were driving around. The needles are really fun - they're Square Knitting Needles handmade form Forest Palm by Kollage Yarns. They're suppose to be less fatiguing to use, and hey, they were on sale too! I also got two leaflets for $1 each! Brightneedle The Lodge and Bent Creek Love. The last thing in the picture is a fat eighth I picked up for the back of an ornament for our Christmas in July exchange as well as a couple of fun old buttons. I actually bought three fat quarters too, but they somehow didn't make it into the picture. I think they're in with the witch's hat! LOL



In addition to all those quilt shops, we ran into a Provo Craft Outlet, where I hit the jackpot! I got 8 balls of yarn, 5 frames, 2 embroidery kits (with frames) and a bead book for under $25. I definately want to hit this store again!!









I've ready finished one of the kits and it's on my desk at work. I thought it was a great reminder! The frame had gaps in the corners, so I used my Stampin' Up Pretties Kit to cover them.

So, all in all it was a great trip and I'd love to go again next year!!





Now on to the Christmas in July Ornament Exchange. Saturday I got an ornament from Cheryl. It's from the cover of the current Just Cross Stitch issue and is designed by Country Cottage Needleworks, one of my favorite designers. Cheryl, knowing that I don't care much for blue, changed the colors to red and green and added the charms.



She also sent along a few extras - some Needlepaint and Carrie's threads, an ornament and two vintage reinstone buttons. Thanks for the lovely package Cheryl! I look forward to adding this ornament to my stitching tree this Christmas.









My ornament is on it's way to my partner, so I'll share a pic as soon as it's received.







And now for my "big news"! I am signing up to become an Independent Coordinator for Bead Retreat! I'm so excited!! The concept is fun and the jewelry is beautiful. I plan to have my business kit by the end of the month and I'll be off and running!!

I ordered myself two bracelet kits so I could see what they were like and I'm in love!! The first one is called Melange in Jet & Silver. I had enough beads left over that I was able to make matching earrings! And it goes with everything - I've been wearing all week!


And this is the bracelet I feel in love with as soon as I saw it on the cover of the catalog. It's called Family Tree in Green Quartz. My step-mom threatened to take it from me - LOL - she'll have to order her own! They are really SO pretty in person - I wish I could get a better picture of them!

I can't wait to get started!!