Fallscape and exchange

 So excited I can finally share my little fallscape on my entrance table. The amazing Autumn pillow is from the 2012 stitched with love   fall exchange, lovely cornucopia box is from Angela's fall exchange last year, amazing flat is from Melanie's Prairie Schooler exchange last year. The mill hill squirrel box and acorns are from Teresa at last year's fall retreat, and the cute owl was a wonderful surprise from April. The needle roll I designed years ago for a fall retreat. It is so fun to me that all of this came from blogging friends all over and a small piece of you is here with me this fall.

Isn't this a great surprise? This was what I received from Renee. She really out did herself on this one. The stitched Autumn pillow with pom-pom fringe is just too cute, cookie cutters that I plan to use for some Thanksgiving pie crust, Be thankful coasters a JCS fall issue, owl towel, ribbons and floss, and a great fall primitive chart. Thank you again Renee. 

This is what I sent  Shirlee. I sprinkled some artificial fall leaves I found in the box for fun. Sullivan threads to try and the acorn needle book in the JCS fall issue. 

Well I have stopped work on the Fred's to make a few Christmas smalls. Hope to be able to work on them quickly so I don't loose momentum on the Fred's. Try not to get overwhelmed with Thanksgiving and remember to enjoy your time with family and friends. 

thanks for visiting,
Pam

Boarder time

I have been doing a good bit of mindless stitching on the Fred's boarder. I am joining them together on one fabric so I tried to figure away to unite them as one piece. The long rectangle is my solution. I will fill it in with the bands of color that are under the birds in the individual graphs. I did the space 9 squares wide to match the width of the diamonds. Hopefully this will tie them together. I just could not get a picture of the 2 diamond bands on the outer boarder meeting well. Last night I was able to stitch the diamond frames and tonight I hope to but the black strip inner boarder. This will allow me to start stitching something besides boarder when I get tired of it. Surprisingly I have been happy to work on it. It allows me to stitch the pattern without worrying about the chart so I can just zoom though without really thinking about it.  It is also moving much faster than I thought it would.

Really should be thinking about some holiday stitching right now. Maybe a few ornaments and such for my Charlie Brown Christmas Tree from last year. I had a 4 day weekend last week and I am afraid I was not as productive as I should have been with stitches. I choose to pet my fibers, fabrics and charts instead. This can be a bit detrimental as one can become overwhelmed with the mass of it all! :)

Hope you all have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by,
Pam

Fun Day Trip

This past Friday, April and I were finally able to meet up and ride a short 70 minutes away to a most wonderful LNS. The Cross stitch Peddler in Decatur. I say short 70 minutes because time and miles fly when you are running your mouth and laughing the entire trip. Being a pair of very bad bloggers, neither April or myself had enough brain power to snap a photo. We had one mission, petting as many fibers, fabrics and charts as possible while we were in the shop. I think we were pretty successful. I picked up a few Thanksgiving charts sure to be stitched in time for this years festivities- NOT! Some silk gaze kits because I have only 2 waiting. Plus and old DT -The Good Neighbor, it was only $6- who could resist? 

This photo does not to the fabrics justice. Maureen has the best selection at her shop. The is a coffee type with flecks of brown bits, golden piece, vintage antiques white, lavender-pink-grey piecce, painted earth piece and a piece that looks like robins eggs. bought as much as I could afford but not all I wanted of course. 

I was going to snap a photo of the Java-Jay's Cashew Chicken Salad sandwich but I was starving by the time we got there and I just inhaled it. Maybe next trip....It truly is my favorite chicken salad sandwich. It has dried cranberry and just enough mayo. They serve it on whole grain bread with  a pickle spear, kettle chips and a brownie bite just in case anyone is reading hungry. 

April graciously allowed me to show her my children, otherwise known as completed projects. She wandered through the house and was very kind as I showed her the pieces. 

We reality will close in from my 4 days off work bright and early in the morning. It was a nice break in the normal pace to be able to spend a day at the stitch shop and play with the haul through the weekend. If only my fingers worked as fast as my eyes see them finished.

Thanks for spending a few minutes with me,
Pam 

A finish and a start

First thing Saturday morning I was able to work on the berries and call this little piece finished. I still can't get over how it looked o/o when I saw it at the Silver Needle but I don't know if I ever would have finished it if I had stitched it o/o. 

The start is on the Fred's (Fredrick and Fredricka) and the never ending boarder. I had some yellow already in place but you could not see it on the fabric until I added the black. I believe I am going to stack them on top of each other rather than doing two separate pieces. I was able to work on the black some more last night. Hopefully a little each night will go a long way.

I received a wonderful Fall exchange. Not able to show photos yet but I just loved it all. thanks to my secret stitching partner.  

Prayers go up today for those dealing with hurricane Sandy and her aftermath. Hope all in bloggland are safe and let us hear from you as soon as you can.

Thanks for visiting,
Pam  

Back from Framers!

First up is the Linen and Lace finished earlier this year. This piece was in my to stitch pile for so long. It finished up as lovely as I always thought it would.I went with a fancy frame but it has a red under the silver that really pulls on the reds in the piece. 

Next is the I Sign Not that was in progress for way too many years. I picked a rustic/antique frame for it of course. I will go behind my stitching chair in the living room. Excited to get this one on the wall at last. 

Plans for tomorrow include stitching, stitching and more stitching. How much fun does that sound like? Hope you all find some time this weekend for needle and thread.

Pam

a little vacation time

This was the view from the Blue Parrot on St George Island FL. Weekend before last a few friends road our motorcycles down to Panama City Beach for Thunder on the Beach Fall Rally. We took one of the days to ride over to ST George and Apalachicola for some great time on the Forgotten Coast. I just love this slow placed area of FL. It is the beach as I recall it without all the high rise condos and a much less crowded coastline. We were blessed with a condo in PCB for free so we stayed the nights there but my heart is always in SGI. 

 This is sunset from our condo. Amazing views from the 21st floor. It is down the beach a bit and not in the middle of all the biker business and was quite peaceful as well. All in all a fantastic trip with friends. 

I was also able to work on DNW piece while on the coast. I am down to the bird and a little vines and berries. Hopefully I can finish it up this week. I also mailed of and exchange piece that I can't show for a while but will as soon as I am able. It turned out really cute. Can't wait to show and tell it!

Thanks for stopping by,
Pam

Blessed

Do your stitching friends ever make you fill just so Blessed? Today when I got home there was a wonderful package from April . She lives less than an hour away but we are still working on a stitching gathering, Life is too busy. Isn't this a wonderful fall surprise? She sent me some Sullivan's threads I have been wanting to try but not able to get down the dreaded 280 to the store that carries them. Also some finishing extras perfect for a fall finish. And who could not love the cute owl? I suspect the card was made by her as well. April's package was within a week of the one year older mark so technically Birthday or Fall. Actually I believe it was sent to pick me up after recovering from moving my mom this past weekend. 35 years in one house plus she is a touch of a hoarder. 4 seems to be her magic number. 4 brooms, mops, yard sticks, dish sets, and multiples of  4 for things like bath gels(36), pots for plants (32), quilt sets(16). Y'all are getting the picture of how much fun that was. Thanks April for the moving recovery/fall/birthday gift.

Next up is the amazing birthday package from my retreat companion Teresa. She knows of my love of acorns and squirrels and had me on a theme overload. Three wooden acorns. The green acorn is the back is packed with cookies!!! A acorn spatula for my love of baking. Prayer books and some lovely mother of pearl cross charms(another love of mine is MOP) Some Lady Earl Gray tea to go with that box of cookies, a squirrel mill hill pin and 3 charts. How could that not be a happy birthday? 

Last up is my stitching progress on Do Not Worry. I am getting to practice this as I stitch it with a fair amount of uncertainty about my job. God as always allowed me to be in a better place when He makes a job change so I will trust Him that that will occur again. I saw a quote on FB the other day that I really liked. It wasn't new to me but it was a good reminder of who is really running the show. God Shuts Doors No Man Can Open and Opens Doors No Man Can Close. I will leave you all with that to chew on for a while.

Thanks for stopping by,
Pam