A Couple of Birthday Gifts to Share

The mailman made me a very happy girl yesterday! LOL I received 2 birthday gifts from 2 dear friends. The first one was from my friend Lynne (no blog) in California. Remember when Leisure Arts had a pen pal section in their magazines? Well, that is how Lynne and I started our friendship and its still going on today, 20 years later! I haven't seen her in about 12 years but hope to get out that way in the next few years. Thank heaven's for e-mail though! Lynne sent some wonderful goodies. She's a stamping consultant and makes the best cards! I really treasure the cards and always display them, they make great decorations! She made a cute little box that had Hershey's chocolate and caramel in them. What a cute little pouch and talk about delish! She also made a cute cover for a small note book and sent some fat quarters which I will definitely put to great use. Thanks so much Lynne.

Cathy sent me a package that I also got yesterday! When I read her note and she said her mom is feeling better and that she has been tatting I just knew that I was going to be getting something tatted by her mom! I have a couple of tatted pieces from Cathy's mom and they are just gorgeous! The tatted piece was mounted on a ball jar lid! I love it! Cathy also included a cute little note pad from my purse. Thank you so much Cathy :)

On the stitching front, I am done with my red exchange so while I am still thinking of how to finish it, I have been talking a bit with my friend Irmeli in Finland. I was talking to her about all the stitching I want to do this year and that I have tried a rotation and it just didn't work for me. As I think why it may not have worked for me, I think it may have been because I might have chosen too many large projects or not "mixing" it up a bit. For example, maybe I should have added more smaller projects that could give me that instant gratification feeling. Irmeli said she use to be a "project at a time" stitcher like me but decided to give the crazy January challenge after participating in the challenge last year. So I have decided before Feb. 1st I will put 15 patterns, threads and fabric together for those 15 projects so when Feb. 1st rolls around I will be ready to go! Wish me luck! Well, I think that is all I have to share for now. Thanks so much for stopping by and hope you have some time to put some needle and thread to fabric! Happy Stitching Wendy Jo

Belated Christmas Gift Delivered

Believe it or not I had one Christmas gift to get out the door! My friend, Carol (no blog), in my Tuesday stitch group, had knitted me up some dishcloths so I wanted to stitch her up a little something. I planned to give it to her at stitch group but between the weather and schedules, we haven't met up! So I drove over the other day and delivered it to her. She likes it and its stitched in purple so I could go no wrong! Its a freebie from The Sampler Girl. Its a simple yet makes a lovely little gift. This is just like the "I love knitting" one I stitched for Staci, only "I love stitching". Even though Carol knits, I know she wants to put down her knitting needles and put up that cross stitch needle and start stitching! So maybe this will motivate her a bit!

I am finishing up my red exchange on the Friends Through Threads blog. I had quite a variety of reds to choose from and I went with garnet from WDW. The garnet I have has ALOT of variegation which I just love and the reason I chose it :) I am thinking about the finishing, should it be made into a pinkeep? pillow? small frame? Might have to run it by my Tuesday stitch group. I am hoping the weather will be good to us this week so we can have stitch group on Tuesday. We haven't met in a while so I'm anxious to see what everyone is stitching on. We all have very similar tastes in designers and what we stitch like snowman, primitive, houses, etc. but yet, we all have our "favs" designers. Sometimes a couple of us may be stitching the same design but using different fabric or threads, I love seeing how the design comes out. I am sure Jo Barb will be stitching something snowman or something Prairie Schooler (which is her fav) (she has practically all the PS charts!), Beth (no real favorite designer) is working on Rosewood Manor Quakers & Quilts, which is looking absolutely stunning! Carol is wanting to start the 2012 ornament series from Littlehouse so she might start that or a BBD's loose feathers (which is Carol's fav designer), not sure what Jo K. is stitching on and I am not sure if Jo K. really has a favorite designer and me I'll work on LK Snowman '10 if I am done with the red exchange piece. LK is my favorite designer. Angie is back to teaching part time and right now she has a teaching "gig" until spring break. Angie loves so many different designers that I am not sure if she has a favorite one or not. I'll have to take pics sometime and show them off. They really stitch some beautiful things and none of them have a blog, I have tried talking them into it but they prefer lurking! :) Speaking of stitching, I think I'll close for now and get back to mine! Enjoy the rest of your weekend and hope you put some needle and thread to some fabric! Thanks for stopping by. Happy Stitching Wendy Jo PS I apologize that the entire posting runs together, I have tried to put paragraph breaks in, but it seems to not be working :(

Birthday Gifts

I have some wonderful gifts to share with you. Staci sent this earlier this week. Super cute socks (with a mesh bag to wash them in) and the chocolates "were" (notice the word were in quotes, the chocolate didn't last long) yummy! The tin is a collector's tin and I know I'll put it to great use. The socks are so comfy! I love the edging Staci put on them. Makes them extra "cutesy" :) Thanks Staci!

Today I received a present from Julie. Another sweet friend who knows me so well! She sent an adorable floss tag, awesome candle called "Hometown Days", it smells AWESOME!. Julie also sent this fabulous Liberty box, some fabric and a pretty 2012 "American" calendar which I needed! Julie, thank you so very much. All of my faves!

Then I had a package from Becky. Becky and I are birthday buddies on the Friends Through Friends blog. Becky spoiled me. She stitched a lovely pinkeep of a LHN design called Stars & Stripes, which happens to be a pattern I have in my stash to stitch this year. Not any longer! So so pretty! Becky also sent a beautiful needle threader. It is just so delicate and pretty! Becky also got me a gift certificate to spend at Little Stitches. I believe market is next month so I will use it then. Thank you so much Becky for a wonderful birthday package. You certainly made it very special.

For my birthday, we ordered a pizza and had some cake and I'm stitching while Rex went out to shovel. We may go out this weekend for a nice dinner and see "The Iron Lady" with Merle Streep. It looks really good. Generally I like drama and romantic comedies. Once in a while something will grab me like "The Iron Lady" and I love Merle Streep. She was on Ellen today and she told Ellen that she was paid $1 million dollars and donated it to American Women's History Museum. I thought that was really wonderful to hear! Tomorrow I'm getting together with my cousin, Jane, and we are going shopping and seeing an afternoon movie called The Descendants with George Clooney. Anyone seen it? My cousin, Jane, is a real movie buff, LOVES movies! All kinds. Yesterday the temp was in the 50's and today it was in the 20s and it SNOWED! We got around 5 inches. More snow is on the way over the next few days but just trace amounts. Now, it feels like winter! I am loving it now, but I am sure come the first of March, I'll be ready for spring and the warmer temps! On the stitching front, I have Carol's (no blog) Christmas gift stitched and will hopefully see her at stitch group on Tuesday and then I can show pics! I put down my L*K Snowman '10 that I was working on, as I was anxious to start on my red exchange. I am enjoying the piece and I think my partner will really love it! (Fingers crossed!) I'll pick up the L*K Snowman when I'm done with the red exchange piece. Well, thanks so much for stopping by and hope you find some time to put needle and thread to some fabric. Happy stitching, Wendy Jo Becky....I have tried to send you a personal e-mail and it has bounced back a couple of times, the last time I sent it, I do believe it went through, if not, please e-mail me. Thanks!!!