Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone and welcome to my newest followers.  May 2012 be a year of love, laughter, happiness, good health and of course lots of stitchiness!

We had a wonderful Christmas.  The boys were home and hubby had the week off.  Despite our best laid plans, we still did not accomplish everything that we thought we would.  Christmas morning we opened all our presents and had our traditional cinnamon rolls.  Yummy!

Gotta love the smiles! 

Time to eat!

My mom really surprised me with one of her gifts.  She handed me a box that was heavy.  When I opened it, I found that it was filled with frogs!  I began a frog hunting mission this past year and she really helped me out.  She found a great little antique place and throughout the summer/fall went back a few times and found all of these!  Now I need to go in search of some scissors to fill all of these!

During the week, we took the boys to the Turkey Hill Experience.  For those of you not familiar with Turkey Hill, it is a very popular dairy in PA.  They are known for their ice creams and iced teas.  The most favorite part of the tour was the free ice cream and tea samples - all you wanted!  Yes, we got back in line a few times in between the activities.

Of course, you have to try your hand at milking a cow!

And driving the delivery truck. 

And standing in the ice cream container while sampling the goods. 

When we were leaving, we stumbled across this place:

Very pretty glass!  I was good and didn't buy anything, but can see visiting here again.

I snapped these pictures on the way home.  It was snowing just a bit, but not enough for the boys to use their new sleds yet!

We ended the day with our traditional pork, sauerkraut and dumplings for good luck in the new year.

I'm now ready to get back into a routine!

There was not a whole lot of stitching going on during Christmas break.  I started this before Christmas and only worked on it a little this past week.  It's the Humility Sampler by Heartstring Samplery.  So sweet!  I love the colors and the saying.

June from Butterfly Wings mentioned a few weeks back that she wanted to try and stitch an ornament a month during 2012.  I wanted to do this as well, so we decided that during the first week of every month, we will post a picture of the ornament we will be stitching.  And during the last week, we will post our finish.  The finish could be either just the stitched finish or the completed ornament.  If anyone else would like to play along, feel free!

I went through some of my stash today and found this one.

It's a Jenny Bean ornament from Shakespeare's Peddler.  I pulled the DMC colors and converted them to my own choices of Gentle Arts Sampler Threads.  I hope to start stitching this one either tonight or tomorrow night.  You can pop on over to June's blog to see what ornament she chose.

Thanks as always for stopping by.  I really appreciate reading all of your comments!

We're Ready and a Tusal

We've been busy prepping....the new ornaments are hung with the old,

The cookies are baked (and some eaten)...

But not before my old hand-mixer could mix no more.  So, my hubby offered to quickly run to get me a new one.....what happens when your husband picks out a new mixer....well, you get one that comes in a case like a drill....

The important part is...the cookies are finished!

The hot-cheese dip and the sausage balls are prepped for tomorrow, thanks to my little helper chef.  And the dishes are done...

Our Christmas Eve dinner is finished - a delightful time...

The new memory ornaments are made...these are walnuts, that with some care are split in half, cleaned out, and spray painted.  The nuts are saved for baking and eating.  We then take a small piece of paper and write down things from the past year that we want to remember.  The paper is then placed in the shell and the shell is glued back together with a ribbon in place for the hanger.  Santa will hang the new ones on the tree tonite! 

Years from now, most likely when the boys are grown and come home for Christmas, we will begin the trip down memory lane by opening a few each year and reliving our memories!  We've been doing this now for a number of years and they look so pretty on the tree.  I use different types of gold paint - this year was a shinier gold.  I've used various types of gold in the past - shiny, matte, etc.  Maybe next year we'll try white or red, or even silver!

I did finish "Sing We Merrily" and I love how this turned out!

I do believe that we'll be leaving this one up all year.

I have received some wonderful goodies as well.  First, Peggy Lee sent me some umbrellas.  Now, I bet you are wondering, "Why would she send you umbrellas?"  For fancying up my drinks of course!

Plain.....

Fancy.....

I have enough to last a while!

Thanks Peggy!  Wish you were here to share them with me!

Myra surprised me with one of her hand-made birds.  I love the fact that not only is it blue, but the fabric looks like a sampler!

Thanks again Myra!!

Yesterday brought a package from Lainey...a great calendar from Scotland.  The pictures are beautiful and the boys loved it!  Some of you may know that Ned, our gnome, traveled this past summer to stay with Lainey's family a while.  They've been taking Ned places and he's started a blog so the boys can learn all about where Lainey and her family live.  The link is on the sidebar.  Thank you so much Lainey.  Lainey has been so busy and knowing she took the time to send this to us makes it even more special!

Today, my friend Brett (she hasn't ventured into blogland yet...) gave me a very special gift.  Brett has only been stitching since about September of 2010.  I took her to the Strawberry Sampler and she was hooked!  She picked it up fast and was stitching on linen in no time!  Now she's doing these fancy finishes!

Thank you so much Brett!  I love it!!!

The boys are wanting to track Santa on the NORAD site, so I have to finish, but not before I show the final TUSAL picture of the year!  I dumped the threads out of my jar and they came out in clumps - I think they look like little nests!

Time to go track where Santa is! 

From our home to yours, Merry Christmas!!

Winter Wonderland Christmas Exchange

Everyone that participated in the Winter Wonderland Christmas Exchange on the Stitched With Love Exchanges has received their packages and we are now able to post our goodies. 

This is what I received from Lisa at Black Flies and Snow Flies. 

Look at all those goodies!  Thanks to my boys, the chocolates didn't last long.

 

Isn't this so pretty!?!

And look at how cute the back is with the tiny jingle bells, the made with love charm, the tree, her initials and the year.



 And wow, did she spoil me with extras!  I can't thank you enough Lisa.  I love everything and already have plans on how I will use it all!

Lisa just started her blog, so if you get a chance pop on over and give her a big welcome.  Her stitching and finishing are

 bea-u-ti-ful and I now have a new friend in the blogging world!

I was excited to find that I was the secret Santa for Myra at Gr8dame's Place.  For those of you who don't know her, Myra is another wonderful stitcher and her sewing/finishing skills are incredible.  I can say this, because I am lucky enough to have a few things made by Miss Myra.  Here are the goodies that I put together for her.

 

This is the first time I finished an ornament like this and I love how it turned out.  I see more of these types of finishes in my future.

You may notice the cardinal and the red theme.  I know that Myra loves cardinals and she also likes samplers/ornaments that are stitched all in red.  So, there is a variety or red threads for her to have fun with, a cardinal ornament, a pattern with cardinals, a cardinal tote bag, a needle minder and some fabric. 

I managed to take part in all but one of the exchanges this past year.  I enjoyed gathering things together to send, meeting some new friends, and hopefully surprising some old ones.  Although I think Myra figured me out!  ;) 

 I can't wait to see what themes Lainey and Colleen come up with for next year!

I have some other goodies I need to post about and want to show my finish of "Sing We Merrily", but will save those for the next post when the sun comes out long enough for me to get some better photos. 

Only a couple more days until Christmas!!  Is everybody ready? 

Here's our smaller tree with our Hallmark ornaments.

Thanks for stopping by!



The Goodness of Others

The month of December has been moving along pretty fast around here!  All of our normal activities, combined with those of the holidays, have not left any spare time for stitching lately. 

This weekend we headed to my parent's home for my mom's annual Christmas Ornament dinner.  Every year, she gives the grandchildren a new ornament to hang on the tree.  There is always a lot of food and much laughter, with the day passing too quickly.  Here are the kids toasting with their sparkling grape juice!

After dinner, my youngest went outside to help out his pappy by starting to stack wood, while the others played a game of football.

It was getting dark, but he did stack quite a bit of the wood by the time he was done.

I did find a frame for the Peace piece from the other week.  I gave this to my mom yesterday as and early present.

Later in the evening, we had a laugh when she picked up the ornament issues of JCS that had this piece on the cover.  It was so different than mine!  Theirs was stitched on blue, but that wasn't all!  I forgot to add the snowflakes falling all around.  Oops!  Luckily, mom loved it just the way it was.

 

I have been very spoiled lately by some of my fellow stitchers.  First up is Teresa from Teresa's Heartfelt Stitches.  Teresa had quite the journey traveling to and from, and attending the retreat at the Shaker Village in New Hampshire way back in October.  She was kind enough to share some of the goodies from her travels with myself and one other stitcher in a surprise giveaway.  I was amazed at all that she sent me!

 

And, she told me that anything I could not use, I was free to pass on to another stitcher.  There are a couple of patterns that I probably won't stitch, but have some people in mind for them!

Thank you Teresa for your kindness, I truly was shocked when I saw all that was in your box!

Next up are some fall patterns from Gaby of Einschies kreatives Chaos.  They are so cute, and I hope to stitch them in time to display next fall!

And isn't that card she sent great!  I love the looks on their faces.  This is now part of a group of cards that I display yearly.  Thanks again Gaby!

Finally, June, from Butterfly Wings sent me a sweet Christmas surprise.  A packet of monthly bookmarks - perfect as we recently started a neighborhood monthly book club!  A fantastic smelling soap made in Devon.  Don't you wish that you could share good smells through your computer screen? And a beautiful card depicting a scene from the Moors.  When I saw this, I knew I needed to find a frame and place it with a picture similar in style that a friend brought back from Ireland for me last year.  When I find a frame, I'll show you a picture of the two together.  Thanks again June for thinking of me!

 

I do have one other group of fabulous goodies to share from the Stitched with Love Christmas Exchange, as soon as everyone receives their packages, we'll be able to reveal.  I can't wait to confirm who my secret Santa was - I was truly spoiled!

Thanks again to each and every one of you, Teresa, Gaby, and June for your generosity!

And thanks to everyone else for stopping by - I hope December is allowing you some stitching time!